Bootleg Originals Part Seven - King Crimson - San Francisco 1969

Reloaded 05/May/2015 King Crimson made their live debut on April 9th, 1969. They became widely known three months later, by playing at the free concert in Hyde Park, London, staged by The Rolling Stones in July 1969, before 650,000 people.

The first King Crimson album, In the Court of the Crimson King was released in October 1969. Among those impressed by the album was Pete Townshend from The Who, who described the album "as an uncanny masterpiece."

King Crimson (along with quite a few other bands) have been credited as the founders of progressive rock - I am never really sure if that is a good thing!

This is King Crimson live at The Fillmore West, San Francisco, on the 14th of December 1969. King Crimson were the opening act at the Fillmore West on this particular night, providing support for The Chambers Brothers and The Nice.

Not only was this the final night of King Crimson's first U.S. tour, it was also the last concert played by the original lineup.

Set List:

1. (Introduction)
2. The Court Of The Crimson King
3. Drop In
4. Pictures Of A City
5. Epitaph
6. 21st Centruy Schizoid Man
7. Mars

Band Line Up:

Robert Fripp - guitar
Greg Lake - vocals, bass
Ian McDonald - woodwinds, mellotron, vocals
Michael Giles - drums

The sound quality is excellent, taken from the soundboard master recording @320kbps bitrate. It captures a very 'young' band in terms of performance and experience, playing extremely well.

=====================================================================

Reloaded 5th May 2015, download link in comments below.

Some King Crimson albums to browse HERE.

Jackson Browne - Jabberwocky Club 1971

This is Jackson Browne live in concert a year before he released his debut solo album.

Prior to this Jackson Browne had already written songs for, (and recorded by) Nico, The Byrds, Bonnie Raitt, and The Eagles (with whom he later co-wrote 'Desperado' and 'Doolin' Dalton').

Tracing the roots of Jackson Browne's career leads back to the mid 1960's and Los Angeles and Orange County folk clubs.

Born in Germany to American parents, Jackson's family returned to Los Angeles when he was three. Except for a brief period in NYC in the late 1960's, when he was an integral presence in the coffeehouse scene there, he has always lived in Southern California.

This then is Jackson Browne solo and playing guitar and piano, live at the Jabberwocky Club (a small, 200 seat nightclub), at Syracuse University, New York, USA, back on the 27th, March, 1971.

This is the first known recorded live show of Jackson Browne.

Source: The source is from a first generation master, soundboard recording.

Sound Quality: The sound quality is very good to excellent, very clear and clean, in all very good stereo @192kbps mp3.

Genre: Rock, Folk, Country.

Set: Full concert recording.

Set List:
01 Introduction
02 Under The Falling Star
03 World To Gain ***
04 Together Again ***
05 Mae Jean Goes To Hollywood
06 Last Time I Was Home ***
07 Jesus In 3/4 Time
08 My Opening Farewell
09 From Silverlake
10 Rock Me On The Water
11 Jamaica Say You Will

12 Together Again ***
13 Take It Underground ***
14 When You Lose Your Money ***
15 Our Lady Of The Well
16 These Days
17 Someday Morning
18 Shadow Dream Song
19 Song For Adam
20 Looking Into You

*** Songs that Jackson Browne never recorded for any album.

Links: Official site HERE.

Comments: This recording may not be exclusive to this site, however it remains quite rare, especially considering this versions quality.

His debut album, came out a year later on David Geffen's Asylum Records in 1972. Rolling Stone wrote in its original review that, 'Jackson Browne's sensibility is romantic in the best sense of the term: his songs are capable of generating a highly charged, compelling atmosphere throughout, and - just as important - of sustaining that pitch in the listener's mind long after they've ended'.

Material performed on this recording later appeared on his first two albums, some of the songs were never formally released.

Reloaded - 29/May/2015 - download link in comments. 

Purchase: MP3's (DRM free) through Amazon.co.uk - Jackson Browne

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash - Sessions 1969

This is hardly making it's Internet bootleg debut here, however the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash sessions from 1969, remain elusive for many collectors, and I am happy to do my bit to help.

The often asked question regarding these sessions is, why have they never been officially released ?

