Live! Bootleg

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Lore & Background

During the 1978 tour, producer Jack Douglas professionally recorded several concerts for radio broadcast, which were subsequently bootlegged. Douglas recalled, "At the same time that we were recording that album [Draw the Line], we were doing live radio broadcasts. Right over the air, man. There were some amazing bootlegs made from those broadcasts." To combat these illegal records, management asked Douglas to compile the official double live album. The design deliberately imitates poor production quality, including an incorrect track listing: "Draw the Line" is included but not listed, appearing instead as a hidden track after "Mother Popcorn". Joe Perry explained in his 2014 memoir Rocks that the idea confounded their label Columbia: "We were working on Live! Bootleg!, an album of old shows that we intentionally wanted to sound bootlegged... A couple of those tracks were recorded off air onto a cassette. It had hiss all over it. We left on the hiss because the hiss was real." The band rejected the industry standard of doctored, overdubbed live albums, with Perry stating they wanted "a real live album like Live at Leeds or Get Yer Ya Ya's Out".

In Their Own Story

The back of the CD cover features two coffee stains over a picture of Joe Perry playing before a live audience; the original LP had the stains but not the picture of Perry, which was part of the gatefold. The record includes previously unrecorded covers "I Ain't Got You" and "Mother Popcorn", as well as a version of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" inserting an uncredited "Strangers in the Night". It features the first record appearance of Richie Supa's "Chip Away the Stone" (later released on a 1980 reissue) and one of their first live performances of the Beatles' "Come Together", which they recorded for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Steven Tyler stated, "The album is a reflection of the band, as we feel and sound... It's really the essence of the whole band." Guitarist Slash later called it "one of the most underrated albums of all time," noting that "the way that Live! Bootleg starts with 'Back In The Saddle', that whole intro with the crowd going crazy and the flash-pots going off, made it so exciting to me."

Reader's Guide

The album captures material from concerts in 1977 and 1978, plus a March 20, 1973 radio broadcast from Boston. It features uncredited elements like "Strangers in the Night" within "Train Kept A-Rollin'" and hidden tracks like "Draw the Line" after "Mother Popcorn". Additional musicians include Mark Radice on keyboards and backing vocals, and David Woodford on saxophone for "Mother Popcorn". Production was handled by Jack Douglas with engineers Jay Messina and Lee DeCarlo. Mastering was done by George Marino at Sterling Sound in New York. The artwork direction was by John Kosh. For fans seeking the authentic experience Perry described, the album preserves the hiss of cassette recordings made off-air, maintaining the "thrill of a real bootleg" that Columbia Records reportedly did not understand.

Did You Know?

• "Draw the Line" is included on the record as a hidden track after "Mother Popcorn" but does not appear in the listed track listing.
• The tracks "I Ain't Got You" and "Mother Popcorn" were taken from a radio broadcast of a Boston performance on March 20, 1973.
• Producer Jack Douglas compiled the album to combat illegal bootlegs made from professional radio recordings during the 1978 tour.
• The album features the first record appearance of Richie Supa's "Chip Away the Stone".
• Joe Perry recalled that they intentionally left audio hiss on tracks recorded off-air onto a cassette because "the hiss was real."