Bootleg Beauties - The Adventure Continues

A couple of treats from my recent flea market adventure.

I went to my first record fair, and after spending around thrice my original budget there, found a flea market around the corner with so many irresistible goodies.  I decided to venture further down the bootleg rabbit hole and while stocking up on some nice rarities to sell to my lovely customers on Discogs, I naturally selected a couple for my own collection!

Pearl Jam - Eddie Sings The Blues, side-A sees Eddie perform 3 tracks with the Doors, the grit and gravel in his voice giving the songs a whole new aura.  Side-B has a particularly cool rendition of The Who's My Generation performed right here in the UK.

Numero Dos, The White Stripes - BBC sessions.  It would appear that the tracks are taken from two John Peel Sessions in 2001 and this makes the record very special to me, as I know that John Peel was very fond of The White Stripes, and that The White Stripes were very fond of John Peel.  And well I'm very fond of them all.  I notice there's not a great deal of information about which tracks come from which session out there on the world wide web so I've tried to unpick it for you below.

Full track listing Eddie Sings The Blues:

A1	Roadhouse Blues (Eddie Vedder and the Doors, Century Plaza Hotel, LA, 1993)
A2	Break On Through (Eddie Vedder and the Doors, Century Plaza Hotel, LA, 1993)
A3	Light My Fire (Eddie Vedder and the Doors, Century Plaza Hotel, LA, 1993)
A4	Catholic Boy (Basketball Diaries OST)
B1	Hunger Strike (Riverside Club: UK Tour 1992)
B2	My Generation (Riverside Club: UK Tour 1992)
B3	I've Got A Feeling (Riverside Club: UK Tour 1992)
B4	Keep On Rocking' In The Free World (MTV Music Awards, with Neil Young, 1993)

Full track listing BBC Sessions:

A1	Lord Send Me An Angel (Peel Acres, November 2001)
A2	Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground (Peel Acres, November 2001)
A3	Little Room And The Union For Ever (Peel Acres, November 2001)
A4	The Same Boy You've Always Known (Peel Acres, November 2001)
A5	I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman (Maida Vale, July 2001)
B1	Screwdriver (Maida Vale, July 2001)
B2	St James Infirmary Blues (Peel Acres, November 2001)
B3	Boll Weevil (Maida Vale, July 2001)
B4	Rated X (Peel Acres, November 2001)
B5	Build A Home Memphis (Peel Acres, November 2001)

Evangelical About Vinyl - Viva la Revolution(s per minute)

I'm an early bird, weekdays I can often be found in the office by 7:30am.  The sooner you get there, the sooner you can leave right?

At that time of day the place has a Marie Celeste air about it but I do have one colleague who is usually up with the lark.  Being the only one in, he is often bombarded with my tales of record collecting adventures, which I presumed he always tolerated as one of my eccentric (but hopefully endearing!) activities.

He has one of the most logical, methodical minds I've ever encountered.  Digital music is perfectly aligned to be his format of choice, all those zeros and ones.  I always fancied that analog would be too unpredictable for him by far.

However, I must have piqued his interested because he dug out his Dad's old record player and gave it a whirl.  He agreed that it had a richer, warmer sound to playing music through his computer.

One lunchtime he accompanied me to Terry's Music in Pontypridd to pick up some records I'd ordered and I was a little surprised to see him inspecting the record players and asking lots of questions.

Then when I told him that most new records come with download codes, I could see the tide turning.

A little while later, he came in and announced that he was getting a record player for Christmas.  I was most chuffed to have influenced that particular letter to Santa.

So when I pulled his name from the Secret Santa hat the other day I didn't have to think twice about what to get.

I picked up these little lovelies from my all time favourite music shop, Red House Music, Aberdare.  I really hope he likes them, but to be honest if you don't like the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Sam Cooke then your ears are broke.

Dear Santa I would also like a present which is 12" x 12" please

My younger cousin recently helped me with some decorating.  We couldn't agree on a radio station, he's more Radio 1, I'm more Radio 6, so we settled on playing some records instead.

I couldn't help but smile to see him scrubbing paint off his hands in a rush to turn over the record.  Soon he was devouring them, with several queued up ready to be played.  He started asking lots of questions like how to tell a 1st press from a reissue, and pawed through the lovely book in my copy of The Who's Tommy when we had finished.

