If there is one thing I love to find and that is Kiss Bootlegs. Whether it is on CD or vinyl, I don’t really care. I do prefer vinyl, but I’ll take it on CD as well so I can play it anywhere once I load it up to the cloud. This time around it is a CD bootleg. And not any CD bootleg, but a whole collection of radio broadcast from over the years. In fact, there are 8 shows spread over 10 CDs and includes 119 tracks. A good coverage of years from as early as 1974 all the way up to 1994. I guess there aren’t too many broadcast after the 90’s as you can see from below…
I love that it covers the make-up era and the non make-up era all the way up to prior to the big Reunion Tour. And it even includes one Non-Kiss Show with a Frehley’s Comet one. The are radio broadcast so the quality is good, but realize these are bootlegs and not pure soundboard recordings released by the band with the sound cleaned up. The set comes in a small cardboard box with each individual disc in a fake vinyl-like sleeve. Nothing fancy, but they cram a lot of music in to a small package.
These are raw and rough and that is why I like them. I really enjoy bootlegs and getting all the shows that I can have from throughout their career. The band started releasing their own “bootleg” type albums with the ‘Off the Soundboard’ Series, but after five releases, that has been put on hold currently. I do hope they get back to it soon. For now, let’s go through this set of albums.
Disc 1:
WMMS, Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio, 1st April 1974 / King Biscuit Flour Hour, The Music Hall, Cleveland, Ohio, 21st June 1975
The album ‘Crush’ saw Bon Jovi back on the scene and having major success. The album sold over 5 million copies worldwide and go to #9 on the U.S. Billboard charts. The band had a huge successful tour and to capitalize on the renewed love for Bon Jovi, they recorded one of the shows and released it on DVD and sold over 100,000 copies in the U.S. The show was recorded on August 30, 2000 in Zurich, Switzerland at the Letzigrund Stadium. The show was directed by a Jon relative by the name of Anthony Bongiovi. When all was done, it was released in Japan on December 7, 2000 while Wiki says it was released on May 28th, 2001, but since the date on the back cover says 2000, I’m going with the December date.
The boys are the same as it is Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan, Tico Torres and of course, Hugh McDonald on bass and not yet a full time official member. The DVD has the full show, plus some bonus features as well along with some music videos so it is jammed pack with goodness. My copy is a standard edition from the U.S., no extras above and beyond what is expected. I picked this up used and it was in great shape and probably cost about $5 so I was pretty happy. Enough chit chat, let’s get to the show.
The show kicks off with “Living on A Prayer”…how solid is your catalog when this classic opens the show? When Richie gets on the talk box and the drums kick in, the crowd goes nuts and starts bouncing up and down for the entire song. They don’t let up. Jon commands the crowd like a good frontman should. They go right in to “You Give Love A Bad Name” and they keep the party going at full force. The crowd doesn’t let a little rain dampen their spirit or their energy.
The tour for Def Leppard’s ‘Pyromania’ album started on February 9th, 1983 in London, England and would go on for 11 months, travel the world on and on December 18th, 1983 in Dortmund, West Germany. The tour was massive and a huge success. They even recorded the show at the L.A. Forum on the September 11th which was released as Live at the L.A. Forum which we reviewed last week. But being a such a fan of the band, I like to collect as many shows as I can get and I found one from a month earlier that was recorded in Seattle, Washington on August 3, 1983. Yes, it is a bootleg, but it is a radio broadcast so they sound is going to be pretty good…and it isn’t bad.
The show as recorded at the Seattle Center Colesium and it is the EXACT same setlist as the LA Forum show the band released. But the show is slightly different and the sound doesn’t sound the same as the other show so it does sound like a different show despite no variations in the setlist. First off, Joe Elliott’s voice is super high in this mix and the guitars are pushed a little to the back. Some songs I notice the bass is even higher then the guitars. The crowd noise isn’t as prominent so sometimes you forget they are there except when Joe interacts with them. The set I have was released in 2022 and on a 2 CD set split identical as my vinyl splits the LA Forum show.
The show kicks off with the air raid sirens, bombs bursting in the background and machine guns firing and it sounds way better and clearer then the Forum show. There is a gap in the track and and it makes it feel like the intro was not even a part of the show. Then the band goes in to “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)”, Joe’s vocals are a little rough and super loud along with the background vocals while the guitars don’t have the crunch or power you’d hope. But the energy is high and the tempo is really quick. “Rock Brigade” is up next and it sounds a little muddy and again, Joe’s a little rough around the edges and is sounds a little shot. The solo is ripping and they stick to the original song with not much extra added.
On November 6, 2000, Bon Jovi released their third single from ‘Crush’, well, their second single in the U.S. The song did really well for the band reaching the Top 40 in a ton of countries like the UK, Germany and Australia, but not in the U.S. where it only went to #57. Proving more that Bon Jovi were actually bigger overseas then in their home country which had the way it was for at least a decade. Back in 2000, when Bon Jovi released a single, there would be a ton of different variants of that single in many different parts of the world, each with their own unique B-Sides and this one was no different.
