14 brilliant tracks, including Grizzly Bear, Ganglians, Plush, Van Dyke Parks, Gruff Rhys and Sufjan Stevens
The day in October 1987 that the issue of Melody Maker comes out with a review Iยve written of Bob Dylan at whatยs now Wembley Arena, I get a call from someone I can barely hear even though heยs shouting over the constant squawk of announcements being made over a startlingly loud public address system. It turns out to be someone Iยve never met called Larry Eden ย ยAs in ยGates Of. . .ยย he tells me. Larry, it turns out, is a big Dylan fan and heยs calling because heยs just read the new issue of MM and was surprised to find a review of Dylan in it and even more startled to discover that at a time when Dylanยs critical standing is at perhaps an all-time low, the review describes the concert as one of the most exciting, if contrary and confrontational Iยve ever seen.
Larry asks me if Iยd like him to send me some live tapes heยs made of recent Dylan shows. Larry, it further transpires, doesnยt miss many Dylan concerts, is in fact at Heathrow, hence the background hubbub, waiting for a flight to Spain, where Dylan that night starts a European tour, Larry with tickets for every show, all of which he intends taping. ยI have quite a collection,ย he says with what turns out to be considerable understatement.
Anyway, as much as a month later, the IPC post room calls to say theyยre in receipt of a special delivery for me that someone will bring up to my office. Not much later, a couple of burly fellows stagger into my office with an enormous cardboard box, big enough to pack a horse in.
Whatยs in the box, finally revealed after much hacking at the layers of sticky tape mummifying its contents, are hundreds of C90 cassettes, each one of a bootleg of different Dylan show, going back I donยt know how far, possibly from the sheer quantity of tapes all the way to Greenwich Village.
This is how I generally think of bootlegs at the time ย clandestine recordings made at concerts by obsessive fans and then put into circulation for similarly obsessed types. There is, however, a greater bootleg sub-culture that amounts almost to a secret history of rock, the most famous example being The Beach Boysย Smile.
With Smile finally getting an official release, like famous bootlegs before it, including records by Dylan, Bowie, The Beatles, Prince and The Who, we wondered if there were any great albums still only available bootlegs. The answer was a resounding yes and the 50 best are listed in this monthยs cover story. As ever, let me know if weยve missed out any records you think we should have included, via email to the usual address.
In other news, Uncut has teamed up with Sonic Editions, who specialise in high quality limited edition music photography, to host Sonic Editions Present The Uncut Collection At The Royal Albert Hall, an exhibition that runs at the iconic London venue from October 5 to November 1, 2011, which Sonic Editions rather kindly asked me to curate for them. Readers who arenยt attending any concerts at the RAH during the exhibitionยs run can view it on special Open Days on October 8, 22 and 23, from 11-3pm
