If you had to choose between a collection of BOOTLEG CDs or the back catalogue of OFFICIAL CDs what would you choose ?

OK, the reason I ask is I keep reading many times fans saying that they don't really listen to official stuff anymore, only bootlegs & it gets me wondering, is this because the official stuff has been played to death or because the bootleg stuff is actually better.
I think that if we had to name our top 20 Prince songs of all time more official tracks would make the list.

Hands down & without a doubt, if I had to choose it would be ...

OFFICIAL !

What about you ?

Official.. A big thing about "bootleg" is because it hasnt been released.. there are a lot of crap demos floating and people think their gold.. I know there are about 3 cd's full of just amazing stuff waiting to be released, other than that, its just half baked demo's..

I bet I have around 100 GOOD bootlegs layin around there is a good one here and there.
[This message was edited Tue Jan 13 14:45:26 PST 2004 by Sdldawn]

jolajeph said:

Is "committing suicide" an option?

half n'half. can't quite have one without the other. it's a bit of a reference thing.

I guess it depends on the boots. I'm more into live stuff, aftershows preferably, but then there are some good studio boots out there. I don't care for collections of outtakes, I prefer coherent studio stuff like Dream Factory.
So I guess I'd go for studio bootlegs of alternate configurations/shelved albums and live bootlegs of (soundboard) exceptional performances.

Anyone can do magic in the studio, I love a good sound board release anyday. If you cant reproduce what you did in the studio on stage, I will drop all respect for ya. I would dump my official over my bootlegs any day. I love the sound of the crowd, even the tuning part. Its real, not polished music. More time goes into the shows than the album, its real. Its different every time depending on the artist. I gained all the respect for P I have now on live shows.I hope that is an answer.