Sid Vicious “Sid Sings” 1979.  Virgin Records. Mostly recorded live in September 1978 at Max’s Kansas City, though “My Way” comes from a French studio session and “Born to Lose” may be from a 1977 Sex Pistols concert. This is a 1979 UK (though possibly New Zealand) pressing as it has the guitar swastika on the record label and catalog #V2144.

This album is gloriously bad – lo-fi, dirty, incomprehensible: basically Sid Vicious pressed into vinyl with warts, zits and blood. Back in the 80′s when I first borrowed this from a friend, I tried to convince myself that really Sid was super-talented and just acting the punk part as I was very enamored with him (poor lost genius, blah blah blah). My opinion of the guy may have changed but I still love this record. My favorite track is “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (The Stooges) because although it is almost impossible to ruin this gem, Vicious brings an honesty to the song that can only be rivaled by the Iggy original. “My Way” is brilliant, especially the gawd-awful intro crooning, which then rips into punk sneering and a brutal beat; I’m not sure if it shows my naiveté back then or what, but I heard this version long before the Sinatra original (and still prefer it).