Live! Bootleg

A real live album with intentional hiss and hidden tracks.

Live! Bootleg is a double live album by American hard rock band Aerosmith, released in October 1978. While most performances were drawn from concerts in 1977 and 1978, the tracks "I Ain't Got You" and "Mother Popcorn" originate from a radio broadcast of a Boston performance on March 20, 1973. The album was compiled by producer Jack Douglas to combat illegal bootlegs made from professional radio recordings during their 1978 tour. Its design intentionally mimics the poor production quality of contemporary bootleg records, going so far as to include an incorrect track listing where "Draw the Line" appears only as a hidden track after "Mother Popcorn".

Quick Facts

Artist: Aerosmith
Recorded: 1973, 1977, 1978
Genre: Hard rock; blues rock
Length: 75:39
Label: Columbia
Producer: Jack Douglas; Aerosmith

Lore & Background

During the 1978 tour, producer Jack Douglas professionally recorded several concerts for radio broadcast, which were subsequently bootlegged. Douglas recalled, "At the same time that we were recording that album [Draw the Line], we were doing live radio broadcasts. Right over the air, man. There were some amazing bootlegs made from those broadcasts." To combat these illegal records, management asked Douglas to compile the official double live album. The design deliberately imitates poor production quality, including an incorrect track listing: "Draw the Line" is included but not listed, appearing instead as a hidden track after "Mother Popcorn". Joe Perry explained in his 2014 memoir Rocks that the idea confounded their label Columbia: "We were working on Live! Bootleg!, an album of old shows that we intentionally wanted to sound bootlegged... A couple of those tracks were recorded off air onto a cassette. It had hiss all over it. We left on the hiss because the hiss was real." The band rejected the industry standard of doctored, overdubbed live albums, with Perry stating they wanted "a real live album like Live at Leeds or Get Yer Ya Ya's Out".

Reader's Guide

The album captures material from concerts in 1977 and 1978, plus a March 20, 1973 radio broadcast from Boston. It features uncredited elements like "Strangers in the Night" within "Train Kept A-Rollin'" and hidden tracks like "Draw the Line" after "Mother Popcorn". Additional musicians include Mark Radice on keyboards and backing vocals, and David Woodford on saxophone for "Mother Popcorn". Production was handled by Jack Douglas with engineers Jay Messina and Lee DeCarlo. Mastering was done by George Marino at Sterling Sound in New York. The artwork direction was by John Kosh. For fans seeking the authentic experience Perry described, the album preserves the hiss of cassette recordings made off-air, maintaining the "thrill of a real bootleg" that Columbia Records reportedly did not understand.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Back in the Saddle (Indianapolis, IN, July 4, 1977)	Steven Tyler, Joe Perry	4:25
2	Sweet Emotion (Chicago, IL, March 23, 1978)	Tyler, Tom Hamilton	4:42
3	Lord of the Thighs (Chicago, IL, March 23, 1978)	Tyler	7:18
4	Toys in the Attic (Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA, March 28, 1978)	Tyler, Perry	3:45

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
5	Last Child (The Paradise Club, Boston, MA, August 9, 1978)	Tyler, Brad Whitford	3:14
6	Come Together (The Wherehouse, Waltham, MA, August 21, 1978)	John Lennon, Paul McCartney	4:51
7	Walk This Way (Detroit, MI, April 2, 1978)	Tyler, Perry	3:46
8	Sick as a Dog (Indianapolis, IN, July 4, 1977)	Tyler, Hamilton	4:42

Side three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Dream On (Louisville, KY, July 3, 1977)	Tyler	4:31
2	Chip Away the Stone (Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA, April 8, 1978)	Richard Supa	4:12
3	Sight for Sore Eyes (Columbus, OH, March 24, 1978)	Tyler, Perry, Jack Douglas, David Johansen	3:18
4	Mama Kin (Indianapolis, IN, July 4, 1977)	Tyler	3:43
5	S.O.S. (Too Bad) (Indianapolis, IN, July 4, 1977)	Tyler	2:46