***Definitive Beatles Bootlegs***
Time Elf
Hello,
I have just started collecting Beatles bootlegs. What is/are THE
definitive (must-have) Beatles bootleg(s). Keep in mind that I am looking
for stuff that isn't on the Anthologies. I would greatly appreciate ANY
information!
Thanks,
Jacob
CheezWhizz
vogotone labels worth the buy, they can sell anywhere from
20 to 30 bucks (US)......
DigiBanana
My favs are:
Complete BBC Sessions [10 disc set]
Artifacts I & II [2 different 5cd disc box sets]
Arrive Without Aging
The Lost Pepperland Reel
The Ultimate Collection Vol 1 (4cd Box set) vol 1
The Get Back Journals (8cd box set)
Live:
Shea Stadium/Candlestick Park
Complete Hollywood Bowl 64/65
Atlanta/Munic/Seatle
John Lennon FAAB Dakota Beatle Demo
Bill Cusick
tim...@aol.com (Time Elf) wrote:
>Hello,
>
> I have just started collecting Beatles bootlegs. What is/are THE
>definitive (must-have) Beatles bootleg(s). Keep in mind that I am looking
>for stuff that isn't on the Anthologies. I would greatly appreciate ANY
>information!
>
>Jacob
Try starting with the following web sites:
http://kiwi.imgen.bcm.tmc.edu:8088/public/files/faqs/rare.html
http://www.primenet.com/~shears/beatles/main.html
http://131.188.139.62:8080/hyplan/gernhard/beatles/boots/boots.html
http://vega.cse.oka-pu.ac.jp/~sakaki/BOOTLEG/beatles.html
http://www.bekkoame.or.jp/~garp/boot.htm
http://www.kts.it
Scott Raile
In <33676C...@ilos.net> G2 <cd...@ilos.net> writes:
>Time Elf wrote:
>>I have just started collecting Beatles bootlegs. What is/are THE
>>definitive (must-have) Beatles bootleg(s). Keep in mind that I am
>>looking for stuff that isn't on the Anthologies. I would greatly
>>appreciate ANY information!
>I'd start with the ARTIFACTS series, especially the first 2 box sets
>of 5 CDs each! Mostly full of the best collection of music AND sound
>quality... but hurry! They're seemingly getting very hard to find
>since the last "bust" as it were!
I respectfully disagree! The ARTIFACTS boxes are nice if you *only*
want a "greatest bootlegs hits" kind of package...that is, you're going
to *stop* with a mishmash of 5 CDs worth of "a few songs here, a few
songs there."
If you're looking at building a *serious* collection, start with the
"Ultimate Collection" boxes on Yellow Dog. These will provide you with
nice copies of many of the studio outtakes floating around out there,
along with a smattering of concerts (Japan 7/1/66, for instance), the
complete "Ed Sullivan Shows," and other rare, one-off stuff (like "Some
Other Guy" at the Cavern, a different and better version than on
ARTIFACTS). Yellow Dog's series consists of three boxes of four CDs
each.
Looking for live Beatles? Start with either "The Ultimate Live
Collection" on Yellow Dog (four shows on 2 CDs), or any of the live
discs on Spank/Vigotone (like "Shea/Candlestick," "In Case You Don't
Know," or "Atlanta/Munich/Seattle"). If you can find it, it looks like
Midnight Beat's "Hollywood Bowl" set will be pretty nice, too.
The Get Back Sessions? Go no further than "The Get Back Journals"
Volumes One and Two (eight CDs each).
BBC? You've *got* to go for the 9-CD Great Dane box "The Complete BBC
Sessions." It's not perfect, but it's the closest thing we have right
now. The recently released CD-ROM may be the way to go, too.
Yes, I have mentioned *many* many CDs here! (About 43 by my count!).
But if you can track down all of the above titles, you will have a
*serious* core collection of most everything that's out there, with
only a few minor gaps to fill. I believe that if you're going to start
a serious collection, you're much better off doing it *right* by
getting the primary CDs that contain the *entire* performances, rather
than by sticking with the "cut 'n' paste" hodgepodge of compilations
like ARTIFACTS. I mean, why go for a couple of "Ed Sullivan" numbers
on ARTIFACTS when you can get the *entire* run of performances from
1964 and 1965? Unless, of course, you only *want* a couple of songs!
:-)
Scott
G2
Time Elf wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I have just started collecting Beatles bootlegs. What is/are THE
> definitive (must-have) Beatles bootleg(s). Keep in mind that I am looking
> for stuff that isn't on the Anthologies. I would greatly appreciate ANY
> information!
