Wednesday, March 5, 2014

I Got Somethin' To Say...



Ahh bootlegs, what would music afficionados do without them. For a band that had a fairly limited studio output and nowhere near the number of recorded gigs bands played during the tape-swapping boom years later, the Misfits have amassed an impressive catalog of unofficial releases (at least 131 and counting according to Discogs), all of the expected varying quality, rareness, and listenability that comes with the sorry one-shot bootleg. You gotta love this 1992 release from Spain's Decca label (in no way related to the official classic Decca label of the 50's that supported such acts as Bing Crosby and Patsy Cline), through the broken English and mangled/missing song titles (as well as the strange cut-and-paste band photo on the back) we get a "studio mix" of "Last Caress" (still the Misfits most then-famous song thanks to Metallica) and a couple of token live tracks. Interestingly, the record sleeve claims the live material was "recorded alive D.C. Space 31/2/1983" (sic); fortunately an astute historian has tracked down the real source: an '83 gig from the Michigan Union Ballroom in Ann Arbor, MI. For what it's worth, it all sounds fine, "Last Caress" is exactly like one of the many versions you've already heard and the other stuff is typical late Misfits live recordings - sounding like they were recorded on a shitty Walkman. In other words, enjoy.


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