First of all, I have to say that I have been a collector of Tarantura releases for quite a while now. As far as CDs go, their stuff is second to none and highly collectable. Is it the most affordable option on the market? No, not by a long shot. Are they well made, well curated and worth the asking price? Well, that’s a different story. In the world of CD boots, you are either Tarantura, Empress Valley Supreme Disc, or everybody else, as far as I’m concerned. Why is this important? Aren’t these so called “labels” just out to make money from otherwise free downloads? While this isn’t the place for a dissertation on ethics, in my opinion, they guys are doing necessary preservation work for historically significant recordings. While there may be some truth to the ill-gotten gains school of thought, I believe that these rogue labels are doing a lot to keep the music alive and collectable.
So, what about Crackers?? The classic Pink Floyd bootleg that so many of us know and love? What has this label done with it, and is it worth my attention in 2024? Hopefully, I’ll be able to answer those questions and more for you. For me personally, while I was very familiar with this famous and classic recording, I hadn’t developed a serious appreciation for it until the last few weeks of my life. As Pink Floyd fans will surely know (as well as faithful readers of this blog), David Gilmour has embarked upon a recent tour in support of his latest album Luck and Strange. As a devoted Gilmour fan, I have duly purchased each one of his new album’s variants, reviewing them here and trying my best to encourage fans to pick up what I believe to be the absolute best yet of his solo endeavors.
My quest to hear Mr. Gilmour play this amazing album live (along with his exceptionally talented band and all-around stunner of a daughter, Rohmany) led me to attend two of the three concerts he gave at the Hollywood Bowl, in Los Angeles, CA last month. Had I known that there would be an additional date played on the 31st, I probably would have gotten tickets for that show as well. So why am I telling you all this? What does this have to do with Pink Floyd playing The Dark Side of the Moon on the legendary bootleg Crackers? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s all about the Bowl, man.
Outside of seeing photos of this legendary concert venue, I had no idea what it was really like in person. Upon seeing it and taking in two concerts there myself, I had to wonder how anyone could sneak 1970’s style, high fidelity recording equipment in there, record the entire show, and make it out (without capture) to tell the tale. If you want the detailed account of this story and more, believe it or not, it’s all available in the brand-new book “Wizardo: Stories of a Bootlegger”. I am reading this book right now and can’t recommend it enough. Forgoing my usual policy not to provide any links, you can find copies of this book, still available for retail price, from the fine individuals right here. I don’t make a penny off of any sales of this worthy tome (or for any part of this website at all), but this is important. Buy it now and thank me later.
Anyway, the point is, if you end up buying the Crackers CD box set and also pick up this book, you are going to get one hell of a unique and exclusive look into where a big part of bootlegging got its start. If you are a Floyd fanatic and want to complete the trifecta for the ultimate experience, find a copy of Take Linda Surfin’ and meet me back here for a debrief later. The truth of the matter is though, that the book and the Crackers box set became available at the same time out of sheer coincidence. At least as far as I can tell.
Back to Crackers. This legendary recording, originally and most famously captured by the Wizardo boys, Larry and John, is an absolutely essential time capsule of The Darkside of the Moon and some other legendary Pink Floyd numbers from that show. They managed to capture the entire concert in shocking high fidelity, and it has survived and held its own until this very day. In fact, it’s still being traded and sold even as we speak in a whole bunch of different formats. Considering that most of the population consumes their “music” from YouTube or the Spotify “free plan” these days, this is pretty impressive and telling.
What we are discussing today is an 8 CD box set, which includes multiple sources of this legendary show at The Hollywood Bowl. In addition to the full show recorded by Larry and John, we also get a third source captured by a guy called Donald Carey. It all comes housed inside a 12” LP sized, book style case, complete with extras and high-quality artwork. I should also mention that these CDs are not CD-Rs burned on someone’s home computer, but are the actual, real thing. Pressed silver discs! Pretty much guaranteed to last 100 years or something like that. Longer than I’ll live, guaranteed! If you only speak vinyl, this is like the difference between a flexi disc and a high-quality pressing.
