Bootlegs! Once an exciting, naughty, illegal, secret world. At least they were in the seventies, when I first became aware of the existence of them. And they were just out of reach in New Zealand. There was a music mag that advertised them, from an address in Australia, but organising payment in those days between NZ and Australia was virtually impossible, especially for a green 17yr old already fighting his Dad (the only person who could make payment possible) on several other fronts.
There were of course exceptionally groovy folk in NZ who (I found out years later) had copies of The Great White Wonder etc etc.
In 1974 on a trip to the UK I went to see ver Floyd at Earls Court, As I shuffled my way to my seat I happened to look behind me and right into the eyes of an anxious looking boy with a tape machine on his knee, the desperate look in his eyes saying “please don’t tell”…
Anyway, fast forward to 2015. On my community radio show I regularly play bootleg recordings which are available all over the Internet (I’m talking about live concert recordings here, not official releases).
So my two thoughts about bootlegs are –
1. They’re just not special any more, for the bands from the 70’s when it all started – I’m thinking Zappa, Little Feat, Stones etc
2. They’re not even an issue for current bands – they all get recorded on iPhones etc, so the “live bootleg” just doesn’t have the same excitement as it did when things weren’t as accessible as they are now.
Ok, that’s all, as you were…
Rigid Digit says
Back in the mid/late 80s when I started buying them, every Festival would have a van or two with the back doors open revealing a mass of TDK cassettes with garishly coloured, and type written cases
As a superfan, or “snob”, you would seek out and purchase those seminal, hard to find recordings.
And then when you got home, play it to find it was recorded on a dictaphone in the hall next door.
Sometimes you would get a “Sound Desk Recording” – this invariably meant – recorded on a dictaphone by a bloke standing next to the sound desk.
Record Fairs would be a source of better sound quality recordings pressed on vinyl – usually with a £20 or £30 price tag.
Some bands actively promoted the recordings of the shows – Grateful Dead being the obvious example. The Damned were always amenable too.
Totally agree with point 2 – how is any band going to control “illegal” recording when everyone is holding up a phone?
Plus the phone recording is great – what I really want to do is see my favourite bands in a shaky recording with bad sound through a 3″ window.
anton says
I can only ever remember buying one bootleg – it was a Siouxsie & The Banshees LP before they were signed (anyone else remember seeing “sign the banshees” stencilled on walls in London? I got it from the only record shop where we could get punk stuff and as I recall it was brought out from under the counter for a “special customer”,. Don’t know what happened to it…I expect it had a black cover.
as for “recording” live gigs well….
Alias says
If it is the same one I got, which also had a black cover, it was the Peel sessions. Very disappointing as I had recorded them off the radio.
anton says
PS – Public Service Broadcasting of course.
Pizon-bros says
When I started to explored THE Internet archive, I noticed that “The Grateful Dead” encouraged rather early bootlegging and therefore has an own chapter in their archive. Some groups release their own bootlegs that are not real bootlegs (TSOOL), but records without the cover, some choose a bootleg as official (The Rolling Stones, I think), we are missing one think now: can’t we start doing bootlegs the hard way again then ? Forbide smartphone and give a special place for the oldtimer bootleggers ? There are so many hipster that brags about their old tape recorders, put them in use !
https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead
Baron Harkonnen says
Your blog reminds me of the time I saw Roger McGuinn at The International 1 in Manchester. We were actually sat, my girlfriend and I, at tables at the front of the stage, there were no more than 60-70 people there. Anyhow at an adjacent table I caught this guy`s look and he mine both with guilty faces, turns out we both had cassette recorders under our coats on the table recording our Byrd friend`s `tweets`!
Me and my friends used to spend a fortune on bootleg tapes at record fairs in the 80`s, £10-£15 for a 2 x C90`s of for example a Dylan concert, fucking robbery but we paid anyway and yes the vinyl versions were double the price. Nowadays as we all know we can get high quality stuff off tinternet for nowt. In bootleg terms this is “The Golden Age”.
Colin H says
I’m not 100% sure what you’re saying in point 1, Mouse. For me, though – having collected a few tapes back in the day by various acts – there are one or two 70s artists for whom I feel bootlegs STILL offer an essential part of their canon. I mean, offering something that still isn’t adequately represented through their official canon alone – yes, even in these days of supposedly lots of extra stuff coming out on archive sets and deluxe versions of albums etc.
I still believe that the Who need a live box set, which has occasionally been promised in the past, covering the late 60s-70s – full shows from San Francisco 1971 and Swansea 1976 for a start.
Focus’ 1972 BBC Radio 1 In Concert will likely never be released offially because Jan Akkerman has vetoed it. It’s available in FM quality as ‘The Sky Will Fall Over London Tonight’ and remains the essential live Focus document.
And finally… I have over 50 Mahavishnu Orchestra mostly soundboard quality live recordings on CD and almost every one of them gets regularly played: the nature of the band is such that every night really WAS different, massively so. The MO, for various reasons, have had very few official additions to their basic 1971-76 canon in the decades since: just 40 mins worth of ‘The Lost Trident Sessions’ (studio, June 1973) and 60 mins worth of additional recordings from the two ‘Between Nothingness & Eternity’ Central Park concerts of August 1973, plus 50 mins of DVD from Montreux 1974 (bafflingly edited down from a full 2+ hour concert). Compare that with, say, the way the King Crimson canon from the same era has been expanded (100s of hours of live and studio extras).
