As we wind down the long month of January, we at HotWacks On-line hope that the year is starting off on a good note for you. It has been a week void of any big announcements in the Bootleg News but, we have quite a bit of new release information that we can relay and get everyone caught up.

Crystal Cat has released the BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN title, "St. Paul Night"...which covers the Vote For Change concert in St. Paul, Minnesota on October 5th, 2004. I am eager to hear this version as the initial audience tapes that surfaced after the gig weren't all that great. Certainly not of the quality of recording that CC usually messes with. So, we'll see. The Beatles Of Master Works (BMW) Label is taking it's stab at a currently popular PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS recording...just released this week is "Wings First America", the excellent audience recording from The Tarrant County Convention Center in Houston, Texas on May 3rd, 1976. BMW is assuring collectors that their release is from the master tape AND is an upgrade as they have speed-corrected the recording...on a related note, Watch Tower have recently released the WINGS title "Ride In The Sky", another excellent audience recording from Boston Gardens on May 22, 1976. I just sampled this one during the week and will add it to our bootleg review database later today.



Rounding up other loose ends around the bootleg world...from the DCD Label comes PEARL JAM "Bridges 1991-1993" & "Bridges 1994-1995"...the 2 volumes breakdown the bands' guest appearances, performances w/special guests, rare outtakes, solo appearances, interviews and more. Pablo Records has a handful of new releases to point out...R.E.M. "Stars & Stipes" contains their Vote For Change concert appearance at Gund Arena in Cleveland on October, 2nd, 2004 with bonus tracks from Washington D.C on October 11th...QUEEN "Morumbi Stadium 1981" documents their Sao Paulo, Brazil show on March 20th, 1981 (in which they played to over 130,000 people), should be an interesting show to hear how the band responds...IRON MAIDEN "The Beast Is On The Road" contains their June 29th, 1982 gig at the New York Palladium..."Secret Berlin Night" is a strange release of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN featuring the German band BAP from their one-off jam and video shoot for "Hungry Heart" in July of 1995, which hasn't ever been fully explained...BON JOVI "Acoustic Gems" is exactly what you would expect...various guest concert or promotional appearances of the acoustic or scaled down nature from 1992 through to 2000.



In other SPRINGSTEEN news, we mentioned at the start of the week that the Freedom For America Label out of Europe is re-issuing two very early performances that were originally released by E-Street Records about 15 years ago. They are: "Springtime In Asbury Park" which features the only known recording of Bruce with the band Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, recorded from the soundboard in Asbury Park on May 14th, 1971...Also getting re-release is "Summertime In New York City", another soundboard from post Dr. Zoom...The Bruce Springsteen Band, recorded at Damrosch Park, July 23rd, 1971. Previously cited as well this week were the Japanese NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE releases "Another Osaka" from the March 4th, 1976 show...AND, "Boston Tea Party 1970" which features their March 1st, 1970 concert.

Miscellaneous mentions...From Blue Eyes Records comes JUDAS PRIEST "Wasted Years", a recording from their Sweden Rock Festival appearance June 10th through the 12th, 2004 and Paddington Records are readying their ERIC CLAPTON 6CD+DVD set called "House Of Blues Triple Nights" that compiles his November 11th, 12th & 13th,1994 shows at the House Of Blues in Los Angeles with a Pro-shot DVD of his Fillmore concert in San Francisco earlier that week on November 7th...of course Mid-Valley put out that new CREAM CD this week, "Acid The Lost Cream Tapes" that brings to the collectors' table some previously unreleased studio outtakes from the power trio...Euro Boots have released the U2 title, "The Leaves Of The Joshua Tree" on a double-CD set that features their Paris concert at the Le Zenith on June 15, 1987 and tacks on some bonus tracks from the last show of the Joshua Tree Tour in Arizona on December 10th, 1987...and a stray, generic labeled TORI AMOS bootleg titled, "At The Union Chapel In London" has reached the review desk...this features a soundboard recording from her first concert of the "Strange Little Girl Tour", recorded on August 30th, 2001...and finally, it's been some time since we heard much from the Rattlesnake Label...but Hendrik Mulder confirmed via his Love You Live Website that they have a couple of new ROLLING STONES releases to make note of...their new CD offering may be a bit superfluous but they usually only offer the best..it is "Shoo Doo Bee Seattle", another 2CD set of the oft-booted Seattle soundboard recording from October 15, 1981...finally, their new DVD release looks great!...put out on the Kingsnake Label, it is titled "Bridges To Babylon Bremen 1998" and features the excellent, but common, September 2nd, 1998 Pro-shot video.



Thanks for visiting HotWacks On-line for the complete updates this week in the world of Bootleg Recordings. If you happen to hear about or see something we may have missed please drop me an email at
sb@hotwacks.com

I'll meet you back here next Sunday for more of the news. I'll attempt to provide some label updates on some projects we mentioned awhile back. Have a great week and keep an eye on the News Ticker.

Svengi
January 23rd, 2005