The version I have is actually a Canadian release (and I think I got this from my good pal Mike Ladano from Grab a Stack of Rock and MikeLadano.com. Go check him out as you won’t be disappointed. The version I have according to Wikipedia is says it is actually the Japanese Edition and that is possible I guess, but this is definitely a Canadian pressing as it states it below.
The song title, “Thnk You For Loving Me” seems to be inspired by Brad Pitt’s character in the film ‘Meet Joe Black’ where he tells Claire Forlani’s character “thank you for loving me”…or it could be a giant coincidence. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and was inspired by Jon’s own personal experiences and observations on how love can change you and it was a giant thank you to those special people in his life.
The song is a ballad and chock full of ballad cliches with a full on string section, soft & gentle piano and some nice sweet guitar licks from Sambora giving us the power in power ballad. The song is a little over-the-top at times and cheesy, but Jon still delivers it as only he can with all the emotion needed to draw in the listener and pull at their heartstrings. Not their best ballad they’ve ever done, but honestly, its pretty damn good nonetheless.
The B-Side tracks (I now it is a CD so technically no B-Sides, but that is what I’m calling them) are all live and recorded to a two track player at The China Club in New York City on September 20, 2000. And all three tracks are not from the ‘Crush’ album. First up is the ‘New Jersey’ track “Born to Be My Baby”. This track was penned with the help of Desmond Child and you can feel his touch all over it with its melodies and hooks and that catchy chorus. Playing it live, they haven’t really altered it or strayed from the live version. It lacks a little of the studio version’s punch, but still a great track.
Next Up is “I’ll Be There For You” is also from ‘New Jersey’ and is a ballad. That opening guitar lick from Sambora is instantly recognizable on this track. Jon’s vocals are high in the mix and in 2000, he still sounded pretty great live. Richie’s backgrounds are key on this one too as I love how his vocals compliment Jon’s so much. If you listen close, you can hear the crowd singing along. They really nail this one and they don’t stray from the studio version much and that is okay.
The final track is “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” from ‘Keep the Faith’ and Bon Jovi shows they are still a bar band at heart, even though I don’t know how much they played in bars. Tico pounds away at the skins and Richie rips some riffs. David’s piano plays like an old honky tonk and the boys cut loose and have a good time with this one. Jon doesn’t sound the best as he sounds a little tired, but this is live and he shouldn’t sound perfect.
And there you have it. A cool gift from a friend and a nice addition to the Bon Jovi collection. I hope you enjoyed it and we still have one final ‘Crush’ related piece in the collection to review and that is coming next week. Until then, have a great day.
NEXT UP: BON JOVI – ‘THE CRUSH TOUR’ (2000) – DVD REVIEW
Yes, I was there for the end. The final Kiss show. I have been a fan for around 46 years or since ever since I discovered these albums in my brothers collection. I was around 7-8 years old. The make-up, the larger than life characters, the pictures on those albums and most of all, the songs all captured this little kid’s mind and never let go. Through the good years and the bad (and there have been some), Kiss has always been a part of my life.
My very first Kiss show was December 26, 1983 for the Lick It Up Tour. My brother, Gary, gave me a ticket for the show on my birthday, which was the day before the show. Imagine my surprise. Here we are 40 years later and this time I bought the tickets. My brother took me to My First Kiss Show and I am taking him to the Last!! We arrived in New York City early morning on Friday, December 1st, 2023. Gary from Atlanta and I from Charlotte. Once we arrived, we did a couple touristy things, but one of the cool things was going to where Kiss were photographed in the suits for the Dressed to Kill album cover. That was at the southeast corner of W23rd Street and 8th Avenue looking North. I didn’t recreate it, just took a picture there.
Cheesy, yeah…but it was fun standing there where the guys made that iconic Kiss picture. The other Kiss place we went was down to Electric Lady Studios. The place where Kiss recorded their demos with Eddie Kramer, prior to the debut album. You know this studio because it was Jimi Hendrix’s Studio. If you open the door, you will see the original door and brick that was there when Kiss was. The funny thing about these two locations is that we knew we found the right locations as there were already other Kiss fans doing the same thing we planned on doing. And speaking of fans, everyone we met was so friendly and so excited about the weekend. Kiss fans, when not being overly critical, are actually great people.
Def Leppard never wanted to release live albums. At least that is what I remember them saying years and years ago. Was it something like “a band only releases live albums when they’ve run out of ideas”. Don’t quote me on that, that is something I swear I heard them say a very long time ago. And for 31 years, Def Leppard never officially released a live album. A live video, yes. But never an album until around 2011 with ‘Mirrorball’. And it would be another 9 years before we ever got a live show from their Early Years! But thanks to the box set ‘The Early Years’, we finally had a live show from 1980. It doesn’t get much earlier than that for them. It was recorded at New Theatre in Oxford on April 26, 1980. The show is completely unedited and as is (so they say) and I would believe it.
