Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: PHILADELPHIA SPECIAL 3LP box (concluded)

Slick cover inserts from unnumbered (left) and numbered (right) editions

For old vinyl bootleg collectors, the DARKNESS tour live LPs were (and still are, to any like me) something special; they captured generally great performances, sounded excellent (as a bootleg) mostly sourced from FM broadcasts, and often came as a large volume (i.e., a 3-LP format to comprise a concert consisting of two sets plus encores). Although not necessarily fulfilling the above criteria (especially, its sound quality), PHILADELPHIA SPECIAL was an interesting release to search for; it was probably the only known vinyl bootleg of a complete concert from 1978 which was sourced from the audience recording. A triple record in colored vinyl was also rare in the late 1970s. These make this box set unique when compared to the other triple vinyl bootlegs from the 1978 tour.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: PHILADELPHIA SPECIAL 3LP box

Probably, the only 1978 full-concert live vinyl bootleg made from
an audience recording. This copy is numbered 075 of 1000.

PHILADELPHIA SPECIAL (Phantom Productions LTD 001) is a triple-LP bootleg that captures the first of the two shows performed in Philly, August 18th and 19th, 1978, during the DARKNESS tour. Unlike the landmark releases from this tour such as PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE and LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND, the vinyl records never sound great because the concert was not broadcasted through radios and because the master tapes used for the pressing were sourced from average audience recordings (no soundboard recording is circulating for this show in contrast to the next night which has been bootlegged on CD). Actually, the Blinded By The Light book (Humphries & Hunt 1985) rates the sound quality "poor". In my opinion, however, this box set represents a typical example of an old U.S. vinyl bootleg worthy collecting.