ARTIST: The Greatest Group on Earth / The Rolling Stones

TITLE: Live R Than You'll Ever Be (Original LURCH Bootleg copy - Very Rare)

The LP was released in December 1969 just over a month after its November 9th, 1969 (2nd show) recording. Although original issues were put out on the Lurch label the recording was actually produced and manufactured by a label that would become known as Trade Mark of Quality (TMoQ). TMoQ was the pioneer record label in the rock 'n roll bootleg business.

Label - Lurch  (Matrix Number: X14327/X-14328)

Year - 1969

Cover – VG. Some ring wear.

Liner - white
Album – VG to VG+. Lot os sheen. Scratch on side 2, not felt  to touch.

In the 1970s, no Rolling Stones bootleg was reissued more times than the famous Live'r Than You'll Ever Be, which documented a triumphant November 9, 1969, concert at the Oakland Coliseum. If you couldn't find a Trademark of Quality pressing of Live'r back then, you might have come across reissues that were provided by such bootleg labels as Oakland and Cannibis. While those 1970s bootleggers reissued the album under its original name, the Oakland Coliseum show was also reissued as Greatest Group on Earth by Black Dust and Stones Live by Dittolino. Another reissue was In Concert, which Berkeley Records (a British bootlegger) put out in 1975. If you already owned a copy of Live'r in the mid-'70s, there wasn't an overwhelming need to add In Concert to your LP collection -- unless, of course, you were a completist who simply had to acquire every Stones bootleg you could get your hands on. While collectors liked the fact that In Concert offered a deluxe black-and-white LP jacket, those who also owned Trademark of Quality's Live'r pressings realized that In Concert had slightly inferior sound quality. It has decent but not great sound. The Oakland Coliseum performances, however, are superb. When the Stones tear into gems like "Gimme Shelter," "Street Fighting Man," and "Sympathy for the Devil," one can see why Live'r became the most famous and sought-after Stones bootleg of the LP era -- and why CD reissues of Live'r proved to be a hot item in the 1990s. Although the original pressings were preferable, this LP captures the vitality of an ultrainfluential band that was, in November 1969, very much in its prime. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

In Concert: November 9, 1969 Track Listing

·  Track#                                ·  Title                    ·  time    ·  ·  lyrics

·  1 ·  Carol

·  2 ·  Gimme Shelter

·  3 ·  Sympathy for the Devil

·  4 ·  I'm Free

·  5 ·  Live with Me

·  6 ·  Love in Vain

·  7 ·  Midnight Rambler

·  8 ·  Little Queenie

·  9 ·  Honky Tonk Women

·  10 ·  Street Fighting Man

Credits of In Concert: November 9, 1969

·                                 Keith Richards  - Guitar (Electric)

·                                 Bill Wyman  - Bass (Electric)

·                                 Mick Jagger  - Vocals

·                                 The Rolling Stones  - Main Performer

·                                 Mick Taylor  - Guitar (Electric)

·                                 Charlie Watts  - Drums

The set list for the original "LIVEr Than You'll Ever Be" LP:

Side One:

Mick: Sh*t, Hang on a minute. Can you hear that? Keith play a bit...

These lines are from Oakland, November 9th, 1st show. They were spoken immediately after Jumpin' Jack Flash when the band blew their amplifiers in the first show and inserted the acoustic set. This was spliced in the second show performance in order to provide a better opening point for the LP (Carol), because TMoQ was not happy with the sound quality of the second show Jumpin' Jack Flash on the tape. They didn't want to start the LP with a bunch of Thank You's!

Jagger's actual words before Carol for the 2nd show were:

Thank you

Thank you

Thanks very much

(Terrible)

Aw yeah, we're really pleased to be back here

Really, no bull sh*t

We're really gonna give you

We know it's a bit late

We know it's a bit late

But a, we hope you don't mind if we stay

Carol - This version has a very "smoky" guitar sound and rumbles like a freight train coming down the tracks. The LP starts with the second song of the set as later releases would reveal a level drop-out problems on the original source tape with Jumpin' Jack Flash and Under My Thumb.

Oh. All Right! (splice) You got an echo on now? He's got echo. Let's do it with echo then...

Gimme Shelter - This song wasn't a regular set list item in 1969 and although not as musically intense as the Altamont excerpt heard in the "Gimme Shelter" movie it certainly fits the bill as a haunting rendition of the song.

Oh yeah. Gimme some shelter. Gimme some shelter (splice).

Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones were improvising live performances of their studio releases in 1969. Keith and Mick Taylor each play solos with Richards in the middle section of the song and Taylor at the end. The samba beat is diminished by a simple three chord rhythm and the lack of backing who...who's.

Whoow

Ohhhhhwooo

Aaw well all right (splice)

Waiting on you

Wheehoo wheehoohoo

All right here we go, slowly rocking on...

I'm Free - Taylor lays an incredible tapestry of guitar solos in melodic free form across the rhythm of the song. Not played often on the 1969 tour. It didn't seem to be a big crowd pleaser in the eyes of the Stones. One of those songs where people sat down and listened.

Oooohhooo (splice)

Rock 'n Roll, now here we go....

Live With Me - The release of LIVEr allowed fans to hear the studio version and live version as simultaneous releases. Let It Bleed had not even been released at the time of the Oakland show, with the song being completely new to those who heard it that evening.

Whooo, oh, thank you, thank you that was called Live With Me, your welcome....

Side Two:

As you may have imagined

This is blues time...

And we gonna do one more blues yet, yet awhile

This is a new one we do man, and it's called aahh, Love In Vain

Love In Vain - The brilliant Rolling Stones arrangement of the Robert Johnson classic originally recorded in 1936. Former Mayall Bluesbreaker Mick Taylor burns up a silky slide. Like Johnson, Taylor's slide is played with extreme cleanness and clarity. Jagger's vocal after the first solo break is lifted by the virtuosity of the passage.

Oh, I got right carried away with it

We're gonna do...

We're gonna do one a new one

What ever you do...

Do I get a microphone for this anymore (harmonica)

Or it doesn't happen?

OK. I'll try it with this one

Midnight Rambler - A Chuck Berry riff perversely distorted into a graveyard chug about none other than the Boston Strangler. The live version played in November 1969 flows much more smoothly than the studio version that would be released a month later. Jagger asks the crowd to shake their asses. Perhaps insecure about the somewhat unanimated reception of the Oakland/San Francisco audience.

Oh, All Right!

We're gonna see you

I think you really...

You've really dressed up tonight

And I think

We haven't really dressed up that much

But we'd like to we how you look

Can we see how they look?

Let's have a look, how they look, c'mon

Oh we just wanted to see how they look

Ahhhooo ,we couldn't see you

We couldn't see you

We're gonna do one

From a long long while ago

When we was

A all a falling out of our cradles

Little Queenie - The crowd claps along with Charlie's dead on drum beat. Another Chuck Berry classic featured for the first time in the 1969 tour set. Keith bends the double stops for a rockin' solo.

C'mon San Francisco

Let's see how you can shake your asses

Come on, let's get it on

Whooo

We're gonna have a good time

All Right

Come on let's have a good time

Come on, shake it on

All right

We want you to help us sing on this one

We really need ya

Because a we're a little hoarse

And there's a very high note

That the chicks can all get into, right?

We'd really dig it if you could

Ahh it pretty high, all right

Honky Tonk Women - Confidence is definitely building as the band plays on, and by the time they reach this one they're in full flight. This seals the success of the show for sure with people clearly enjoying themselves and the revitalized Rolling Stones.

Whooo

All Right, All Right, All Right, All Right, All Right, All Right

All Whoo Right

Street Fighting Man - Raw and gritty the show builds to a crescendo with what would ultimately become a powerful closer for Rolling Stones shows for some years to come. This one jams with a strong rhythm guitar outro by Keith with Charlie hammering away in a frenzy. This is Rock 'Roll baby.

To say that the recording was prolifically copied would be an understatement. The original and earliest recordings of Oakland 1969 were done with plain white record jackets with rubber stamped titles. They came with nice printed LP labels though. The Lurch label is black and red with song titles, the Cannabis label is beautiful maroon with gold lettering. There were two types of TMoQ logos: The first was that of a sideways pig with the words Trade Mark of Quality circling around. The second was a later incarnation of the label which represented itself with a smoking pig label. The matrix numbers also varied: LP's with RS (Rolling Stones) codes in the inner runner of the vinyl are first run TMoQ pressings. Ones with the only 4 digit numbers are indicative of second generation TMoQ (except for the Lurch LIVEr plates).

Label Variation 1: Authentic "Blue" LURCH Record label. Commonly found in Red.

LURCH

(Matrix Number: X14327/X-14328)

The original! Black vinyl, printed record labels, no song separation, and blue or red rubber stamped cover.

Please ask any questions before bidding.

I visually grade my records unless otherwise noted. I wish I had the time to listen to all this great music.