THIS CASSETTE IS UNAUTHORISED BY THE ARTIST OR THEIR RECORD LABEL - YES, IT'S A BOOTLEG
IN FACT, THIS IS THE WORST BOOTLEG I HAVE EVER HEARD!
I had a habit of collecting bootlegs many years ago, I like the "raw" sound of a live performance which has not been carefully manicured by the record label before release
Most bootlegs I have listened to are pretty good quality and certainly enjoyable to listen to ... but this one is ONE OF THE WORST BOOTLEGS OF ALL TIME!
I believe this recording was made during the Black Moon Tour of 1992 and most likely it was recorded at one of the German concerts, in November of 1992
But fair go! The audio quality is not great, very "boomy", the recording was definitely made by one of the audience with little regard to microphone placement or the resulting sound quality plus there is a lot of audience talking and yahooing on this tape. Reminded me of those old movie rip-offs taken by someone in a movie theatre where people walk across the view of the screen and you can hear others in the theatre coughing, laughing etc - very amateurish.
But the worst thing is the audio quality of the recording, the vocals are not clear, the instruments (especially bass and drums) tend to dominate the recording and it just sounds like an unmusical mess at times. Such a shame, especially that wonderful synth playing by Keith Emerson.
I am offering this cassette for a token price of $2 (compensation to me for listening to this crappy recording which hurt my ears and scrambled my brain!)
You might say "Why not just throw it out then?" Because, back in 1992 energy* was used to create this product and if something has the potential for continued use, no matter how bad that product may be, then I will try to salvage it from landfill because this will only further exacibating our eWaste pollution problems.
Energy* is something I am strongly advocating and further information about this will appear on my website. In short, we use LARGE amounts of energy to create products and then once we no longer want them, bury them in the earth which results in the human race slowly (and sometimes not so slowly) poisoning our planet - pretty smart NOT!
Based on a compilation of embodied energy data from multiple sources including Victoria University NZ, the primary component in a cassette is plastic. Plastics require between 17Kwh & 32Kwh (depending upon the plastic type) to produce 1Kg of product. This cassette weighs 150g and using a centre embodied energy figure of 25Kwh/Kg this indicates that the energy we consumed to produce this cassette would have been approximately 3.75Kwh - that is a LOT of energy for just one cassette. Compare this to the charging of a mobile phone which uses approximately 0.01Kwh for the charge!
Then what do the clever human race do after they don't want the cassette? Bury it in the ground, now that's not very smart! Plastic eWaste is widely considered to have an almost infinite life but while in the ground it is thought that toxic compounds can get into the water, the soil and, if burned, the air.
I am no greeny but over the years I have become more aware of how extremely wasteful we all are, if something can be repurposed/saved or recycled, then it should be.
Listen to this recording if you dare, otherwise it is just a collectors item, a curio - an example of what a BAD bootleg sounds like.
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Fanfare For The Common Man
Eclipse (German based label of mainly unauthorised/bootleg recordings)
Cat# EMC 161
Australian release (it does appear that Eclipse managed to get this product into retail stores here in Australia - originally this had a retailers sticker on it)
1992 (ish) based on the live concert set which matches a number of concerts played during 1992, particularly in Germany.
Cassette packaging is in good condition
Before playing I repacked the tape, and visually inspected carefully the clamshell, rollers and head pressure pad - no issues with the shell or tape at all
This is a screw type clamshell so if ever it was required to "get inside" to relube, no issues with this tape
I have then played this tape entirely and there are no problems at all with no "drop outs" - the tape product is actually pretty good, but the recording on the oxide is the big letdown for this one.
ALL TRACKS ARE LIVE AND OF POOR AUDIO QUALITY
Tracks:
Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression)
Tarkus: (Eruption/Stones Of Years/Iconoclast), Knife Edge, Paper Blood, Black Moon, From The Beginning, Affairs Of The Heart, Romeo & Juliet, Lucky Man
Pictures At An Exhibition: (Promenade/The Gnome/Promenade/The Hut Of Baba Yaga/The Great Gates Of Kiev), Fanfare For The Common Man / America / Rondo