My point, then, is that there will always, I think, be some artists where – for reasons to do with band politics, label politics, whatever – the keen aficionado will have to look elsewhere for genuinely essential parts of the jigsaw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDnCCZgiGuM
Mousey says
Colin, I meant to say “except for..” – curse my lazy proofreading.
Carl says
I agree that there is little excitement in getting hold of a bootleg these day. But then they are (more or less, setting aside minimal cost like downloading and memory costs or a blank disc if you want to burn it) free, so you don’t have the emotional.
On the other hand Colin is absolutely on the money when he writes of “offering something that still isn’t adequately represented through their official canon alone”.
The great thing is how digital technology has liberated boots from the hands of men interested in the money to fans. Who pays for a boot these days?
But I don’t restrict myself to 70s bands alone. One of my absolutely favourite Steve Earle albums is a recording of him with the Del McCoury Band, recorded in Malmo, Sweden in May 1999. It’s an absolutely storming set. I got that in the days of CD Trees, signing up for discs and partaking in the process whereby live sets could be cascaded to anyone who registered interest.
This has of course been superceded by torrents.
When I logged into The Afterword a few minutes ago I was (and still am) listening to a recording of a gig I went to last year – Jackson Browne at The Albert Hall. On the whole it’s a pretty good recording, albeit the bass is slightly boomy. But the beauty was I could download it and if it was crap I’d delete it at minimum loss. But the gig is out there in the ether for anyone who wants it; and it was a fabulous gig that can now be heard by any JB fan.
I don’t really care that the world (beloved especially of music journos in the 70s and 80s who seemed to have better access to them than us, the mere plebs whom they sneered at for lack of access) of elitist collecting has been democratised and so much more is now available to music lovers.
While I do embrace live recordings, I’ve never bought or downloaded a pirate version of an official release. I still think that aspect is wrong. Which takes us to streaming services etc, but that is a whole other issue.
Jed Clampett says
There used to be a guy in Camden market who would do bootleg CDs on the fly.
He had a huge list of tracks (all reggae). You could make your selection and go and have a beer, when you came back it was ready … he even had a printer to do you a nice cover with the tracklisting and some kind of graphics. If you wanted some advice on what was worth having he was a mine of information. Just tell him what kind of thing you were looking for and he would always have good tips about stuff you didn’t know.
No idea if he is still there, but it was a great service.
Colin H says
I understand Mark Knopfler offers a similar service to punters exiting his arena showsv these days. He has a van outside recording and hi speed duplicating that very show.
Not sure if Knopf himself hangs around the van in a shifty mac telling punters, ‘I’d go fer tracks 1 to 5, guv’nor, then skip the boring middle bit an’ ‘ave the ‘its at the end, knowhorrameangorblimeyfivertoyouguv?’
Chrisf says
I remember getting originally cassettes and then CD bootlegs from the various record fairs in Manchester when I was at Uni and after. Mostly concerts that I had been too, but sometimes stuff from favourite artists.
When I moved to Singapore in the early 90s, a lot of the CD shops stocked a whole range of bootleg CDs from Italian labels – the one I remember was KTS (Kiss The Stone), but there were countless others. It seemed that these were legal due to some law in Italy (no idea why) and I was definitely like the proverbial kid in the candy store. I probably still, have a load of them on the shelves somewhere, although not listened for a long long time. I recall that the sound quality was pretty good.
hubert rawlinson says
Back in the seventies an Italian company copied Dylan’s bootleg the Great White Wonder and brought out a three volume set of their own.
Bargepole says
it’s not uncommon these days to be able to buy an ‘official’ cd of the gig on the way out after the show – or at the very least order one via the band’s website.
Junior Wells says
I used to buy vinyl boots ESP Dylan , Parti Smith , Little Feat. Continued on with Dylan CDs – some of the crystal cat stuff came with wall posters.
Did quite a bit of recording for a while but stopped as partners don’t like not talking.
@mousey was the Aussie bootleg place called Toad Hall ?
Colin H says
I believe that was a niche bootleg site, specialising solely in non-official versions of Ginger Baker drum solos.
Hawkfall says
One of the things about bootlegs was that, if they were an audience recording, they often had so much more atmosphere than the official live recordings.
There are heaps of Queen bootlegs on YouTube, and the mid 70s Japanese tours in particular are absolutely mental.
Contrast this with live albums, which have all gone through the filter of having each bane member turn up their instrument in the mix. Black Sabbath’s Live Evil is a notorious example of this: the audience sound like they’re in the next State.
fortuneight says
I used to enjoy going to record fairs and 2nd hand shops in the hope of finding a decent bootleg or two. I bought many, traded even more and ended up with a tiny number that got played more than once. It took me a while to grasp that I was into the tape trading more than the actual music on them. By this stage my TDK D-90 habit was several boxes a week.
