New Pete's post: Live at Leeds

["Oswaldo Akamine Jr." <motax@uol.com.br>]

Live At Leeds Reissue 



Emails are coming in via Matt Kent from people who are comparing a
bootleg (which I haven't heard) to what Jon Astley and I put together
for this new release.

Let me give some history. This release only exists because the bootleg
exists. MCA were aware that the bootleg is a big seller and wanted to
try to satisfy those people who wanted to hear the music excluded from
the original LIVE AT LEEDS. 

You may not know my feeling about bootlegs. They are - in my humble
opinion - harmless but criminal; a little like those guys who piss in
the street when they can't hold it in any longer. Where they become a
pain in the ass is when the collectors of them start to use the bootlegs
themselves as a quality criteria by which I have to pursue my job as
principle Who archivist.

I cannot take a bootleg into account when assessing the quality of a
post-production by Jon Astley or anyone else. The reason is simple. I do
not have access to the collateral the bootlegger has. I can only gain
access to that collateral by breaking the law and buying a copy of it
through illegitimate channels, then using it as my master tape.

If I go down that road I might as well just accept that the bootleg is a
good CD, and steal it from the bootlegger, and put it out. I can do that
(if I am willing to get sued for royalties by my fellow band members,
MCA, Fabulous Music, Windswept Music, Eddie Cochran's Estate etc), but
MCA can't.

I assume that those of you who have the bootleg hope that its own faults
(which it must have) can be corrected by us in the post-production
process. Thus your bootleg becomes 'perfect'.

Often, this is not the case. You simply get a new set of problems. I
understand too that many of you who buy bootlegs, and who are
complaining about tone quality on the new CD, are audiophiles, and -
often - audio experts. I don't want to appear haughty or imperious about
all this. I accept you annoying assholes know better than I do in many
areas.

BUT........

I am in charge of this process. I make the final decisions. What is out
there in the market place is what I want out there. It is the best I can
do given the legal collateral, financial and technical resources and
time available. Organised bootleggers, who ironically have much more
money to throw around than I do on projects like this (they have no
overhead at all, and pay no royalties to anyone at all), should not get
richer. At times like this they must be laughing all the way to the
secret bank account.

If you want a copy of the bootleg, STEAL it. In most cases those of you
complaining must have it already. So make a free copy for your friends.
Hopefully our fans will buy the new edition if they wish to continue to
support us in our work. If they don't, then they will have only
themselves to blame when we f-f-f-f-fade away.

 
 Diary