'Bout the Boots

[Bálint]

Some more questions from me:
I was always wondering about the existence of the boots -  of any kind of recordings of the shows. They are mostly good, they are mostly whole shows, they are mostly available this or that way - and there are so many of them, and so many informations about them. Its amazing. Its unbelievable. So:

1. How come so many recordings of FZ's shows exists? How could they be done? How could stuff be stolen from FZ (I am thinking of the stereo, soundboard recordings)?

2. How could they be all collected together - like on the Zappa Patio homegage? Huuuuuuge work!

3. And a question I never understood: how could FZ "authorise" the Beat the Boots series? It is still unbelievable to me. They are mostly poor quality, he must have had them in better recordings (if he ever wanted to release them), they are mostly ugly, and so on. Here in Hungary some of them are available, and mostly cheaper then the official ones. And they all make really bad to FZ's reputation - those might be good for collectors, okay, but I had spent some time explaining guys (first listeners) that "yes, this is Frank Zappa, but for real he sounds a LITTLE BIT different...". Why did it happened - is it good for anyone?

Thanks

B

[SOFA]

I was always wondering about the existence of the boots -  of any kind of recordings of the shows. They are mostly good, they are mostly whole shows, they are mostly available this or that way

The 'line' has blurred a bit in recent years; in the 70's there was a definite distinction between bootlegs and concert tapes - CT's were whole shows, and bootlegs were pieces of different shows. CT's were harder to come by as they tended to make the rounds of the 'serious' collectors only, and were rarely - if ever - sold. Bootlegs on the other hand were created to be sold... With the change in technology via digital audio, this distinction has slowly changed to the point where it no longer applies.

1. How come so many recordings of FZ's shows exists? How could they be done? How could stuff be stolen from FZ (I am thinking of the stereo, soundboard recordings)?

They exist because people have been taping live perfromances for years. They exist because the people who did it didn't get caught...  How some tapes were stolen from FZ, well that I can't answer.

2. How could they be all collected together - like on the Zappa Patio homegage? Huuuuuuge work!

Yes. All compiled years ago by the good folks at affz - for many years the largest and most active newsgroup on the Net.

3. And a question I never understood: how could FZ "authorise" the Beat the Boots series?

It was strictly a business move on Frank's part. Those bootlegs already existed and someone ELSE was profitting from their sale. Frank figured that if people were going to buy them anyway, the money might as well go into HIS pocket. So he had "his people" go out and find the most popular boots available at the time, and then contracted with Rhino to have them released. He also distanced himself from the project as much as possible, stating in the press that the BTB releases were simply polished turds. The title Beat the Boots came from "beating the bootleggers at their own game", which meant 'stealing' the work of the bootleggers, and collecting money for it.
SOFA

[Bálint]

Thank you for the answers!

I just found a sentence about Chalk Pie unreleased album:
"The Chalk Pie tapes were leaked to collectors/bootleggers by one of the guys in the band, who shall go nameless, because, you get the idea (yes, I know which guy)."

So it happens this way, too...

By the way: is there somewhere a collected cronology, a kind of history of these complete shows, bootlegs? Are the guys known this or that way?
From one point of wiev its almost crime, but on the other hand its an amazing work of collectors, music-lovers. So a kind of "story" would be interesting...

[Bálint]

I often find myself to be still amazed by the fact that FZ has so much bootleg recording, and the questions are STILL alive in me. Don't you have any stories about it?

- It seems that most of the shows are recorded, but there are mostly 1 recording per show exist (rarely 2), and most of them are full shows. Does it mean that there was a hardcore group consisting of 1-2 or 3 guys who travelled up and down and just recorded and recorded? (Cuccurullo mentions that he "had to" see at least 14 shows per year).

- There are periods of which there are not too much recordings, or only in poor quality (the 73 spring, 82). Can this also mean that that time was not a guy or two who "originally" recorded?

- there are tons of shows available in their entirety which used to be bootleg LPs before - does it mean that the guy who made the tape and sold it, changed his mind and give it to the public for free? Or what?

- and again: the collecting of all these stuff... Amazing. Was there a decision of how to digitalize it, where to collect, how to archive...

*

Well, I really dont know how or what to ask, but I'm really interested in the story of all this. Is there anyone to share some information? It would be a nice "book" about a community.

But at least some great stories for me to read. :-)

B