I love me a good bootleg and I found with this one. It is from Queen and it is called ‘Command Performance: Live at the Hammersmith Odean at Christmastime 1975’. In fact, it was recorded on December 24, 1975. The bootleg came out some time in 1976 and I love the simplicity of it all. A green sheet with a photocopy of the band and setlist in black. Nothing fancy about it at all. Nothing on the back cover and the labels on the vinyl were white and someone had typed ‘Side One’ or ‘Side Two’ depending on the side. No expense was spared…LOL!!
And like all bootlegs, there are mistakes. The opening track is listed as “Now I’m Sure”…and I’m sure that is wrong. It should be “Now I’m Here”. If that wasn’t enough, Roger Taylor is now spelling his name differently as Rodger Taylor. That “d” makes a difference. The other thing, this isn’t the full show. It is a single LP so several songs and medley were cut, but what you get here is still rather amazing. It is the best of the best.
What was special about this show is it was broadcast live on the BBC and it was the first time the band had ever done that. With that being said, the sound quality on this is exceptional (with minor exceptions). This is one of the cleanest sounding bootlegs I have ever owned. However, what makes this bootleg obsolete now is that the band actually did release this show officially on November 20, 2015. It was called ‘A Night at the Odeon – Hammersmith 1975’.
That didn’t matter to me, as I love bootlegs and still wanted it as it was a cherished piece in the bootleg world back in the 70’s. Plus, nothing beats the simplicity of the whole set. This was so prized because several songs on this set were later dropped from the setlist and did not appear on any official live release back in the day. In the grand scheme of things, yes, I can get the official release, but this to me is more authentic and more special. Now, let’s get to the music.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 