>
> Jacob
CheechWizard
>If you're looking at building a *serious* collection, start with the
>"Ultimate Collection" boxes on Yellow Dog.
..i agree completely......but don't stop there....the 'unsurpassed
masters' series is a must...........
>Looking for live Beatles?
...be careful here.....live beatles can be very tedious to listen to.
...the screams will fry yer mind......especially shea stadium...i have
a video of the concert...i had to stop that sucker to collect me wits
damned screams are almost as bad as screaching fingernails on a chalkboard
>The Get Back Sessions? Go no further than "The Get Back Journals"
>Volumes One and Two (eight CDs each).
...undoubtably........a must have...............but a lot of the
twickingham\get back tracks can be tedious to listen to.....you must
be able to enjoy the talking\bantering\whispering as well as lousy
sound and at many times, untuned instruments......but....as a hard
core collector.....you must gain this series....there are many gems
in the collection..................
>BBC? You've *got* to go for the 9-CD Great Dane box "The Complete BBC
>Sessions."
....excellent collection......difficult to find......expensive also...
the most comprehensive available...............
...final warning......there have been hundreds and hundreds of beatle
boots on the market......you *will* overlap tunes from one disc to another
....i have a count of 'beseme mucho' in double digits.......there is *no*
way to avoid this if yer a hard core collector.....also the expense...boots
can range from 20 to 30 bucks plus (US) a pop.......i have over 70 boots...
.you do the math..........................................
..it can be one god forsaken monkey on yer back........but, you couldn't pry
the things outta me dead cold hands......i'm gonna be buried with the mothas
...........ha!!..............
PAUL MACCA
>Subject: Re: ***Definitive Beatles Bootlegs***
>From: spr...@ix.netcom.com(Scott Raile)
>>I'd start with the ARTIFACTS series, especially the first 2 box sets
>>of 5 CDs each! Mostly full of the best collection of music AND sound
>>quality... but hurry! They're seemingly getting very hard to find
>>since the last "bust" as it were!
>I respectfully disagree! The ARTIFACTS boxes are nice if you *only*
>want a "greatest bootlegs hits" kind of package...that is, you're going
>to *stop* with a mishmash of 5 CDs worth of "a few songs here, a few
>songs there."
Here, here, Scott! You hit the nail right on the head. The problem with
Artifacts is that it is WAY TOO incomplete for the serious fan who
eventually wants it all. And it costs WAY TOO much money for a beginning
collector who just wants to have a small taste of what is out there in
bootleg land. Now Scott made some excellent suggestions for those who
want to get started on a comprehensive collection. But if you are the
type who wants to "wade the bootleg waters" before diving in, here are my
favorite picks.
1) Back-Track -- Basically, this is an excellent sounding copy of the
first two of Ultra Rare Trax CDs. This 70 minute CD compiles the best of
the unreleased Abbey Road tapes. Now while it's true that a handful of
these songs are also featured on Anthology, the good thing is that the
bootleggers did not ruin these recordings with NoNoise! Compare take 2 of
Can't Buy Me Love and take 1 of I'm Looking Through You. You'll see what
I mean!
2) Rock and Roll (Yellow Dog CD 054) -- If the thought of listening to
an hour's worth of Dig A Pony rehearsals scares you from examining the Get
Back sessions, then get this CD. It features the best of the rock and
roll oldies jams that the Beatles engaged in when they got tired of
working on the Get Back /Let It Be songs. Hippy Hippy Shake, Hitch-Hike,
Hi Heel Sneakers, Rock and Roll Music, Lucille, and countless others are a
lot of fun to listen to.
3) Stars of 63 (Swingin Pig CD 005) -- The live CDs that Scott
mentioned are all great. But this is the best of the lot, sound-quality
and performance wise. The only trouble with this one is that the
performance is less than half an hour. :(
Oh well, at least they tag on some interviews at the end. This is one of
the few concerts you can hear clearly that is not drowned out by the
incessant screams that the Beatlemania years would bring.
I know that other people will have their own favorites. But I guarantee
that these CDs will not disappoint you! Just make sure to buy them at a
reasonable price. And as I always tell beginners, HAPPY HUNTING! =)
IAmagazine
My pick for best overall Get Back sessions CD is "Songs from the Past Vol.
1". Better listening than "Rock & Roll" in my estimation.
