New Vinyl Bootlegs are out there!

[mikecameron]

I don't know if there are others like me out there, but I collect The Cure on vinyl.  My goal in life is to have every pressing of every record, which is probably the most ridiculous goal as it would consist of thousands of records...but anyways.

If you haven't noticed in the last two years, there has been a bunch of bootlegs on vinyl that have shown up.  

I just bought a 12 inch vinyl picture disc record of The Cure in Rome from the 2008 Dream 13 concert.
I recently bought a 10 inch called SummerCure with four songs from the 2012 tour.
The demos from the Three Imaginary Boys have been pressed on 5 different colors of vinyl..and yeah, I bought them!
Lost Wishes was pressed on clear vinyl as a 10 inch (and limited box set with a puzzle, key chain, postcards and t shirt)
I bought a 10 inch with a few songs from the Reflections shows
There is a 7 inch picture disc with Burn and Love Will Tear Us Apart that I really, really like...Burn on vinyl is a good idea!

There are also about 4 other 7 inches that have been released through various bootleggers that I did not buy...but what this tells me is that I clearly have problems ....but seriously, if they would realease something (other than all the represses...which I really like), I'd buy it.

Anybody else buy any of these or know of any other vinyl bootlegs that have been released?

[dsanchez]

Anybody else buy any of these or know of any other vinyl bootlegs that have been released?

I don't buy any bootleg of The Cure. Reasons for this:

1) Money does not goes to the band.
2) Many times the recordings sound awful (e.g. Argentina 1987).
3) The vinyl recordings are usually available for download (for free) in places like dimeadozen.org or even here. And also, why should I pay for vinyl bootleg recording when I can download for free the original master from the taper himself? It makes no sense to me to pay for a second generation recording when I can download the master recording for free.

If in despite of these reasons you still want to get more unofficial recordings, then you may take a look here http://www.discogs.com/artist/Cure,+The#t=Unofficial_All&q=&p=1

[mikecameron]

Always gotta be haters / parents on the board.  I bet you have a hard drive of digital stuff and simply because money didn't transact, you claim that vinyl bootlegs are bad, which is hypocritical.

Just saying....buy em, don't buy em, but they are out there if it's your cup of tea

[dsanchez]

Always gotta be haters / parents on the board.  I bet you have a hard drive of digital stuff and simply because money didn't transact, you claim that vinyl bootlegs are bad, which is hypocritical.

Why you assume that it's because of money? That's silly. I bought years ago (in 2003) the "The Cure in Argentina" bootleg. I bought for like 20 EUR and the quality was horrible (and I also bought another one, from the Dream Tour, don't remember which one). Then, years later, someone shared a much better version of the same shows on the Internet. I realized then that it does not make sense to buy bootlegs. Bad quality, not support to the band, etc...

Just saying....buy em, don't buy em, but they are out there if it's your cup of tea

Did you take a look to the link I shared? I know they exist, that's why I shared the link

[Matti]

As for me, I don't buy them any longer.

There used to be a time when buying vinyl or CD bootlegs was (almost) the only way of obtaining them. File sharing networks and even snail mail trades were far off twenty years ago. I remember getting some stuff from private copy services, but even that I considered inferior to a tangible sound carrier with a proper cover.

I have to agree that I personally don't see a point in buying boots when they are freely available elsewhere (except for those that are really nicely packaged).

[mikecameron]

Well..I just added this new vinly picture disc to Discogs (vinyl version of Live in Rome for 4:13 Dream release)....and for the record (no pun intended), I really like the old school packaging of a good old fashioned picture disc!

I agree that the digital age killed vinyl bootlegs which at one time took money from the artist.  I also think that The Cure were a world wide force at the height of vinyl bootlegging in the 80s (which is why there are hundreds of bootlegs via vinyl, cd, dvd, etc.).  However, if you looked closely, you will notice that the 90s and early 2000s had very, very little vinyl bootlegs (for obvious reasons).  The point I am making is that some of the newer stuff over the last few years are clearly distributed from hardcore fans and probably not released as money makers.  From what I have read (assuming the sellers are honest), most of the recent releases are very small quantities (ranging from 10 - 250), which tells me it's more of a crazy fan than a bootlegger for money.

For instance, I bought this Box Set of Lost Wishes.  It came it with a puzzle, t shirt, clear 10 inch vinyl, keychain and some fun artwork.  Only 10 were made, but it's cool that someone took the time to put this together:

http://www.discogs.com/Cure-Lost-Wishes-Box/release/4081025

I really like this 7 inch picture disc of Burn and Love Will Tear Us Apart:

http://www.discogs.com/Cure-Burn/release/4101684

And I just added this to Discogs....Live In Rome Picture Disc:

http://www.discogs.com/Cure-Live-In-Rome-Piazza-San-Giovanni-11102008/release/4879027

So, yeah...like em, don't like em, buy em, don't buy em...but some of these to me are quite simply "cool"!

[Matti]

like em, don't like em, buy em, don't buy em... but some of these to me are quite simply "cool"!

I totally second that. I bought the La Belle June set just because I thought it looks brilliant. I never really listened to it...

I'd like to point out one important thing though: don't fall for the "it takes money from the artist" argument, that's rubbish. I don't believe anyone did not buy Show because they'd already got At the Edge of the Deep Green Sea.

[Ulrich]

Always gotta be haters / parents on the board. 

*Cough cough* Erm, you do know that dsanchez is the Admin of this board, don't you? 

As for vinyl bootlegs: IF the quality and/or package were excellent, I'd buy more of them.

Oh, I do remember the old days without internet, 20 yrs ago I bought some tapes, but the quality of recording wasn't really outstanding (to say the least)...  :roll:

I'd like to point out one important thing though: don't fall for the "it takes money from the artist" argument, that's rubbish.

I agree, of course the fans will buy any "official" product. Bootlegs are obviously aimed at the fans or collectors. (Especially if you actually were at that show, you'll tend to buy a bootleg.)

But let's not forget the other side: especially in the mentioned "good old days" some bootleggers were clearly ripping off the fans with bad quality "products".  :(