I taped at gigs as well, and have a few that I’m really pleased with – there were many more that either just sounded duff, or where there was some kind of equipment failure. Again, it got to the point where I was more focused on the taping than actually enjoying the gig.
I still download bootlegs from the many online sources – at least now it’s inexpensive and easy to delete the rubbish, and I’ve tracked down one or two tracks that I had only poor high generation copies of that were worth looking for (Guns n Roses playing “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Jumping Jack Flash” in the studio, for example). I’ve also bought a few of the Instant Live or Concert Live releases that were sold to people who weren’t at the gig – I have some Allman Brothers, Bad Company and Thin Lizzy – the sound is usually a bit flat.
DFB and I are looking for volunteers for an Afterword podcast on bootlegs / taping / trading – any volunteers?
DogFacedBoy says
Yes this is still on the cards. Sorry for being so scatter-brained
deramdaze says
The bizarre thing is that the bootleg of, say, 10 or so scratchy Beatles’ out takes which would go for £25 plus about 30 years ago, is worth close to zero, but the bog-standard original pressing of an LP that shifted thousands and thousands, say ‘Revolver’ (£5 30 years ago), is highly desirable, and highly priced to…..erm……boot.
What’s the expression? Slowly, slowly, catches monkey?
DogFacedBoy says
Those classic Dylan, Fabs n Floyd vinyl boots are still worth big money on Fleabay. Some people still want the tangiable
Plus there are still CD n vinyl bootleg labels doing some good work. The Nick Drake 2 LP\CD set of last year was a labour of love in presentation and sleevenotes. Gives the official releases a right kicking.
Sets like Genuine 66, the Scorpio box of Dylan’s tour soundboards of that year with copious notes, photo booklets mini posters and “gold” CDs got the jump on Zimmy’s Bootleg Series and arguably did it better.
The rise of torrents has led to people being less grateful to tapers but oddly more expectant that someone else will tape the gig for them.
Carl says
Tell me more about this Nick Drake set of which you speak.
It has completely passed me by.
DogFacedBoy says
I have a photo somewhere of Mark Ellen with a copy (vinyl has less tracks than vinyl natch) but can’t find it
http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com/rover-records-label/nick-drake-a-day-gone-by-rover-records-rrcd-0001/
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1870
DogFacedBoy says
I mean vinyl has less than CD – EDIT FUNCTION!!!
Carl says
Thank you. I shall investigate.
Podicle says
On a tangential note, what is the choice Floyd circa Animals live boot? I want only one, the best one, and need good sound quality. And, er, where would a friend of mine find such a beast on the net, if he was so persuaded?
Carl says
Well I don’t know enough about PF bootlegs to be able to say which is the best, but having said that Traders Den doesn’t allow just any torrent to be posted and they have quality thresholds.
Therefore this one which is a soundboard is probably pretty good:
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=109619&highlight=Pink+Floyd
or this one which is a longer show.
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=111285&highlight=Pink+Floyd
I have heard the latter set and the quality is pretty good.
DogFacedBoy says
Yeah Oakland is a great show.
Podicle says
You are both fine gents.
Bargepole says
Oakland is a good one for sure but scan through here and you’ll find a selection of live shows from that time, plus some alternate studio versions of the album tracks.
http://floydpodcast.com/
Alias says
It is a long time since I bought a bootleg. The live recordings always tended to be more miss than hit. White label vinyl copies of out of print, hard to find albums were usually a good investment and considerably cheaper than the original would be at a Record Fair or a 2nd handshop that knew their stuff.
Mousey says
Junior, that name rings a faint bell. It might even have still been going in the early 80s and advertised in Juke and RAM – could that right?
RChappo says
I started buying bootleg cassettes in the mid-80s from record fairs – the ones with the garish colored covers as mentioned earlier. Had a few years of trading Beatles and related boots via post with a few people from the UK and overseas. It was fun and quite exciting at the time. I have a big plastic tub in my basement with hundreds of bootleg cassettes in it of many different artists.
I have done my fair share of recording of shows myself, starting with a recording Walkman, then a minidisc recorder and now a digital recorder. I share recordings with friends or keep them for my own personal use these days (not that I go to many gigs now). I used to share my recordings on torrent sites but the audio snobs put me off – too much emphasis on the kit and not the music. Took all the fun out of it.
Anyway these days any two-bit concert is recorded in some form or other and available online the day after…or periscoped live as it happens, so I don’t bother much anymore.
I’m typing this while watching a bootleg DVD of Wings BTW.
Junior Wells says
Yes was based in Melb northern suburbs a mate knew the bloke running it. Forget the details now. Had a big catalogue.
Harry Tufnell says
Wilco make a point of allowing taping at their shows as long as the venue allows it, strange as the presence of a video camera or phone has on many occasions caused Jeff Tweedy to have punters ejected from gigs.
Loads of them available with the blessing of the band here http://www.owlandbear.com/wilco-archive/#.VXVSF-fZdE4
I collect Costello bootlegs and promos on vinyl and rarely play them, it’s almost just a habit now, I’ve many more unofficial EC records than commercially released material – although I’ve got a lot of that as well.