Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 9: Smashing Pumpkins, Live/Unlicensed (1994)

A new occasional series - CDs are coming back baby! And I’m here for it. BIGTIME! Also, some albums just REALLY suit the format, right

Look, there were hundreds of them. In the mid-90s, for a short time, there was this legal loophole or something, basically the bootlegs were not illegal, it was fine to sell them — in a time when it was not. And a company flooded the market with these cheap, nasty-sounding CDs (and tapes). Unlicensed, they said. Proudly. A worn badge. And clearance markets would set up, in old shops or at the weekend marketplace, and you’d go there with your mates, filling the car with friends, and then each filling a small bag with findings. It was sometimes $5 for a whole CD. Back when CDs were only ever $30 or $35. And tapes were always $20 or a little bit more. But now It was all $10, $5, $2…a paradise!

And the best of them, by miles, well the best one I found was this Smashing Pumpkins one. It sure helped that I loved the Pumpkins then. All they’d released was Gish and Siamese Dream, and Dream was everywhere. And I was in a band that played about 9 songs from the album. But a better description is to say that we rehearsed about 9 songs from the album, as I’m pretty sure we only ever gave one public performance.

But yeah, that was the album — Siamese Dream — and we were paying tribute with our crayon cover versions. And we also played some Pearl Jam and Nirvana and then some Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. And, curiously, Detachable Penis by King Missile (but that might really have just been an outing for the guitarist’s brand new delay pedal).

Anyway, when I saw this Pumpkins bootleg, I grabbed it immediately; like I was taking treasure back to the band. I promptly loaned it out, made tape copies of this copy for everyone too.

There were two key aspects to this particular live capture: Firstly it sounded okay, it was one of the best-quality ones from this shitty car boot sale, in that you could make out all of the songs, and it didn’t sound like it had been recorded using a potato. Secondly, it had an acoustic bracket. This, when “MTV Unplugged” was the aspiration for seemingly any band, especially everyone looking to be taken seriously.

The Pumpkins songs worked in this format, and meant I could jam on them with another band too. We’d work up the acoustic versions, and would take them to the public far more often than the other band, including whether the public liked that or not.

And speaking of cover versions, the highlight for many from this album was absolutely the cover of Thin Lizzy’s Dancing In The Moonlight:

It gave us so much. A new song that was not on the Pumpkins albums we already adored. And a ‘new’ Thin Lizzy song. One that wasn’t The Boys Are Back In Town.

This album was the sound of pre-drinks in a garage before heading into town. For about a year or more. Our own private version of That 70s Show. Our own literal This 90s Show.

I bought others from this bootleg series — Paul McCartney, Prince, Primus, and I wasn’t just stuck in the ‘P’ section. Promise. The Prince ones were patchy, the Primus was awful but it felt important to have, like really showing fandom, and that you were ‘out there’ as a music listener. And the ones that were everywhere in everyone’s burgeoning CD collection were the multi-volume U2 and R.E.M. ones. Live volume 4. Volume 9. Volume 11…

Almost as soon as the travelling circus came to town, it was over. A year or so later and these CDs were nowhere to be seen. Then they were only ever to be found for second-hand kicks. Cracked covers. Scratched surface of the disc. A skip and a jump, and all that for much the same price still as they’d been first time around…

They were a moment. They somehow said you were some ultimate music fan that went deep. They simultaneously said you were a cheapskate and a chancer.

A few weeks ago, I started listening to the Pumpkins albums through in order. First time in absolutely years. And I was thrilled to find so much to, um, adore in the first handful of records. I stalled a bit as the wilderness years went, um, wild…But I also made a purchase. Hit up TradeMe. And found just what I was looking for:

My own copy of this album (once again). Which should only ever be played on this ‘Stereo’ that I also found on TradeMe.

Still the same level of joy — or nearly — hearing these versions of these songs. There’s a wee skip ‘pressed’ into the disc on Today, there’s double-ups of half the content with acoustic and electric versions. But man it’s good. It was a time. And that time was captured right here. (And not with a potato). For all of that I am grateful. I am thankful. I am…old.