Leatherface - More Mush LP - Bootleg

Leatherface - More Mush LP - Bootleg, a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Bootleg (2013)

I'm not sure if this was released by the same bootleggers that did yesterday's Mush LP, but it would be an awful weird coincidence for both of them to show up at the same time as they have. This LP compiles most of the B-sides & singles that Leatherface recorded around the Mush era. It has the pre-Mush Smokey Joe EP, The Mush 7" single for I Want The Moon, the 12" single for Not Superstitions and the post-Mush 10", Compact and Bijou.

It's an incredible array of songs as the band was really firing on all cylinders during this time frame. It also shows how quickly the band was evolving during this period as the difference between what they were doing on Smokey Joe and Compact and Bijou is truly striking. You can't really come across a better batch of songs, though my personal opinion is that the version of Dreaming from the Dreaming/Eagle 7" is superior to the version on this bootleg from the I Want the Moon 7".

Now as far as the quality of this bootleg goes, I was eager to see how it held up to the good-but-not-great Mush bootleg. More Mush (which let's be honest is a pretty dumb name for this) is no where near the same level of quality as the Mush bootleg. The overall volume of this record is quite low and the volumes between the songs are wildly inconsistent. The I Want the Moon songs in particular sound very muddled and swampy. Once the Compact and Bijou tracks come up, be prepared for the loudness to increase dramatically (likely since they were sourced from a CD instead of from vinyl).

Additionally, they've removed the Smokey Joe version of the song Trenchfoot for some reason. I get that the song is also on the Not Superstitious 12", but it's a different version. I don't see why you'd cut the Smokey Joe one on a record clearly aimed at fans of the band.

I was really into the idea of being able to put this record on and just sit back and enjoy. But if you really want to enjoy these songs, picking up the originals is essential. I can't even begin to paint a picture of how much better my first pressings of the individual records sound. If you just care about hearing the songs, or if you just need a copy of everything like me, I suppose this is an OK purchase. But the money you'd spend to pick up the originals would be worth it.

Leatherface - You Wanted Everything:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1HaflHEBY8

Leatherface - Dreaming:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Y9rZWjzwU

Leatherface - Games:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiN1fujCWro