 |
| 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.
 |
Comparison of the rear sleeve credits between "E" TICKET and PAID THE COST ...
|
 |
NEW YORK PALLADIUM 1976 is a copy of PAID THE COST ... with a
bonus live 7" single We Gotta Get Out Of This Place /Action In The
Streets (purchased on October 1984 at an import record store,
together with LIVE IN PHILADELPHIA vol. II). While my copy is black
vinyl, colored vinyl versions were also released. Featured on
the front
sleeve is a photograph titled Early morning, West Hartlepool, 1963,
taken by a British photo-journalist Don McCullin. This photo always
reminds me of Miami Steve just because to me he looks like the man
walking with his back to the camera. |
|
Compared to other contemporary Bruceleg titles (for which black vinyl/slick-insert covers were standard),
PAID THE COST ... is a very attractive looking release in its original form: a full printed, black & white live-footage sleeve and a marble-colored disc with custom-designed
Hanging Man labels. Such edition is much rarer than blank-labeled, single-colored discs of plain red, blue, white, or pink that have been generally seen in collectors' market. The rear sleeve reproduces the catalog number
ESB 75-002 and German production credits from
"E" TICKET. This does not necessarily mean that the same bootlegger(s) are responsible for the two well-made bootleg records because when the label design and matrix numbers are examined, there are no obvious similarities between the two releases (see
here for the labels and matrix etching on
"E" TICKET discs). Rather, it seems that colleague bootlegger(s) jumped on the
bandwagon of the best-selling bootleg by mimicking the presentation of credit description. Content-wise, this single LP includes the then three unreleased and cover songs (Rendezvous, Something In The Night and It's My Life) that represent this era's live performance. There is a major drawback on Side 2 with Rosalita in which the last half of the first verse and entire second verse are edited out, most probably due to track-length limitation.
 |
The vinyl is also available in different color
including marbled one (not in my possession) |
 |
Is this hangman drawing an original by the bootlegger(s) or copied
from somewhere? |
There are scarce information on and related to the bootleg label
Hanging Man or
Hangman. As I wrote
here previously, all I can think of the other bootleg releases with this label are
THE GREAT WHITE BOSS (original 3-LP box version) and the
Fever/
Higher & Higher (live) 7" single. Although I am not certain, this bootleg label had probably worked specifically on Springsteen material since I have never seen any other label's examples except for the two LP and one single Brucelegs mentioned here. The live 7" single is picked up in the
No. 5 issue of the
Backstreets magazine. The "
On vinyl" column article entitled
Complete bootleg singles discography briefly reviews 18 singles back then available and describes this 7" as:
"One of a series that appeared in 1979. Pretty good sound and a decent picture sleeve" (Note that the article does not mention anything about the
Hangman label). Because this label seems to have been short lived, I guess the three
Hangman-labeled Brucelegs may have been releasesd all together around in 1979. By the way, this final show of the 6-night stand at the Palladium,
NYC, is famous for the guest appearance of
Ronnie Spector performing three
Ronettes-era hits during encore. The nearly complete show (missing two songs) was released in the late 1980's as the triple-vinyl bootleg called
LAST NIGHT IN NEW YORK.
Other singles from the era have the famous Hangman labels, Santa Claus b/w Night Train and Heartbreak Hotel, and Fire b/w Paradise by the C. The latter I have as a Hangman label with a large center hole. All the other Hangman labels have small spindle holes. But I agree that the only Hangman label LPs I've seen are Paid the Cost and the Great White Boss box
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Hobbes, as I own only a few 7" bootlegs such as The River That talk and Outside 7-11 Store, your info is complete new to me (I thought the 7" boots you mentioned are all white-labeled). BTW, I guess Hangman is an East Coast-based bootleg label (no evidence, though). Any info/thought on that?
ReplyDeletePaid the Cost was also repressed on Blockhead Records as The Jersey Devil Palladium 76 (black and grey marbled vinyl are in my collection). Same matrix, same plates. Interestingly, the Great White Boss box was also repressed on Blockhead Records on black vinyl and so was Piece de Resistance (with a cheap xeroxed insert and a beige colored box).
ReplyDeleteFinally, I have The Fever b/w Higher and Higher with Hangman labels pressed on red vinyl and light blue marbled vinyl. Fire b/w Paradise with Hangman labels is on blue marbled vinyl, and Santa Claus with Hangman labels is on white and pink marbled vinyl. Similar marbled vinyl was also used for some copies of Philadelphia Special (8/18/78, Spectrum).
ReplyDeleteHangman may well have been east coast based, but I really do not know. I thought it may have been a VV offshoot. But no info seems to be public on these Hangman releases. Production not consistent with a Lou C reboot after his bust.
ReplyDeleteBlockhead Records also seems to be East Coast-based although what is printed on the labels is usually not believable ("New Port, PA"). Yes, Blockhead Records also re-released The Great White Boss 3LP box with the same matrix numbers, but the hand-etchings on the dead wax differ from those of the original Hangman edition, indicating that the Blockhead version is a pirate copy rather than a reissue.
ReplyDelete