By Chris Charles BBC News Online

Roll up, roll up for the greatest rock'n'roll swindle the world has ever seen - since the last one.

Seasoned diehards, look away now. You've already bought the records, ripped the t-shirts and left your spittle on the face of society.

Young pretenders, on the other hand - intrigued to discover exactly where Green Day, Sum 41 and Blink 182 pinched all their ideas from - may consider The Sex Pistols an essential purchase.

Be warned though, kids - over-priced triple box sets go against everything the original punk spirit embodied. A trawl through the old man's dust-covered 33s might be a better bet.

Not so Rotten now, Johnny

For this is a collection released purely to cash in on the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations - the 25th anniversary of the Sex Pistols' infamous jaunt up the Thames.

Things were a little different then.

Born of an age when Britain was gripped by a Winter of Discontent - or prog rock as it is now known - the Pistols were truly a breath of fresh glare.

Fast forward to 2002 and you find Johnny Rotten suggesting Her Majesty is not such a bad old stick after all and even the Iron Lady had her moments.

One thing that has thankfully stood the test of time is the music.

Fillers

The first evil chuckle of Anarchy In The UK still sends shivers down the spine, as does the chilling goosesteps on Holidays In The Sun and the pitiful lyrics to Bodies.

Yet the way in which the record company have managed to come up with three CDs, when the Pistols only made one studio album - the legendary Never Mind The Bollocks - is a feat worthy of Malcolm McLaren himself.

It is not even a definitive greatest hits ensemble, with the entire comedy punk era of Sid Vicious and Tenpole Tudor a notable omission.

Instead, you get one disc of Never Mind The Bollocks with added extras, a collection of instrumentals and out-takes (fillers if you prefer the colloquial term) and a ropey old live compilation guaranteed to give aural displeasure.

Sid Vicious is conspicuous by his absence

By the time you reach the end of The Sex Pistols, you will have heard four versions of Anarchy In The UK, three Liars and no less than six re-workings of No Feelings.

Even the inimitable Pretty Vacant - one of the greatest riffs of the 20th century - begins to wear a little thin at the fourth time of asking.

Still, at least if you buy this you will know you have contributed to further swelling of the coffers of a certain middle-aged property developer.

Swimming pool maintenance does not come cheap these days - eh, John?

In fact this entire exercise can be summed up in seven words famously used by the great man himself.

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

Sex Pistols box set is out on 3 June (Virgin).