Ted
CarnyDC
Yeah, Artifacts I is probably the best thing to start with; it really
covers all types of outtakes and saves you hunting down songs on different
discs. I'd stay away from Artifacts II until I'd checked out some Yellow
Dog titles, though, on Artifacts II they seem to be padding the set with
items like the first Beatles radio interview and all the Christmas fan
messages.
Joe Cox
In <19970503100...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, PAUL MACCA writes:
>>Subject: Re: ***Definitive Beatles Bootlegs***
>>Date: 2 May 1997 17:10:11 GMT
>>Message-ID: <19970502170...@ladder01.news.aol.com>
>
>>I think Artifacts (1, not 2) is still worth getting as part of a core
>>collection. I don't think any of the titles mentioned contain tracks
>like
>>Happy Rishikesh Song, Spiritual Regeneration among other songs found on
>>Artifacts 1.
>
>Spending
CarnyDC
I think Artifacts (1, not 2) is still worth getting as part of a core
collection. I don't think any of the titles mentioned contain tracks like
Happy Rishikesh Song, Spiritual Regeneration among other songs found on
got some of those Studio 2 Sessions at Abbey Road discs later, but I'm not
really into Ed Sullivan era outtakes or BBC sessions beyond the released
set, my preferences. Wouldn't the Unsurpassed Masters set be a better way
to go, though? Also discs like Unsurpassed Demos, Get Back and 22 other
songs, Complete Rooftop Concert and other YD titles? Get Back Journals 1
and 2 are certainly worth getting (1 more than 2). But Artifacts does
have some great hard to find stuff, and I think its worth getting even
only for the novelty of having all these songs compiled chronologically
for easy listening (could always make a tape off of other CD's I guess),
not to mention the packaging and track by track(mostly) info in the
booklet.
PAUL MACCA
>Subject: Re: ***Definitive Beatles Bootlegs***
>From: car...@aol.com (CarnyDC)
>Date: 2 May 1997 17:10:11 GMT
>Message-ID: <19970502170...@ladder01.news.aol.com>
>I think Artifacts (1, not 2) is still worth getting as part of a core
>collection. I don't think any of the titles mentioned contain tracks
like
>Happy Rishikesh Song, Spiritual Regeneration among other songs found on
>Artifacts 1.
Spending $100+ in order to get a handful of rare tracks is a bit extreme.
Particularly since there are cheaper means of finding them. It is
important to emphasize here that there is NOTHING contained on Artifacts
which can't be found elsewhere, and in more complete form. For example,
Spiritual Regeneration (Happy Birthday Michael Love) can be found on the
Nems CD Strawberry Fields Forever. And the few 1960 Quarrymen rehearsal
recordings are made COMPLETELY OBSOLETE by the Wildcat CD. Using your
brains and doing a little bit of detective work often saves a collector a
lot of money. But if you are the type who have bucks to burn, then by all
means, go for Artifacts. I'm sure the bootleggers will love ya for it!
;)
CarnyDC
I've personally never seen the NEMS Strawberry Fields Forever CD in all my
boot travels, so Artifacts was a good purchase for me. And you have to
admit that it would be much more expensive to find all of the songs on
Artifacts on other CD's; that's the point of the compilation, its for
people who only want a few of the Ed Sullivan songs and don't want spend
$20 or $25 for a CD of just Ed Sullivan performances. And how would
spending $40 or $50 for the double Wildcat CD for the collector who might
not want a whole two hours or so of Quarrymen rehearsals save money?
Obviously Artifacts doesn't have any exclusive tracks (although I believe
Artifacts III does) but is the best comprehensive collection of Beatle
outtakes this side of the Anthology. These days, money and brains(only
intellectuals can find certain bootlegs?) will only get you so far with
the crackdowns, so any starting collector would be foolish not to pick up
a copy of Artifacts I if they could find it. $100 for 5 Cd's at about 70
minutes each is a pretty good deal to me, especially for the collector who
doesn't want to spend hundreds hunting down $25 CD's to find one or two
certain tracks they want.
PAUL MACCA
This will be my last post on this thread, so it will be up to prospective
bootleg buyers to decide for themselves if they want to splurge on
Artifacts.
>I've personally never seen the NEMS Strawberry Fields Forever CD in all
my
>boot travels, so Artifacts was a good purchase for me. And you have to
>admit that it would be much more expensive to find all of the songs on
>Artifacts on other CD's;
On your other post, you were using the "rarity" of tracks like Spiritual
Regeneration as a selling point for Artifacts. But now that I have
pointed out that Artifacts really offers nothing new that can't be found
on other CDs, you're falling back on the stance that Artifacts is good as
a incomplete "compilation" for the beginner. That's a big back-pedal from
your earlier claim that Artifacts should be purchased even by veteran
collectors who already have the Ultimate Collection boxes.
