What is the best bootleg?

While Heaven Wept · Post by **While Heaven Wept** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:58 am

Just been going through my Alice collection (unfortunately i've had to sell some...times are hard!), and am just rediscovering some of the great bootlegs that i've bought over the years. NOTE: Can i be clear that these are boots and not pirated cds.

I enjoyed re-listening to the King Snake, especially for the different mixes of some of the B$Bs material (i believe these were taken off another release...i'm sure a quick search on Si's fantastic boots page will enlighten me).

So...just thought i'd ask you all for your opinions on which are your favourite Alice boots? I think one of the things i like about them is the creative artwork that was used. I have a few boots from the Rolling Stones and some of the artwork is genius!

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:14 am

I've got quite a few too, but for quality and musicianship the LA Forum King Biscuit Flower Hour FM broadcast in 1975 takes some beating.

While Heaven Wept · Post by **While Heaven Wept** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:15 am

I've yet to get my hands on a copy of that one, might have to do some searching on ebay!

Toronto Bob · Post by **Toronto Bob** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:31 am

Although not a bootleg per se, one that is quickly becoming a favorite is the Providence, RI 1975 07 17 Dan Lampinski tape. Beautiful sounding audience recording that has a real "you are there" sound

An old favorite is the Puke on a Piece of Apple Pie album, which is from Detroit 1971. Ran a tad slow and the sq was a bit rough but it was my first original band boot, so I treasured it. Commack Arena '72 - often labelled as Electric Ballroom is great as is Munich '72.

Of course the radio shows from LA 75, Saginaw '78, San Diego, 79, El Paso '80 and Glasgow '82 are all very enjoyable.

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:34 am

I agree. Like you Bob, I also have Cammack Arena/Electric Ballroom, El Paso, Saginaw, San Diego, Glasgow, etc.

All my stuff is now on CD too, so I can listen on the journeys to and from work too!

Toronto Bob · Post by **Toronto Bob** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:35 am

While Heaven Wept wrote:I've yet to get my hands on a copy of that one, might have to do some searching on ebay!

Unless you really want a silver cd and printed cover, my advice would be look for peer-to-peer torrent sites. You'll get advice on which is the best version of the widely circulated show, and be able to get them at no cost and keep the money out of the bootleggers hands.

Just use google, you'll be able to find these sites

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:39 am

I got several of mine just recently using megaupload but the odd one or two - 'Puke' being a good example - are .flac or .rar files and I can't play them.

And as a matter of interest, some of them do come with cover artwork.

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:43 am

Just thought of another good one - the 2004 XM Satellite radio braodcast which is known as 'Greatest Hits Live' or alternatively 'Then Again Live'. It's the 30th anniversary of the release of AC Greatest Hits and the band play all the tracks live in Washington DC Performance Theatre. Excellent quality, with additional little interviews with the man about why the band broke up and the then-current line-up in 2004.

A_MichaelUK · Post by **A_MichaelUK** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:03 pm

>LA Forum King Biscuit Flower Hour FM broadcast in 1975 takes some beating

As I'm in the mood to be pedantic, I just want to point our that recordings of radio shows are not bootlegs in the strict sense of the term. These are official recordings of which an illegal copy has been made (so they are pirated recordings). A bootleg is generally an illegal recording of a live performance that does not already exist. That's why both terms (bootleg and pirated recordings) exist.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 4:13 pm

Vlad the Impala wrote:I got several of mine just recently using megaupload but the odd one or two - 'Puke' being a good example - are .flac or .rar files and I can't play them.
And as a matter of interest, some of them do come with cover artwork.

Just download a free audio converter to change flac to mp3 etc and a rar file needs extracting, use 7-zip free software then you can play them

Si · Post by Si » Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:17 pm

Rob wrote:
Vlad the Impala wrote:I got several of mine just recently using megaupload but the odd one or two - 'Puke' being a good example - are .flac or .rar files and I can't play them.
And as a matter of interest, some of them do come with cover artwork.
Just download a free audio converter to change flac to mp3 etc and a rar file needs extracting, use 7-zip free software then you can play them

Or download foobar2000 (http://www.foobar2000.org/) which I believe will happily play flac files "out of the box". It's free.
Another cool free player is the VLC player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/), which will play just about anything you could throw at it.
I use both for almost everything. Rarely have to resort to WMP or similar.

