Collecting log: TOP 3 collectible acquisitions in 2014

Seeing the New Year soon, I have checked back the recent collecting log and selected what are considered as Top 3 collectibles from what I have obtained through this year. The (subjective, self-satisfied) results are listed below with a short note for each collectible.


Murder Incorporated / Because The Night (live) / Pink Cadillac / 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) 
(Holland Columbia 661313 6)

    This 4-track 12-inch vinyl is pressed in Holland for export to France in 1995. Housed in a black & white cover whose design is identical to that of the 7-inch vinyl (COL 661313 7; backed with Because The Night) or 5-inch CD-EP (COL 661313 2; the same configuration as the 12") under the same title. Like the CD-EP, it comes with a black sticker on the front sleeve saying in French "titre inédit avec le E Street Band" (new song with the E Street Band). According to the Lost In The Flood collector's page, for unknown reasons, this release was hastily withdrawn. Seldom seen on eBay indeed, and equally tough to find as the 7-inch counterpart.

Radioshow Disc: ROCK ON THE ROAD Part II: The American Bands 5LP w/ Prove It All Night - Berkeley live 1978 (concluded)

Front of the custom D.I.R. file folder specifically
designed for this radio program LP

ROCK ON THE ROAD Part II: The American Bands is a 3-hour concert program that is issued and distributed to radio stations by D.I.R. Broadcasting Corporation (New York City, NY). The radio shows released by D.I.R. were available only by subscription to radio stations for broadcast, initially in reel-to-reel tapes, and later vinyl and CD formats. This 5-LP set is pressed in 1980 and captures 21 bands in concert in various venues spread all across the United States, plus interviews with the artists. The bands and musicians featured therein are Aerosmith, The Band, The Beach Boys, Pat Benatar, Blondie, The Blues Brothers, Jackson Browne, The Charlie Daniels Band, The Doobie Brothers, Foreigner, Heart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jefferson Starship, Van Morrison, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, The Marshall Tucker Band, James Taylor, Jessie Colin Young and Bruce Springsteen. It is said that all of the bands included are captured at the top of their game performing extended versions of some of their best known, rarest or most-loved songs.

Radioshow Disc: ROCK ON THE ROAD Part II: The American Bands 5LP w/ Prove It All Night - Berkeley live 1978

Side three containing two live tracks,
Bishop Danced (NYC, 1973) and
Prove It All Night (Berkeley, 1978)

If you weigh official products over bootlegs for unreleased or live materials that are not available on regular releases, this set should be the one to get. This is because, to the best of my knowledge, the multi-disc radioshow set is the only official vinyl release where you can listen to the long-intro live recording of Prove It All Night (July 1st, 1978), that was originally planned to be released as a promo-only 12" vinyl in 1978, and later considered for inclusion in LIVE 1975/85 in 1986. So far not released in any CD format officially. A few copies of the acetate disc for the planned 12" vinyl are known to exist. One of such copies was put on auction in 1997 by Backstreets Records, with the minimum starting bid of $1,000. The auction catalog (issued in Spring 1997) introduces this item as follows:

Collecting log: Rosalita Dutch 12" vinyl (still sealed)

Including or not including the poster. That is the question.
Together with the hard-to-find 7" counterpart.

No, no, this is not a recent acquisition. I have long kept this 12" vinyl, pressed in Holland and released in 1979, under sealed condition.  There are several reasons that make this particular release special among the entire Springsteen's official records. This is the first-ever commercially available 12" vinyl under HIS name, the first-ever commercial release of the title track along with the 7" counterpart pressed in the same country (although it is already released in 1974 on the second album and on the 3-track US promo-only 7" EP), and by far the only maxi 12" single with Night from the third album. However, what makes this release so collectable is not the vinyl itself but the inclusion of the folded poster of a 1975 live stage shot. Reportedly, such copies are quite limited in number and only the early pressings come with it.

Incident On 57th Street (live): Which is the best sounding disc?

LIVE 1975/85 poster issued by CBS/Sony in Japan
with track listing on the right-hand side

About three decades ago, like many hardcore fans, I was also the one who was disappointed at the first glance of the track listing of LIVE 1975/85. I well remember that sometime in September or October 1986, at an import record shop frequently visited back then, I stood straight and stiff in front of the huge poster on the wall that announced the forthcoming release of the 5-LP box set, checking thrice, fourth, or even fifth, the complete 40-live tracks on the album. Despite repeated attempts, I was not able to find on the list, from my viewpoint, what should have been included in the extraordinarily anticipated live album.

Radioshow Disc: THE PRODUCERS Jimmy Iovine LP

Side 1 contains tracks from Lennon,
Springsteen and Patti Smith.

Radioshow LPs (and CDs) are also my target of collecting although I am not so enthusiastic as in collecting official rare records. Certain particular radioshow discs carry rare songs that are otherwise unavailable through regular releases (one of the good examples is the KING BISCUIT FLOWER HOUR program releases). So, the main reason to collect these discs is to obtain such tracks as live versions of officially released studio tracks or unreleased songs. However, even if nothing special in terms of featured tracks, these radioshows are enjoyable to me because listening to these records often gives an opportunity to feel a familiar song in fresh and different ways.