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.