Collecting log: Cover Me UK shaped picture disc single

A bi-color sticker on the PVC bag holding the picture
disc. Note that not all copies come with stickers.

This is the final of the three consecutive collecting logs on “cheap buy” in my recent trip to Tokyo. Yet another I picked up there was Cover Me/Jersey Girl (live) (CBS WA 4662), one of the three shaped picture disc singles from the album BORN IN THE U.S.A. that were commercially available in England. This limited edition is the second release out around September or October 1984 (the receipt of the imported first copy I obtained dated 11th October, 1984), following the pink caddy-shaped picture disc of Dancing In The Dark/Pink Cadillac (CBS WA 4436) and followed by the US flag-shaped I'm On Fire/Born In The U.S.A. (CBS WA 6342). The original pressing has a printing error on the rear side, listing both incorrect playing speed (45 rpm) which is blacked out and the correct speed (33 ⅓ rpm) underneath it. The re-releases correct this error (see the picture below).

The B-side Jersey Girl (live) is shorter and truncated when
compared to the originally released version on the regular 7"
single, even though the running time is indicated as 6 min
15 sec (that is another misprint on this disc).

Shaped into a cut-out figure of the "jumping in the air" pose which is shot by Annie Leibovitz, it was in fact a cool collector's item that had never been seen before. The disc itself is 5 inches in diameter with his arm, leg, and guitar extending beyond the edge, which comes in a clear thick polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bag, together with an unfolded cardboard paper for a display plinth (that is exclusive to this and not available to the other two shaped picture discs). The Backstreets magazine (number 12, Winter 1985) reports it as "the coolest item released in the last few months" and that "it had limited distribution and was not imported into the US in quantity, keeping the collectible prices very high". Therefore, it was probably the most sought-after among the three picture disc releases, and one of the most popular collectibles in the mid-1980s when the album and the supporting 1984-85 world tour generated a furor around the globe.

From left to right: The original misprint pressing, the latest acquisition (showing the least discoloration among the three); and the first purchase back in October 1984 still with the price tag of 1,300 JPY on the upper left corner of the PVC bag (the receipt is also shown).

However, the praise stops here: As you already know, many circulating copies suffer from the ugly "tea-staining," the phenomenon that picture discs get discolored into brown, obviously due to some kinds of chemical reaction that

The rear side of the discs and unfolded cardboard papers
(from left to right; the same sequence as above)

occur inside the clear parts of the disc. This really unfavorable chemical event is fairly common to shaped picture discs pressed and manufactured mainly in the 1980s for various artists. Unfortunately, these Springsteen's releases represent one of the most frequently cited examples of the tea-stain development, although this does not affect playing at all. It seems that the Cove Me picture single is the most seriously affected by the phenomenon whereas the Pink Cadillac-shaped disc is the least. I own one copy each of the other two picture disc singles, and in fact, the caddy-shaped disc still maintains its intact appearance totally free of the stain while the flag-shaped one has discolored to a "tea stain" effect almost fully.

The misprinted and corrected running speed printed on the
rear side of the original and re-released copies. Inset shows
an enlarged image to visualize the hidden error (modified 
partly to reveal the misprint by enhancing transparency)

Before this purchase, I owned two copies for this particular shaped picture disc. Unexceptionally, they already developed discoloration years ago seriously and mildly. As shown above pictures, one copy has almost gone that ugly browned while the other also started showing noticeable signs of tea staining. When I first noticed the symptom, I could not simply believe it because since the purchase, these copies had been properly stored in dark under sealed conditions, avoiding high humidity and temperature fluctuations. This unpleasant situation, and a relatively cheap pricing (864 JPY including consumption tax), led me to getting the third disc on this occasion, as the on-sale copy looked still in very good condition.

The strange parts for this deterioration of clear vinyl are that (1) not all copies have this problem and as shown here, the extent of brownish discoloration significantly differs among circulating copies; and (2) when it happens, it happens gradually or rather suddenly no matter how the care is paid for. The real cause still seems to remain obscure but there are several candidates for causal factors that are (i) inherent to clear vinyl material (e.g., chemical composition), (ii) process-associated (e.g., overcook or pressed inappropriately at too hot temperatures), and (iii) storage environment or condition (light, temperatures, relative humidity, oxygen penetration, and volatile and/or adherent chemicals from a PVC bag). Although not sure, I think that tea staining could result from certain unwanted reactions between chemical components and oxygen contaminated, which would further accelerate under inadequate manufacturing conditions such as overcooking. Environmental factors could, if any, have only minor effects because the proper storage seems little effective on preventing the development of the phenomenon (as is the case of my collection shown here). So far, I have never seen any report or article on effective ways of suppressing the progression of discoloration on these shaped picture disc singles.