HELP PLEASE Looking for anecdotes, insider info & memories regarding the classic (pre-90) bootlegs

[Elon]

hi guys,

I am nearing completion of the Volume I of the Sisters bootleg encyclopedia (a project 5 years in the making).

The volume 1 covers all the LP and 12" vinyls (so no Greek lathe cuts, sorry Taylor). At the time of writing, the manuscript includes 264 pages of pure nerdiness (that's not including the color plates).

Volume 1 has 156 entries (each unique title counts as an entry. Sleeve, vinyl and label variations are covered within each entry).

Since I hope this work will be the final and definitive resource on the topic, I would be very grateful if anybody can share interesting information, trivia, experience or photos of rare memorabilia they have related to the bootlegs.

I'm especially interested to hear from people with knowledge of how these boots were made and distributed: sourcing of content, design notes for the sleeves, country of pressing and packaging, number of copies, backstabbing and betrayals, etc.

I plan on delivering the final manuscript by the end of this year. PM to request my email in case you'd like to contribute.

Thank you.

VOLUME 1 - TABLE OF CONTENT

1. 1983 (2LP)
2. 1983-1985 Live Recordings (LP)
3. A Black Pack (2LP)
4. A Fire In The Hull (LP)
5. A Merciful Release (LP)
6. Adult Movies (2LP)
7. Afterhours (LP)
8. Amsterdam (2LP)
9. Ancona (LP)
10. Armageddon Outtakes (LP)
11. Beware The Ghost (2LP)
12. Beyond Never Land/Before The Flood/Before Neverland (LP)
13. Black Dominion (LP)
14. Black Moon (LP)
15. Black October (2LP)
16. Black Planet (3LP)
17. Blood Money (LP)
18. Boys Of The Spires (LP)
19. Brixton Ace 1983 (LP)
20. Brothers And Sisters (LP)
21. Carmina Burana (LP)
22. Colours In Carnage (2LP)
23. Come Together In Mercyland (LP)
24. Cryptic Flowers (LP)
25. Dance On The Fire (LP)
26. Dark Ages (2LP)
27. Dark Paradise (LP)
28. Dead Flowers (LP)
29. Demo Obscurities (LP)
30. Demos (LP)
31. Demos And Outtakes 1981-1984 (LP)
32. Disguised In Black (2LP)
33. Don Juan (LP)
34. Echoes Vol. 2 (LP)
35. Echoes Vol. 3 (LP)
36. Echoes Vol. 4 (LP)
37. Electric Garden (LP)
38. Enter The Sisters (LP)
39. Feel No Pain (The SSV-Project) (LP)
40. First & Last & Forever (LP)
41. First And Last And Always (“EMI promo”) (LP)
42. First And Last And Always (picture disc) (LP)
43. Floodland Demos (LP)
44. Floor Show (2LP)
45. Floorshow (LP)
46. Gent Armageddon 85 (2LP)
47. Ghost Riders (LP)
48. Ghostly Crew (LP)
49. Ghostriderz (LP)
50. Gimme Shelter (BBC Sessions) (LP)
51. Greatest Hits Volume Two (2LP)
52. Green Eldritch (2xLP)
53. Half-Moon Over Amsterdam (LP)
54. Halloween In Arkham (LP)
55. Halloween's Day (2LP)
56. Hard Reign (LP)
57. Heaven Can Wait (LP)
58. Heidelberg, Rhein Neckar Halle, 22 November 1990 (LP)
59. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye (LP)
60. Holland 83 (LP)
61. House Of Reptiles (LP)
62. I Can't Await To Meet My Deadly Friends (LP)
63. Ice to the Eskimos (LP)
64. In Concert At The Royal Albert Hall (2LP)
65. In Red (LP)
66. In The Dark Night (LP)
67. In The Shadow Of Angels (LP)
68. Jesus Loves The Sisters (LP)
69. Kill The Lights (LP)
70. Kings & Queen (2LP)
71. Knockin' On Docks' Door (2LP)
72. Knocking On Heavens Door (2LP)
73. Knockin' On Nottingsham's Door Vol. 2 (LP)
74. Land Of The Kings (LP)
75. Light And Shadow (LP)
76. Live At Big Club 1985 (LP)
77. Live At Kir-Club Hamburg, August 31, 1983 (LP)
78. Live At Leeds (LP)
79. Live At The Brixton Ace (LP)
80. Live At The Melkweg (LP)
81. Live In Amsterdam 1984 (LP)
82. Live In Holland (TAKRL) (LP)
83. Live In Hull (LP)
84. Live In Hull 1983 (LP)
85. Live In Maastricht 1984 (LP)
86. Live In Norway (LP)
87. Live In Oxford 1984 (LP)
88. Live in Powerhouse - England 1985 (2LP)
89. Live In The Troyan Horse (LP)
90. London, Electric Ballroom (11.08.1983) (LP)
91. Lord Of Darkness (LP)
92. Lyceum 1982 (LP)
93. Melkweg Amsterdam Holland June 2nd, 1984 (LP)
94. Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland, June 2nd, 1984 (LP)
95. Mercyful Release (LP)
96. Miss Rayon (LP)
97. Moving Shadows In A Land Of Darkness (LP)
98. No Time To Cry (2LP)
99. Obscure In Darkness (LP)
100. Oh The Sisters Of Mercy. They Are Not Departed Or Gone (LP)
101. Opened Paradise (2LP)
102. Opus Dei (2LP)
103. Out Through The Poison Door (LP)
104. Panic In Their Eyes (LP)
105. Possession (2LP)
106. Psychedelic Sessions (1984) (LP)
107. Psychedelic Sessions (1986) (LP)
108. Pure Live (LP)
109. Razorblades (At Mallemunt Festival 1983) (LP)
110. Recorded Live At Brixton Ace (LP)
111. Recorded Live At The Brixton Academy, England (LP)
112. Recorded Live At Vikateatret Oslo Norway 16.5.1985 (LP)
113. Remasters Sampler (LP)
114. Reptiles In The Basement (LP)
115. Revelations (LP)
116. Reverberation Across The Nation (1988) (LP)
117. Reverberation Across The Nation (2021) (LP+7”)
118. Romance & Assassination (LP)
119. Rough Diamonds (2LP) 19’33
120. Saints And Martyrs (LP)
121. Satanic Verses (2LP)
122. Serpents Kiss (2LP)
123. Shine Like Thunder (2LP)
124. Solitaire (LP)
125. Speed Kings 1990 (LP)
126. Speed Kings Live 90 (LP)
127. Stonehenge (LP)
128. Stranger (2LP)
129. Tender Mercies (LP)
130. Testament Of Ivar L. (2LP)
131. The Acid Rain (LP)
132. The Angels Of Sin (LP) 02:00
133. The Basement Tapes (2LP)
134. The Black Album (LP)
135. The Damage Done-Original Demotape 1981 (LP)
136. The Damage Is Done Part 1 & 2 (LP+Cas)
137. The Damage Is Done (LP)
138. The Dancer’s Reward (LP)
139. The Dark (3LP)
140. The Final Floorshow (LP)
141. The Garden Of Delight (LP)
142. The Grief (LP)
143. The Incredible History Of The Sisters Vol. I (LP)
144. The Incredible History Of The Sisters Vol. II (LP)
145. The Last Time Around (2LP)
146. The Lights Shine Clear Through The Sodium Haze (2LP)
147. The Quality Of Mercy (2LP)
148. The Return To Arkham (2LP)
149. Through The Years (3LP)
150. Time To Cry (2LP)
151. Tune In... Turn Off... Burn Out... (LP)
152. Victims Of Circumstance (LP)
153. Voices Above the Maelstrom (2LP)
154. WEA In-House Mixes (LP)
155. We’re All Aware Of That (LP)
156. Wholy Ghost (LP)

