Heartland

What's the story with bootlegs. Some of them look professionally made, pressed records. Who makes them?

Another question, which is the best bootleg ever made, My fave is Tilburg 2005 (probably cos I was there).

And ask QB, I'm sure he'll change your name, if he ever opens his mail.

Some bootlegs are known to come from tapes supplied by band members, and in the case of some bands, with the intention of being bootlegged.

Spiritualized's Amazing Grace LP is a notorious recent example - I had it about 8 months before it was released.

The Sisters Victims of Circumstance definitely came from a tape Gary gave to someone, but whether or not he had intended it being bootlegged is another matter.

Likewise, someone close to - or involved with - the band has to be the source of at least some of the soundboard recordings (and demos) that come out.

But nonetheless bootlegging does violate copyright, and you can be sure that none of the money goes back to the band (bad thing) or the record company (only a bad thing if they support their bands).

But some bands do very much allow taping, trading, swapping and sharing. And probably all bands, whether they would admit it or not, would definitely prefer that to bootlegging.

Illegal copies of officially released material are far far less likely to be calmly ignored than live recordings of stuff that was never going to be released, and are only of interest to fans who have already bought all of the official stuff they can find anyway.

In other words...

Nicely put with accompanying graphics Michael.

James Blast wrote:Nicely put with accompanying graphics Michael.

Ripped off your own original idea a little, but sure it was a good one and worth a second go.

eat this 'rumour': A DJ (yet unnamed, go figure) of Belgian radio company Studio Brussel was a close friend of E in the eighties. He told once to me - or you: "Andy made a lot of bootlegs by himself."



That the DJ told me this, is 100% true. If the fact is true, i dunno.

It's been contemplated before and given the postcards from new york, I'd not find it that surprising. Or at all surprising, tbh.

Could it not perhaps have been a way for certain/some/all band members to (ahem) suppliment their incomes? Ie, they got a cut from the bootlegger? Would have been a nice way to bypass the tedious business of record company advances and royalties...?

Muppet wrote:Could it not perhaps have been a way for certain/some/all band members to (ahem) suppliment their incomes? Ie, they got a cut from the bootlegger? Would have been a nice way to bypass the tedious business of record company advances and royalties...?

It's something that I've suspected too.

I would agree. I seem to recall that in the late eighties the Sisters were one of the most bootlegged bands around...if not the most, although how you measure such a thing I don't know. But the sheer quantity of recordings in circulation at the time (and generally of decent quality) surely wouldn't have been permitted without some 'compensation' to

markfiend wrote:

Muppet wrote:Could it not perhaps have been a way for certain/some/all band members to (ahem) suppliment their incomes? Ie, they got a cut from the bootlegger? Would have been a nice way to bypass the tedious business of record company advances and royalties...?

It's something that I've suspected too.

Guess it could come in handy when they needed a quick extra bit of drugs or so and didn't have any cash on them, right? Very much doubt the soundboard boots would get in circulation for free as well...

The reason a lot of them were so well-pressed is that the Italian (IIRC) copyright laws were different; I'm not 100% sure how different, but the practical upshot was that you could turn up to a vinyl pressing plant in Italy with a tape and they would pretty much press it up for you no questions asked.

As I understand the matter, possibly the most infamous Sisters bootleggers "the Paolazzograssi brothers" (however it's spelled) had some connection with the Sisters's road crew, but were not operating with the consent or knowledge of any of the band.

markfiend wrote:The reason a lot of them were so well-pressed is that the Italian (IIRC) copyright laws were different; I'm not 100% sure how different, but the practical upshot was that you could turn up to a vinyl pressing plant in Italy with a tape and they would pretty much press it up for you no questions asked.

As I understand the matter, possibly the most infamous Sisters bootleggers "the Paolazzograssi brothers" (however it's spelled) had some connection with the Sisters's road crew, but were not operating with the consent or knowledge of any of the band.

one of "the brothers" it was the guy (pete? dave?) from that record shop under the station ("bad"?).

the story goes that soundboards were done quite often by the mixing desk people (one of which being claire, von's ex).

this chap was part of the scene at the time, and mates with a lot of the sisters cast & crew.

claiming to be an avid fan (which he was, to be fair) and a collector (which i guess he also was, technically anyway) he managed to obtain a lot of these recordings (under the premise of "oooh, i'd LOVE to hear the recording of that gig!!")

once in his posession they were sent off for mastering/pressing, and then returned

some time later, presumably to remove the suspicion, these gigs would surface as well-produced & packaged bootlegs.

or so i gather.

thats the way i've heard it from a couple of people within the sisters camp anyway, both of whom feel a bit cheated ("stiffed" as one person put it) by the whole enterprise...

dinky daisy wrote:eat this 'rumour': A DJ (yet unnamed, go figure) of Belgian radio company Studio Brussel was a close friend of E in the eighties. He told once to me - or you: "Andy made a lot of bootlegs by himself."

...the "smoke & mirrors" boot,for example

Aye, QB that's the story I heard. Probably from your good self now I come to think of it.

Considering most of them are soundbaord somebody must have run a tape. After that it's not *that* difficult to get hold off. Crew is often not on a retainer, etc. - not accusing anyone but I suspect the temptation is there.

A lot of bands tape their gigs as a kind of quality control thing too, so maybe the soundboard tapes were intended to be that?

It is true that nearly all bands keep a soundboard recording of each gig just to see what sounds good and that kind of thing. So it's possible that some tapes could've been leaked/stolen.

Most of the boots I have heard are utter crap in terms of quality.
They can't possibly be desk jobs.
The recent tour recordings all sound like "back of the room" jobs to me
What's the best quality boot out there?

Pista wrote:Most of the boots I have heard are utter crap in terms of quality.
They can't possibly be desk jobs.
The recent tour recordings all sound like "back of the room" jobs to me
What's the best quality boot out there?

Most would say "Disguised In Black", but I'm just doing some work on a recording of Kolinsborg Stockholm 17 May 1985, and I think it's much better.

"Floorshow" short as it is, is rather damn fine and clear...
and then there's another one from 1984-5 that is lost in The Blast Archive, sorry

James Blast wrote:"Floorshow" short as it is, is rather damn fine and clear...

Damn right, brother.

It may be incomplete, but The Swinging Pig knew how to make a bootleg sound clear.

But I still stand by Exile On Euphoria, loud crowd, louder band.

Dark wrote:But I still stand by Exile On Euphoria, loud crowd, louder band.

Kumlaut oln?

No, London Forum.

Dark wrote:No, London Forum.

hmm... don't got that yin