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QOL Queen - The Top 100 Bootlegs

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Queen are one of the most widely pirated bands in the world. A large number of their live performances (over 700 in all) exist in unauthorised recordings – from the earliest college gigs in 1971, to the final open air spectacular at Knebworth Park in 1986. In response to public demand, large numbers of ‘bootleg’ LPs, tapes, CDs, videos and now DVDs, proliferated.

Prior to Freddie’s death in November 1991, there was a steady flow of bootlegs – numbering perhaps a few dozen. In the decade which followed, that figure increased at least tenfold. Not all the bootlegs which surfaced are still available, but those still out there today still amount to several hundred. It is difficult to put an exact figure on the amount of concerts represented in full or part by bootleg releases, but it is probably about 25-30 per cent. The Queen audio archive contains many complete official concert recordings which all may one day see the light of day, and the presently available range of videos, CDs and DVDs remains of course the best place to experience QUEEN LIVE. Nevertheless, even though the quality may be inferior, many bootlegs remain interesting in their own right.

While there might have been six or seven hundred Queen bootlegs over the years in various forms, it does not follow that they represent several hundred different concerts – that is certainly not the case. Some performances are represented by many different offerings. The Hammersmith Odeon show, Christmas Eve 1975, for example, has spawned in excess of 20 bootleg CDs to our knowledge, yet all offer more or less the same material – just in different sequences and in vastly contrasting sound quality. Sometimes we are just looking at an identical CD, but in different packaging. Bootlegs in fact rarely offer the full show, and quite often have songs in the wrong running order. Specification of the location and date of bootleg recordings may also be incorrect, and some offer a mixture of material from various shows, ‘pretending’ it is one performance. This is the nature of the bootleg world. Information offered on the usually flimsy packaging is also of highly variable quality, and interesting spelling errors abound, such as Seven Seas Of Rhyde, In The Lad Of The Gods, Orge Battle, Boman Rapsodie and Keep Yorself Alive – to name only a few!

Today there is a HUGE mass of bootlegs to choose from – an overwhelming volume. Only a tiny fraction of these are worth seeking out, as most are poor-quality, shoddily conceived packages designed only to part Queen fans from their hard-earned cash. Perhaps 1 in 25 bootlegs is truly worth having. So unless you know precisely where to go and whom to ask, venturing into the murky and spurious world of illegal recordings is not recommended.

Luckily, and this is a world-wide first, Queen have decided to save you the trouble and the risk, by Bootlegging the Bootleggers!

On this site we propose to offer the VERY BEST of the bootlegs, in terms of sound quality and variation of material, at a sensible price. We have effectively ‘cut to the chase’, offering serious Queen fans the best of the bunch – ‘the crème de la crème’, as Freddie might say!

With expert advice from three acknowledged experts on Queen bootlegs; Frank Hazenberg, Andreas Voigts, Frank Palstra, we offer only the most interesting and significant material. Now you can download the very best of QUEEN IN CONCERT at your leisure, and know that each recording is the best around. Each month we will offer further concerts, so please keep this site bookmarked and keep coming back to check out which gigs have been posted.

Playing the bootleggers at their own game seems an appealing prospect for most of us; here we hope to do just that, hoping that in the end it will lead to greater satisfaction all round.

Greg Brooks. October 2004

Queen’s Top 100 Bootlegs will be released in batches of 3 or 4 every month. The first three to be released are:

Queen – Jazz Final
Recorded: May 6th, 1979 – Makomani Ice Arena, Sapporo, Japan

Queen – Last Stand
Recorded: May 15th, 1985 – Jo Hall, Osaka, Japan

Queen – Life Is Real
Recorded: August 9th, 1982 – Brendan Byrne Arena, Meadowlands, USA

Check the news on QOL for news month’s releases!

Click here to buy Queen’s Top 100 Bootlegs!

Queen donate any profit to the Mercury Phoenix Trust

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