Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS (continued)

Putting aside bootleg guides and references, my customary measure to distinguish, by appearance, the original pressing from a variety of later and pirated copies is simply to compare sleeve images between two given copies of the same title. In many instances, sleeve artwork reproduction results in down-grade modification of an original image, most notably on the image quality and size. What I check primarily is the size of cover images which is often enlarged slightly during reproduction. This simultaneously causes the loss of the marginal parts of an original image.

Close examination of the cover artwork shows the differences
between "red" (top) and "heavy" (beneath) vinyl releases

Shown in the left-hand picture is the front and rear sleeves of two different copies of FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS, one carrying so-called a heavy vinyl UK pressing (Release A; see the last post on Oct. 24) and the other with a more common red vinyl US pressing (possibly Release B). Obviously, the one (US release) placed over the other (UK release) has the enlarged image, missing its marginal portion (see Bruce's hair in the rear sleeve, for example) and with little marginal space between the edge and text of album title, artist name or track listing. These are apparent signatures of cover art reproduction and therefore, the sleeve of the red vinyl US release can be a copy or a rephotograghing print from that of the heavy vinyl UK edition (an indication that the UK pressing is the very first pressing of this legendary bootleg).

The record labels (top) and dead wax
"UK-4"matrix numbers on "heavy" (middle)
and "red" (bottom) vinyl discs

Most, if not all, of vinyl Bruceleg guides describe that the original heavy vinyl pressing from UK has no matrix number while the US red vinyl pressing carries "UK-4” as the matrix code (exactly, "UK4-1” on Side 1 as shown here). However, all of the heavy vinyl discs in my possession are inscribed on the dead wax with “UK4 · 1” on Side 1 that appreciably differs from the US matrix inscription. So, they were pressed from different stampers even though the same matrix number was used. As for the record label, both heavy vinyl and red vinyl pressings have an orange blank label on each side. It seems that the US bootleggers have tried making their own version as much as faithful to the original UK version except for the wax color and thickness (otherwise, I cannot think of any logical reason to use “UK” for matrix number). It is not clear to me whether the sound source for the US vinyls is a tape copied off from the Intersong acetate (meaning an independent pressing) or the UK vinyl pressing (meaning a pirate copy). Because the same sound dropout occurs on the first track of Side 2 (which is most probably a defect of the acetate), at least both pressings must share the same original source. By the way, the heavy vinyl, which is reportedly a characteristic unique to the UK pressing, is really heavier than the other vinyls?  — To be continued.