>Obviously Artifacts doesn't have any exclusive tracks (although I
believe
>Artifacts III does) but is the best comprehensive collection of Beatle
>outtakes this side of the Anthology.
So you admit that there is nothing on Artifacts that can't be found
elsewhere. This means that the first two Artifacts boxes are completely
useless to collectors who eventually wants everything. (Artifacts III is
mostly solo stuff.) As far as Artifacts being the most comprehensive
collection outside of Anthology, that's a very debatable point. All I
know is, Ultimate Collection offers a lot of material that are EXCLUSIVE
and NEW, such as some of the Abbey Road sessions as well as part of the
Twickenham Sessions from January 2 & 3, 1969. Everything from Artifacts,
OTOH, are lifted from another source.
If despite of all these things that anybody wants to purchase the
Artifacts boxes and help send Mr. Big Music's family on a vacation to the
Riviera, that's okay with me. But I just wanted to make it clear that it
is possible to have a complete collection without ever touching that box,
and there are cheaper ways for a beginner to get acquainted with bootlegs.
CarnyDC
Obviously Artifacts is incomplete, how would all the booted Beatles songs
fit on 5 or 10 CD's? And how can you tell people not to 'splurge' $100 on
Artifacts then turn around and recommend buying the entire Beatle CD boot
collection instead (we must be talking thousands there.) I NEVER claimed
that the tracks on Artifacts couldn't be found on other CD's, just that
its a hell of a lot easier to collect some of the rarer tracks when
they're all right there as opposed to on dozens of CD's on different
labels (The reason I pointed out those specific songs was that they didn't
appear on any Yellow Dog releases or any of the discs people were
recommending.) The whole point of this thread, I believe was to talk
about what bootlegs a beginning collector should buy, Artifacts obviously
being one of the best choices. As a veteran collector, I do value
Artifacts I for the rare tracks, which I could have hunted down separately
at much greater cost(and honestly couldn't find), and for giving samples
of other periods of boot songs (I'm not too much into the pre-1965
Beatles, and while I have a number of those boots, Artifacts really beefs
up that period cheaply). The Ultimate Collection boxes in no way try to
do what Artifacts does, compile (yes, its a compilation) the 'best'
selection of Beatle outtakes from other sources. Ultimate Collection is
horrible as a best of compilation, what beginning collector wants to hear
the hour by hour Get Back sessions? While Ultimate Collection is a box
set like Artifacts, there are better discs to start with, like the
Unsurpassed Masters series and other single YD titles people mentioned
earlier. Artifacts and Ultimate Collection are going for different
things, don't put down one for not doing what the other does. (I'm mainly
referring to Artifacts I here, Artifacts II takes a big dip in quality and
Artifacts III is 100% (not mostly) solo stuff). There seems to be a
really snobbish attitude toward the Artifacts series from "serious
collectors". I don't dispute that possibly better quality versions of the
songs exist elsewhere, but the point of the Artifacts set is again to
provide a compact (5CD) collection of Beatle outtakes. And it does a damn
good job at that, better than any other 5 disc or less set out there. (Can
anyone think of a more comprehensive 5 disc or less set of Beatle boot
discs?) No one claims the 8 or so Esher Demos on Artifacts 1/2 would
replace the twenty(?) or so on Unsurpassed Demos, they're not meant to.
Artifacts is not meant to be the only purchase someone would need to get
all the boot material, just an introduction/compilation/crack in the
collection-filler. I don't know why you have something against the Mr.Big
music company but you said yourself that it would take 'brains and money'
to get all the songs present on Artifacts from more complete sources,
meaning to get these songs elsewhere would be more expensive and take more
time. I'm sure some Beatle collectors want some but not 'all' Beatle
outtakes in which case Artifacts concisely gives a feel for certain Beatle
periods one might not want to buy multiple CD's of (ie Wildcat sessions, a
dreadful boot). As far as the collector who wants everything, lots of
luck finding all those discs these days; you'll probably have to get
Artifacts I to make up for certain discs you can't find now after the
crackdowns. So for the collector who doesn't necessarily want to spend a
lot of money, collect a lot of CD's or spend a lot of time hunting down
different titles, Artifacts is clearly the best and cheapest introduction
to and compilation(non-Anthology) of the various types of Beatle boot
material and the almost-perfect collectors can fill gaps in their
collections and get a few songs from boot material they just want a sample
of.