[alanm]

Alas I do not have any useful info for you.

But wow. Good luck with your project.

[Being645]

Same here, the info I've got is in the wiki ... still, great project ... ... looking forward to see the result ... ...

[andreww100]

DId you mange to contact Adrian Rostill / Western Dream. Apparently he started writing a book on the bootlegs, until he was asked to stop - but that would have been back in the day.

Andrew

[Gaijin]

Imagine a day when Elon's list will have links to streamable shares - a book with 156 Cd's seems unwieldy.

[andreww100]

Funny you should ask. I just replied to another thread with this:

Stephen King, The Stand (1978, p916)

“Mother Abagail calls him [Randall Flagg] the devil's pawn,” this strong, masculine voice said, originating somehow in the old woman's
wasted chest and emerging from her toothless mouth. “Maybe he's just the last magician of rational thought, gathering the tools of
technology against us. Maybe he's something more, something darker. I only know that he is. And I no longer think that sociology or
psychology or any other ology will put a stop to him. I think only white magic will do that.”

https://archive.org/details/thestand_st ... 5/mode/2up

[Elon]

excellent intel indeed
this will come in handy when I finally get to Volume 2: the 7-inch singles (around 2030)....

Funny you should ask. I just replied to another thread with this:

Stephen King, The Stand (1978, p916)

“Mother Abagail calls him [Randall Flagg] the devil's pawn,” this strong, masculine voice said, originating somehow in the old woman's
wasted chest and emerging from her toothless mouth. “Maybe he's just the last magician of rational thought, gathering the tools of
technology against us. Maybe he's something more, something darker. I only know that he is. And I no longer think that sociology or
psychology or any other ology will put a stop to him. I think only white magic will do that.”

https://archive.org/details/thestand_st ... 5/mode/2up