It's always a risk. But, I think, as a general rule of thumb: Many 'limited edition' / circulation 'Bootlegs' which came out years ago were indeed often of dire quality. They were always, inevitably, 'under the counter' and 'grey area' because they were, in those days, illegal. Then - recordings (before Copyright Law Changes) made during the 1950s and up until December, 1962 came into the public domain - resulting in lots of legal PD LPs / CDs.
Now...as far as live radio Broadcasts on the BBC....I am fairly certain that recordings of that type up until 1970 can now be legally released. As I mentioned in a previous post. The 9 recordings on this CD of Cliff Richard / Shadows are ALL in the BBC Archives. Most of the Cliff Richard tracks (as mentioned) are IN the BBC Archives. BUT....neither Warner Music / BBC have any interest in releasing them. I find it truly surprising that they do not believe that such a relase would sell 10,000 copies. Cliff Richard still has a very big worldwide following and, naturally, there is still currently a lot of interest in the Shadows. But....I can assure you (because I approached them with the idea)....there will never be an 'Official Release'. To my mind, it borders on insanity!!!! But...for the big labels (who own a lot of material by hundreds, if not thousands of artists in their vaults)....back catalogue for many acts is not of interest to them..it doesn't make enough money for them to even have to bother about. Reissue labels like Cherry Red could be interested. But...there would be a 'double whammy' for them. The problem being that they would not only have to license the tracks from Warner Music, but they would also have to pay fees to the BBC as well....so, for companies like that....although they might be happy with say - 2,000 - 5,000 sales...the problem of having to pay, effecrtively, two lots of fees would make such a project very, very risky financially.....so they would probably not take the risk.
So...the ONLY way fans are ever going to hear these tracks is via CDs like this. I will stick my neck out and suggest that it will be properly re-mastered material from someone who has access to rare BBC Transcription Discs + maybe a few good quality 'Off Air' tapes & so the sound quality should be excellent. The days of the 'dodgy' bootlegs are over. Fans won't really accept them any longer. I am going to buy this CD myself, purely for the 9 Cliff / Shads tracks alone. As for Cliff, well - he performs quite a few of his late '60s / early '70s material (post Shadows) & some of it may not be to everyone's liking...that's just personal taste. "Throw Down A Line" with Hank will be worth hearing again though.
Right...there we are - just my 'two - penneth' - for what it's worth and my order is already in. Oh....the 'bottom' line, once again. Warner Music could have issued all of this material. The BBC could have already issued all of this material...but neither organisation could be bothered to do it. 'Nuff said!!!!