Then on the last day of decorating, after I'd worked the poor boy ragged, we flopped down on the sofa and with a grin he says to me:

"Guess what, I was talking to Uncle M about records when I left here the other other night and he's digging his old record player out for me to have."

So that's my second convert... who's next?

What is Bootleg Vinyl and Why Do I Want One?

The term 'bootleg' applies predominately to music and alcohol that has been made and distributed illegally.

I don't know why only these two things exclusively but one might argue that they are happy enough bedfellows.  It doesn't for example, apply to DVDs, and you wont find a bootleg Balenciaga handbag. (Though you will find fake ones, I know because I have one from a market in Bangkok.)

With music it tends to refer to a recording of a live performance in particular.  Often these recordings are just circulated amongst fans but some bootleggers have it down to a fine art, doing much of the sound engineering and post-production you would expect a record label to do - and many fetch a price on grounds of rareness.

The "problem" here is that said record company is now cut out of the loop and not making any money from the bootlegged work.  Money which they are entitled to through copyright law.

Now you don't need me moralising on the subject, but just for the record (excuse the pun), I'll declare my stance.

Were you, the artist/label, planning to release a recording of that gig yourself?

• No.  No problem then.  We are fans and we want more recordings, of more stuff, at more venues.  We will likely buy your stuff alongside the bootlegs.
• Yes.  Well then you'd better make the official version better than, or different to, the bootleg if you want us to buy it.  If you cant manage that, go have a little cry to your hedge fund manager in Zurich or something.

If you are still feeling any modicum of guilt regarding bootlegs, read this great article, Bootlegs, An Insight into the Shady Side of Music Collecting, which highlights how bootlegged material has actually driven the direction of what an artist releases by showing the label what the fans really want.

I'll tell you a little yarn of my own.  A good friend of mine runs a really super music shop in town.  He attends record fairs and several times spotted none other than Mr Jimmy Page snapping up bootleg Led Zep recordings.  Back last year he says to me 'I suspect they'll start reissuing Led Zeppelin albums now, with "bonus, previously unreleased" material.'  Not long after, the music news was full of talk of the current Led Zep reissues.  Talk to your local music shop proprietor - they have their finger on the pulse!

Now the last thing I want is the downfall of any record labels - I'm a huge music fan and I dig a lot of the innovative work they do and of course the wonderful artists they support and bring to my ears.  I am just not a fan of creative monopolies - 'viva la grassroots, fan-led pressings', 'VIVA LA BOOTLEGGER'.

This discussion started with intrigue around a Them Crooked Vultures LP that I stumbled across:  Them Crooked Vultures - Live at Rockpalast 2009.

Label Details = 'Not on Label'.

I have a deep appreciation of the musical mind of Josh Homme, I am a fan of Kyuss, QOTSA and the Dessert Sessions, not to mention Nirvana, Foo Fighters and Led Zeppelin.  How on earth I have neglected to properly familiarise myself with Them Crooked Vultures, boasting members from all of these beloved bands?  I extol the virtues of the above bands live - grungey, noisey, raw and skilled - so I decided I'd like to hear a little live recording of Them Crooked Vultures.

And that's when I found 'Live at Rockpalast - Not on Label'.  This, I thought,  could be amazing.  A bunch of artists (Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones) known for understanding the importance of musicality over production and having a reputation for being kick ass live, potentially recorded straight off an amp at the gig.

Trying not to get totally carried away with myself, I decided to get a reality check from an audiophile friend who I knew wouldn't like the idea.

He didn't like the idea, he didn't like it one bit.

What kid of amateur equipment may have been used?  Has this rogue recorder gotten 'creative' in production between grabbing it from the gig and the vinyl press?

My friend's opinions and knowledge on vinyl are not to be rubbished but we are different people.  He has some LPs that he doesn't play because they are too rare and collectable.  Me?  I'm  more a 'spin it to death because it sounds so good' kind of girl.

So I am sitting here having a cup of tea and reading my order confirmation for Them Crooked Vultures, Live at Rockpalast 2009.  I'm intrigued to find out if my first bootleg vinyl will be all I hope, or whether my friend gave sound advice when he said 'I wouldn't touch it with someone else's barge pole.'