August 2004


Once again this is GTA-3, CREEM's monthly bootleg column, asking that age old musical question from 1976: "Fame, what's your name?"

Needless to say, there are numerous ways to measure success. If you were a musician in the late '60s and early '70s, one unlikely indicator of your popularity on the street was whether or not you had been bootlegged yet. Back then, being bootlegged was a badge of honor that indicated you had attained enough of a fan base to make it financially worth someone's while to boot your music. It also signalled that your popularity was being taken out of the money-grubbing hands of the corporate record company elite--always a suspicious arbiter of good taste at the best of times--and put back into the pure and noble hands of the people.

Which, in an admittedly oblique way, brings us to the part of this column that we like to call Dear Machine Rock. This month's letter come from Xentag58 of parts unknown who writes: "Dear Machine Rock. You mention records that were released because bootleg records came out first. Have any bootlegs ever been later released as authentic records?"

You bet. As mentioned in a previous column, CBS/Sony is still playing archival catch up ever since the very first rock bootleg, Great White Wonder, was released in 1969. Not willing to concede any record sales to the bootleggers, CBS countered by releasing The Basement Tapes. When they subsequently released the box set Biograph, CBS showed that they were willing to go into the vaults and mine Dylan material for reasons other than maliciously getting back at Bob for signing with David Geffen--as they did when they publicly embarrassed him by released an album of execrable outtakes called Dylan. And because they had to do something to counter all those bootleg copies of Dylan's Royal Albert Hall concert which were in circulation, The Bootleg Series was born.

Then there was the time that master satirist Frank Zappa took a bunch of actual vinyl Zappa bootlegs and, using them as master copies, made exact vinyl copies right down to the scratchy surface noise and cheap paper artwork. He then released his own

expensive bootleg box set, the approproately titled Beat The Boots. And although he didn't lift a finger to sonically upgrade the sound, this audacious repackaging sold simply because it had the official Zappa imprimatur on it, thus ensuring that Frank had the last profitable laugh.

Sound familiar? That's because The Doors pulled off a similar move of their own last year when they released Boot Yer Butt!, a four disc bootleg anthology of sorts.

"Note to self: Steal a catchy intro for the next album."

anybody except for a handful of diehard glam fans who religiously read the rock rags, his main manager, Tony DeFries, arranged for a local live radio broadcast of Bowie's concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles on October 20, 1972.

Ostensibly recorded for a possible official record release, the album was never released by RCA. But because live radio broadcasts, then as now, are a staple source for bootleggers to get their live shows, it wasn't long before Santa Monica hit the head shops. But unlike the star, it wasn't a pretty thing to look at. In the classic bootleg tradition, this two disc set came in a plain cardboard sleeve. And because each record was adorned with just a blank white label, only by finding the small A B C or D scratched in the run out grooves could you tell which side to play first. But what it lacked in looks, Santa Monica more than made up for in terms of sonic gratification.

For most of us, this bootlegged live radio broadcast was the first time we'd ever heard any Bowie material played live and it was a revelation--especially Mick Ronson's playing. And, as alluded to at the beginning of this column, Santa Monica was living proof that Bowie had made it. Indeed, several rock magazines even ran the bootleg's release as a news item, it was that significant a release.

Other radio broadcasts would follow; some of which, like Slaughter In The Air, a double boot from 1976's Station To Station tour, were exceptionally strong. But Santa Monica would always hold a special place for its raw innocence. So it was a definite surprise when a legitimate copy of the bootlegged album called Santa Monica '72  came out on CD in 1994 on the Golden Years label. This meant that we could finally throw our old vinyl copies away--but who to thank for this sonic upgrade?

A close look at the small logo on the front cover told the whole story: although the spine read Golden Years, the actual record label logo read: MainMan Golden Years. And if you needed further confirmation, on the back cover were those familiar three words that graced many a mid-Seventies glam album: A MainMan Production. That sound you hear is a stogie-chompin' Tony DeFries laughing from his tax shelter haven somewhere in the Bahamas.

But the Holy Grail of all Ziggy-era Bowie bootlegs must surely be the one item that's arguably the hardest to find: a good video copy of Bowie's July 3, 1973 Hammersmith Odeon appearance with Jeff Beck on "The Jean Genie/Love Me Do" and "Around and Around."

D.A. Pennebacker's first cut of Bowie '73 (later renamed Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture) was broadcast only once on network television when ABC ran it late one Friday night. Shortly after this singular showing, all existing footage of Jeff Beck was deleted when, allegedly, the guitarist asked for too much money to be included in the theatrical release. Indeed, so expertly was he permanently removed from the film that to this day there are those who still don't know that Beck was ever a part of the show.

Furthermore, the version shown on ABC didn't even include the "Around and Around" footage, thus making it one of the rarest Bowie tracks of all time, if indeed such footage actually even exists. Fortunately, an audio version of the "Jean Genie/Love Me Do" segment was recorded directly off the air and released shortly afterwards by The Amazing Kornyphone Record Label as His Master's Voice.

For those of you who have heard the track, and may be wondering why the audience suddenly roars halfway through the medley, here's why: It's when Mick Ronson, resplendently attired in his best Spider From Mars spaceman finery, repeatedly nudges a reluctant Jeff Beck, dressed in his usual tee shirt and jeans, to the front of the stage to take a solo. Just from an Eleganza standpoint alone, it's one of the most incongruous visuals you're ever likely to see in the history of rock 'n' roll.

We'll wrap up by mentioning a recent Bowie boot that may be of interest to Ziggy fans. For some years now a good quality video of Bowie's 1980 Floor Show has been making the rounds. Originally aired on NBC's Midnight Special, this Pinups promo was taped live in front of fan club audience at the Marquee Club in London in October 1973. Six months later Ronson would be gone for good and Bowie would be wearing suits on his Diamond Dogs "theatour."

Oh Boy's The Midnight Special is a seventy minute audio collection of some of the seemingly endless takes the Spiders had to repeatedly play over the three days it took to tape the special. And although it's nothing radically out of the ordinary, if you're a Ronson fan with a hankering to hear additional unreleased live versions of various Pinups and pre-DD tracks, then you'll enjoy this one.

As for myself, I'm still avidly looking for a good video copy of that excised Ronson and Beck footage after first seeing it some thirty years ago on television. So if you know happen to know where I can get a copy, please let me know and I'll review it in a future installment of GTA.