Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: THERE AIN'T NOBODY HERE FROM BILLBOARD TONIGHT original black vinyl pressing (Part 3 of 3)

"The demand for a live Springsteen album would continue to build as long as Springsteen resisted providing official evidence of his take on a rock & roll revivalist meeting. Lou Cohan's double-set from Springsteen's Roxy show certainly had a lot more chops to it than the relatively tame 'wall of sound' beneath which Springsteen buried Born to Run. He had also proved a point about the potential demand for bootlegs of a 'rookie' seventies rock star like Springsteen. Ken, to his credit, had his antennae on, responding with his own version of the Roxy broadcast followed by his own testament to Springsteen at-his-peak, You Can Trust Your Car."
(Cited from BOOTLEG: The Secret History Of The Other Recording Industry, Clinton Heyin, 1996, St. Martin's Griffin, NY)

My first copy is still shrink wrapped. Early pressing of SODD releases came with
World Records labels in white background (an inverted black background 
 version is also known to exist).

As described in the citation above, and as almost all of you know, the broadcast live from the October show at the Roxy in 1975 was captured in another underground release FLAT TOP AND PIN DROP (Singer's Original Double Disk, SODD 006), put out by Ken Douglas who is, needles to say, one of the most famous early bootleggers. After shutting down the legendary Trade Mark of Quality in 1973, he set up The Amazing Kornyphone Record Label, the operation of which was supplemented with several other bootleg labels he also launched around that time and thereafter. SODD is one of such multiple bootleg labels run by his hands, and as its name indicates, he usually used this label for releasing double-LP titles, including another Springsteen's classic (SODD 001: briefly mentioned here) mentioned in the above quote and Rolling Stones' NASTY MUSIC (SODD 012), one of the most widely known bootlegs in the late 1970s.

A long-lasting misinformation with regard to FLAT TOP AND PIN DROP in literature and online databases is that this bootleg is a copy of THERE AIN'T NOBODY HERE FROM BILLBOARD TONIGHT. As far as I know, all the guide books of Springsteen's bootleg (some of which are shown here) give the same erroneous note for this SODD release. Almost obviously, such an error has originated from an early description as found in the bootleg section of the Blinded By The Light book (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London), or maybe from Hot Wacks (any issues of which I have never owned or read; so I don't know whether this reference book reports so or not). Although there are several key facts indicating that these two bootlegs are indeed independent pressings, I just explain two such examples. 

The scanned image shows part of bootleg retailer's catalog I
received in April 1992. For old bootleg titles, it was still a strong
seller’s market at that time. As seen, a used copy of FLAT TOP
AND PIN DROP was sold, along with the excellent Swedish
2 x 12” EP bootleg The Boss Hits The Sixties, for 19,800 Yen
which are roughly equivalent to US $150 according to the 
exchange rate as of that time. Back then, I wondered about 
who would buy it at such an extraordinary high price.

One is the difference in sound quality which is noticeably better to my ear on FLAT TOP ... with more high-end presence and dynamics. Another is the fact that Pretty Flamingo, the final track on Side 1 of both releases, is incomplete (cut off before the performance ends) on THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... whereas FLAT TOP ... contains the full performance of this cover song. I think these two points alone provide substantial evidence to support that FLAT TOP ... is NOT a copy product of the previously available bootleg. Then, why has this misinformation been widespread without correction? THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... is one of the oldest Brucelegs, and it includes MC's introduction to the concert at the beginning of Side 1. On the other hand, FLAT TOP ... is the second release of this broadcast live but does not contain such an opening talk on the record, starting off the show opener Thunder Road immediately. Copying or bootlegging a bootleg often results in missing a track partially or entirely (or this happens on more than one track). These might have caused prejudice that THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... is an easy target for other bootleggers to make instant copies of a potentially good-sale product in collectors' market.

Has JASRAC collected royalties by the use of
sound recording of this bootleg?

Finally, my second copy of THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... came with a small logo sticker of JASRAC, the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, that was pasted on shrink wrap of the upper left corner of the front sleeve. JASRAC is the largest artist copyright lobby in Japan, similar to American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The society administers copyrights of not only domestic music works, but also foreign ones. So, having this sticker means that JASRAC, without recognition that it was a bootleg, has issued licenses to play this recording for commercial purpose in Japan (and collected royalties, if available), on behalf of publishers and copyright owners. But in this case, for whom?  Certainly not for Springsteen or Columbia Records. Based on the sticker design, this copy was imported from the U.S. in the mid-to-late 1970's and after approval by JASRAC, it was sold "legitimately" here even though it was an illegal product. We see here occasionally this sticker on sleeves of contemporary vinyl bootlegs by other artists. It was, and probably still is, a customary practice for import vinyl/CD dealers to apply for license to their imported goods, often including bootlegs and grey-zone products, to JASRAC for legal sale here in the domestic market in Japan.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: THERE AIN'T NOBODY HERE FROM BILLBOARD TONIGHT original black vinyl pressing (Part 2 of 3)