DigiBanana
> I just wanted to make it clear that it is possible to have
>a complete collection without ever touching that box,
>and there are cheaper ways for a beginner to get
>acquainted with bootlegs.
As a proud owner of all three Aritacts sets, and coming into this argument
halfway, I'd like to say that these sets were worth the money to me. Each
disc was filled to capacity (upwards of 75 minuets a disc) arranged
choronlogically (for the most part), all were color picture discs, a great
booklet with more great picutre and usually accurate (with a few
excetpions) liner notes.
[Most boots I find have little or no attention placed on either filling
the disc to capacity ormaking ay kind of attempt at liner notes or good
packaging graphics.]
I also believe that the following songs are exclusive (or were at least at
one point in time) to the Arifacts I and II:
A Taste of Honey (12/17/62 - Granada TV "Artifacts" CD)
-0:46
Wednesday, January 22nd, 1969...
22.30 Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen By The
Sea on Artifacts II (disc 4), track 8 -1:13
From Wednesday, January 29th, 1969...
29.7 Cannonball - Artifacts II (disc 5), track 3
29.7 Not Fade Away - Artifacts II (disc 5), track 3
29.7 Hey Little Girl - Artifacts II (disc 5), track 3
29.7 Bo Diddley - Artifacts II (disc 5), track 3
(total time: 2:54
I love my Artifacts!
Christopher Morley
The Digital Banana Recording Studio
Palm Bay, Florida
DigiB...@aol.com
May 4, 97
AKN909
:I also believe that the following songs are exclusive (or were at least
at
:one point in time) to the Arifacts I and II:
:A Taste of Honey (12/17/62 - Granada TV "Artifacts" CD)
-0:46
I hate to say this, but big whoop. Why would anyone want to buy a 5 CD
set whose only unique offering is a 46-second track?
CarnyDC
Maybe they'd want to buy a 5 CD set for the other 350 minutes of music,
much of which they probably don't already own unless they own every other
Beatle boot out there...
AKN909
I dug up the following review from the 910/illegal beatles 1994 issue.
This one deals with Artifacts, and I quote:
"it would have made a nice series of cassettes for a friend, but hardly
warrants spending big bucks on. Some minor nits: the Sullivan '64
material is in awful reprocessed stereo. The studio material is sourced
from Yellow Dog CDs, not Ultra Rare (and is therefore off speed). Girl,
You're Gonna Lose That Girl and Tomorrow Never Knows are forgeries. Happy
Rishikesh Song and I'm In Love are later solo recordings. The poorer
quality Quarrymen tape was used, and all of the Get Back film tracks fade
in."
Actually, I don't think Artifacts was a bad idea in itself. The problem
was in the poor execution of the concept, as seen by the above review.
Hopefully, this company or another bootlegger will do a better job on
another compilation, one that corrects the aforementioned problems and
will offer new recordings (besides those already bootlegged and on
Anthology.)
CarnyDC
Yeah, Artifacts certainly has its flaws as its taken from other sources,
but it's still a great intro for a beginner and is the most comprehensive
compilation out there, warts and all and it fills holes in people's
collections. Certainly someone could do a better job at a compilation,
but no one has really bothered so far and with all the crackdowns,
Artifacts might be the best set of its kind for a while to come. I've
always taken the reviews from places like the 910 with a grain of salt,
since they're written by people who have a copy of basically every
released Beatles boot on CD and vinyl. I remember one review of the Venus
and Mars outtakes disc stated that 'more complete tapes in better quality
can be found circulating among serious collectors' or something like that.
Well, I don't have access to these secret bootleg tape circles and I have
to settle sometimes for what I have access to. Same with Artifacts, how
many people would actually have ALL its songs in better quality on other
CD's?
David Goodwin
akn...@aol.com (AKN909) wrote:
<snippage>
>from Yellow Dog CDs, not Ultra Rare (and is therefore off speed).
<more snippage>
Yellow Dog is off speed?
David
PacRat
On Thu, 01 May 97 21:33:42 -0400, mrmu...@hotmail.com (Joe Cox)
graced the entire world with the following:
>In <19970503100...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, PAUL MACCA writes:
>>>Subject: Re: ***Definitive Beatles Bootlegs***
I for one would like to propose a free exchange of Beatles bootlegs(as
well as others) on alt.binaries.sounds.mp3 and have been posting there
for a few weeks. Check it out and start posting.
PacRat