Dec 13, 2014

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.

BTW, why Rosalita is issued in 1979 in Holland as both 12" and 7" singles, 5 years after  its original release in 1974, has been unclear to me. Might it coincide with the premiere in Europa on TV broadcast of the promotional video clip of the live performance at a concert in Phoenix in 1978?

A copy of the early pressing with
the poster (pic from Popsike)
I have no idea whether my sealed copy is such a major rarity or one of the relatively common old vinyl without the bonus addition. Sometime I feel the temptation to tear up the wrap-around shrink to see if the poster is inserted into the sleeve, but so far I have been able to hold it back.

Any clue as to how to distinguish "the" copy from other pressings without opening the shrink wrap?




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