THE BOOTLEG BOX SET VOL. 1

Over the years, bands have explored various ways of beating the bootleggers at their own game. Some such as Yes and Deep Purple release live albums from at least one leg of virtually every tour, while others such as Led Zeppelin will simply resort to legal (and other!) action.

In the early 21st century, Tangerine Dream (and Emerson Lake and Palmer) decided to accept that the demand will always be there for such recordings. They therefore gathered together selections of the most popular bootlegs of their work, and packaged them as official releases. This box is the first such set of Tangerine Dream recordings.

Before going any further, it must be emphasised that the term bootleg here is not some sort of marketing gimmick, these are genuine bootlegs usually recorded by a member of the audience. They are raw, untouched, mono recordings, probably made using a concealed cassette recorder, complete with coughs, splutters, and general fidgeting. They remain though, a delight to hear.

The seven discs which make up this first box set cover 4 gigs by the band between 1974 and 1976, three in the UK and one in Bilbao. They were thus recorded during what many consider the band's golden age, while signed to Virgin records.

Tangerine Dream's music is notoriously difficult to identify due to its very nature. The performances are entirely instrumental with long ambient phases and broad similarities between many of the compositions. I have to confess therefore to being unable to put names to the pieces which can be heard here, if indeed they have them. The track titles offer little assistance, merely stating the date and venue. The likelihood is that these are a mixture of variations on album tracks and genuinely new pieces composed for the tours. Whatever the source of the music, it is very much in keeping with that which appeared on the studio albums around that time, and thus becomes a sort of holy grail for those seeking more of the same.

Those who enjoy Tangerine Dream's 1970's studio albums would be well advised to investigate this collection, with the strong proviso that you are willing to compromise significantly in terms of audio quality. My two star rating simply reflects the target audience.

In a final masterpiece of kicking the bootleggers where it hurts, the Tangerine Bootleg boxes have now been made available for legal free download, in the UK at least and perhaps elsewhere, through the advertising sponsored WE7.COM website.

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