THE RIVER Gate-fold sleeve 2LP: 1980 original Mexican release (continued)

Part of THE RIVER LP collection. From left to right: (top row) Mexican 1st (gate-fold), US early (w/ a round sticker), US later (w/ a square sticker), Canadian, and UK (w/ a square sticker plus discount price tag); (middle row) Mexican reissue, French (Dutch export w/ a round sticker), Filipino (w/ extra writing), Brazilian, and Ex-Yugoslavian; (bottom row) Japanese 1st (w/ a vertical obi), Hong Kong (gate-fold), Portuguese, Israeli (gate-fold), and South African (gate-fold). Arrows refer to an earlobe (see the main text). 

Superimposing the lyric sheet for a US copy of THE RIVER on the
 gate-fold sleeve of the Mexican copy. Note the Cadillac Ranch image
which is slightly extended to the left on the sleeve.

This is a follow-up for the last blog article introducing the original Mexican copy of my favorite album, mostly known among Springsteen's vinyl collectors or THE RIVER fanatics, for the double LP sleeve featuring the lyrics inside. Although the standard, fold-out lyric sheet is reproduced only partly (i.e. the inner two pages), this unique sleeve design is solely limited to the first pressing of the Mexican release, which alone makes it highly collectable. When compared with the lyric insert included in the US release, the printing quality is relatively low, as shown in the picture above. Nonetheless, the interior of the gate-fold sleeve looks spectacular in my opinion, like the BORN TO RUN LP sleeve.

  Matrix number hand-etched on Side 4.
It reads 02-11-14713-1B.

A further comparison with the US copy revealed some more notable differences the Mexican copy exhibits. As for vinyl disc, the matrix numbers are just hand-written 02-11-14710-1A for Side 1 (Lado 1), 02-11-14711-1A for Side 2, 02-11-14712-1B for Side 3, and 02-11-14713-1B for Side 4. Neither Mastering Engineer's KP inscription nor machine-pressed MASTERED BY CAPITOL stamp is found on the dead wax of each side of the double disc, even though these matrix codes are common to most of the circulated US pressings (see here for the US THE RIVER matrix inscriptions). Like the US release, the Mexican copy contains two inner sleeves, but they are made of thin papers that far more resemble those of the European pressings, such as the UK and Holland releases, not like the thick US inner bags.

Catalog number (LP2S-103) printed on the
bottom right corner on each inner sleeve
and the interior of the gate-fold sleeve

Shown top is an array of front covers of the album released in various countries. They look the same in appearance but differ in minor aspects. The original (far left on top row) and reissue (far left on middle row) Mexican sleeves are unique in featuring the small CBS logo on the top left corner; the Israeli edition carries only the catalog number on the same position. Moreover, though trivial, the front picture of Bruce's portrait is slightly out of alignment (to the left) on the Mexican copies. As a result, his earlobe is cut on the sleeve although it is visible on the left edge on most of the other copies (marked with yellow arrows), except for the South African's which is also gate-fold format (far right on bottom row). The rear sleeve differs from the others substantially, mostly due to the additional descriptions in Spanish for song titles and album credits. On the next article, the original 1980 issue will be compared with the 1986 reissue to conclude this Mexican series.
— To be continued.