Tuesday 20 December 2011

Classic Bootlegs

One of the ideas I had to keep things interesting when there aren't any new shows to put up is to make some classic bootlegs available.  These are ones that I've listened to a lot and enjoyed.  To kick things off I thought I'd have a poll so people can indicate what they'd actually be interested in listening to (you can vote for more than one).  Some info on the options is below, vote using the poll on the right.

Pearl Jam - Atlanta '94

To my mind this is the greatest bootleg ever from a band well known for producing some great shows.  It captures them just before the release of Vitalogy (this is about the last time you get to hear Betterman without a singalong).  They play most of their first two albums, a few tracks from Vitalogy, some non-album tracks, and some covers.  Particular highlights are WMA (which has hardly ever been played), and an extended version of Porch.  Soundwise this is perfect - the show was broadcast by the band with any radio station able to broadcast it.

Wilco - Brooklyn '09

Like the Pearl Jam bootleg above this is a recording made available by the band, so sounds perfect.  The show has a festive atmosphere, with guest appearances from Feist, Yo La Tengo, and Ed Drost (from Grizzly Bear).  Highlights: an extended version of Spiders with Yo La Tengo, and Bull Black Nova.

Wilco - Singles Collection

Wilco are one of those bands that produces an enormous amount of material that doesn't make it onto their albums.  Hardcore fans put the effort in to track these tracks down benefit, but for more casual fans they miss out, which is sad given the quality of some of this stuff.  The version I have only goes as far as Summerteeth, but I'm working on updating this to cover everything up to the new album.

Bob Dylan - Munster (Germany) '00

Dylan's recent bootleg series has done a great job in filling the gaps in his recorded career.  My only real criticism of it is that its skipped most stuff since the 70's.  I suspect this is for commercial reasons, but its sad nonetheless because his material since then has actually been really good (particularly if you cherry pick the best of it).  This album is from after his 'comeback' with Time Out of Mind, but only features two track from that album (plus the non-album track Things Have Changed).  Instead this album focuses on reworkings of his back catalogue.  Again, the sound is perfect - (there have been a few calls for this, or one of the other similar quality live recordings) to be officially released.

Neil Young

I haven't figured out what Neil Young show would be the best to put up.  Probably something from the mid-70's (maybe '76 when he played both acoustic and Crazy Horse sets?).  There are lots of good quality ones, I'll just have to figure what is the best of the ones I have (any requests are welcome).

If there are any other artists, or particular concerts feel free to request them in the comments.

Note: all requests may be ignored.

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