Thoughts on My Father's House on NEBRASKA LP (Part 1 of 4)

Three European gate-fold releases of NEBRASKA LP (Left, Spanish; Center, Ex-Yugoslavian; Right, Dutch). In addition to the lyric-printed inner protective sleeve, the Spanish (white label promo) copy comes with additional paper sheets (far left), as shown previously here. Note that the gate-fold LP is also released in Portugal.
 

Interior side of the gate-fold releases. From top to bottom:
Spanish, Ex-Yugoslavian and Holland copies. The Spanish
inner sleeve reproduces Bruce's picture that is found on
the gate-fold sleeve whereas the Dutch one is the text-only
version with German and French lyrics on its both sides.

NEBRASKA is, to me, one of the memorable and deep-listening album as it is my first ever Springsteen's new album (As told before, I became a fan early in THE RIVER era). Like many, I was one of those who had been wondering, since its release in 1982, how these raw acoustic demos turned to be the commercially released album. It was Dave Marsh's Springsteen biography (GLORY DAYS; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1987) that has provided the definitive answer to this commonly asked question. I remember I read this most important part of that book with great interest and attention, as it unveiled for the first time that the album was never originally intended for a solo project but recorded with the E Street Band. Such studio recordings from "electric NEBRASKA session" still remain unreleased, though.

Collecting-wise, this album has at least two points that appeal to collectors. Like THE RIVER, one is the gate-fold version of the LP album released in certain limited countries in Europa like Holland, Spain, Portugal and Ex-Yugoslavia (although none of these countries releases the gate-fold THE RIVER LP). At least for Dutch and Spanish issues, the original lyrics are translated into German/French and Spanish, respectively, and those translations are printed on respective inner protective sleeves (I don't own Portuguese copies). In these releases, the English lyrics are listed inside of the gate-fold sleeve which is almost indistinguishable among the copies pressed in different countries, except for small credits printed on the left-hand picture. These gate-fold issues are relatively easily available as the second and further rounds of repressed copies (with red CBS labels) had continued to be released in the same sleeve format. Still, it's always nice to have a spectacular fold-out sleeve for any LP title.

Japan-pressed original CD copies released in Japan (left), the US (middle) and Europa (right). All contain a longer version of My Father's House. The US and European discs are indicated as “MANUFACTURED IN JAPAN” and “MANUFACTURED BY CBS/SONY INC. IN JAPAN”, respectively, on each perimeter. The US CD has “MANUFACTURED BY CBS/SONY RECORDS INC.” stamped on the clear plastic ring around the center hole, and the matrix code of this copy is DIDP 20040 11A1 which appears along the inner rim of the disc (which is invisible in this image). The European disc (this one is a UK issue) prints the US catalog number CK 38358 in a parenthesis underneath its own catalog number CBS 25100 (the matrix code of the shown copy is DIDP 10040 11A7).
 

CD booklets and insert listing track name and length. Left upper, booklet for the
original Japanese issue (CBS/SONY 32DP 357); Left lower, booklet for the UK issue
(CBS 25100); Right, Part of the folded insert included in the second pressing for
the Japanese CD (CBS/SONY 25DP 5246). Note the differences in track length
between Japanese and European booklets, even though content-wise the CD
are identical between the two issues.

Another point that draws (certainly more) collectors' attention is the existence of an officially, but inadvertently, released stereo mix of the album that includes a longer version of My Father's House with an extended instrumental coda. Instead of the original mono recordings, this alternate mix is used exclusively to manufacture the CD album in Japan for the first three domestic releases with different catalog numbers (32DP 357, 25DP 5246 and SRCS 7860 released in 1985, 1988 and 1995, respectively), and for the export versions to the US and European markets in 1985, although the US disc has been recalled and the corrected CD was issued with the same catalog number (CK 38358). The Japanese CD booklet and folded insert list the track length for this alternate take correctly as 5' 35" while the European booklet prints the shorter, original track length of 5' 03". On the other hand, the US version does not display a playing time for any track anywhere on the folded sleeve or the disc.

Part of an auction list of Backstreets Records issued around in 1989, shortly describing the recalled US NEBRASKA CD. Note that according to this list, perfect copies of the original US release must come in a long box!

The story of how this happened is told elsewhere (for instance, concisely and essentially on the Brucebase website). In short, when the album was going to be released in 1985 for the first time on CD format, CBS/Sony Japan has inadvertently received the stereo master tapes from the US Columbia which were indeed declined by Springsteen in 1982 for the LP release and put aside since then. It is unbelievable that this supposedly impermissible thing had been left there for more than 10 years, until the release of the 1999 paper sleeve edition (SONY SRCS 9471) which uses the correct mono master tapes; This is not a tiny mistake such as typo or misprint of some sort on a sleeve, booklet or disc, but a tremendous production error concerning the core of artist's work (music itself). It is also curious that the Springsteen camp seemingly had done nothing to rectify it for long, despite the reputation as a strict control freak (with Jon Landau at the head of it). The management must have recognized the error because the US version of the CD was recalled. So, maybe Japan is something extraterritorial to Springsteen or his management team?  No, probably not at all. For example, back in 1980, the first issue of the single release of Hungry Heart 7" (CBS/SONY 07SP 511), originally coming with a unique alternate color picture insert, was withdrawn at the request from the US side. He or his camp also suspended the commercial CD release of the second wave Japanese miniature LP paper sleeve reissues [i.e. BORN IN THE U.S.A. (SONY SRCS 8984) through THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD (SONY SRCS 9474)], right before the scheduled date in September 1999. As a result,

Impossibly rare regular copies of the unreleased/withdrawn 1999 mini-sleeve CD
reissues are distinguished from their advanced promotional copies which are also
extremely rare. Shown are LUCKY TOWN (SONY SRCS 9473) whose promo copy
(right) has a "SAMPLE (in Japanese) - NOT FOR SALE" sticker directly glued on the
rear sleeve and an orange "SAMPLE" stamp on the inner plastic ring of the disc;
neither is found on the regular copy (left).

the promotional CD copies for these seven reissues have become rare collectibles as they were pre-released and circulated already in advance of the commercial release. However, even much rarer are the regular commercial copies which are really hard to find even here in Japan (yes, they do circulate). Anyway, if what is believed to have happened behind the early Japan-pressed CD is indeed true, is there the possibility that the alternate take of My Father's House is featured on a vinyl LP?
— To be continued.