1984-11-30 St. Jacobs Sporthalle, Basel, Switzerland/Bootleg and commercial variants

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This page attempts to detail each bootleg variant released containing a recording of, or at least some tracks from, Depeche Mode's concert at 1984-11-30 St. Jacobs Sporthalle, Basel, Switzerland. Promotional commercial releases (mostly the Westwood One pre-FM variants) are also detailed here, though they aren't necessarily considered as "bootlegs".

"Performance" (The Swingin' Pig label) (1991)

Front artwork

Swiss label "The Swingin' Pig"[1] released "Performance" on 2xCD[2] and 2xLP[3] in 1991. It is a full recording of the Swiss radio station DRS3's FM radio broadcast.

The "Performance" 2xCD bootleg is probably the most commonly available version of the Basel FM broadcast. However, it plays a bit slow, and the sound is somewhat muffled, likely due to the "NoNOISE" noise-reduction systems (by "Sonic Solutions, USA") that was used by the bootleg label. The concert introduction is also missing entirely, and even the introductory noise to "Something To Do" is missing. I have not heard the LP variant, so I cannot comment on the sound or completeness of it.

A speed-corrected version of the 2xCD variant is currently available as Source 1.

Westwood One "In The Zone", SHOW# 97-19 (1997)

"In The Zone"[4] is a 2xCD release by Westwood One, to whom DRS3 licensed their recording to. "In The Zone", being a pre-FM source, generally sounds quite good. Unfortunately, this particular release is marred by fake crowd noise throughout the recording, commercials interspersed throughout the recording, and some badly done edits to the beginnings of some tracks to accommodate those commercials. Two tracks are not part of this variant: "Leave In Silence", and "See You". The concert intro is present and complete, but the audience noise fades-in.

Notably, audio engineer biashead has reworked this version, adding "If You Want" and "Shame" from the official releases, and cleaning up many master tape flaws and the bad intro edits. It is currently available (minus officially released tracks) as Source 1.

Westwood One "Depeche Mode / Katrina And The Waves - In Concert", IC-85-17 (1985)

"Depeche Mode / Katrina And The Waves - In Concert"[5] is an earlier Westwood One pre-FM release from 1985, this time in a 2xLP format. There is a recording of the band Katrina And The Waves on most of the first LP; Depeche Mode begins on the second half of the B-side and follows on the next LP's entirety. This variant is the only Westwood One pre-FM release that contains "Leave In Silence" and "See You" not present on the "In The Zone" 2xCD release mentioned above. This variant also has commercials between tracks. The track list is as follows:

  1. Something To Do
  2. Two Minute Warning
  3. People Are People
  4. Leave In Silence
  5. Blasphemous Rumours
  6. Master And Servant
  7. See You
  8. Shout
  9. Just Can't Get Enough

To date, a digital capture directly of this vinyl release does not circulate, but "We Just Can't Get Enough" described immediately below contains a rip of this vinyl.

"We Just Can't Get Enough", Not On Label Label MTT 131 (1991)

"We Just Can't Get Enough"[6] contains the same nine tracks as the "Depeche Mode / Katrina And The Waves - In Concert" and is presumably a rip of that vinyl, with commercials edited out; as such, many tracks have incomplete beginnings. However, quality is quite good, as it's a pre-FM source.

"Hollywood 1985" or "1985-04-01 San Diego"

This recording seems to be an FM broadcast of the "In Concert" (IC-85-17) LP mentioned above, with the same track listing. All circulating copies of this broadcast are quite mediocre sounding, and the radio station which broadcast it is unknown. I have a cassette tape with a recording of this broadcast which sounds halfway decent; perhaps for completion' sake, I will make a transfer of it available, despite the fact that superior sources exist.

"I'll Never Get Enough", Buy Or Die Records BOD-CD 213 (1991)

"I'll Never Get Enough"[7] is an Italian single-CD bootleg variant. It is an incomplete DRS3 FM broadcast recording of average quality, with moderate distortion. "Something To Do" is missing about half the song, and the last three tracks of "See You", "Shout", and "Just Can't Get Enough" are missing entirely.

Notably, I purchased a cassette tape on eBay reportedly containing the master that was used for "I'll Never Get Enough"; the eBay seller reportedly obtained it from a "Sony bigwig". The quality of the A-side is not bad and actually betters the CD, and the recording matches what is heard on the actual bootleg, however the B-side of that tape played at an amusingly high speed, to the point of being unusable.

"Cloned Clowns", Sound Carrier System - SCS 847015/16 (1994)[8]

The audio contained on this release is an exact clone of "I'll Never Get Enough", described above.

"Badlands", Turtle Records TR-205 / TR-206 (1992)

"Badlands"[9] is a 2xCD release containing a horrible FM broadcast recording, quite muffled and has a significant amount of wow & flutter. "Blasphemous Rumours" sounds like it is taken from an alternate source as it sounds better than the rest of the recording, but it is still not a great recording.

Depeche Mode / Aztec Camera - "Live", Sire / Warner Bros. Records WBMS 129 (1985)

"Depeche Mode / Aztec Camera - Live"[10] is a pre-FM LP containing five tracks: "People Are People", "Blasphemous Rumours", "Master And Servant", "Everything Counts", and "Just Can't Get Enough". The A-side label describes the tracks as having been recorded by Swiss Radio DRS-3. A digital capture of this vinyl release does not currently circulate.

References