Back in '98 I was doing a European solo tour and happened to
play a gig in Brussels, Belgium, in a theater called "Ancienne
Belgique." It's a rather formal sit-down space, a bit like a
small cinema, with good acoustics and a fine sound system. It
also boasts (or at least did at that time) a professional
recording studio upstairs. Some time before arriving there,
the engineer forwarded the idea of recording the show. I
agreed. I've had the results of the project locked up in my
customized, de-humidified temperature controlled tape storage
facility ever since (OK, a closet full of kids' toys and shit),
waiting for the correct moment to launch this monkey into the
world.
Please let me make it abundantly clear: "Bastard" is not a
bootleg and was not recorded by some shifty individual with a
microphone sticking out of his underwear (how can I get that
point across...OK, try this: THIS IS NOT A BOOTLEG!!).
It is in fact a very high-class recording of what turns out
to be a real corker of a show. It is not part of our "bootleg
series" but more akin to a new release. It's of sufficiently
high quality that it could be on a proper record label and
distributed in the normal fashion, but I'd prefer something
that isn't a band recording to be released in this more
niche-oriented style, for the people who are really interested,
yourselves. It will also come in a smart digi-pak and will
consequently cost more than our previous onsite release, "Live
Cuts From Somewhere," which was most definitely a bootleg and
was packaged in a single envelope.
However, like our first release, "!Live Alone: The Bastard Of
Belgium" will be manufactured in very limited quantity.
-- Graham Parker
