Your favourite bootlegs

[Turboellis]

On the most recent episode of the "We Buy Records" podcast one of the presenters was trying to advance a hair-brained theory, which I couldn't really understand: "If you buy a bootleg, you don't really own the music".

Well I own the music on the bootlegs I've bought, unless he can prove otherwise.

I am very fond of some of the bootlegs I've bought over the years including:

Television - Arrow (a fantastic recording of the band at My Father's Place, royalties given voluntarily to Tom Verlaine!)
https://www.discogs.com/Television-A...elease/2676549

Siouxsie peel sessions, some tracks playing fast
https://www.discogs.com/Siouxsie-The...release/978464

Pink Floyd - BBC 1967 (in lurid coloured vinyl)
https://www.discogs.com/Pink-Floyd-B...lease/12088455

and also really shoddy Taiwanese counterfeits:
https://www.discogs.com/Quicksilver-...elease/4791095

and then there was the Barbarella bootleg that was affordable when the official one was so expensive:
https://www.discogs.com/The-Bob-Crew...release/419735

One I always wished I had was Razorcuts by Buzzcocks.

I think part of the attraction for me was thet they weren't legal. I don't know what that says about me ...

Got any favourite bootlegs you'd like to yak about?

Transgressive Turbo

[Grim Lounge Cowboy]

I have a record by Terry Riley with Don Cherry. Live in Koln. Bad recording. Bad pressing.

I wonder whether Riley and/or Cherry’s estate endorsed it.

I did email Riley - no reply.

[Grim Lounge Cowboy]

Am I as morally compromised by listening on Youtube (much better recording)?

[eine]

Ian Townsend, formerly of this parish, and still here in spirit, got well into the boot scene, to say the least.

He did a lot of work into the 90s boot scene in the UK: https://www.forumusic.co.uk/l_b_b_intro.html

[Milesago]

I do like bootlegs though I tend to avoid straight forward live albums unless there is something unusual about them, like an early or under-recorded period of a band I like. Two recent-ish bootleg LP purchases that are good examples of this are:

Clay Allison (pre-Opal) – Live At The Electric Banana 5-22-1984
https://www.discogs.com/master/view/1777333

Rush - Live In St. Catharines, April 1974
https://www.discogs.com/Rush-Live-In...lease/13770532

Many of the bootlegs I've bought over the years have been illegal reissues of rare albums and in most cases I've replaced them with official reissues when they've become available. Download blogs curtailed my bootleg buying activity quite a lot because in the end I just wanted to hear the material and with very few exceptions could live without having the artefact itself if it was just a counterfeit. I dislike counterfeits or illegal reissues (some are really ugly, like one issue of the pre-Kraftwerk Organisation LP I recall) but sometimes, when the reissue market just isn't doing it's job and originals are way too pricey to contemplate, sometimes they are justified. The Huns essential single has never been reissued -- presumably there are legal hassles preventing this happening, as there is certainly enough interest to warrant it. In the meantine, your only option is this repro:

The Huns - Busy Kids
https://www.discogs.com/Huns-Busy-Kids/release/2985298

As far as I know the Soft Boys abandoned Radar LP has yet to be given proper reissue treatment, which is surprising given how much archive material has come out. Perhaps the Radar sessions are just not up to scratch in their eyes. Even so, this bootleg is still essential for fans:

The Soft Boys – The Day They Ate Brick (The Legendary Radar Sessions)
https://www.discogs.com/The-Soft-Boy...elease/3090845

Many 60s/70s era artists bootlegs became obsolete thanks to expanded CD reissues with bonus material, multi-disc and box sets, but one label seems to be specialising in pressing CD-only bonus material onto vinyl: Verne Records:
https://www.discogs.com/label/624709-Verne-Records

[Turboellis]

Am I as morally compromised by listening on Youtube (much better recording)?

Yes, you'll still go to hell, but not quite as fast.

[Turboellis]

Ian Townsend, formerly of this parish, and still here in spirit, got well into the boot scene, to say the least.

He did a lot of work into the 90s boot scene in the UK: https://www.forumusic.co.uk/l_b_b_intro.html

Thanks for the link.

[Turboellis]

Clay Allison (pre-Opal) – Live At The Electric Banana 5-22-1984
https://www.discogs.com/master/view/1777333

As far as I know the Soft Boys abandoned Radar LP has yet to be given proper reissue treatment, which is surprising given how much archive material has come out. Perhaps the Radar sessions are just not up to scratch in their eyes. Even so, this bootleg is still essential for fans:

That Clay Allison boot is nice. My copy of that Soft Boys boot was pressed off centre, which is a quality control problem that goes with the territory I guess. There are bootlegs and then there are bootlegs, some made with love and some made with only financial motivation.

[Headless mermaid]

https://www.discogs.com/Pharoah-Sanders-With-The-Latin-Jazz-Quintet-Spotlight-On-Pharoah-Sanders-With-The-Latin-Jazz-Quintet/release/1261970

[Turboellis]

Any particular reason?

[Milesago]

That Clay Allison boot is nice. My copy of that Soft Boys boot was pressed off centre, which is a quality control problem that goes with the territory I guess. There are bootlegs and then there are bootlegs, some made with love and some made with only financial motivation.

Did you try drilling a new centre hole? Puts all those school trigonometry skills to good use.

[Milesago]

Didvigs doesn't list that Pharaoh Sanders as a boot. What's the story?

[Turboellis]

Did you try drilling a new centre hole? Puts all those school trigonometry skills to good use.

I would have like to have tried. But by that time it was half way round the world as I had sold it. Do I give up too easily?

[Headless mermaid]

Didvigs doesn't list that Pharaoh Sanders as a boot. What's the story?

From what I understand somebody recorded the show secretly and Trip released it as without license. A few yrs ago it was re-released.