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Bootleg LP's

Pauleye58

Pauleye58

Purveyor of Boots
I collect bootleg LP's, mainly by Bob Dylan. I own all of his music recorded on major record labels, and my boot count is at 223. Many of the 223 include multi disc sets, colored and multi-colored vinyl, and picture discs. Almost all of the vinyl is live performances, alternate takes, and rehearsal material, not available on any other vinyl, tape or CD. Some of the LP's have very early work, as far back as 1961. The quality can be very poor, good, or soundboard quality. The album covers are just great in most instances. I consider my boots to be a part of America's music history, and a history of the music by the poet laureate of the 20th century, Robert Allen Zimmerman

What are your thoughts on Dylan bootlegs?
 
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Great Topic!

My favorite is a A Tree With Roots. I have CDR copies of the five disc set, (I have a very generous friend who let me copy it) so it's a bootleg of a bootleg. I also really like the Royal Albert Hall stuff, but you can buy a good legit copy thesedays.
 
Pauleye58 said:
I collect bootleg LP's, mainly by Bob Dylan. I own all of his music recorded on major record labels, and my boot count is at 223. Many of the 223 include multi disc sets, colored and multi-colored vinyl, and picture discs. Almost all of the vinyl is live performances, alternate takes, and rehearsal material, not available on any other vinyl, tape or CD. Some of the LP's have very early work, as far back as 1961. The quality can be very poor, good, or soundboard quality. The album covers are just great in most instances. I consider my boots to be a part of America's music history, and a history of the music by the poet laureate of the 20th century, Robert Allen Zimmerman

What are your thoughts on Dylan bootlegs?
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That's awesome...
I've only been into vinyl for about 3-4 months now, so I don't have any "Boots" on vinyl.
However I basically listened to nothing but live music for about 10 years.
I've got about 600 Grateful Dead shows (SBDs), 200 Dylan, 500 Phish, etc...

I see Grateful Dead boots on Ebay from time to time, but they're expensive and the quality doesn't seem to be too great like you were saying.

I like the idea of having all the different colored vinyl and covers though. I have 1 colored vinyl, it's a lime green from Phish's Mike Gordon.

I'm a huge Dylan fan. I actually thought about buying a boot from ebay the other week of Dylan/Dead. But I have all that stuff downloaded, so I didn't know how good the quality was and didn't want to pay that much.
 
Love those vinyl boots. I've been buying them since 1976...back in the days when "Still Rare Records" was advertising in Rolling Stone Magazine (anyone remember that fantastic boot outlet?), and when "Backroom Records" in Amherst was open for business (an bootleg-only store right on the main street...I remember seeing three of The Ramones there with dozens of Beatles bootlegs in their hands). You really never knew what you were going to get in terms of quality, but they continue to fascinate me as sheer objects from a vanishing era. Not entirely vanished because I just saw a new two lp Velvet Underground boot. Bravo...
 
My prized possession bootleg is a Jonathan Richman boot.

I have found many a Grateful Dead bootleg but those go to my buddy Dave.
 
Got a few. Found a Springsteen one with colored vinyl at a thrift. No Dylan boots though.

Record store back in the day used to call them "collectors records."
 
Last term for boots I heard was ROIO - Recordings Of Indeterminate Origin - some are enjoyable, but some are of such poor fidelity that I can't appreciate the concert beneath all the noise. I had a Roxy Music concert from, I think, Baltimore, with two teenage girls yakking through the whole show!!
That kind of inconsiderate behaviour is one reason I go to few concerts (or movies) any more ...
I want to HEAR the BAND, not some moronic fool yarbling about their clique or little adventures ... I WANT TO HEAR THE BAND!
 
reggaenaut said:
:D


BTW interesting speaker: your avatar
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Its a JBL L-200 - modified heavily into a 3 way system. I added a 2405 supertweeter to the basic horn-woofer system,
and added a handbuilt crossover network based on the JBL 4333 design. I updated the 15in woofer to model 2234,
and moved the 2420 midrange driver from the original internal metal horn to the external walnut smith horn.
I've also plugged 1 of the two existing ports with a pipe cap - aka a "zilch plug."
The cabinet had great SAF (spouse approval factor) and sounds real nice too.
The room has a cathedral ceiling and the pair of them fill it with great sounds ...
 

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Pauleye58 said:
What are your thoughts on Dylan bootlegs?
Click to expand...

Seeing that his collected live output that is in general circulation is available for FREE by trading with fellow Dylan fans, I see the bootleg LP's nothing more than a novelty.

Generally how much did you spend on your 223 dylan bootlegs?
 
I don't think you can put a dollar amount on a bootleg that is a prized possession. I mean, I LOVE my bootleg sites where I can download flac files of unreleased material...but I also love my Beatles bootlegs that I began buying when I was 17 years old. In the mid-70s you really had to do some searching for these discs, and you met alot of cool people that not only collected the same thing, but could offer tips on where to get more. The first "Beatleg" I ever bought was titled "As Sweet As You Are." Basically just a comp of BBC broadcasts, but at the time I was blown away. I had every commercial Beatles disc...but here were a dozen tunes I had never heard! Great fun...and priceless in its own way!
 
More about Boots!

Back in July of 2008, I was approached by Amazon.com to write a review for the book "Bootleg: The Rise And Fall Of The Secret Recording Industry" by Clinton Heylin. Here is what I wrote:

For Love of the Music, July 7, 2008
Bootlegs! To the vinyl aficionado, who thinks that music should be clear and concise, bootlegs provide sounds that make them wince. To the music aficionado, who sits on the edge of his seat waiting to hear the next note no matter the clicks and hisses of the vinyl, bootlegs provide honesty and visions of the music maker. Heylin's thought provoking history of bootlegs fills the reader with the hopes of acquiring a collection of this soul swelling music ripped into a piece of vinyl. I began collecting "boots" quite a few years ago, together with copies of Hot Wacks. Heylin's Bootleg is the definitive history of a time when the music meant more than the artist or label. I applaud Heylin for being the master scribe for the genre!

If you are interested in music bootlegs, pick up a copy!
 
I forget the year, think it was 1985+/-, I was in Sidney Australia in Chinatown just crusin and partying and I stumbled onto a bootleg LP store! A 'whole good sized little store' with nothing but bootleg LPs. Never got any, I was too busy drinkin Swan Lagers. Don't know if that is a happy story or a sad story. LOL. All I remember is that they weren't expensive, but they weren't cheap either, maybe $10 for regular ones to $12-14 each for the real 'special rare ones', even for the store to get. They were all color coded so you knew which ones were the expensive and the hard to get ones. They even spelled it out for ya on like little memo sheets attached to the records. Should of put the beers down for awhile!
 
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Had a CSN&Y boot recorded at the LA Forum in 1970---2 record set that didn't sound too bad. Sold it. A few days ago I was going thru an unsorted box of LPs and found a grungy plain white jacket. Inside? A Stones boot! From the songs, I'm guessing it was recorded on the same tour as "Get Yer Ya-Yas Out"...nothing from "Sticky Fingers" or "Exile" on it. Quality's not so hot...might sell it, too.
 
These boots are made for walking and that's what there gonna do.....


I have maybe 20-25 bootlegs in my collection of albums and to be honest I rarely if ever play them.
 
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