Section 4 - RoIO Information

  1. What are RoIOs.
  2. A few words on RoIOs.
  3. Some known RoIOs.
    1. Save Me
    2. The Intimate Stranger

1. What are RoIOs

RoIO stands for Recording of Illegitimate Origin. A RoIO is just a recording that was never released officially. Most times they are audience recordings from a concert but occasionally you'll find a RoIO of rare B-sides or other hard to find stuff. RoIOs are generally expensive and are almost always of a lower quality than an official release. This is probably the reason why most bands / record companies don't bother to crack down on them. A person who likes a band well enough to spend $40 on a fuzzy recording of a concert is going to purchase all of the official releases as well.

2. A few words about RoIOs

There aren't really that many The The RoIOs out there at the present time. In case you do come across one, it's good to follow a few simple rules. The most important being: listen before you buy. If your local dealer doesn't allow you to listen to a RoIO before purchasing it then I suggest that you find a different store. When listening, just use your own judgement. The quality will be lower than what would be produced legitamately. A RoIO is generally for those fans who feel that the official stuff isn't enough to satisfy their appetites. A second thing to watch out for is skips and speed-up. As for skips, just make sure that your dealer will accept returns if a skip is found. Speed-up is a little harder to notice and probably won't effect your enjoyment of a recording. Speed-up is the term I am using to refer to the process of speeding up each individual song just a bit in order to fit all of the recording onto a disc. This is a fairly rare thing and doesn't normally diminish the quality of the recording.

3. Some known RoIOs

Below are a few of the known RoIOs.

3.1. Save Me

This is a high quality, live CD recording which up until recently had been easy to purchase through an Italian company called KTS. Unfortunately for the company and for The The fans, some governmental pressure forced them out of business. When they were in business the cd cost approximately $30. This RoIO has been highly recommended by all those I've talked to about it.

3.2. Save Me

This is a high quality live CD recording put out by Mogul Nightmare Records (1990). It appears to be a direct copy of the The The vs. The World video. I wouldn't recommend this as you can get the same music from a legitimate source.
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