Flashback Friday: The Bootleg Boogie

If you've been with me for any considerable length of time know that I go way back in the area of Christian Music. Pretty much all music. I grew up listening to the Beatles, Paul McCartney and Wings, Chicago, Bad Company and The Eagles, among others. And of course I had a whole supply of 45's (ask your grandparents) from the 60's. Of course after I got born again I had a giant yard sale and sold it all and went pretty much all in to Christian Music. That would be 1975. These days I think that selling all those records was a big mistake.

Vinyl was coexisting nicely with the cassette tape, and while the walkman and its knock offs made things easy to listen to music on the go way before the invention of the iPod. The only drawback was it was play only. If you wanted to create a tape you needed a cassette tape recorder, commonly known as a tape recorder.

Somewhere between 9-12 inches long and about 4 pounds in weight, you would think that it would be to bulky to smuggle in to concert venues but that is exactly what we did. It was better during winter concerts as you could smuggle it under your winter coat.

(Image Courtesy of Pinterest and bing)

One of the excuses of people regarding sin has been "Hey, everybody is doing it". Well everybody may be a slight exaggeration, but it would not be much of a stretch to say that in a concert held in a college gymnasium which held about 1,000 people (small Northeastern Christian Colleges), about 25o would have a tape recorder. 25% is not everyone, but it was enough to make a successful bootleg record company a pipe dream. After all, the commercial value of a recording is partially based on the rarity of the product, and when a quarter of the audience has a bootleg copy, rarity is out the window. You would have to rely on quality.

And that was the other problem. An audio copy made with a cheap recording device with a 2 cent microphone set up over 50 feet (at least) from any sound source is bound to be less than stellar in quality. No one doing this was seated anywhere near the stage. But it was all about "The experience" being captured live. I mean why buy a studio recorded cassette when you could have one of these.

I am pretty sure the statute of limitations on these things are up. Certainly the cassette tapes have long since deteriorated. The dream remains alive, however. With the advent of the smartphone and Facebook and YouTube Live we can have our own television station. The Second Coming of MTV.  I for one am glad to have a commercially produced live album and music video however.. Summer is here and with it Flashback Friday. Come with me to the 80's in my time machine. Until next Friday, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Shemita Songs: The 2015 Platinum Vinyl Awards 4th Qtr - Live

We begin our single genre posts of the 2015 Platinum Vinyl Awards 4th Quarter Pool with a bit of a cheat. I have begun adding Compilation and Live Album into the wrap, even though they are not technically genres. And with 6 entries this quarter, the live experience has something to crow about. We shall get right to it.

Live Recorded Album

• Anberlin - Cities - Live in New York City
• Tasha Cobbs - One Place Live
• Kristene DiMarco - Mighty (Live)
• Geoffrey Golden - Kingdom...Live!
• Israel and New Breed - Covered: Alive In Asia
• Uche Agu - The Glory Experience (Live In Houston)

We are under way once again. I apologize for the delays in between posts, but a lot is going on at the moment. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Thief of Hearts

I thought I would do a few reviews for some Albums that have been out for a while. Sometimes these are only available via download. The Rocket Summer Bryce Avery: His Instruments, Your Voices is available free on his website. That's the entire album folks, not just a song or two. The Album is a live concert album that was done acoustic in small venues in what I can tell from verbal cues, in Hollywood and Salt Lake City. I am usually of mixed feelings when it comes to Live albums, but this one is very good.

His Instruments

Bryce is a multi-instrumentalist, which means he can be a one man band if he wants to, and in this case he does. Though he sticks to piano and guitar in this acoustic set, he does a "solo jam" which involves drums, guitar, electric guitar and some additional layering of instruments which would be impossible if not for a computer/synthesizer of some sort. Not that I'm complaining. I love techno. And all CCM one man-bands owe a lot to a man by the name of Leon Patillo. If you grew up in the 80's you may know who I am talking about.

I have two complaints about live albums, and both are addressed here. The first is that in a Live recording, "something is missing". The sound is never quite right, because it cannot be controlled. Bryce takes the K.I.S.S. Method here to achieve near perfection. Small Venue, Acoustic, not much can go wrong, and accept for an audience caused snafu (more on that in the second part), nothing does.

Your Voices

This is where the album really shines. In most live albums, when the artist/band asks for the audience to sing along is when things start to go bad. Maybe it's just that they don't have the audience miked, maybe it's the mix, and maybe we've got an audience of newbies who don't know the songs. The result is usually dead air. I liken it to those town hall meetings when they ask a question, you don't hear the question, and then you hear, that's a great question from the pol. (It doesn't matter your political persuasion, they're all equally bad.)

Such is not the case here. These fans are rabid. Not in stalker rabid, but they know all the words to every song and sing it loud and proud. This is a live experience at its finest. The fans are also responsible for a very funny moment during the show. After requesting Never Knew, they clap along at to quick a speed, throwing off Bryce's rhythm. After complaining playfully, he says "I can do this, I'm a professional" and continues the song. The energy is obvious.



Final Thoughts

I Thought I might not do this review, considering it is a free album, but it is that good, so I have to spill. In the Interest of the Night Beat making a buck, let me add that the full studio versions of the songs on the live set are on the albums Of Men and Angels, Hello Good Friend, Do You Feel, Calendar Days, and The Rocket Summer.

I played this for a family member, and after it concluded, the remark was "He stole their hearts". I agree. Now, I have a job for you the listener. As a live experience, this gets the full 5 Emerald treatment. Here is my question. Since it is a free download which may get limited circulation, should I include it in the PVA's this year? This could accomplish two things, getting more people to download and more comments for me. A Win-Win. I await your decision. As always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.