The musically historical importance, audio quality, and perhaps the actual performances themselves, make that a reasonable question, however in all honesty forty years on, the 'cats out of the bag' if you get my drift?

The contents of the sessions are detailed in track lists below, if you have just passing interest in either of these two artists, I would suggest that the recordings are well worth a listen.

Source: Taken from an early generation silver CD.

Sound Quality: Very good stereo soundboard, studio and auditorium.

Genre: In all fairness Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash will suffice.

Track List:

BS studios, Nashville, TN, USA - February 17th -18th, 1969.

01 Good Ol' Mountain Dew (Lunsford / Wiseman)
02 I Still Miss Someone (J Cash / Roy Cash)
03 Careless Love (Trad)
04 Matchbox (Carl Perkins)
05 That's Alright Mama (A. Crudup)
06 Big River (J Cash)
07 Girl Of The North Country
08 I Walk The Line (J Cash)
09 You Are My Sunshine (Davis / Mitchell)
10 Ring Of Fire (Carter / Kilgore)
11 Guess Things Happen That Way (Clement)
12 Just A Closer Walk With Thee (Trad)
13 Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas) (J Rodgers)
14 Blue Yodel #2 (J Rodgers)

Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN May 1st, 1969.

15 I Threw It All Away
16 Living The Blues
17 Girl Of The North Country

Nashville Skyline Quadraphonic Mixes.

18 Nashville Skyline Rag
19 I Threw It All Away
20 Peggy Day
21 Country Pie
22 Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You

Unknown source - not on all bootleg versions.

23 One Too Many Mornings (1)
24 One Too Many Mornings (2)

Links: Official Bob Dylan HERE, official Johnny Cash HERE,

Comments: The very thorough Bobs Boots site had the following to say regarding this material.

'The outtakes are great fidelity studio recordings, but the performances are very loose, first time trys. This is a 'must-have' disc for historical reasons, but it will probably not be one that you will want to play every day'.

That is a reasonable summary, however I played a few tracks again earlier today, and my first thought as I went on to other matters (work as it happens), was I must listen to this all the way through again!

The studio sessions were of course linked to Bob Dylan's work on his ninth 9th proper studio album 'Nashville Skyline'.

Quoting wikipedia verbatim:

When sessions resumed on February 17, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" was the primary focus, and a master take was selected from a total of eleven takes. An instrumental, titled "Nashville Skyline Rag", was also recorded at the beginning of the session, and it was later included on the album.
Sometime during that session, country legend Johnny Cash stopped by to visit. A friend and label-mate of Dylan's as well as an early supporter of his music, Cash had been recording next door with his own band. The two wound up recording a series of duets, covering Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" as well as Cash's own "I Still Miss Someone." None of these were deemed usable, but Cash returned the following day to record more duets.
The session on February 18 was devoted exclusively to duet covers with Cash. "One Too Many Mornings" and "I Still Miss Someone" were revisited, and rejected, yet again. "Matchbox", "That's All Right Mama", "Mystery Train", "Big River", "I Walk the Line", and "Guess Things Happen That Way", all made famous by celebrated Sun recordings performed by Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Cash himself, were all attempted on February 18, but none of these were deemed usable. Covers of Jimmie Rodgers' "Blue Yodel #1" and "#5", Cash's "Ring of Fire" (written by his wife, June Carter and Merle Kilgore), "You Are My Sunshine", "Mountain Dew", the traditional ballad "Careless Love", the traditional hymn "Just A Closer Walk With Thee", "How High The Water", and "Wanted Man" (a song written by Dylan specifically for Cash) were also attempted, and all were rejected. There was little enthusiasm for any of these tracks, but one duet of Dylan's, "Girl From The North Country" (which originally appeared on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan), was ultimately sequenced as the album's opener.

Reloaded - 29/May/2015 - download link in comments. 

Purchase: MP3's (all Amazon DRM free) - Bob Dylan and of course Johnny Cash

Bootleg Originals Part Eight - Joni Mitchell - Cambridge, MA, 1968

Joni Mitchell first played Club 47 in Cambridge, MA (USA), in December 1966, she returned for a second time in late April 1967.

