What is your favorite bootleg vinyl or cd?

Ah, the thrill of the forbidden — wondering if/when this thread gets shut down....

All you naughty black marketeers bragging on your ill-gotten pirate loot stored in tubs and whatnot! Fun while it lasts.

 

Zappa and the Mother's The Ark, but that might be one of those beat the boots/semi-official deals. I have no idea why, but I love that album.
A straight up no questions bootleg I love is Pink Floyd Hamilton '75. I know there's a few versions out there. The one I have is an audience recording that sounds better than some soundboards.

Honorable mention to the "Solo presents Live Wire" boot of Nirvana in Melbourne '92. Found a vinyl copy for 15 bucks.

 

Vinyl: Elvis' Greatest ****

Great packaging including prescription signed by Dr. Nichopolous

CD: The Band - Crossing The Great Divide 1961 - 1991

 

Tank For The Mammaries - Various artists

jerol

 

The Rolling Stones - Live at Leeds. The chess sessions.

 

Blind Faith - Studio Out-Takes ( several blues tracks that are far superior than anything on the deluxe version)

Nirvana - Rome 1994

Derek & The Dominoes - Lost Album out-takes

 

There is a SBD from Melbourne 1988 Feb as well. I was there.

 

Bob Dylan and the Band.

Guitar Kissing and the Contemporary Fix. Classic bootleg but the songs are what makes this a winner for me.

The Faces

That's All You Need and Shake, Shudder, Shiver. You just have not heard this amazing band until you hear the live.

Lot of Led Zeppelin bootlegs are great. But I like one called Thru the Years - A 4 CD set. It's a great alternative history of the band. The sound is ok. I'm hearing some NR or something on a few tracks. Despite the questionable sound, it's a fun set.

The Rolling Stones. Some Girls Are Bigger...

From the Some Girls Tour. I just love this version of the band. Magic! Also my introduction to the Stones.

 

Elvis Presley - Desert Storm
Elton John - Madman Shakes Tokyo
Simon & Garfunkel - Back To College

 

It does seem like a grey area.

 

Though somewhat superseded i'll always love the Beach Boys 1988 Smile boot cd. Mind blowing. I remember hearing that version of Wind Chimes and just knowing this was the best album (n)ever made. I still feel that way today.
The Sea Of Tunes series was also amazing.
Anything with unreleased Smile farts does it for me.

Fleetwood Mac - Live In London 1970 taken from the In Concert BBC broadcast shortly before Peter Green left the group. Simply an astonishing display by all 3 guitarists. This needs a full release. Now !
Dead Bust Blues - more live work from the Green-led Mac. Again, some of the finest playing i've heard. It is a great shame that apart from the Live In Boston set that Green and Kirwans finest moments are to be found on the 70 or so concert/radio session tapes in "underground " circulation.

Bob Dylan - I'm working a bit from memory but the 26 (?) cd set Jewels and Binoculars documenting 99% of the circulating 1966 World Tour plus studio outs/interviews. I am really hoping that Bob's 2016 Copyright set includes every last scrap of tape from this tour. Though the setlist does not vary, i never get tired of this stuff and i'm sure more concerts were taped. Where's the rest of Newcastle, Paris (never leaked) etc...1966 started with Wilson making Pet Sounds, Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, then the Fabs Revolver, Dylan's world tour and then the Smile album - best year for pop music. And then right at the end of 1966 Jimi Hendrix pops up. Wow.

Rolling Stones - I'm a Jones era fan but my choice has not been booted yet - Bill Wyman has an acetate of a session recorded for Radio Luxembourg on march 18th 1964. here's the tracklist -
Bye Bye Johnny ,Diddley Daddy ,I Wanna Be Your Man Little By Little Look What You've Done Mona Not Fade Away Now I’ve Got A Witness Pretty Thing Reelin’ And Rockin’ Roll Over Beethoven Route 66 Walking The Dog You Better Move On .
How good does that look ? Taken directly from the master - that needs to be officially released or bootlegged yesterday. WTF is going on with the Stones Decca era catalogue.

The Shadows Studio Out Takes - interesting studio quality outs from the bands Jet/Tony line up. The first British Beat Group.
Cliff Richard Radio Luxembourg sessions - some corking stuff here esp. the 1959/60 era cuts. before Cliff toned it down
Johnny Kidd and The Pirates BBC Radio Sessions - no Mick Green but classic British Beat Groupery from the first 2 line ups of Kidd's Pirates. Kidd should be in the Hall Of Fame for Shakin All Over alone. Second only to Cliff and The Shads as best pre-Beatle UK act and one of the earliest power trios both in the Caddy and Mick Green era. Rocktastic stuff. Big influence on The Who, Hollies, Led Zep, even Tom Jones.
Any John Coltrane bootleg.

 

Sex Pistols - Spunk.

 

Plus, i forget the titles but the two fan restored cd sets of The Beatles Star Club performances are extremely fab. Far better than the chopped up crap on the Lingasong release.

 

Bob Dylan - Supper Club Shows Complete

 

My favorite Bolan Vinyl boot is Rollin' Bolan (only USA Boot that I know of).



My favorite Bolan CD boot is Parisian Panache.




A clip from this show (when T Rex were a 3 piece, before Bill Legend became their drummer).




Darryl

 

R.E.M. - Chronic Murmurings

 

miles: another bitches brew 2cd

 

Matthew Sweet - Goodfriends: Another Take On Goodfriend

At the time I couldn't find a copy of the genuine Goodfriend promo CD to save my life then one day a pal spotted a copy of the expanded, grey area, CD in a list sent to him by a semi well-known boot seller. Having sent my cheque and waited almost 3 weeks I didn't think I'd ever receive the CD but eventually it came and I was thrilled with it. I still play it occasionally even though I now own a copy of the real Goodfriend.

 

Little feat Ultrasonic Studios

 

Elvis Goes To Washington and Dave Edmunds & Rockpile Don't

 

Metallica: live at the Fillmore. All four days of the 30th anniversary shows on 12 colored pieces of vinyls.

 

I own that one. Great concert & sound

 

When I was a teen I discovered bootlegs at a local flea market and got a bit hooked. For a few years, I was regularly buying CD bootlegs from Europe direct from the labels -- filling out a form in the back of a record collector magazine and mailing it with a cheque. A few months later a box would appear, sometimes great quality others times a bit rough. Years later, most of those can be found online. The first CD I ever bought was a bootleg (Doors Live at the Matrix).

My favorite, going from memory of my collection, would be REM -- Songs for a Green World. If I recall this is mostly the PinkPop Festival, with a few extra tracks added. Now a semi-legit release you can buy via Amazon. Second would be Bingo Hand Job show from the UK -- that deserves an official release. I had a pretty extensive REM collection. Also had a lot of Tragically Hip (Canadian band) shows, of mixed quality.

More recently, Ryan Adams allowed SBD recordings of his shows and there was some great work done by tapers and posted to the Live Music Archive with RA's blessing.

I do like that more bands are now putting out their own bootlegs, or more widely allowing fans to tape and share shows.

 

Rolling Stones - Nasty Music

Led Zeppelin - Destroyer