Customer Reviews

Bootleg: The Rise & Fall of the Secret Recording History

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I collect bootlegs and I bought both this book and Heylin's second book, Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry. Sadly, I would have saved money if I had only purchased one book or the other, as both books contain identical (seriously, word for word identical) material. Granted, there is *some* (albeit nominal) difference between the two books but the repetition is so extensive that I feel like I was hosed.

This should be considered the Bible for those of us who are compelled to seek out live recordings & studio outtakes in addition to (or sometimes instead of) the officially released "product". BOOTLEG is exhaustively researched, providing a fascinating overview of the bootleg recording industry (for lack of a better term). I've been collecting bootlegs for almost 20 years, but it turns out that I knew very little about the history of bootlegging (not to mention the details of how bootleg records / CDs came to be pressed and distributed). I can't recommend this one highly enough.

Bootlegs! To the vinyl aficionado, who thinks that music should be clear and concise, bootlegs provide sounds that make them wince. To the music aficionado, who sits on the edge of his seat waiting to hear the next note no matter the clicks and hisses of the vinyl, bootlegs provide honesty and visions of the music maker. Heylin's thought provoking history of bootlegs fills the reader with the hopes of acquiring a collection of this soul swelling music ripped into a piece of vinyl. I began collecting "boots" quite a few years ago, together with copies of Hot Wacks. Heylin's Bootleg is the definitive history of a time when the music meant more than the artist or label. I applaud Heylin for being the master scribe for the genre!

Very much takes the view that Bootlegging is just as much about making available unreleased music as it is about making illegal cash.

The author rightly points out that the Internet and downloading put more old time bootleggers out of business than the RIAA.