Re: Is "Brussels" '73 Truly THE One Essential Bootleg?
Date: July 9, 2007 14:57
saltoftheearth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bassplayer617 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > melillo Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > would love the the dvd of this to surface, it
> > was
> > > filmed and is in the bbc archives
> >
> > Is this verifiable info? Why has it not
> surfaced
> > on a boot DVD? What is your source?
>
>
> Yes, it is reported in many books but the material
> never surfaced so it cannot be available on a DVD.
> In fact, nobody knows if the tape still exists.
> Somewhere I read the amusing possibility that some
> BBC guy could have erased it when he needed the
> tape for a Teletubby episode.
>
> Fro me, the Brussels/London recordings are THE
> essential Rolling Stones live recordings ever. I
> have been listening to them for 30 years now (in
> 1977 I bought NASTY MUSIC) and every time I listen
> it's still amazing. The sound is absolutely
> fantastic.
>
> I would not want to miss other recordings but if
> it came down to one bootleg I would be allowed to
> keep it would be this one.
The use of videotape in 1973 was generally only used in television studios, using it in the field would have been highly unlikely back in those days, the equipment would have been large, heavy and cumbersome, if field equipment to do a concert even existed at all. Remember, videotape back then required a huge VCR, weighing 50 pounds or more, and the tape itself would not have been with the camera, it would have been in that stationary VCR, the camera attached to the VCR with a thick, heavy pin cable. Even the videotape back then would have likely been 2 inches wide in format, on open reel, rather than a cassette (which I question whether cassettes even existed then, either)
If Brussels 1973 was shot, it was almost certainly shot on film, which obviously would not be subject to erasure by the BBC or anyone else. I'm kind of dubious that even that was done, since pro-shot cameras generally are pretty noticeable in a concert setting. It's certainly possible that small handheld film cameras could have been used and escaped much notice, but that still seems unlikely to me.