As to uncompressing .rar files. Most archivers shuld do it, and a quick search will quite possibly pull up a free one for you. Once installed you'll never have to think out it again.
EDIT: Just seen the above post, yes, if 7zip is free that is a good one.

Converting to MP3 is, in my opinion, a bad idea as you are losing quality. By all means do it for convience, but if you chose to burn a CD, always doing it from the flac files if available.

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:12 pm

Si wrote:Converting to MP3 is, in my opinion, a bad idea as you are losing quality. By all means do it for convience, but if you chose to burn a CD, always doing it from the flac files if available.

So ... if I simply dump the flac files onto a CD-R will they be recognised by whichever machine I put it into? Sorry, but I am speaking on behalf of the terminally thick club here ...

Si · Post by Si » Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:46 pm

No, but not far off.
If you just dump the files to CD you will get a DATA CD, which is no good for anything other then computers or some DVD players.

You need to open whatever software you use to burn discs and make a "AUDIO CD". Once you are in the AUDIO CD area you can then drop the files into the program and the resulting CD should work in anything like a normal CD.

You should have software that can do this, even if you aren`t actually aware of it, it normally would com with your computer. "Nero" is a very common one. Alternatively there are a host of free programs available that can do it for you. Once you've done one, it will become extremely easy to do more using any other music you may wish to "burn"

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:49 pm

Cheers, Si.
I'll give it a go over the festering season!

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:54 am

Si wrote:You need to open whatever software you use to burn discs and make a "AUDIO CD". Once you are in the AUDIO CD area you can then drop the files into the program and the resulting CD should work in anything like a normal CD.

Woo-hoo! Success! I now have a CD of 'Puke'! Interesting that the version I have also has 'Second Coming' which is not listed on the details of the vinyl on the Boots page on this site; I wonder if it has been imported from somewhere else?

Toronto Bob · Post by **Toronto Bob** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:34 am

Vlad the Impala wrote:
Si wrote:You need to open whatever software you use to burn discs and make a "AUDIO CD". Once you are in the AUDIO CD area you can then drop the files into the program and the resulting CD should work in anything like a normal CD.
Woo-hoo! Success! I now have a CD of 'Puke'! Interesting that the version I have also has 'Second Coming' which is not listed on the details of the vinyl on the Boots page on this site; I wonder if it has been imported from somewhere else?

Naw, it was always there. Track listings and sources are often not enitely accurate when people make lists. The first "The Collector's Guide..." is riddled with innaccurate details of bootlegs.

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:10 pm

Awwww. I'm getting the hang of this flac/burning thing now! I just burned myself a CD of Dan Lampinski's Providence gig; excellent, if a little quiet, but that's probably the fault of my burning software. I'll just turn it up when I play it back!

Isn't MEGAUPLOAD a wonderful thing?

pitkin88 · Post by **pitkin88** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 12:04 am

I'd like a decent copy of Your All Crazier. The ones i got in trades have a lot of pops and clicks and were probably taken from the vinyl.

How does the Special Forces acetate sound? Anyone have that?

The XM theatre GH was a good idea but the band are not so hot. " Teenage Lament " sounds great on it though.

Toronto Bob · Post by **Toronto Bob** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:24 am

pitkin88 wrote:I'd like a decent copy of Your All Crazier. The ones i got in trades have a lot of pops and clicks and were probably taken from the vinyl.

How does the Special Forces acetate sound? Anyone have that?

The XM theatre GH was a good idea but the band are not so hot. " Teenage Lament " sounds great on it though.

A while back someone uploaded a supposed "pre-bootleg" source for that show. It sounded worse than any version I have and it was definitely not pre-boot. It was a bad cassette copy made from the vinyl an digitized.

Vlad the Impala · Post by **Vlad the Impala** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:40 am

Guess which boot I've just been listening to ...

"Sit down!"
"Sit down!"
"Sit down!"
"Sit down!"
"Sit down!"

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