Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: THIS GUNS FOR HIRE 5LP box (concluded)

First pressing with 4 photo-prints and second pressing

THIS GUNS FOR HIRE represents one of the earliest-known and best-sounding bootlegs from the 1984 American Tour. There are at least three variations for this title (two pressings from the original plates and one pirate copy), and according to one source [a booklet listing almost all BORN IN THE U.S.A. (BITUSA) Tour bootlegs named Last Ride In A Pink Cadillac], the first pressing contains two color photographs although no information is provided as to the actual images photo-taken. This box set is not listed in the bootleg section of Blinded By The Light (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985; Plexus, London), and any other bootleg guide listing this title does not mention about the photos, except for the one called Unofficially Springsteen: The Boss A to Z (by Mick St. Michael, 1985; Choice Publishers, London).

Published in early-to-mid 1985 before the BITUSA World Tour ends (and thus before Last Ride In A Pink Cadillac is available), this A5-sized, 71-page discography book features over 120 bootleg records including early 1984 tour recordings such as BORN IN CINCINNATI (4LP, July 6th), DANCING IN THE USA (2LP, July 2nd), DO YOU LOVE ME (4LP, August 16th), and PORN IN THE USA  (2 x 2LP, July 24th). THIS GUNS FOR HIRE is briefly described as "5-album box set, live photos, excellent quality", along with the recording venue, date, and side-track information (pages 56-57). So, this book is probably the first to report what the original form of this bootleg is.

For long I have kept one copy of the first pressing with excellent sound (as opposed to the terribly sounded pirate copy mentioned here). This particular copy did come with FOUR pieces, but not two as reported, of glossy color pictures of live footage that are printed on Kodak photographic papers. Evidently, these photos capture the performances during the BITUSA tour, as readily recognized by the appearance of the man and his combo including Nils and Patti as new members.

Typical scenes of the BORN IN THE U.S.A. tour performance are captured in four photo printouts (among which one is over-sized). Can someone confirm that the venue is The Spectrum, Philadelphia, and that these pictures are taken at the
final show of a six-night stand in September 1984?

It is very possible that these pictures were taken at the bootlegged concert (September 18th, 1984) because there is no reason to include photographs from other night(s). According to the article "The Boss captivates Philly" (the scan available in BruceBase) reporting this concert in The Aquinas, the official student-run newspaper of The University of Scranton, Clarence changed his shirt from black to white after intermission and Nils wore an over-sized rubber cowboy hat. It is still not certain whether these photos were indeed taken that night because each player showed up very often in this guise during that tour. However, the pictured figures seem to be consistent with this newspaper's report.

  Found on eBay back in 2001
(not in my possession)

Curiously, most of what is considered the first pressing, as defined in the last blog, seem not to contain the photographs (see, for example, search results at popsike.com). I have seen only once a copy sold on eBay around in 2001 that came with the same set of pictures as mine (see the image right). These observations suggest that the first-pressing copies with photographs are quite limited in number. Then how many do they exist? In the article titled Bruce's Boots, the aforementioned Unofficially Springsteen book describes that "A five-album recorded at the Philadelphia Spectrum titled This Gun’s (sic) For Hire and released in a limited run of 500 worldwide will set you back at 50 UK Sterling" (page 26). If what is said in this book is believable, the number of the first pressing copy would be 500 or so, but it still remains uncertain how many from such copies are actually accompanied with the photographs.

Another example of a bootleg (I can think of) that comes with photographs is LAST NIGHT IN THE EAST, a triple LP recording at Castle Hall, Osaka, Japan (April 23rd, 1985; BTW, this was my first ever Springsteen concert). The original pressing for this made-in-Japan bootleg is purportedly limited to 350 copies and as described in Last Ride In A Pink Cadillac, each copy contains two amateurish off-stage shots of Springsteen, one taken in the bullet train (called "Shinkansen" in Japanese) and the other at a station on a Shinkansen line during his stay in Japan for the BITUSA World Tour.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: THIS GUNS FOR HIRE 5LP box (continued)

GRANDE FINALE, one of the best-looking BITUSA bootlegs
in the vinyl era (above) and the description on THIS GUNS
FOR HIRE found in the accompanying booklet (below)

