Live! Bootleg

During their 1978 tour, several of the band's concerts were professionally recorded by producer Jack Douglas for radio broadcast, and subsequently bootlegged. Douglas remembers, "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."Bolton, R. Scott Bolton and Lou Moreau. Interview with Producer Jack Douglas. Www.roughedge.com. Accessed January 21, 2024. http://www.roughedge.com/features/jackdouglas.htm. In an effort to combat the illegal records, the band's management asked Douglas to compile the double live album. The design of the album is intended to imitate the poor production of contemporary bootleg records, even going so far as to give an incorrect track listing: the song "Draw the Line" is included on the record but does not appear listed; the track is a hidden track after "Mother Popcorn".

In addition to previously unrecorded covers "I Ain't Got You" and "Mother Popcorn", the album also features a version of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" which inserts an uncredited "Strangers in the Night". The record also features the first record appearance of Richie Supa's "Chip Away the Stone" (the studio version of this song would later be released on a 1980 reissue of the "Draw the Line" single), and one of their first live performances of the Beatles "Come Together", which they recorded for the soundtrack album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-bootleg-mw0000311864 |title=Aerosmith - Live Bootleg review |last=Prato |first=Greg |work=AllMusic |publisher=All Media Network |access-date=August 19, 2018 }}

| rev2 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal

| rev2Score = 7/10{{cite book | last = Popoff | first = Martin | author-link = Martin Popoff | title = The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies | publisher = Collector's Guide Publishing | date = October 2003 | location = Burlington, Ontario, Canada | isbn = 978-1894959025 | page=19}}

| rev3 = Music Week

| rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite magazine|date=February 10, 1979|title=Album Reviews: Aerosmith — "Live Bootleg"|magazine=Music Week|page=34|publisher=Pensord Press Ltd.|location=Gwent|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1979/Music-Week-1979-02-10.pdf#page=34|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905225333/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1979/Music-Week-1979-02-10.pdf#page=34|archive-date=September 5, 2024|access-date=March 26, 2025|via=WorldRadioHistory.com}}

| rev4 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev4Score = {{Rating|1|5}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/aerosmith/albumguide |title=Aerosmith - Album Guide |first=Greg |last=Kot |author-link=Greg Kot |magazine=Rolling Stone |publisher=Jann S. Wenner |access-date=November 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628221501/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/aerosmith/albumguide |archive-date=June 28, 2011 }}

| noprose = yes

}}

The back of the CD cover includes two coffee stains over the picture of Joe Perry playing before a live audience. The original LP cover had the coffee stains, but not the picture of Perry, which was part of the gatefold artwork.

In the band memoir Walk this Way, Perry recalls, "I didn't want to do a live album at the time because there were so many perfect live albums coming out, all doctored and fixed and overdubbed. Big deal. Double live album - 'standard of the industry'. I felt like we had to avoid that and do a real live album like Live at Leeds or Get Yer Ya Ya's Out or that old Kinks album."{{sfn|Davis|Aerosmith|1997|p=335}} In his own 2014 memoir Rocks, Perry said that the idea behind the LP 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. But I'm not sure Columbia ever understood our concept. They wanted a clean sound, but we wanted to keep it real. That's the thrill of a real bootleg."{{sfn|Perry|Ritz|p=186|2014}} Singer Tyler states, "The album is a reflection of the band, as we feel and sound. It features material and experiences taken from all types of concerts we've played. It's really the essence of the whole band."Song Hits. 1979.

Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has expressed his affection for the album. He explains, {{blockquote|That was the big one for me. Live! Bootleg is one of the most underrated albums of all time, one of the best live Rock 'n' Roll albums ever made. It started the trend for me to go out and discover new bands by buying their live albums, because that way I could get all the best songs and for me the whole live thing was the most exciting thing in the world. The way that Live! Bootleg starts with "Back In The Saddle", that whole intro with the crowd going crazy and the flash-pots going off, that whole build-up, made it so exciting to me.Elliott, Paul. Drugs and Dysfunction: How Aerosmith Made Draw the Line and Night in the Ruts. Louder. April 7, 2020. https://www.loudersound.com/features/drugs-and-dysfunction-how-aerosmith-made-draw-the-line-and-night-in-the-ruts.}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Back in the Saddle

