Lack of Official Boots

>However, I suspect that one of the primary reasons that boots aren't being
released is >the artists.  They've worked for years to put out  "quality"
work, and have little >interest in releasing what they consider inferior
material.  It's quite a different >perspective from the fans. 
 
Well, I just have two words for you -- "Who's Last."  Let's face it --
artists and labels are perfectly capable of releasing crap officially while
letting far superior material languish in the vaults.  
 
What pisses me off the most is that when record companies finally do get
around to preparing "collector oriented" releases, they always manage to
screw things up.  Just look at the Dylan Bootleg Series.  Perhaps you
didn't know that the box set was originally going to contain 4 CDs of
unreleased material but some genius at Sony decided that if they cut it
down to 3 CDs more people would buy it.  Yeah, right -- there must be
thousands of people out there who want to get three discs of unreleased
Dylan material but aren't prepared to shell out for a fourth.  Doh!  I
won't even go into all the details about the superior takes that remain in
the vaults.  Not to mention the fact that, after 30 years, Sony/Columbia
STILL hasn't seen fit to release the Royal Albert Hall (ok, Manchester)
show, which easily blows away any of Dylan's official live albums (as well
as those by virtually every other artist).   
 
Naturally, MCA is going to make the same mistake with Odds & Sods, trimming
what could easily be a box set down to a double (or may even a full-length
single) disc release in order to make it more "commercially" viable.