1. Prologue, 2. Main Characters And Places, 3. Makin’ A Bootleg, 4. White On White, 5. Great White Wonder, 6. GWW Takes Off, 7. Great White Rashomon, 8. Hysteria, 9. Collectin’ And Stealin’, 10. Liver Than You’ll Ever Be, 11. Recording Underground, 12. Trade Mark Of Quality, 13. Wide Guys, 14. Treachery Of The Big One, 15. Legal Pirates, 16. The Peak And Downhill Side, 17. On The Run, 18. Aftermath, 19. Epilogue, 20. TMQ Complete LP And EP Numeric Record Catalog, 21. TMQ Master Numbers, 22. Before Pigman, 23. The Pig Sticker, 24. Generic LP Record Labels, 25. The Generic TMQ Album Jacket, 26. Budget Double LP Albums, 27. Pig’s Eye, 28. The Genuine TMQ Record Album?, 29. Artist Index, 30. Album Index, 31. About Ralph Sutherland, 32. About Harold Sherrick.                

This review marks the first time for a book and some may think it inappropriate for a bootleg site, however we believe this is not the case, due to the subject. We finally received the finished book in its printed form about 6 months after getting a courtesy PDF version, did some proofreading, some corrections had been accepted, some not, in fact there still are some mistakes like at page 27 where it says that “Dylan even seems to be playing a freer, more imaginate acoustic guitar” instead of imaginative or at page 99 where “The Beatles was an early favourite” instead of were or at page 193: “The owner of the small upstairs…. who had come from money” instead of for money. Apart for this minutia though the book is a great work which will fascinate the readers interested in such a subject.

It tells the story of the men who started the Trademark of Quality (TMQ) bootleg label and released a number of bootleg titles including the legendary Freat White Wonder and Liver Than You'll Ever Be. The book contains a complete discography of the label with photos; a friend of the authors helped with researching the information in the book.
First let’s take a look at the advertising summary:
“In that hot summer of ’69 two longhaired music freaks created an underground LP record album of unreleased tracks by one of their music gods and put it out on the streets of Los Angeles. No one had ever been crazy enough to do such an audacious thing before. The god’s official record label was not amused, but the music fans were thrilled. Were these guys pirates or heroes? It was so much fun the first time, that they soon pressed up even more records of forbidden musical fruits. They were on a roll. The following year, in 1970, one of the culprits put The Pig image in a circular logo with the name, “Trade Mark of Quality.” TMQ and Pigman were born!

With a cast of outrageous characters, here is the story of Trade Mark of Quality aka TMQ aka The Pig, the first bootleg record label of its kind, spawning many later imitators. From the end of the 60’s to the mid 70’s, TMQ and Pigman lead the way, trotting down a muddy trail, feeding the habits and needs of music addicts around the world. Who were these fellow travelers? Carl? The Greek? Merlin? Hans? Rob Snout? Casper? Sheldon? The Blue Hasslebeast? and Ol’ Fred? (Not to mention The Brooklyn Boys, The Record Suits and The Feds!) What was the connection between TMQ and the Vietnam war, revolutionaries, guns, pot and the moon landing? It’s all inside.

Included in A Pig’s Tale is not only the Trade Mark of Quality and Pigman saga, but reproductions of all the rubber stamped and illustrated album jackets from every genuine TMQ record release, including the earliest releases from ’69 right up to the last titles in 1976. Everything you ever wanted to know about the real TMQ label is here: a complete discography of artists and track listings, sources of recordings, catalogue numbers, master tapes and record matrixes info, colored vinyl pressings, record labels, graphics, photos, vintage news clippings, articles and more, all collected together, at last, in one volume.

The authors Ralph Sutherland and Harold Sherrick share with readers their unique point of view, guiding the reader through the never before told history of Trade Mark of Quality; this will please the music lovers and fans, the hardcore record collectors and the plain curious people.”

Now let’s first say that bootleg records existed since the 1920s with jazz records that were pressed to satisfying the demand of the audience due to non existing or scarce legal pressings. However, in the rock field this was the first time such a thing appeared on the market and prompted the official labels and even the law makers to react, meanwhile we (the public) got a good share of forbidden fruits. The book is well written, even if there could be some confusion at the beginning about PM and Pigman (which are the same person called in two different ways). Especially for Dylan and Stones collectors it is very interesting to know how the idea of an underground record came and how it was developed into a real product. It interesting to know that they planned recordings of the two Inglewood shows on November 8th, of both Oakland shows as well as of San Diego on Nov. 10^th; then they moved on to Phoenix on Nov.11^th:  all this in 4 days, too bad they skipped Dallas. We do learn that they shared the same plane with the RS going to Oakland; both LA and Oakland 2^nd show started at 4 am. Interesting to know that there was a video projecting b&w footage from 2 cameras which were knocked down on Street Fighting Man (maybe the Bill Graham’s estate still has this footage?). We do have confirmation that there had been no San Diego 2^nd show. Funny are some anecdotes, like the plane boarding incident, the involvement of Claudia Lennear and Jim Morrison, as well as the Phoenix scuffle with Sam Cutler. I won’t go in details here, as you should get the book!

Collectors will be thrilled to know that the recorded tapes were stowed next to Mick Taylor’s butt in the airplane on the way back from Phoenix and that Liver was pressed using the same plant used for Let it Bleed. Talking about Liver, we do finally know the true version of its recording with the Mickey & Donald mystery solved; here are also reprints of articles that came out at the time, for instance Billboard said it was stereo and reviewed the sides reversed. On another Stones subject there is a great photo from the Nicaragua Benefit concert, too bad among the taper’s memories there is no mention of Midnight Rambler having been played as encore. Especially brilliant is the story about Bright Light Big City, literally ‘stolen’ from a Trevor while playing his acetates and about the birth of TMQ’s logo. Reading the man’s history, we got to know that Pigman family consisted of original liquor bootleggers. It is also interesting to know about the artwork masters with the peculiar story of Rob Snout. If you are curious to know Pigman’s whereabouts after the 1976 demise you better get the book, as I won’t tell you where he ended up and how was finally contacted by his former acquaintances to get his approval for the book to be published as well as many precious photos of TMQ treasure trove.