Collecting log: THE RIVER-era promotion-only various artists' compilation albums released in Japan and The Killer Tracks From The River

Various promotion-only vinyl compilation albums
released in Japan and other countries

On one Saturday a few weeks ago, I drove down for 20 min to the used record shop I mentioned here and there on this blog, to see if the shop's got something rare in stock. Unfortunately, there were nothing special for Springsteen collectibles that caught my eyes. So, before leaving the shop, I checked promotional LP compilations of various artists that might contain his track(s), even though the category is not my prime target as told previously. Then I found (and bought) a mediocre-looking LP titled ALL AMERICAN TOP 100 VOLUME 33 - 1981 MARCH (CBS/SONY XAAP 90021). This is one of the almost monthly-release series of promotion-only compilation samplers CBS/Sony had continued to release in the vinyl era. Picking up ten or more songs from the label's artists and groups based on their chart action on Billboard Hot 100, this single-LP compilation series occasionally contained one single-cut track from Springsteen's albums, as far as it stayed within the top 100 single chart. For example, before the 1981 March issue, Prove It All Night was included in both 1978 July (YAPC 96) and August (YAPC 98) issues; Badlands in the 1978 October (YAPC 100) issue; and Hungry Heart in 1980 September (XAAP 90017) through 1981 February (XAAP 90020) issues.

White record labels were replaced by red ones around in 1981 for promotion-only releases from CBS/Sony.
 

Closing up description on Fade Away (upper) and Hungry Heart
(lower) on the rear sleeve. The former part introduces the song
based on the lyrics while the latter mostly explains about the
 1981 tour itinerary because this TOP 5 hit single was already
featured on several past issues of this sampler series
(see the main text).

This particular release is a little bit exceptional in this respect and features not one but two tracks from THE RIVER, Fade Away on Side A and Hungry Heart on Side B, back then positioned 22nd and 85th, respectively, on the Billboard chart (as of March 7, 1981) as indicated on the rear sleeve. Note that Fade Away is cut for the 2nd U.S. single off THE RIVER but not here in Japan where oddly I Wanna Marry You is chosen instead. This Japan-exclusive 2nd single is included on the 1981 May issue (VOL. 34; XAAP 90022), despite that it has never been released as a single in the U.S. Thus, this sampler pressing is somewhat unique in that (1) it features two single cuts from Springsteen although including one track is common to this sampler series, and that (2) it contains the track that has not been released as a 7" single in Japan (and these two are the reasons why I purchased the copy).

CBS/Sony has released yet another compilation LP probably in early 1981 that includes multiple tracks from THE RIVER. The album entitled CBS/SONY POPULAR BEST 9 (CBS/SONY XDAP 93031-2) is a promotion-only double LP containing a total of 23 tracks (13 and 10 tracks on Records 1 and 2, respectively), most of which are culled from nine best-seller albums of CBS/Sony that have been released in 1980. The other eight albums are GUILTY (Barbra Streisand), XANADU (Electric Light Orchestra and Olivia Newton-John), RAY KENNEDY (self-titled), GLASS HOUSE (Billy Joel), THESE DAYS (Crystal Gayle), MIDDLE MAN (Boz Scaggs), FACES (Earth, Wind & Fire), and AFTER MIDNIGHT (Manhattans). From THE RIVER LP, Hungry Heart, Sherry Darling, and I Wanna Marry You appear as the first three tracks on the B side of Record 1 (XDAP 93031). This represents a rather rare case where a compilation album contains three Springsteen's tracks (usually two, at most, as exemplified above).

Note that catalog number for single release is given to the first cut Hungry Heart (07SP 511), but not yet assigned to the second cut I Wanna Marry You (to be 07SP 525).

Another point that makes this double LP distinguished from other promo compilations is its deluxe gate-fold sleeve in full color print (outer sleeve only), which is just gorgeous. The custom fancy artwork on the outer gate-fold sleeve is credited to three professional Japanese (as art director, designer, and photographer) on the bottom left corner of the rear sleeve, indicating that artwork production was outsourced. Such manufacturing option exercise is rather rare for promo compilation releases. From these observations and the volume of content, it is obvious that this double LP was produced for major promoting efforts to boost the sales of the then latest albums by big artists under the record label. By the way, do you know what title preceded immediately this double-disc vinyl in the CBS/Sony's promotion-only release category? According to the preceding catalog number (XDAP 93030), that is what is regarded as one of the few MEGA rarest Japanese vinyl collectibles for promoting Springsteen.
— To be continued 👉