Collecting log: TOP 3 collectible acquisitions in 2015

Ready to send out 2015?  Near the close to another year, I have looked over the collectibles that were acquired this year, just like I did in the final blog last year. Here is the TOP 3 collectible acquisition in 2015, as selected by my own subjective criteria.


THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE (US Columbia KC 32432)

The original US copy with the catalog number prefix "KC" used for promotion.
Behind is the second issue (PC 32432) with the album title printed in yellow.
Inset: Red promo stamp on the rear sleeve.

For Springsteen's first and second LP releases, no white-label promotional copies are known to exist concerning the US pressing. So, regular copies with red Columbia stock labels are issued for promotional purposes. These copies are housed in regular picture sleeves with a timing strip pasted over the front and a gold or red "Demonstration Not For Sale" indication stamped on the rear. This is a rare promo copy additionally accompanied by a 10-page original copy of song lyrics from Laurel Canyon Music, Ltd.

Machine-typed matrix numbers in dead wax on both sides end with the suffix
1A/1A, denoting this being the very first, original pressing (shown is Side A)

Stapled lyric transcription sheets credited by Laurel Canyon Music are often included in test pressing and early promo packages of the first three albums, with the most known example being the BORN TO RUN script cover set and another being GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, N. J. test pressing LP. Notably, the regular pressing of the second album is the only Springsteen LP that has been issued without the printed lyrics for the featured songs (except for the Japanese release). Couldn't this fact make the promo THE WILD lyric sheets rarer and more valuable than the other two?

Closing up the bottom part of the lyric sheet for Wild Billy's Circus Story with Laurel Canyon music credits

THE PITMAN FAMILY OF MUSIC: Our First 20 Years CBS Records 1960-1980 (US CBS P 15663)

The sleeve is in still shrink-wrapped nice condition.
By the way, why is Backstreets chosen among many others?
(not complaining but just wondering)

This very scarce promotion-only LP is an in-house release of CBS Records in 1980, as a given-away gift only to employees of the company's pressing plant in Pitman, New Jersey, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the plant. The disc features snippets of songs from dozens of CBS artists, including Springsteen. Although his contribution is only a short segment of Backstreets just before ending outro on Side 2 of the LP, I really enjoy listening to an overwhelming array of old hits on the record (the complete track info and more images are available at Bruce Springsteen Lyrics).

Matrix number on the black vinyl edition is
not hand-etched, but machine-stamped
(shown is that on Side 1)

I obtained it on eBay auction at a fairly low bid amount (just below $14) because this copy is missing an accompanying 16-page booklet. Also issued as an extremely rare picture disc (which I don't own). According to this page ("Searching For A Gem" Bob Dylan's Officially Released Rarities and Obscurities), the matrix numbers on trail-off areas of both sides (Side 1, AS 15663-1A; Side 2, BS 15663-1A) are hand-etched on the black vinyl while stamped on the picture disc. However, found on my copy of black vinyl are the stamped ones.

One Step Up (US Columbia CSK 1031)

One Step Up US promo-only 5" and 3" CDs, probably the earliest
among all the custom promo-only CD releases of Bruce Springsteen

This advanced CD single of my favorite TUNNEL OF LOVE tune was released in the US, probably in early 1988. To my knowledge, the item represents Springsteen's first-ever release of a custom promotion-only 5-inch CD (someone, please correct me if I'm wrong). Maybe the first ever promotion-only CD in any format among his entire catalog, or second only to the equally tough-to-find One Step Up / Roulette promotion-only 3-inch CD single (US Columbia 38K 7726). Below is a partial scanned image from the info sheet for CD RARITIES AUCTION listing these CD singles held by BACKSTREETS Records sometime in the summer of 1989.

An excerpt from an auction list of Backstreets Records issued in 1989

As you read, this promo CD5 was the most highly rated among collectible CDs on the auction list ("The single rarest Bruce CBS promo - many people at first denied that this existed"). This was partly because back then (roughly three decades ago!), CD was a newly developed, hot vehicle for music distribution that attracted many collectors. So, demand was quite high, particularly for custom promotion-only releases like this, which were usually available in extremely limited quantities. Using the same front sleeve as the US 7" vinyl and European CD3 singles, at first glance, this early promo CD5 looks as if it is a regular commercial copy (though no such CD copies exist). It is not ranked in the top 40 worldwide Springsteen rarities featured in the November 2006 issue of Record Collector (No. 329). Certainly, however, consistently hard to come by and so still highly collectible in my opinion, although I don't exactly know the current value. Luckily, to my surprise, this particular copy was found buried in a pile of used CDs at a second-hand record store. Priced at 3,500 JPY (= US $29). As pictured above, this is the second copy in my collection. Probably, the most exciting outcome of collectible hunting in 2015 (though not a vinyl disc but a CD).

All the best in the New Year 2016!