Maps of Music
Live! Bootleg (1978)
Where the lyrics of Live! Bootleg take you, and where it was really made.
Aerosmith made a live album meant to sound like a bootleg, and the label reportedly never understood the concept.
View on the mapKey places
Two tracks recorded at Paul's Mall (1978)
Live show Paul's Mall — Two tracks on the album's fourth side were recorded at Paul's Mall, a jazz club in Boston, rather than on the 1977 and 1978 tour. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: See the map for directions.
Come Together recorded at the rehearsal room (1978)
Live show The Wherehouse, Waltham — The Beatles cover Come Together was recorded live in the band's rehearsal room, The Wherehouse in Waltham. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: See the map for directions.
Mastering at Sterling Sound (1978)
Recording site Sterling Sound — George Marino mastered the album at Sterling Sound in New York, according to the album's personnel credits. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: See the map for directions.
Album story
Overview
- Live! Bootleg is a double live album by American hard rock band Aerosmith
- Released October 1978
- Most performances drawn from concerts in 1977 and 1978
- Two tracks taken from a radio broadcast of a Boston performance on March 20, 1973
- Compiled by producer Jack Douglas at the band management's request
- Design copies the poor production of contemporary bootleg records
- Track listing is deliberately incorrect: Draw the Line is a hidden track after Mother Popcorn
Background
- During the 1978 tour, several concerts were professionally recorded by Jack Douglas for radio broadcast, then bootlegged
- Band management asked Douglas to compile a double live album to combat the illegal records
- Includes previously unrecorded covers I Ain't Got You and Mother Popcorn
- Chip Away the Stone by Richie Supa appears on record here for the first time
- Joe Perry recalled not wanting a live album at the time, because many live albums were doctored and overdubbed
Recording
- Concerts from the American tour of 1977 and 1978, except two tracks from 1973
- Mark Radice on keyboards and backing vocals, David Woodford on saxophone for Mother Popcorn
- Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York
Cover
- The back of the CD cover has two coffee stains over a picture of Joe Perry playing before a live audience
- The original LP cover had the coffee stains but not the Perry picture, which was part of the gatefold artwork
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Tracklist
Disc 1
| 1 | Back in the Saddle | 4:28 |
| 2 | Sweet Emotion | 4:40 |
| 3 | Lord of the Thighs | 7:18 |
| 4 | Toys in the Attic | 3:55 |
| 5 | Last Child | 3:15 |
| 6 | Come Together | 4:52 |
| 7 | Walk This Way | 3:47 |
| 8 | Sick as a Dog | 4:46 |
Disc 2
| 1 | Dream On | 4:33 |
| 2 | Chip Away the Stone | 4:16 |
| 3 | Sight for Sore Eyes | 3:16 |
| 4 | Mama Kin | 3:44 |
| 5 | S.O.S. (Too Bad) | 2:59 |
| 6 | I Ain’t Got You | 3:58 |
| 7 | Mother Popcorn | 7:02 |
| 8 | Draw the Line | 4:39 |
| 9 | Train Kept a Rollin’ / Strangers in the Night | 4:50 |
Sources: musicbrainz.org
Artist
Formation
- Formed in Boston in 1970 by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, and Brad Whitford after the Jam Band and Chain Reaction merged.
- The name was suggested by Joey Kramer, who had seen the word "aerosmith" in his school notebooks.
- Their first gig was at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, Massachusetts, on November 6, 1970.
Members
- Current lineup: Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry and Brad Whitford (guitars), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums).
- Perry and Whitford left in 1979 and 1981 and returned in 1984; the original five were reunited from 1984 onward.
- Tyler and Perry are the main songwriting team, nicknamed the "Toxic Twins".
Career
- Debut album in 1973 and Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976) established their blues-based hard rock sound.
- The 1986 Run-D.M.C. collaboration on "Walk This Way" revived their career, followed by Permanent Vacation (1987), Pump (1989), and Get a Grip (1993).
- "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (1998) was their only Billboard Hot 100 number one.
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001; sold more than 150 million records worldwide.
- Retired from touring in 2024 after Tyler's vocal injury; released the EP One More Time with Yungblud in 2025.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Reception
Reappraisal
- Guitarist Slash called it one of the most underrated albums of all time
- He considered it one of the best live rock 'n' roll albums ever made
- He said buying live albums to discover new bands started with this record for him
- He cited the opening, with the crowd going wild and the flash-pots going off, as the moment that made the album exciting to him
Records
- Billboard 200: peaked at number 13 in the United States
- France: reached number 19 in the best-selling records chart
- Certified platinum
- Chip Away the Stone, the album's only promotional single, reached number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org
Trivia
- Draw the Line is a hidden track after Mother Popcorn and is not credited on the sleeve
- Some tracks were recorded off air onto cassette, and the hiss was left in on purpose
- Columbia reportedly never understood the idea of a record that sounds like a bootleg
- Jack Douglas recorded the concerts while the band was making the Draw the Line album
- The LP cover had coffee stains; the Perry picture was part of the gatefold
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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