While she was playing one night during November 1967 at 'The Gaslight South', a club in Florida, David Crosby walked in and was immediately struck by her ability and her appeal as an artist.

He took her back to Los Angeles, where he set about introducing her and her music to his friends.

David convinced a record company to agree to let Joni record a solo acoustic album without all the folk-rock overdubs that were in vogue at the time, and his clout earned him a producer's credit in March 1968, when Reprise records released her debut album, Song to a Seagull.

It is therefore likely that Joni Mitchell's third appearance at Club 47, a three night set of performances, from the 8th to 10th January 1968, were just prior to the recording of her debut album.

It is really something then, to have a good quality recording of an artist with the pedigree of Joni Mitchell, prior to their debut album, and from back in the 1960's.

This is Joni Mitchell live at Club 47, Cambridge, MA, USA, on her final night there back on the 10th January 1968.

Set List:

01. Cactus Tree
02. Morning Morgantown
03. Conversation
04. Gift Of the Magi
05. Chelsea Morning
06. Song To A Seagull
07. I Had A King
08. Night In The City
09. Ballerina Valerie
10. Pirates Of Penance
11. The Way It Is
12. Dawn treader
13. Both Sides Now

Sound: This is a very good sound board recording.

Reloaded 21/June/2015 Link in comments.

Bootleg Originals Part Six - Janis Joplin - Honolulu 1970

This is Janis Joplin live in Honolulu, USA, on the 6th July 1970.

Sadly she would only perform nine further concerts after this, and died aged 27 on the 4th October 1970.

She was with out doubt, one of the most popular and influential singers of the sixties and is considered to be one of the greatest female rockers of all time.

This is a complete & unedited concert by Janis Joplin with Full Tilt Boogie, recorded through the soundboard (stereo quality @ 160kbs).

Janis is in incredible form, her interaction with the audience and the whole concert is just wonderful.

This is in my opinion an absolute must for any fan, and even those of you, with just a passing interest.

Set List:

1-Tell Mama.
2-Half Moon.
3-Move Over.
4-Stage Problems.
5-Maybe.
6-Summertime.
7-Janis Banter.
8-Get It While You Can.
9-Kozmic Blues.
10-Encore Break.
11-Piece of My Heart.

Much has been written about Janis Joplin since her passing, however her music remains as vibrant and timeless today, as way back when for a while, she was the foremost female in rock. This recording does her justice, I hope you also enjoy a real classic boot, with very good sound quality.

Also check out the official Janis Joplin website HERE.

Reloaded 09/June/2015 - Link in comments.

Bootleg Originals Part Five - Led Zeppelin - Blueberry Hill

When I was a mere young lad in my teens, this Led Zeppelin bootleg was often talked of, in 'hushed undertones', however neither my friends or I ever owned a copy.

For a while it became something of a status symbol to have heard it, or even know of someone, that had a copy.

In reality as far as bootlegs go this really is something special.

Cutting and pasting shamelessly from Wikipedia, (where this boot has it's own entry!) here is a rough history of the bootleg.

Live On Blueberry Hill (also known as Blueberry Hill) is an audience recording.

It is well known for being one of the first ever Led Zeppelin bootlegs, and indeed one of the first ever rock and roll bootlegs ever released.

It was initially released on the Blimp label. The sleeve notes described it as "One hundred and six minutes and fifty three seconds of pure alive rock." The album was subsequently pressed on the Trade Mark of Quality label and shipped to England.

Live On Blueberry Hill derived its name from the fact that at this concert Led Zeppelin performed Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill" as a final encore.

The bootleg also features one of the few known live performances of "Out on the Tiles", a track from the group's third album.

From the 1980s the bootleg became available on CD as a 2-disc set, often under the alternative titles Blueberry Hill and The Final Statements.

I have to say as audience recordings from the early 1970's go the quality is very good. However what makes this so special apart from the historical element, is the whole upbeat mood of the show. You can just tell the band are enjoying the concert along with the audience.

Recorded Live at Los Angeles Forum, Los Angeles, California, USA, on the 4th September 1970.

