Re: Fwd: 10 years of comeback boots.

[Mike McEchron <rockndog>]

This post reminded me of an article from Hot Wacks Supplement #2. 
This first came out in 1994. Apologies for my sloppy scanning...

http://www.rockndog.us/PS_Hot_Wacks_2.pdf





>>It's a recurring question on listservs -- "If you had to
>>pick five (or ten, or whatever) exemplary bootlegs by our
>>favorite artist, what would you pick?" It's usually a
>>fairly fleeting topic, because people have a pretty firm
>>idea of the most near and dear to them personally, and
>>even a clear idea of what they'd burn for a "newbie".
>>
>>I had the opportunity to answer this for real for someone
>>with a new iPod who wanted some live Patti. I was surprised
>>by the experience, and discovered a few things in the
>>process.
>>
>>Among the discoveries/revelations (to me, at least)...
>>
>>* A lot of the commonly available 70s stuff is just not
>>   ready for prime time.
>>
>>   The stuff is either a woefully incomplete set, or too
>>   many generationss down for someone who isn't a hardcore
>>   completist, or edited to fit on a vinyl LP, or what
>>   have you. With the disclaimer that the 70s are woefully
>>   underrepresented in my personal collection, I had
>>   a really tough time picking stuff out from that era.
>>
>>   I may yet slip in "Never talked to Bob Dylan",
>>   which is really the only "Horses" era boot I can
>>   think of in reasonable sound which has not been
>>   so edited so as to be devoid of impact. But
>>   so far? I just supplied the latest umpteenth
>>   remaster of the Tower '79 show. The Patti of
>>   1979 is not the Patti of 1976, however. So my
>>   effort still lacks. In my searching, I saw that
>>   there is a dead torrent up at dime of a complete
>>   Bottom Line '75 show. That would be sweet, but
>>   until then...
>>
>>
>>* By contrast, it was a tough job whittling down
>>   stuff from 1997 to 2001 to only one or two shows.
>>   I can't get enough of those days. In the end, I
>>   discovered over the weekend a lone Dime seeder
>>   seeding a 1999 show from Italy I hadn't heard of
>>   before. It had great, fresh energy, so I decided
>>   to not sweat the small stuff (a little too much
>>   crowd noise, and the last song is truncated, and
>>   I actually didn't listen all the way through) in favor
>>   of supplying something which is really attractive
>>   as a whole package. Made the chore seem less of
>>   a chore. (And if that seed is reading, know
>>   that your generosity is much appreciated.)
>>
>>
>>* Tom Verlaine.
>>
>>   Having Tom on a show makes a big big difference,
>>   IMHO. I wanted to include a complete (or near
>>   complete), decent-sounding 1996 show not only
>>   because of TV, but also because of the great, airy
>>   atmosphere a lot of those shows had. In this,
>>   my choice was easily made for me, because pretty
>>   much all I had that was "fit for company" was
>>   the boot "Barefoot Poetess" (Hamburg 1996, made
>>   from an FM b'cast).
>>
>>   The source I burned from was one I personally
>>   speed-corrected for my own use, as "BP" suffers
>>   a long, slow, gradual speed change, culminating
>>   in being off by almost 5% (IIRC).
>>
>>   I gave "my" version some extra time for
>>   listening, because I feared that the "correcting"
>>   I did in 1997 or thereabouts would be an
>>   embarrassment to hear today, but it held up
>>   very nicely. Something else that held up very
>>   nicely? The 4X Imation CD-Rs I burned my work
>>   on to - at 2X - on an external HP USB (1.1)
>>   burner. No errors on those babies, and I'm
>>   guessing they are eight or nine years old
>>   now. (Keep 'em dark! Keep 'em clean!)
>>
>>
>>* Not all homegrown music maestros are so successful.
>>
>>   It seems that a lossy-source 2001 Patti show got
>>   torrented on Dime in the last year unbeknownst to
>>   anybody. (Well, maybe someone DID eventually mention
>>   it in the torrent's comments section, but I couldn't
>>   find this torrent still in the datrabase). It was
>>   the last Village Underground show from June of 2001.
>>
>>   The very first handclaps on the very first track
>>   before she even speaks gave it away. They had that
>>   "tunnel" artifact you get on every damn audience
>>   recording that's been badly compressed and has
>>   handclaps in close proximity to the taper. Ick!
>>   I hate that sound.
>>
>>   Turns out - this torrent, at some point, had been
>>   the same exact source as was used for the show in
>>   the six-disc "box set" from that engagement:
>>   "Bitch can Wail". Obviously, I went for the
>>   uncompressed one (before compressing it, I know,
>>   I know...).  I paid cash for BCW on eBay a long
>>   time ago, and don't regret it at all.