''Live! Bootleg'' is a double live album by American
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
band
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...
, released in October 1978. While most of the performances were drawn from concerts in 1977 and 1978, "I Ain't Got You" and "
Mother Popcorn" were taken from a radio broadcast of a Boston performance on March 20, 1973.
Background
During their 1978 tour, several of the band's concerts were professionally recorded by producer
Jack Douglas for radio broadcast, and subsequently bootlegged. Douglas remembers, "At the same time that we were recording that album
'Draw the Line'' we were doing live radio broadcasts. Right over the air, man. There were some amazing bootlegs made from those broadcasts." In an effort to combat the illegal records, the band's management asked Douglas to compile the double live album. The design of the album is intended to imitate the poor production of contemporary
bootleg records, even going so far as to give an incorrect track listing: the song "Draw the Line" is included on the record but does not appear listed; the track is a hidden track after "Mother Popcorn".
In addition to previously unrecorded covers "I Ain't Got You" and "Mother Popcorn", the album also features a version of "
Train Kept A-Rollin'
"Train Kept A-Rollin'" (or "The Train Kept A-Rollin'") is a song first recorded by American jazz and rhythm and blues musician Tiny Bradshaw in 1951. Originally performed in the style of a jump blues, Bradshaw borrowed lyrics from an earlier son ...
" which inserts an uncredited "
Strangers in the Night
"Strangers in the Night" is a song composed by Bert Kaempfert with English lyrics by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. Kaempfert originally used it under the title "Beddy Bye" as part of the instrumental score for the movie ''A Man Could Get ...
". The record also features the first record appearance of
Richie Supa's "
Chip Away the Stone" (the studio version of this song would later be released on a 1980 reissue of the "
Draw the Line" single), and one of their first live performances of
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
"
Come Together
"Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on the band's 1969 studio album ''Abbey Road''. It was also a double A-side single in the U ...
", which they recorded for the soundtrack album ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...
''.
Release and legacy
The back of the CD cover includes two coffee stains over the picture of
Joe Perry playing before a live audience. The original LP cover had the coffee stains, but not the picture of Perry, which was part of the gatefold artwork.
In the band memoir ''
Walk this Way
"Walk This Way" is a song by the American rock band Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the album '' Toys in the Attic'' (1975). It peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboa ...
'', Perry recalls, "I didn't want to do a live album at the time because there were so many perfect live albums coming out, all doctored and fixed and overdubbed. Big deal. Double live album - 'standard of the industry'. I felt like we had to avoid that and do a real live album like ''
Live at Leeds
''Live at Leeds'' is the first live album by the English rock music, rock band the Who, recorded at the University of Leeds Refectory on 14 February 1970 and released on 11 May 1970, by Decca Records, Decca and MCA Records, MCA in the United St ...
'' or ''
Get Yer Ya Ya's Out'' or that old
Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
." In his own 2014 memoir ''Rocks'', Perry said that the idea behind the LP confounded their label Columbia: "We were working on ''Live! Bootleg!'', an album of old shows that we intentionally wanted to sound bootlegged. A couple of those tracks were recorded off air onto a cassette. It had hiss all over it. We left on the hiss because the hiss was real. But I'm not sure Columbia ever understood our concept. They wanted a clean sound, but we wanted to keep it real. That's the thrill of a real bootleg." Singer Tyler states, "The album is a reflection of the band, as we feel and sound. It features material and experiences taken from all types of concerts we've played. It's really the essence of the whole band."
Guns N’ Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
guitarist
Slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash th ...
has expressed his affection for the album. He explains,
Track listing
"
Draw the Line" is featured as a
hidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
at the end of "Mother Popcorn"
Personnel
;Aerosmith
*
Steven Tyler
Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...
lead vocals, harmonica
*
Joe Perryguitar
*
Brad Whitford
Bradley Ernest Whitford (born February 23, 1952)Putterford, Mark (1991) ''The Fall and Rise of Aerosmith'', Omnibus Press, Strong, Martin C. (2001) ''The Great Metal Discography'' (2nd edn.), MOJO Books, , p. 11-13 is an American musician who ...
guitar
*
Tom Hamiltonbass guitar
*
Joey Kramer
Joseph Michael Kramer (born June 21, 1950) is an American musician best known as the drummer of the hard rock band Aerosmith, which was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.
Personal life
Kramer was born in the Bronx, New York C ...
drums, percussion
;Additional musicians
*
Mark Radice
Mark Radice (born November 23, 1957) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and producer. Since the early 1970s he has worked with a variety of different artists while also achieving success with his own material. He is a multi-instrumental ...
– keyboards, backing vocals
*David Woodford – saxophone on "Mother Popcorn"
;Production
*
Jack Douglas – producer, engineer
*David Krebs, Steve Leber – executive producers, management
*Jay Messina, Lee DeCarlo – engineers
*Julie Last, Rod O'Brien, Sam Ginsburg – assistant engineers
*David Hewitt – Record Plant Mobile operator (New York)
*Chris Stone – Record Plant Mobile operator (Los Angeles)
*
George Marino
George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s.
Biography
Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...
– mastering at
Sterling Sound
George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s.
Biography
Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...
, New York
*
John Kosh
John Kosh, known simply as Kosh, is an English art director, album cover designer, graphic artist, and documentary producer/director. He was born in London, England and rose to prominence in the mid-1960s while designing for the Royal Ballet a ...
– art direction, design
*
Jimmy Ienner Jr., Barry Levine, Ron Pownall,
Aaron Rapoport
Aaron Rapoport (born May 22, 1954) is an American photographer, best known for his photographs of musicians.
Biography
In a career that spans over three decades, Rapoport has photographed in a wide variety of areas including commercial photogr ...
, Steve Smith – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1978 live albums
Aerosmith live albums
Albums produced by Jack Douglas (record producer)
Columbia Records live albums