Bootlegs: Friend or Foe?

I’ve long been torn on the idea of bootlegs.  I mean, really you’re stealing music from the artist or label.  You know those internet sites that sell mp3’s without paying royalties?  Well, these are the analog version of those. Beyond that, maybe the artist didn’t want that material being released, or that show to have been taped and shared outside of those who bought a ticket.  There’s also the quality factor as a good number of these are produced to “get them out there,” small production runs rather than having them engineered to sound good.  A good example is the Beatles Apple Trax bootleg which is a two album set that, to be frank, is hard to listen to because it’s just a jumble of outtakes, practice jams and the like (the copy below is on the Instant Analysis label.  I have no idea whether it’s one of the first released because bootleg labels will bootleg other bootleg labels.  Shocking, I know).

On the positive side, bootlegs give you a chance to experience a specific show you would otherwise be unable to see or to hear the demo’s and creative process of your favourite artists.  They can give you insight into the band at a specific moment in time.  I like the Rolling Stones, but I have no interest in seeing the geriatric version running around on stage.  I do however, like watching their shows online from the 70s, or listening to their early boots like the one below (1975, Idle Minds Productions):

Large scale bootleg became a thing in the 1950s when reel to reel machines became more widely available to anyone with opposable thumbs and a few dollars.  In the longer history, there are bootleg recordings back to 1901, done on an Edison Recorder.   For the modern bootleg, the ones from the early 1960s and up, the key release was a Dylan rip called The Great White Wonder (1969).  I don’t have one of those, but I do have Stealin’ (1969, unknown label):

That’s what really caused things to get moving and numerous bootleg labels opened up all around the world, such as Kornyphone, Kustom and Phonygraf.  In embargoed countries, like Russia, Beatles albums would be cut onto x-rays making, essentially, a flexi-disc.  Anyone who’s seen Searching for Sugarman can understand the bootleg industries success in moving the Rodriguez album into South Africa.  For the most part, the pressing plants weren’t asking what was being pressed or were complicit in bootlegging act.

At the end of the day, I’m torn on the issue but not so much that I don’t snap them up when I come across one I think I’ll like!  What do you think?

Here’s a few more personal favourites:

For any interested parties, there’s a great article on bootlegs in the Dave Thompson book The Music Lover’s Guide To Record Collecting (Backbeat Books, 2002) and is where I found a tonne of info for this post (all credits to that dude).

 

How To Spot A Butcher Cover

 

Easily one of the most sought after albums is Yesterday and Today by the Beatles.  Not just the album, mind you, but the controversial cover version known as The Butcher.  The original butcher image was realeased in 1966, but very few made it to market.   The image of the Beatles in butchers smocks and covered with raw meat and decapitated dolls was a little risque for the time (likely just too risque for Capitol!).  The label pulled the copies and had a slick pasted over the offending image.  The new pic was 4 happy Beatles, three around a steamer trunk with Paul sitting inside it.  Of course, those who got the album with the new image were quick to try to peel off the slick which damaged a good number of covers.  Because of this, there are 3 versions of a butcher cover:

1. First State – The originally released cover that has never had the second image pasted over it.  They can range in value from a few thousand dollars for a mono version to forty-plus thousand for a stereo version, depending on condition.
2. Second State – A butcher album as in 1 above, except with the new image pasted onto it.  These are increasingly rare as more and more people have theirs peeled.  You can actually pay someone to do this for you.  I am not one to tell you what to do with your album but JESUS CHRIST – DO NOT DO THIS!  Ahem, please.
3. Third State – It’s a peeled Second State.  You can pick them up for $100 for a poorly peeled one, to a couple thousand for one in good shape.  I’m lucky enough to have 2 Third States, both are a little beat up, but here’s the better of the two:

So that’s what they are, cool?  Now comes the fun part in figuring out if you have a Second State cover!

There are 4 key things you need to see to have a butcher:

1. They must have a paste on slick style cover where the back slick wraps around to the front and the front image is pasted over top:

2. On the back by the RIAA symbol there will be a number from 2 to 6.  These signify the Capitol plant that pressed it:

3.  When they pasted the new image overtop the butcher, Ringo’s turtleneck bled through and can be faintly seen on all Second State butchers.  It resembles a black triangle on the right side of the album, to the right of the top of the steamer trunk:

4.  In order to accommodate the paste-over slick, Second States are a bit narrower than later pressings of the album (about 1/8th of an inch):

 

Whether a butcher or not, the album is definitely worth having.  I wish you luck in finding one.  Even better, I wish you luck in finding a Canadian Butcher, which were issued but there are only 6 known copies and Capitol destroyed the original covers! Cheers