Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE 3LP box

The Roxy concert was not fully covered in its
entirety until the CD release in the early 1990s.

By the late summer of 1981, I obtained five vinyl bootlegs, the first three of which have been mentioned previously and purchased on the 26th of July, according to my log file. The subsequently obtained two titles were actually what had once transformed me into a Bruceleg junkie: PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE (3LP box) and LIVE AT THE ROXY THEATER, HOLLYWOOD 1978 (2LP). They were obtained together, following about one month of the first purchase (August 29, exactly), through mail order from the then most famous bootleg supplier in Japan, whose shop was located in Nishi-Shinjuku (West Shinjuku), Tokyo.

I happened to know these titles because this supplier openly advertised bootleg LPs, either in stock or due in stock, in some legitimate monthly magazines featuring pop/rock music and guitar instruments. I remember that PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE was not featured in the ad correctly but was listed with a small picture of the slick insert under the different title LIVE IN NEW JERSEY 1978 in phonetic Japanese (or Katakana alphabet), possibly to explain the content straightforwardly (oddly in Japan, it is not an uncommon but rather customary practice to change or modify an original foreign title to Japanese-friendly one, the typical example of which is found on an Obi for official releases by legitimate companies; see here on this blog). So, I did not know the correct title until the box was delivered to me.

This slick insert design is my favorite, among many others. At which concert is this particular live shot taken?

Sourced from the excellent recordings of FM broadcasted live concerts, both bootlegs sounded better than the previously obtained three. However, needless to say, far more impressive was the live performances from the legendary DARKNESS tour captured in these multi-disc sets (especially the entire concert performance heard on the box set), which had made me determined to pursue collecting these things until the end of the last century (when live recordings, before they were bootlegged, began to be distributed and freely available online in electronic format). Thus, for me, like for many Bruceleg collectors in the vinyl era, PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE is the most memorable and important unofficial release among the collection.

SLIPPED DISC RECORDS and generic yellow labels: Which is earlier?

Since the start of this blog one year ago, I have long hesitated to write about this classic bootleg because a fair amount of information, from "who made it" to "how the lawsuit against the bootleggers was settled," is already available through literature (like Clinton Heylin's BOOTLEG: The Secret Story of the Other Recording Industry) and online sources (like brucespringsteen.it and The Amazing Kornyfone Label). However, one simple question remained unclear that I have been wondering for a long time, which is actually shared by a fellow knowledgeable collector whom I've got to know through this blog. There are two kinds of the record labels found in the purportedly original box issues with limited edition numbers: one is a plain generic yellow just printing Record 1, 2, or 3 with side indication, while the other is called Slipped Disc Records labels with a drawing of a dancing(?) skeleton. To the best of my knowledge, no definitive answer has yet to be provided as to which is earlier. So, I'll post my thought, focusing on this.
— To be continued.