SMiLE Bootlegs Source

[Iron Horse-Apples]

I'm wondering how the bootleggers got hold of some of the material supposedly locked in a vault. I'm thinking of the really bad quality stuff, like H&V sessions vol 2 , and SMilE Bits and Pieces. Copies of copies of copies by the sound of it, but what (who) was the source?

[Jason]

Definitely a case of copies of copies etc., but the alleged source had to have been someone with all kinds of access to both the Brother and Capitol vaults. Trouble is, of course, the fact that the vaults don't have any kind of recorder, which means that one was either smuggled in (highly doubtful) or the tapes in question were removed (logical) and (sometimes) replaced after dubbing.

The other alternative is that tapes or dubs were in the possession of someone who already had the access and that is how they became bootlegs; for example, the Time To Get Alone bootleg is allegedly sourced from tape copies made on a 2-track slave recorder during the sessions for Chuck Britz's and Brian's reference; I'm not saying Chuck was the source and don't even think he would have done such a thing.