Collecting log: Collectable acquisitions in 2017 (Part 3 of 3)

Here is the final part of the three consecutive posts on this year's collectable selection (Part 1 and Part 2 here). As written on the last paragraph of this post, a question arises on the item introduced here which hopefully gets answered from knowledgeable visitors. This post is also the latest addition to a featured blog series DARKNESS US pressing LP variations.


DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US white label promo LP - Terre Haute pressing (US Columbia JC 35318)

From the auction page: I hadn't noticed a indigo-blue rubber stamp on the front sleeve indicating
where this copy came from, until I received the record shipped by the U.S. seller.

Collecting log: Collectable acquisitions in 2017 (Part 2 of 3)

The usual year-ending blog post continues. Following the previous post on a rare U.S. edition of THE RIVER LP (Part 1), this penultimate post (or maybe the last, depending on my circumstances) for 2017 spotlights an interesting box vinyl collectable I obtained this year.


BORN IN THE USA : US 1989 Radio Show Program 12-LP Box plus an Interviews/Generic Promos Disc (On The Radio Broadcasting, no number)

With 13 discs and 26 sides, this box set is the largest volume of radio show discs I have ever owned. Before this, it was ROCK ON THE ROAD Part II: The American Bands that was the maximum (5 discs), featuring the still unreleased live version of Prove It All Night recorded on July 1st, 1978, Berkeley, California.

Collecting log: Collectable acquisitions in 2017 (Part 1 of 3)

To me, officially and privately, 2017 was the busiest in recent years, and although the calendar year is coming to a close, here in the Far East, the fiscal year still continues to the end of March next year. Accordingly, the number of blog posts this year (that counts 22 including this one) is the lowest since 2014 when I started writing about my collection. This situation also slowed down my activities for collecting and hunting, which, in marked contrast to the last year's report, resulted in few exciting collectables in 2017 (and that's why I refrain using the term "best" collectable for the title of this year-end post). Having said that, I pick up three vinyl titles from this year's acquisition: they are not new here, or probably not main stream collectables, but still worth mentioning as interesting items. Note that this first post is also the latest part of a featured blog series THE RIVER LP collectibles.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: PAID THE COST TO BE THE BOSS and other bootlegs from the 1976-1977 Tour (concluded)

Two copies in my possession. One is an original Hangman-labeled, marble-blue vinyl pressing while the other with blank labels looks black vinyl but in fact is coffee brownish. Both discs are pressed from the same stampers. Hand-etched matrix numbers are AB-1 (side 1, as shown) and AB-2 (side 2).

The first ever issue of the Backstreets magazine, which was distributed free of charge at an early THE RIVER tour concert in Seattle on October 1980, features a one-page article titled Born to collect Springsteen paraphernalia, focusing on a serious U.S. collector of Springsteen items. In the article, while he mentions the six hottest collectables that include four vinyl items (LAST AMERICAN HERO Japanese promo LP, Blinded By The Light US 7" stock single, DARKNESS promo picture disc, and the then-brand-new Devil With The Blue Dress Medley promo 12" release), he also compiles a list of 30 bootleg albums he owns. I assume this list covers almost all, if not all, bootleg LP titles that predate the release of THE RIVER. The only 1976-1977 tour bootleg on his list is PAID THE COST TO BE THE BOSS (1LP; Nov. 4, 1976, New York City, NY), which indicates that this is probably the earliest known bootleg LP that documents live performances in this particular period between BORN TO RUN and DARKNESS albums.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: PAID THE COST TO BE THE BOSS and other bootlegs from the 1976-1977 Tour

Speaking of the Springsteen's officially sanctioned live archive series, I am one of those who have still continued to crave for old live performances of 1970s and 1980s. So, the most significant download to me this year was a twin release of Albany and Rochester concerts in New York, taken from the long-ignored period of 1976-1977 (covering the so-called "Chicken Scratch" and "Lawsuit" tours) that is excluded from LIVE/1975-85 and other official vinyl/digital releases. What was unexpected with the two sets of dowloads is that Springsteen has finally approved to use sub-standard recordings for official releases (i.e., These shows were recorded on cassette tapes). This fact may promise that more live archives, especially of classic performances early in his career, will follow as future releases, even if such recordings hardly meet Springsteen's standards in terms of sound quality.

The 1976-1977 tour bootlegs are initially released in the late 1970s to the early 1980s as excerpted concert live (upper three copies), and then appear in full or nearly complete form as triple-LP format in the mid-to-late 1980's (lower two). THE BOSTON BREAKER (mostly 25/03/1977, Boston MA; lower left) is released during the BORN IN THE USA tour (reported in the No. 14 issue of the Backstreets magazine published summer 1985) while IT'S ONLY ROCK AND ROLL (09/10/1976, South Bend IN; lower right) is one of the very last Brucelegs made in the end of the vinyl bootleg era last century, before the rise of bootleg CD industry early in the 1990s.