There are 8 CDs in total, but essentially, you are getting four sets of two discs. The first three sets have the complete, or very close to complete concert, but are all from the different, aforementioned sources. The final set combines all these sources to produce what I believe to be the best sounding and most complete version of this show to date. Certainly, it is something that is available here for the first time. Even the Wizardo source itself is a new thing. Tarantura says that it’s recently been discovered (acetate, I believe), and is being made available here, in this box set, for the first time.
The artwork on the discs themselves looks great, as you can see from the photos. Each two-disc pair has matching/complementary art and is clearly labeled in English. Inside the hardcover, book style jacket, we also get a lot of extras. These include a booklet modeled from the Hollywood Bowl show program, a leaflet and three reproduction bootleg jacket art covers, representing some releases this show has seen over the years. These are all done on high quality paper and are meant to last a lifetime at least. In addition to the set I have shown here, two other jacket styles are available as well. The only difference I can see is that the artwork on the hardcover jacket itself is different. The materials you get inside are the same, so take your pick with whichever one you like the look of best.
Quality wise, all the sources are great. I took the time and listened to every one of these recordings over a few weeks’ time and enjoyed all of them. You can definitely hear that some recordings picked up certain parts of the show better than others, and I quickly became curious as to what it was going to sound like when all this was put together on the last pair of discs. Thankfully, after a lot of time and a fair amount of money spent, I have to say that I was delighted.
The final result on the “Multiple Source Mix” is nothing short of remarkable. Someone really took the necessary time and effort to put this thing together right. What we end up with is a borderline professional sounding show, complete with the live atmosphere of the evening, the band talking and tuning up in between songs, and certainly one of the best live performances of The Darkside of the Moon ever bootlegged.
This Tarantura version of Crackers is certainly definitive. Sometimes, bootleg releases are something you might only listen to once. I think this is especially the case when the recording is rough, but the show is still worth having from a historical perspective. In the case of this box set, all the sources are good enough to listen to and enjoy anytime, but the final combined source was obviously the main focus of the project, and it really takes the cake. If you are going to go back and listen to this show over and over, the “Multiple Source Mix” is almost certainly what you will be reaching for.
With that being the case, is it worth paying for the other six CDs that are included with the set? Will Tarantura ever release just the final combined mix on its own, possibly at a lower price? Well, I have no idea. I don’t know anyone from this label (or any other of the labels I write about) to ask. Just judging by what I’ve seen them release in the past, I would say that it’s unlikely they would do that. As far as it being worth the cost or not, that’s going to be a personal judgement kind of question. While I don’t see myself going back and listening to the six source material CDs very often, I still like the idea of having them. With all the crazy stuff going on in the world today with websites like the Internet Archive, as well as pretty much every other type of freedom being in constant peril, I am happy to have hard copies of this stuff in my collection.
There is no doubt that this set is not cheap, but I think even if you consider the first 6 discs as “bonus material”, it’s still a good buy. The packaging is well made and totally unique. I’d give that portion an easy 10/10. As far as the audio sources go, that’s another 10/10. We know pretty much exactly what we are getting here and are left with a near flawless mix for the “final product”. The artwork bonuses are all beautiful and well made. I kind of consider those to be part of the packaging and presentation, but would also give them a 10/10 individually. Overall, I see Tarantura’s Crackers to be 8.5/10 value wise, and am very happy with my purchase.
There is no doubt this won’t be one for everybody. A ton of people won’t even touch anything that’s a CD, but honestly, I think that’s something that’s going to change in the future. Slowly, collectors are realizing the value and collectability of silver-pressed discs. Sets like these will only go up in value down the road. Crackers is very limited, but Tarantura doesn’t say what the numbers are. I have seen some speculation, but I don’t think it’s worth mentioning here. The truth of the matter is, there almost certainly aren’t very many of these, and if you are outside of Japan and manage to get one, you are resourceful and fortunate indeed.
One last thing that I feel like I should add here is that if you are going to seek one of these sets out, don’t necessarily jump on the first listing you see. There are only two or three places on the internet where you might be able to find a copy, but the prices vary wildly between them. As always, it never hurts to look around and be thorough in the search. As always, good luck and enjoy the music!