| note1 = Indianapolis, IN, July 4, 1977

| writer1 = Steven Tyler, Joe Perry

| length1 = 4:25

| title2 = Sweet Emotion

| note2 = Chicago, IL, March 23, 1978

| writer2 = Tyler, Tom Hamilton

| length2 = 4:42

| title3 = Lord of the Thighs

| note3 = Chicago, IL, March 23, 1978

| writer3 = Tyler

| length3 = 7:18

| title4 = Toys in the Attic

| note4 = Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA, March 28, 1978

| writer4 = Tyler, Perry

| length4 = 3:45

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| title5 = Last Child

| note5 = The Paradise Club, Boston, MA, August 9, 1978

| writer5 = Tyler, Brad Whitford

| length5 = 3:14

| title6 = Come Together

| note6 = The Wherehouse, Waltham, MA, August 21, 1978

| writer6 = John Lennon, Paul McCartney

| length6 = 4:51

| title7 = Walk This Way

| note7 = Detroit, MI, April 2, 1978

| writer7 = Tyler, Perry

| length7 = 3:46

| title8 = Sick as a Dog

| note8 = Indianapolis, IN, July 4, 1977

| writer8 = Tyler, Hamilton

| length8 = 4:42

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side three

| title1 = Dream On

| note1 = Louisville, KY, July 3, 1977

| writer1 = Tyler

| length1 = 4:31

| title2 = Chip Away the Stone

| note2 = Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA, April 8, 1978

| writer2 = Richard Supa

| length2 = 4:12

| title3 = Sight for Sore Eyes

| note3 = Columbus, OH, March 24, 1978

| writer3 = Tyler, Perry, Jack Douglas, David Johansen

| length3 = 3:18

| title4 = Mama Kin

| note4 = Indianapolis, IN, July 4, 1977

| writer4 = Tyler

| length4 = 3:43

| title5 = S.O.S. (Too Bad)

| note5 = Indianapolis, IN, July 4, 1977

| writer5 = Tyler

| length5 = 2:46

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side four

| title6 = I Ain't Got You

| note6 = Paul's Mall, Boston, MA, April 23, 1973; WBCN-FM radio simulcast

| writer6 = Calvin Carter{{cite web |url=http://campber.people.clemson.edu/veejay.html |title=Vee-Jay: The Early Years |publisher=Red Saunders Research Foundation |date=January 9, 2018 |access-date=August 19, 2018 }}

| length6 = 3:57

| title7 = Mother Popcorn" / "Draw the Line [*]

| note7 = Paul's Mall, Boston, MA, April 23, 1973; WBCN-FM radio simulcast /
Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Philadelphia, PA, March 26, 1978

| writer7 = James Brown, Pee Wee Ellis / Tyler, Perry

| length7 = 11:35

| title8 = Train Kept A-Rollin'" / "Strangers in the Night

| note8 = Detroit, MI, April 2, 1978

| writer8 = Tiny Bradshaw, Howard Kay, Lois Mann / Bert Kaempfert, Charlie Singleton, Eddie Snyder

| length8 = 4:51

}}

[*] "Draw the Line" is featured as a hidden track at the end of "Mother Popcorn"

;Aerosmith

• Steven Tyler{{snd}}lead vocals, harmonica
• Joe Perry{{snd}}guitar
• Brad Whitford{{snd}}guitar
• Tom Hamilton{{snd}}bass guitar
• Joey Kramer{{snd}}drums, percussion

;Additional musicians

• Mark Radice – keyboards, backing vocals{{Citation |last = Bienstock |first = Richard |title = Aerosmith |date = September 15, 2011 |publisher = Voyageur Press |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=X2Opr3N1X4YC&q=mark+radice+aerosmith&pg=PA82 |isbn = 9781610597692 |quote = ...1978...joined by keyboardist and backing vocalist Mark Radice}}
• David Woodford – saxophone on "Mother Popcorn"

;Production

• Jack Douglas – producer, engineer
• David Krebs, Steve Leber – executive producers, management
• Jay Messina, Lee DeCarlo – engineers
• Julie Last, Rod O'Brien, Sam Ginsburg – assistant engineers
• David Hewitt – Record Plant Mobile operator (New York)
• Chris Stone – Record Plant Mobile operator (Los Angeles)
• George Marino – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York
• John Kosh – art direction, design
• Jimmy Ienner Jr., Barry Levine, Ron Pownall, Aaron Rapoport, Steve Smith – photography

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=album|artist=Aerosmith|title= Live! Bootleg|certyear=1977|relyear=1978|award=Gold}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|artist=Aerosmith|title=Live Bootleg|award=Platinum|certyear=1978}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Davis|first1=Stephen|author2= Aerosmith |title=Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith |location=New York City |publisher=Avon Books |date= October 1, 1997 |isbn= 978-0-380-97594-5 |author-link= Stephen Davis (music journalist)}}
• {{cite book| last = Huxley| first = Martin| year = 2015| title = Aerosmith: The Fall and the Rise of Rock's Greatest Band| publisher = St. Martin's Publishing Group| isbn = 978-1250096531}}
• {{cite book |last1=Perry |first1=Joe |author-link1=Joe Perry (musician) |last2=Ritz |first2=David |title=Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith |location=New York City |publisher=Simon & Schuster |date=October 7, 2014 |isbn=978-1-476-71454-7}}

{{Aerosmith}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1978 live albums

Category:Aerosmith live albums

Category:Albums produced by Jack Douglas (record producer)

Category:Columbia Records live albums