HUMAN TOUCH / LUCKY TOWN Japanese collectibles (not on vinyl): On the 25th anniversary of the twin album releases (concluded)

Part of my cassette collection. On the 5th from the right is 
the one I consider the most unique and rarest among these.

This is the final part on the Japanese Top 3 collectibles concerning HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN, following two blogs reporting the second- and third-ranking items posted last May. In my personal view, top on the list is an item that may be questionable to some collectors for its authenticity. That is again a seldom seen cassette tape issued by Sony Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., for promotion of the twin album a few months after the release. The tape captures a broadcasted live from the Hollywood Center Studios, Los Angeles, on June 5th, 1992, collectively known as "Dress Rehearsal" for the upcoming 1992-1993 world tour. The recorded performance is nothing rarity as it was aired over FM radio across the USA, and consequently, has been widely available in some forms including various bootleg releases. The reason why I ranked it as number one is based on the fact that the aired performance (or part of it) has never been released in any official form in any country of the world except this one, provided that it is truly a genuine Sony product.

The only known official DRESS REHEARSAL release? On the back is the lead-off article of a Japanese weekly magazine back in 1992 featuring the then-new albums and the promotion tour.
 

The cassette tape begins and ends with DJ talk and in between comprises from The Star-Spangled Banner/Born In The U.S.A. to the acoustic Hungry Heart (the best version of the song in my opinion), indicating that the source is a whole FM-radio broadcast, specifically done by radio station "95.5 KLOS" in Los Angeles which is briefly mentioned by DJ right after My Hometown. This means that unaired performances of six songs, such as the show opener Better Days and a post-broadcast performance Real World from the new albums, are not included on the tape. The sound quality is no more superior to tapes personally recorded on the air by listeners or bootleg CDs made from such recordings. Then, one may wonder if it is not an official but a fake product that is sourced from these recordings widely available. I, however, seriously consider it as a legitimate Sony product licensed for the domestic distribution. The reason is summarized mainly in the following three points:

Lucky Town album promo cassette
(not in my possession)

• As a cheap and convenient way to record music, cassette tapes had been one of the staple music media in Japan since the vinyl era. Indeed, Sony Japan had continued to use this media as a standard for promoting Springsteen's albums (at least up to DEVILS & DUST; its promotional cassette is seen on the 6th from the right in the picture on top of this page). Moreover, custom promotion-only titles have been released, such as THE "LIVE": The Legend Comes Alive, A WHOLE BUNCH OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, and 1973-1995 DIGEST (again, check the pic above). Thus, it is quite possible that the FM-sourced recording, which had (and still has) never been broadcasted in Japan, was chosen to boost the album sales because it represents a live showcase for the twin album.
• The cassette tape comes with the text-only inlay card that lists artist name, title, date, venue and track sequence in black, and generic information such as company name, logo and a "NOT FOR SALE" promo indication in cyan, on pale grey background. The cassette itself carries the generic company labels for promotional release with a "sample" or "promo" indication by the three Kanji characters, on which the artist name is printed. The overall design of the inlay card and labels on the cassette is consistent with those of the promotional cassettes for Human Touch c/w Better Days single and for the respective albums (see pictures). The same black cassette container and clear plastic cassette holder case (with “Made in Japan” mark) are used for Dress Rehearsal and Human/Lucky single release tapes, and probably so for the album promo cassettes (which I don't own; see the picture above).
• Although cheap pirate cassettes have been widely in circulation especially in Asian countries (excluding Japan), this format is generally not worth making fake or bogus for valued items, unless highly collectable targets exist to be counterfeited. I don't think that the Dress Rehearsal tape deserves such a target. Probably, the only known example is the cassette version of the soundtrack for the Israeli movie "Kvish L'Lo Motzah (Dead End Street)", that counterfeits the extremely rare 3-track 12" vinyl, as mentioned on the Lost In The Flood website. 

The same company inlay card is used for these promo cassettes. There are three errors on the Dress Rehearsal tracklist: Darkness on the Edge of "the" Town, "57Channels" (And Nothin' On) and My "Home Town". Such errors often occur with Japanese releases.

Among the three points noted above, the strongest to support my conclusion is the use of official inlay sleeve and cassette labels. One potential problem on collecting Sony promo cassettes, however, is that the inlay sleeve/label design is not consistent over the years and often subject to change (for example, see the spine designs pictured on top of this page). This could cause confusion as to the authenticity of the product although, to the best of my knowledge, no fake or counterfeit is known to exist for such rare collectibles as THE "LIVE" cassette or the others. Whether genuine or bogus, this cassette is so rare that I have never seen it on any occasion, except only once when I obtained my own copy.