But it wasn’t my first early show of Def Leppard. I have a bootleg from a show at BBC’s Paris Theatre, London, England, 22nd August 1979 and some recorded at the Reading Festival, Reading, England, 24th August 1980 and it was called “Live at the Top”. That was my first taste of early Lep and what a taste it was. This show is even better and sees a hungry, raw Def Leppard giving it their all. There are four historical pieces on here as we get a liver version of Good Morning Freedom which the band had never released, an early version of Lady Strange from an album that hadn’t come out yet and two songs that would wind up completely different when they were finally released on two different albums. The show was first released in that box set, then they decided to release a vinyl of the show as well which I have both versions as you can see in the last picture.
Welcome to the monthly round-up as we go through the purchases here at 2 Loud 2 Old Music for September 2023. It was another good month for vinyl and CDs, but that was it. Nothing out of the ordinary this month like Cassettes, 8-Tracks or even books. Strictly vinyl and CDs which I won’t complain about because that is enough. The month started out with a couple new releases that came out at the end of August, but didn’t arrive until after the August post was done. I picked the new albums for both Eclipse and H.E.A.T. and both are great…
Then during Labor Day weekend, my wife and I had a kid free weekend and we went out to 2nd & Charles so she could look for books. I, of course, took advantage of the Buy 2 Get 2 Free in the used CD section where I picked up 10 CDs. Two of them were actually still sealed (Lifehouse and Halestorm)!! I picked up a handful of Live including their debut E.P., some Wallflowers and a great Pearl Jam live CD and as Jimmy Buffett passed away, I grabbed his greatest hits in memory of him.
July was the month of local record stores. I spent a lot of time at a couple this month, Noble Records and Hardy Boys, both excellent local shops. First, we made a trip to Noble Records and I actually had a good trip for vinyl. Meaning I bought a handful not just one here and one there. I grabbed some I’ve been meaning to add to the collection and Tim Durling is to blame for 3 of them as he’s been talking about them a lot.
And if that wasn’t enough, I was scanning the cassettes and I found a ton of Kiss cassettes, those are hard to come by so I grabbed them even though they weren’t in the best shape. I didn’t care too much about that as I just wanted them in the collection. They needed a new home anyway, so why not…I adopted a bunch…
It has been years since we have been given any new, unreleased material from Aerosmith. The last studio album was 10 years ago in 2012 and there were two live albums back in 2015, but nothing to light the world on fire. That was until Black Friday Record Store Day on November 26, 2021 when they had a “first release” of a found recording that contains the earliest known recording of the band to exist. The album is called ‘1971: The Road Starts Hear’ which is around 18 months prior to the release of their debut album in January 1973.
The timeframe of the release is sometime during the Fall of 1971 as Brad Whitford was in the band as he was the last cog in the wheel as he joined in August 1971. So, we had Brad as well as Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer and Aerosmith was born in the form we all know and love. However, the whereabouts of where this was actually recorded is in question. There are several possibilities, but no one actually knows for sure. We know it is not an actual concert as there is no crowd noise so thoughts are it is either a soundcheck or a band rehearsal, but whichever it is, it is totally amazing as we get a band that is fairly new, but extremely tight musically and destined to explode on to the world. The thought is it was recorded originally recorded in October 1971, Boston, Mass. on Joe Perry’s Wollensak 3M 1280 2-track tape recorder, but that is as much as we know for sure.
Released on October 28, 1998, ‘A Little South of Sanity’ was the final album to be released with Geffen Records. Funny thing with Aerosmith, three albums in to a 6 album deal with Geffen, Aerosmith signed a new contract with Columbia Records…who does that. At the time they signed the deal, they only had done 3 albums. ‘Get a Grip’ became #4, the greatest hits compilation was #5 and this live album was the 6th and final one. I guess Columbia Records and Geffen had a good relationship because before this 6th album came out, Columbia got to release ‘Nine Lives’. Only Aerosmith could pull something like that off.
But we are here to talk about the live album ‘A Little South of Sanity’. The album was pieced together from two entirely different tours. Some songs from the 1993-1994 ‘Get A Grip’ Tour and the rest from the 1997-1998 ‘Nine Lives’ Tour which was still going on after this album was released. And here is the strange thing, we don’t know the shows every song comes from which I think is nuts. Isn’t anyone tracking that information? Apparently not. We do know some songs, but a lot are still a mystery. What we do know are there are 23 tracks and almost 2 hours of live Aerosmith. That is perfect.
The cover art is said to be inspired by an incident where Joey Kramer’s Ferrari caught on fire at a gas station. Joey blamed the gas attendant for the incident. Therefore the picture of the gas attendant on the cover is said to be filmmaker Patrick Connolly. At least he is claiming it is him. I don’t know if it is confirmed. And it says filmmaker, but I don’t know what films he has done and I guess it isn’t important. Also on the cover, you notice the album got a Parental Advisory Sticker and it is the only album of Aerosmith to ever get one. It is for some of the colorful language Steven uses in between songs.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 