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.

One of the legendary bootlegs ...

Incident On 57th Street (live) was one of such missing tracks that was fortunately released later as a B-side of Fire 7" in the US and of the maxi 12" single War in Europe and Mexico. The 12” vinyl and CD EP containing this track were also pressed in Japan, but the tracklist differed from the other related issues. Until the tracklist was available, I had confidently believed that the version from Main Point (February 5th, 1975) would have been on the LIVE album because of countless listening to this particular performance on the classic vinyl bootleg YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR. So, it was a total surprise to me when I knew that the officially released version was a full-band electric performance at Nassau Coliseum (December 29th, 1980) that had, up till that point, never circulated on any vinyl bootlegs (that were the only source for me back then to be able to listen to unreleased material). However, what turned out was that, in my opinion, this particular recording is one of the best live tracks that have been released officially.

So far the best sounding Incident (live)
from my view.

One thing I have long thought about Incident (live) is its sound. As mentioned above, this track has been issued in three formats: 7", 12", and CD. The US 7" disc is often mentioned among general vinyl collectors as the longest 7" ever pressed, running over 10 min. Needless to say, this seriously affects the sound quality. Even worse, one of my two turntables (the cheaper one) no longer traces the vinyl correctly, with skips and surface noise. It's quite hard to understand why the Columbia US has decided to press one of the longest recordings, if not the longest, in the history of the 7" or 45 rpm record (except for a cost-cutting strategy not to use 12" format). By contrast, and obviously, one can expect much more excellent sound for the other two formats. The majority would argue that the CD version is better, but to my ears, the UK 12" sounds fabulous. I feel that the 12" vinyl sounds more dynamic and louder, and to me, the Japanese CD EP's sound is modest in comparison. So, for me, this UK pressing is one of the essential 12" in both sound and performance (I have no idea about the other 12" pressed in Holland because I do not own it).