Forums dot lukpac.org

Hello,
Since I'm still staying away from the IceBox until things clear up over there(if it ever does), I wanted to pass along my disappointment in the comments I read over there about the new Allman Brothers Band SUNY at Stonybrook '71 show. The comments were one of general disappointment in the sound compared to their bootlegs. I have the show and I like it a lot. The sound is fine to me for something that I would not expect the "majors" (record companies) to want to touch which is why it is being offered over at Hittin'TheNote.com. If the people who want better sound would be patient, they are going to get a new 2-disc set from Legacy of The Allmans at the Atlanta International Pop Festival in 1970.
It is my belief that people are missing the point that a not particularly rough sounding show (compared to so many others) is supposed to be like, say for instance, another At Fillmore East in the sound department. It is an archival release being made available for people without having to pay premium bootleg prices. I'd rather pay Hittin' The Note for the 2-disc set rather than pay $50.00 for a double from bootleggers. If somebody ends up sending an e-mail with the same complaint and then it starts to snowball, then we are all going to lose out on some prime Duane Era material which many of us cherish.
Speaking of losing out, that may just be the case with The Doors and the Bright Midnight label. I got an e-mail from their official site a few weeks ago that they are re-considering Bright Midnight even though they are going to go ahead with a Robbie Krieger project called Best of the Boots. The full individual shows and the rehearsal they've offered for fans have been an invaluable look into the rigors of the artistry of the band.
I took the the word re-consider as a codeword for "we are seriously thinking of dropping the whole damned thing". Not only are we going to lose the Vancouver '70 show, but we are also going to lose San Bernadino (I think if I recall correctly) and the others we were to eventually get. But the killer is that we may lose out on the 4-disc Matrix-San Francisco shows from 1967 (I hope I have the year correct) that the actual master the taper used was found.
The surviving members are really showing themselves off to be 3 knuckleheads if they don't keep this series alive and yet continue to o.k. the churning out of Hits packages left and right. I guess with them it's all about money and screw the core fans. They are so dumb. For any band, it's the core fans who help keep the flame alive for future generations to want to buy anything from them in the first place.
Well, anyway, I know you ICE'ers out there know how passionate I am about bands releasing bootleg series. If I ever meet Bruce Springsteen, I'm going to bring it up to him (probably to the point where he's going to want to put my lights out LOL!) and see if he's receptive. I doubt I'll ever meet him, but hey, who knows!
Anyway, I hope all of you are well and that those of you in the black-out areas are getting back to normal.
sheperdfan

Question about the Allmans release - you say there's a general disappointment in the sound compared to bootlegs. Is this in comparison to a bootleg of *this show*, or just bootlegs in general? I can obviously understand if the recording itself is poor, but if a copy exists that sounds better, then something is wrong.

Hi Lukpac,
Well, I have to admit that is something I'm confused about as well. One poster said that they already had a bootleg of the show and wanted to know if the new official release was significantly better or not. Another one said they were disappointed in the general overall sound. I'm sure not. Though I have never had the opportunity to dive full-bore into bootleg Duane Era Allman Brothers material, I can tell you from the years of Rolling Stones and the building up of a Springsteen collection that peaked at over 500 shows that I was very happy with the SUNY release. I should add that I have basically retired from buying bootlegs. It's gotten too expensive. I only pick them up on occasion now. I think it's safe for me to say here that I only pick up Sister Morphine label Rolling Stones stuff nowadays. I've had problems with the Crystal Cat Springsteen stuff over the last few years with discs that skipped. I may even rethink that if they keep jacking up the sound on their mastering like they have with the last few private releases and the last general release of theirs.
I think what needs to be done is to put sound quality in context of what wide ranges of listening experiences one can have if they've dived into the waters deep enough.
Depending on how things are going with me, I can admit that I can get a little screwy now and then after reading and digesting posts, but I got the impression that the line was being blurred in the discussion over the specific show in question and bootlegs in general.
I hope I didn't further confuse things.
sheperdfan

Hi Again,
I forgot to add that I was under the impression that the bootleg of the show is the very same one that was released. I'm almost wondering now if one of the next releases will be one of the Syria Mosque shows from Pittsburgh that I've heard about. Supposedly, quite a few Allman Brothers fans have copies of two shows they did there back when Duane was alive.
sheperdfan

Sister Morphine? Really? They seem pretty notorious in "cleaning things up". I listened to "Could You Walk On The Water" a few years back, and was amazed at how bad it sounded. Mainly things lifted from the London CDs with noise reduction added.

Hi Again Lukpac,
I never put too much stock into studio recordings from bootleggers. It's the live stuff where I think Sister Morphine has cut their teeth on. The thing which has begun to bug me about them is that their private remaster of Sticky Fingers and the Smokin' At MSG release of theirs are jacked up to the nines on the volume in certain frequencies. There are quite a few Stones fans who will tell you that their Timeless Europe '73 is the best one of all of the Brussels boots from over the years. Over at the IceBox, I've complained a few times about how badly Joseph Palmaccio's remasters have hurt this one bad ear of mine. Well, the two Sister Morphine releases I've just mentioned do the very same thing to me.
You are going to have to firgive that my ears require at least a little bit of cleaning up on remasters and bootlegs. I'm hearing impaired, wear hearing aids and have tinnitus. I'll tell you what though. I love the Steve Hoffman hybrids of the CCR stuff and I just got done listening to the new Deluxe Edition of The Harder They Come soundtrack yesterday and it was dead-on perfect for my ears. You can play them loud without having the hurt kick in-while listening with headphones. I listen to music through headphones with my hearing aids off and through speakers with my hearing aids on.
sheperdfan