I’ve complained here, and elsewhere about the quality of “live albums” that some bands foist on their public. You may recall me being less than charitable about the whole bootleg thing in an earlier rant, but the situation continues, and the losers are the artists, both financially and reputationally.
Asia are particularly prone to pumping out substandard audience sourced shows as part of their legitimate output. They’ve been at it again with a 10 CD set “Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1” which recycles a lot of the shows that have been available individually and in the awful “Quadra” 4Cd set previously. 2 shows from the 80s and 3 from 00s. A 2007 show in Brazil sounds like it was recorded from the gent’s facilities, and only a 2010 London show is in anyway listenable. All this for £50 or so with a single disc of “highlights” for £10.
In 2015 Yes released “Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two”. A band much bootlegged, with a lot of high-quality material floating about the internet. 1972 is well represented as it was when they were recording for the YesSongs triple album. It was well received by fans and both the 14 CD set and a 2cd best of sold quickly. Good plan well executed.
In 2021 they promised Union 30 Live a mammoth 30 disc set to celebrate the time they all buried the hatchet (not in each other for a change) and played nicely. I saw the London date and it was a genuinely great gig. Yes are not known for changing up their setlists over the course of a tour, or indeed a decade, so 30 discs seemed a bit like overkill. Anyway, it was released in a rather chaotic fashion at about £250. If you really care about that the go to Amazon and read the reviews.
2 years later and it has clearly not sold well. The way I see the conversation is something like…
Record Label: We’ve got loads of these sets clogging up the warehouse and they are costing you money to store.
Yes: Ok let’s break them up, send them to Amazon and a few other places and sell the shows individually. Our fans aren’t very discriminating, they’ll buy them at a tenner each.
The issue here is that the only shows which were of merchantable quality, were already easily available. Denver and Shoreline Amphitheatre in California were recorded for video, and London for radio play. The rest are substandard audience recordings that even Asia would balk at releasing. Cue poor sales and furious fan reaction.
In business terms this means they have shot any chance of a repeat of the Progeny project, as trust with the potential buyers is gone. The 1978/79 Tour with plenty of soundboard and radio shows and a DVD would have been an ideal follow-up. Ditto the 2000 Masterworks tour.
Compare this to Steve Hillage and Bill Bruford. Both self-managed with no record company backing. Hillage’s “Searching for the Spark” is a gorgeous 22 disc plus books, posters, and goodies. All for under £200. I wish I could afford it. Bruford has managed to issue a series of box sets and compilations from across his career, all affordable by the average mortal.
So, it is possible to make some money curating your legacy. And Yes who are producing some of their best new music in 30 years at present, could easily capitalise on it with well-presented live sets. But that would cost money and eat into the profits, which I suspect is where the problem lies.
