What Are Bootleg Albums and Where Can I Find Out About Them?
• Bootlegs are records that are created by unauthorized people. For example, if you tape recorded a Beatles concert and then made a record from it that would be a bootleg. Bootlegs in the past were a source of early copies of Beatles songs before they were released. When I was in college in 1970, for instance, I heard a bootleg record with a very muffled version of “Across the Universe” that was not yet available on any Beatles record. These albums were often in blank record covers and they had no label name because they were illegal copies of recordings. • The (legal) Capital “Beatles Rarities” vinyl album was later released to try to capture fans interest in other versions of the Beatles songs. More recently of course, the Live at the BBC and “Beatles Anthology Albums 1, 2, and 3” also offered official copies of the previously unreleased versions of songs.
