Bootlegs - Liver Than You'll Ever Be

Bootlegs came upon the rock and roll scene at the end of the sixties.  This was one of the first ones.  It was recorded at the Oakland Coliseum Arena..  Not sure what they call the venue now.  I think it may be the Oracle Arena.  It's the one next to Oakland Stadium just off the freeway by the airport.

It was recorded by the legendary Dub or Ken (not sure which of the pair held the mics).  In those days, shows were recorded by lugging a reel to reel tape recorder into the venue (this was OK then).  Quite an operation to get a recording. This was before cassettes, digital, tiny recorders, etc.

The recording they got sounded pretty good.  The performance is raw, exciting and direct.  The results got reviewed in Rolling Stone and supposedly lit a fire under the band to release Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out.

To get an item from recording to record was much more involved than today's distribution methods.  Masters needed to be cut and a pressing plant would need to be found that wasn't afraid to press it.  Most didn't want to risk being cut off by one of their major customers for undermining their product.  Sometimes the night crews did it under the table.

Packaging usually consisted of a stamped cover - a design co-opted by The Who for Live at Leeds.  Later, a letter sized piece of paper was often inserted under the shrink wrap.  Much later, actual printed covers were made.

The Rolling Stones - Liver Than You'll Ever Be  (Lurch 1969)

I'm pretty sure this is an original.  The bootleggers were not shy about bootlegging bootlegs.  This title was released on the Trade Mark of Quality and Rubber Dubber labels as well.

This is a rarity in bootlegs in that it has an actual printed label with song titles.  Never once do they mention the name of the band.