Setlist:

CD1

1. Immigrant Song
2. Heartbreaker
3. Dazed and Confused
4. Bring It On Home
5. That's The Way
6. Bron Yr Aur
7. Since Ive Been Loving You
8. Organ Solo
9. Thankyou

CD2

1. What Is and What Should Never Be
2. Moby Dick
3. Whole Lotta Love (Medley - Boogie Woogie - Some Other Guy - I've Gotta Girl - I'm Moving On - Think It Over - The Lemon Song)
4. Communication Breakdown ( including: Good Times Bad Times, For What It's Worth, I Saw Her Standing There)
5. Out On The Tiles
6. Blueberry Hill

Comments:

This is the best quality version of the recording I have ever heard (hence larger files), highly listenable, all you have to do is ''Rock and Roll" ! The above picture is close to the original vinyl album bootleg cover, I hope to have more of the original artwork to post at some point soon.

Bootleg Originals Part Four - Jefferson Airplane - New York 1967

Am I glad I was just a minor in 1967. The whole hippie, summer of love, flowers in your hair, psychedelic thing would surely have sucked me in.

These day's, I'd be recounting tales of just how 'far out' I really was, in that boring monotonous way that only old stoners can. Hmmm maybe...

This is another moment in rock music history.

First of all the venue, the 'Cafe Au Go Go'.

The Cafe au Go Go was a Greenwich Village night club located in the basement of 152 Bleecker Street, New York, NY. The club was the first New York venue for the Grateful Dead, and has a veritable whose who, of 1960's artists that played there.

Jefferson Airplane performed for two weeks at the Cafe au Go-Go, with supporting act Richie Havens, from February 1967. This recording was from 4th March 1967.

As far as the Jefferson Airplane go, they had formed in 1965, in San Francisco, with their debut show on August 13th 1965, at the Matrix nightclub (San Francisco).

Vocalist Grace Slick joined in October 1966, and when this bootleg was recorded, they were playing some material from the second album 'Surrealistic Pillow', which charted at number three in June 1967.

Band line:

Grace Slick - vocals, piano, recorder
Marty Balin - vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul Kantner - rhythm guitar, vocals
Jorma Kaukonen - lead guitar, vocals
Jack Casady - bass guitar
Spencer Dryden - drums

Set List:

01 - It's No Secret
02 - Let's Get Together
03 - White Rabbit
04 - Your Bringing Me Down
05 - My Best Friend
06 - Jorma's Blues
07 - This Is My Life
08 - She Has Funny Cars
09 - Somebody To Love
10 - Tobacco Road
11 - Around The World
12 - Instrumental - Blues
13 - Today
14 - High Flying Bird

The source was the venue soundboard - and the recording is very good, the performance pure 1967.



You can buy some Jefferson Airplane memorabilia HERE.

Official site HERE.

Replacement download link in comments below (8th February 2012).

Bootleg Originals Part Three - The Waterboys - Glastonbury 1986

When is a bootleg, not a bootleg?

"I think 1986 was a peak", states The Waterboys founder Mike Scott, "We never really came back to where we were in 1986."

How good was their concert at Glastonbury in 1986?

So good that in 1998, Mike Scott released a live album of The Waterboys including the Glastonbury performance, despite the fact it had been bootlegged from the radio broadcast twelve years earlier!

It's all a bit of a conundrum, when you consider the 'official release', and what has subsequently happened, it goes like this.

According to Mike Scott, the album was put out by New Millennium Records (although Amazon.com credits it to "Msi", and All Music Guide credits it to "Pilot" and "Griffin").

Mike Scott claims that New Millennium stopped paying royalties to the band but continued to sell the album. The album is not listed on the band's own 'official' discography.

Whatever the actual facts are, the Glastonbury concert was unique, capturing the whole essence of the festival, indeed the official Waterboys website refers to the 1986 bands line up as the "Raggle Taggle band", influenced by traditional Irish music, as well as by country and gospel.

Put simply they were superb, and this concert captures them at an all time peak.

Track listing:

1. Be My Enemy
2. Old England
3. The Thrill Is Gone & The Healing Has Begun
4. The Pan Within
5. The Whole Of The Moon
6. Spirit
7. Savage Earth Heart
8. Saint and Angels
NEW *(9. An extra Waterboys live recording from this era).* NEW

Audio quality: excellent, FM stereo sourced, with some clean up editing.

