Advertisement

Sex Pistol Glen Matlock transforms Joy Division and The Clash hits in 'Anarchy Arias'

We suspect Sid Vicious is turning in his grave, but we still love the sound of this.

Glen Matlock of Sex Pistols fame has transformed our favourite punk songs into arias with the help of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and English National Opera.

Classic punk tracks like Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks and the Pistols’ Pretty Vacant have been given a makeover forty years after the BBC banned God Save The Queen from the airwaves.

The Anarchy Arias is the first ever album of classic punk tunes done in a full-blown operatic style and is an idea inspired by Sex Pistols writer and bass player Matlock.

He explained: “About a year and a half ago I got involved with doing Pretty Vacant with a string quartet. I really enjoyed it. The guy behind the Arias heard it, and thought it might be good for all kinds of punk things. So that’s what they did, I then heard some tracks, and I really liked it, I thought some of the orchestrations were fantastic. It was really well done.”

He added: “I am of an age where you had things like “Deep Purple in Rock”, with a symphony orchestra, or Procol Harum doing “Conquistador” with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, or Frank Zappa with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Festival Hall.

“And always in the back of your mind, as a songwriter, you wonder what your stuff would sound like with an orchestra. And it’s a little bit of an accolade to hear it done that way. I think any good song can be played in any idiom.”

The Anarchy Arias album will be released in June in time for Father’s Day and also features London Calling by The Clash and The Dammed’s Neat Neat Neat.

The thirteen-track album will be released on 9 June 2017 on Universal Music and is the perfect father’s day gift!

The fill tracklisting:

1) Pretty Vacant (originally performed by Sex Pistols)

2) No More Heroes (originally performed by The Stranglers)

3) Should I Stay Or Should I Go (originally performed by The Clash)

4) Ça Plane Pour Moi (originally performed by Plastic Bertrand)

5) Teenage Kicks (originally performed by The Undertones)

6) The Sound Of The Suburbs (originally performed by The Members)

7) Ever Fallen In Love…(With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) (originally

performed by Buzzcocks)

8) God Save The Queen (originally performed by Sex Pistols)

9) London Calling (originally performed by The Clash)

10) Babylon’s Burning (originally performed by The Ruts)

11) Oh Bondage Up Yours! (originally performed by X Ray Spex)

12) Love Will Tear Us Apart (originally performed by Joy Division)

13) Neat Neat Neat (originally performed by The Damned)