A comprehensive list of vinyl bootlegs from the BORN IN THE U.S.A. tour is available in the 12-page booklet called Last Ride In A Pink Cadillac, which is included in GLANDE FINALE 6LP box set comprising the entire last performance of the 1984-85 World Tour at Los Angeles Coliseum. In fact, this booklet is concise and a very useful reference to a total of nearly 100 live bootleg releases from this tour. In my opinion, the brief information given to each title and the evaluation of sound quality are overall accurate. According to this booklet, there are two different releases for THIS GUNS FOR FIRE with the identical catalog number (Paladin Records 1959): one being the original (which is further divided into the first and second pressings) and the other copied off the original first pressing. The initial copy I obtained (and mentioned in the last blog) exactly matched what is described for one of the two releases (i.e., PAL A to PAL J hand-etched in the dead waxes and housed in an indeed sturdy box), confirming its identity as a piracy reproduction of the existing bootleg.

As described in the booklet, this 5LP box is at least pressed twice from the original plates. However, the first and second pressings are easily distinguished from the record labels, matrix numbers, and box packages.

Comparison of Disc 1 labels between the first (left two images) and second (right two) pressings. Track listing on the first pressing label is almost accurate with only a typo on Out In The "Streets", which is corrected on the second pressing label. As you can read, however, some of the song titles on the second pressing are intentionally changed (but the correct titles are predictable because the fake titles derive from the lyrics of the corresponding songs).

Paladin's calling business card
(taken from The Small Screen).
It is uncertain whether "Wire" is
his first name or not.

Labels on the waxes: The first pressing comes with the black/light grey Paladin H.G.W.T. 1959 labels, taken from Have Gun, Will Travel, an old American television series (aired from 1957 to 1963 on CBS) starring Richard Boone as a non-archetypal Western hero called Paladin. His gun-for-hire nature is probably the only relevance, that I can think of, to Springsteen (i.e., the line "this gun's for hire" is featured in the lyric of his biggest selling single Dancing In The Dark released in 1984) and is therefore used for the bootleg title although the apostrophe (of "gun's") is missing. For each disc, one label lists track information from both sides together while the other is a picture-only label of Paladin posing with a gun. On the other hand, the second pressing features the completely different labels of silver/black Wire P. Records, most probably named after "Wire Paladin" printed on his business card emblazoned with his symbol, a knight chess piece. The card design is reproduced on the bottom center of the rear box package of both pressings (By the way, I have never watched this TV program before and so, the above-described information may contain errors).

Matrix numbers on Side 1 of Disc 1 of
the 1st pressing copy

Matrix numbers: Let's take Side 1 of Disc 1 for instance. The first pressing has the hand-etched "PALADIN H.G.W.T. 1959 SIDE 1" whereas the second issue modifies this as "WIRE PALADIN H.G.W.T. 79591 SIDE 1" where "WIRE" is added to reflect the new label, "PALADIN H.G.W.T." is crossed out with double lines, and "1959" is modified to give "79591" (which seems no longer to make any sense). For each pressing, matrix numbers on Side 2 of Disc 1 through Side 10 of Disc 5 are basically the same as those of Side 1 with the correct corresponding Side numbers, with the exception of Side 10 which has an additional hand-scratched inscription "DYLAN’S BETTER" on both the first and second releases.

Modified matrix numbers on Side 1
of Disc 1 of the 2nd pressing copy.

Box packages: As for the front cover, the vertically running album title is moved to the left towards the hinge of the box on the second pressing. There are also a few distinguished differences on the back cover design of the second pressing: (1) it has two silver ornaments (not gold as the Last Ride In A Pink Cadillac booklet says) flanking the large stage shot; (2) the color is changed from gold to silver for the album description and reproduced "Paladin" business card design printed on the center column; and (3) the copyright description is added on the bottom center. It is also noticeable that front and back cover images of live stage shots show slightly different tones between the first and second pressings (the first is somewhat darker).

Although two box packages look similar, the differences are apparent (see main text for the explanations).
Note that, in marked contrast to the pirate copy, these boxes are made of glossy high-quality paper.

While the above-mentioned differences are substantial, what caught my eye the most in the description of the Last Ride In A Pink Cadillac booklet is the line "first pressing came with two colour photos," which seems to be NOT necessarily true for all copies of the first pressing, but applied to a very limited fraction of such copies.
— To be continued.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: THIS GUNS FOR HIRE 5LP box

Never expected to have this legendary 1980 soundboard recording officially
available when collecting these stuff more than 20 to 30 years ago...

