I’ve had a bit of a look through my bootlegs this evening, and here are some of my favorites:
Aerosmith - Permanent Outtakes (2CD)
- outtakes and alternate mixes from “Permanent Vacation”
The Beach Boys - Unsurpassed Masters, volumes 1-21 (multiple disc sets)
- almost every extant recording session tape, in order, from every album and single session of the 1960s, radio jingles they made, The Wrecking Crew! Including three discs of Smile sessions. Unbelievable.
Boston - We Found It In The Trashcan, Honest!
- demo tapes from their first album, all alternate versions, with all guitars and bass by Tom, drums by Jim Masdea and all voices by Brad Delp. Stolen from Tom Scholz’ 24-track home studio. One song didn’t make the album.
Kate Bush - Home Demos
- when she was in her teens, before being discovered by David Gilmour.
Harry Chapin - Coffee With Harry
- from a radio broadcast. Just Harry, at the top of his game, his guitar, and an audience. Priceless.
George Harrison - Beware Of ABKCO!
- acoustic performances of many of the tunes for All Things Must Pass.
George Harrison - The Making Of All Things Must Pass (3CD)
- from the master tapes and acetates, three hours of alternate takes and mixes.
George Harrison - Songs For Patti
- a pre-production acetate of the completed songs for All Things Must Pass
Heart - Secret Heart Illustrated
- recorded at a bar in Chicago, 1976, when they were still a bar band. A really good bar band. They were still doing Zeppelin covers: Rock And Roll and The Battle Of Evermore, which they would later release (in an awesome version) under the name of “The Lovemongers” - an offshoot project of Heart, in the mid-80s.
Buddy Holly - What You Been A-Missin’ (4CD)
- a stunning collection of outtakes, alternate versions, demos, and live material.
You gotta wonder where these people get ahold of this stuff!
King Crimson - Heretic (Long Lost At Last) (from out of the deep…a handmaiden)
- a really rare old vinyl bootleg on The Amazing Kornyfone Record Label (TAKRL), in their last incarnation before the original breakup, live in the US 1974. Stereo, too!
The Kinks - The Great Lost Kinks Album (2CD)
- the album that never got released. Compiles 2 discs of rarities, B-sides and other goodies.
Led Zeppelin - Tangible Vandalism (2CD)
- rehearsals for Physical Graffiti, reproduced in amzaing quality on the 11CD set on the Antrabata label from Japan. All live versions played in their rehearsal studio, including a couple of songs that were never developed and released. Original pressings with the ornate packaging go for $$$$ now.
Little Richard - The Rare Little Richard
- a mega-rare vinyl bootleg of outtakes from Specialty sessions spanning the '50s to his return to the label in 1964. These recordings have since been issued on The Specialty Sessions - 3CD in the US, 7CD in England(!). But at the time, this LP was an amazing find. I’d just got Richard’s autobiography, which had this record listed in the back. One day I walked into The Record Peddler in Toronto, went browsing, and there it was! For eleven bucks! Score! I am certain that I will never see another copy of this record.
Paul McCartney - Unsurpassed Masters, Volumes 1 & 2 (2CD)
- demos and outtakes from the early-to-mid '70s, with much material that was not only previously unreleased, but unknown to discographers and hardcore McCartney collectors. Again, where do they get this stuff?
Pink Floyd - Waters’ Gate
Live in Paris, Jan 23, 1970. Very, very rare recording. This is what it says about this album in “Hot Wacks Book XV: The Last Wacks” (mind you, there are tons of Pink Floyd bootlegs):
“One of the most elusive Floyd boots. Have you seen one? Start at $125 for an original.” The original would have sold for $6-10 at the head shop. This review was reprinted from an early 1980s edition, and that’s what it was worth then, and how scarce. It is now regarded in Pink Floyd collectors’ circles as the rarest of the rare.
This was my ultimate coup as a record collector. I had just finished reading the Hot Wacks with that review in it. I walked into a store where the guy didn’t really know a lot about collectors’ records or what to charge for them. I looked through his bootlegs, and there it was, “Waters’ Gate”. He sold it to me for five dollars. I wore my best poker face through the transaction, went back to the other store where I’d read Hot Wacks, looked it up again, told the guy my story, and we burst out into laughter. Score again!
Robert Plant - Austin City Limits 11-09-02
- a rather surprising guest for this program, Plant appeared to promote his latest album, and to play some Zeppelin classics. Stupendous version of “Four Sticks.” Great, great backup band, and he’s still got it. Numerous times in this show, he really gets going, and the sound of the old Robert Plant comes out, and the crowd goes wild!
Elvis Presley - A Whole Mess Of Bootlegs
- I like the boots of Elvis’ session tapes and rehearsals. They’d work live, and keep playing and recording the songs until they got it right. This made for lots of outtakes, which have all been saved and pirated. Lots of them are very entertaining, although you really have to like the concept of “works in progress”, otherwise it’s really boring. Same as with The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Fortunately, works in progress fascinate me.
The Rolling Stones Black Box (4CD)
- the definitive anthology of unreleased Stones material. All alternate versions, outtakes, alternate mixes, acetates, in chronological order, from the best sources.
The Rolling Stones - Satanic Sessions (8CD)
- eight freakin’ discs of sessions for Their Satanic Majesties Request!
Simon & Garfunkel - Voices Of Intelligent Dissent
- live at the Hollywood Bowl Aug 23, 1968. Again, the artists, at the top of their game, a guitar, and an audience. A mesmerizing performance.
Steely Dan - Doing It Live (2CD)
- Live in St. Louis, 1-09-03. Omigod. Performances so smooth and brilliantly executed they’ll take your breath away.
Steely Dan - Katy Lied Outtakes
- demos and alternate mixes, including Donald at the piano, doing a demo of “Black Cow.” It is to weep, how beautiful this is.
Tom Waits - Nighthawks On The Radio
- a March 1996 rebroadcast of the complete session recording of Tom Waits and a drummer, in a studio with WNEW DJ Vin Scelsa, originally aired in edited form in December 1976. If you are a Tom Waits fan, youmust hear this performance.
That’s a little sample. I left out The Beatles, because there are just too many. I could start a whole thread about that, but I won’t.
BTW, when I saw that a mod had posted to the thread, I feared that he would be telling us that it’s verboten to talk about bootlegs. But he’s a collector, too! 