Some Waterboys CD releases from around the Glastonbury era HERE.
My thanks to Chris for replacing my old cassette copy of this, with such a fine example.
When is a bootleg, not a bootleg? You tell me...

Reloaded 25/May/2015 (with a little extra) - download link in comments.

Bootleg Originals Part Two - Santana - USA 1976

Carlos Santana is sixty years young this year, yep once again another one of those now familiar milestones for music fans.

Was it really 35 years ago that I bought Caravanserai, an album of timeless qualities, which I think pretty much sums up so much of the music of Santana.

This concert was recorded in 1976. Lets get the period in context.

Carlos Santana along with Tom Coster, producer David Rubinson, and drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler had formed yet another version of Santana, adding vocalist Greg Walker.

The album "Amigos" was released in 1976 which featured the songs "Dance, Sister, Dance" and "Let It Shine" and had a strong funk and Latin sound.

The album also received considerable airplay on FM (USA) album oriented rock stations with the instrumental "Europa (Earths Cry Heavens Smile)" and re-introduced Santana back into the charts. Rolling Stone magazine ran a second cover story on Santana entitled; "Santana Comes Home" there was a lot of interest in the band that year.

This concert captures so well one of Santana's most special aspects, namely playing live.

Recorded at The Beacon Theatre, New York City, USA on the 7th May 1976, the band were in sparkling form, the venue seems ideal for their kind of skilled musicianship.

This was a professionally recorded and mixed show, that does such a well crafted and vibrant band justice. It was recently given a digital clean up by the BBC for rebroadcast. This is the nice new 'cleaned up' copy!

Set list is:

1. Gitano
2. Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
3. Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana)
4. Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)
5. Samba Pa Ti
6. Let Me
7. Incident At Neshabur
8. Evil Ways

Replacement download link in comments below (8th February 2012).

Some Santana Cd's from their seventies era HERE .

Bootleg Originals Part One - The Rolling Stones - USA 1969

Welcome to Bootleg Originals number one, an occasional look back to some of the defining moments in rock bootleg history.

Bootlegs have been around for a long time, way before rock'n'roll, however this series will focus on the rock/pop era.

1969 tends to have tacit agreement, as the year rock bootlegs began to surface for sale, particularly in the USA. Bob Dylan is often regarded as an early 'target'.

Other obvious candidates were The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. It was made easier when the Rolling Stones undertook a 17 date US tour, in November 1969, culminating at the notorious Altamont concert on December 6th.

The third date (two shows) on November 9th 1969, at The Oakland Coliseum in California, has been widely circulated as a boot.

It was the US 1969 tour, and the subsequent bootlegs, that lead to the official release of the 1970 Rolling Stones album 'Get Your Ya Ya's Out!' (predominately recorded from the Madison Square Garden concerts element of the tour).

This first bootleg in the series has been circulated under a few different names, the copy I received aptly named 'Liver Than You'll Ever Be'.

For a more detailed history of The Rolling Stones 1969, USA tour click HERE.

The Rolling Stones - November 9th 1969 - Oakland Coliseum, California USA.

1 Jumpin' Jack Flash
2 Carol
3 Sympathy For The Devil
4 Stray Cat
5 Prodigal Son
6 You've Gotta Move
7 Love In Vain
8 I'm Free
9 Under My Thumb
10 Midnight Rambler
11 Live With Me
12 Gimme Shelter
13 Little Queenie
14 Satisfaction
15 Honky Tonk Women
16 Street Fighting Man

The sound quality is good - highly listenable - the rest is history!

REPLACEMENT LINK IN COMMENTS BELOW OR CLICK ON THE PICTURE (1st AUGUST 2009).

You can grab a little official Stones merchandise HERE.

Among some of the artists to follow in 'Bootleg Originals' you can look forward to Led Zeppelin, The Waterboys, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Santana, Bob Dylan, The Who and more, so if you have not done so, bookmark or even better, RSS feed this page!

(Many thanks to Chris for this recording...)