The vinyl bootleg industry has substantially changed between THE RIVER and BORN IN THE U.S.A. eras, especially after the main activity moved from the United States to the countries of continental Europe. Not only has the sound quality generally been improved, but the sleeve artwork, often deluxe and colored, has become more professional and attractive when compared to the US bootleg standards of amateurish slick covers. The earliest examples are probably TEARDROPS ON THE CITY and FOLLOW THAT DREAM, the famous twin THE RIVER tour bootlegs from Sweden that set a precedent for a new standard for audience-sourced vinyl Bruceleg. Many other bootleg titles from this tour, especially released in the early 1980's (before the BITUSA tour stimulates bootlegging activities), are easily forgettable as I wrote previously, with a few exceptions such as the gorgeous, soundboard-sourced HAPPY NEW YEAR 5LP box (recorded New Year's Eve in New York, 1980; officially available since 2015). For Bruceleg collectors, although this was a welcome change in the industrial practices, there was still a persistent annoyance with collecting these vinyl artifacts, that is to say, pirated or bootlegged bootleg (mastered from existing bootlegs instead of using original source materials). In fact, once circulated on the market, many vinyl bootlegs had been copied straightforwardly or with some alterations in sleeve design and/or track listing, or repackaged under different titles.

Evaluated as "one of the best sets ever made" in
the 48-page Bruce Springsteen Collector's Guide
(no credits given)

Because I have started collecting Springsteen records in 1981, I mostly remember what bootleg titles are released (imported here, to be exact) in sequence during the BORN IN THE U.S.A. tour. The first bootleg from this tour I saw at the import record shop I used to visit was BORN IN CINCINNATI from the US (4LP; recorded in Cleveland, July 6th, 1984) mid December 1984, and then DO YOU LOVE ME (4LP; recorded in East Rutherford, August 16, 1984) from Italy that arrived here January 1985. Among the early bootleg releases from the first US leg of the tour, the best (I heard of back then) was THIS GUNS FOR HIRE 5LP box, which captures one of the Philadelphia concerts (September 18, 1984) in its entirety on nine sides of the five vinyl discs with the remaining side featuring the 1984 MTV interview by Mark Goodman. The Backstreets magazine (#13, Spring 1985 issue) reports in the bootleg column (titled New tour boots by Jack Duluoz) that "This Guns For Hire is one of the US bootleg mafia boots, which means it’s more common and usually means poor quality - this set however has excellent sound and is from one of the Philadelphia shows." Later, the magazine (#16, Spring 1986 issue) tabulates the top 10 bootleg list (titled Live album recap by Danny Martins) where this title is ranked 5th with the comments as follows: "A 5LP US release from an August (sic) 1984, Philadelphia show. Real clean sound quality and a nice package. Includes a few surprises like I Fought the Law and Candy’s Room. Also notable for its low price unlike the European releases." (Note the underline made by this blogger)

An example of the pirate copies, visually recognizable
from the rough and non-glossy surface of the front
picture cover that is made of relatively low-quality
cheap papers (The image is taken from Popsike.com)

It was sometime in 1985 when I found this thick box sitting on the shelf of the Springsteen section at the regular import shop. I remember it took at least a week or so to decide the purchase because, contrary to the above comment (underlined), it was sold at an extraordinary high price (to a student) here probably due to its large volume, import cost, and his ever-growing popularity upon the success of the 7th official album. I had the feeling of jumping in at the deep end when I bought it, and I actually fell into a bottomless pit immediately after I played the very first track on the side 1 of Disc 1. The copy I bought was housed in the black box with gold lettering, featured live stage shots on front and back covers, and came with the Paladin text/picture custom labels on all the sides of 5 waxes. Despite all the observations, it turned out to be a crummy copy of the pirated bootleg with awful sounds! Generally, the older a bootleg you are looking for, the more chance you have of getting a pirated copy (see, for example, "E" TICKET and FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS). This bootleg title, however, was rather a new release and sourced from the then-currently on-going tour. I well remember that I got disgusted with collecting and stayed away from these stuff for a while.
— To be continued.