Unsurpassed Masters... what's the story?

[blazer]

Would someone please enlighten me on how the Sea of Tunes Unsurpassed Masters series came into being?  How were the original studio tapes attained?   What producer/engineer decided which takes to include/exclude?  Are they illegal bootlegs?  If illegal, was production shut down and was there prosecution?  How were they originally sold and how many were sold?  I occasionally see them posted on E-Bay, but half the time E-Bay removes the item before the 7-day listing is over. 

Thanks to anyone that has some or all of the answers.

[smile-holland]

an illegal boot....sounds like a contamination to me... 

don't know much about it, but I'm a 100% sure that the tapes were released on cd illegally. Which explains Ebay removing any offers on their site before the final date of the bidding.

[chris.metcalfe]

There were some recently successfully sold on ebay without hindrance.

[Bicyclerider]

It was rumored that the tapes were copied by someone who had access to the tape vault during the making of the "American Band" video - someone with the initials RF.  Alan Boyd has strenously denied that this was possible, as all tapes were secure in a storage facility and tapes that were being reviewed or used by the AB people would have to have been signed out, and there are no signouts that would make something like the Unsurpassed Masters Sea of Tunes CD's possible.

My theory:  someone who worked for Brother Studios developed an "in" with the storage people and copied tapes without documentation, or copied them before the documentation system was in place.  We know at least one person who had access to the tapes - a certain "Desmond Jones" by pseudonym - so perhaps he or someone similar copied the tapes and sold them to the German bootleg outfil Midnight Beat which created the Sea of Tunes label specifically to release this series.

[blazer]

Thanks Bicyclerider.   With all the BB historical knowledge I have observed on this board, I am surprised that more information is not known about this topic. 

[the captain]

Thanks Bicyclerider.   With all the BB historical knowledge I have observed on this board, I am surprised that more information is not known about this topic. 

Well, considering they are (illegal) bootlegs and the question has to do with how they were leaked, most people who really know details would likely not want talk that much about what they know--or how they know it. And because of that sensitivity on the topic, it isn't the kind of information that would reliably reach a larger audience. Some things remain mysteries and rumors.