Two copies in my possession alongside the Roxy '75 concert poster
(not real stuff, image taken from Brucebase). Also shown bottom 
are three early CD bootleg releases of the live broadcast. I don't 
own the Crystal Cat version because I have stopped collecting
bootleg CDs since free online distribution was available for 
 downloading electronic sound files in the late 1990s.

The year 1975 is not only remembered for Springsteen's national breakthrough hit with BORN TO RUN, but also saw the first appearance of his vinyl bootleg titles on collectors' market. Following a single live compilation album named THE JERSEY DEVIL (Hoffman Avenue Records, HAR 147), THERE AIN'T NOBODY HERE FROM BILLBOARD TONIGHT (HAR 160), a 2-LP set of the Roxy '75 broadcast from the same label, is generally said to be the second ever release of Springsteen's bootleg, although another double disc volume of the legendary Bottom Line concert (LIVE on Coral Records or LIVE AT THE BOTTOM LINE  8/15/75) is often mentioned as an alternative possibility. Irrespective of whether it came out secondarily or later, one thing clear is that THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... represents the first ever full-concert live bootleg of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band*. In my opinion, for this fact alone, it deserves to be called a classic Bruceleg.
*To be exact, the very last part of Pretty Flamingo is cut. On the other hand, neither of the Bottom Line bootlegs is complete in their recording, missing one song totally or editing a few tracks heavily (detailed here).

As the second Hoffman Avenue Records title, a noticeable upgrade from the first title THE JERSEY DEVIL is that all four sides of the double disc have the custom-designed record labels that look more skilled compared to the simple text-only, one-sided label of the previous release ("I always tried to put labels on the records," said Mr. Lou Cohan in his interview with the popular music writer Clinton Heylin in BOOTLEG: The Secret History Of The Other Recording Industry, 1996, St. Martin's Griffin, NY). The fold slick cover does not feature an amateurish cartoon drawing found on THE JERSEY DEVIL, but is lifted from the actual concert poster, which was a nice and appropriate idea in making a slick cover of a given live bootleg. The latest acquisition as mentioned on the previous blog post provided me with the second copy in my collection, and so as shown above, the Roxy poster shows up easily without removing shrink wrap from the sleeve of each copy.

Custom record labels of the first (HAR 147; left) and second (HAR 160; right) releases from Hoffman Avenue Records.

Like many old vinyl bootleg records, this classic title had been reissued several times since its original release on November 1975 (according to Mr. Cohan). As detailed on the Killing Floor databse, these variations include versions that differ in vinyls (black or mono-/multi-colored), slick inserts (paper color and text description), labels (Hoffman Avenue Records, Impossible Records, Idle Mind Productions, Dragonfly Records and probably more), and package (single sleeve or box as a compilation release called BOX O' ROCKS together with the two other Hoffman Avenue Records titles). So, originally released on Hoffman Avenue Records, what form is the very first pressing with respect to vinyl and slick insert color?

An early flyer of Hoffman Avenue Records says, as of January 31, 1976, only four bootleg titles were available at their hands that included the first two Springsteen bootlegs. The description on THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... is as follows:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Bruce Springsteen "The Roxy"- a double LP taped off the FM. Contains the entire show of one hour and 50 minutes!  Thunder Road/10th Ave. Freeze-Out/Spirit in the Night/Pretty Flamingo/She's the One/Born to Run/Sandy/Backstreets/Kitty's Back/Jungleland/Rosalita/Goin' Back/Detroit Medley.  Great covers and labels. $7.50 plus 50¢ postage. (According to Inflation Calculator on the DollarTimes website, $7.50 in 1976 had the same buying power as $33.31 in 2018)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The three other titles are: #1, THE JERSEY DEVIL (Springsteen); #3, S.N.A.C.K. (Bob Dylan, Neil Young and the Band); and #4, Basics in G Minor 4-track EP (Dylan).

THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... or THE ROXY: Which is the main title the bootlegger intended originally?
 

Note that the album title is called THE ROXY probably because it is typed boldly and stands out more on the slick sleeve. This was also probably because it explained the content more straightforwardly than the actual title (Springsteen's comment THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... is heard just before launching Spirit In The Night, the 3rd track on Side 1) that ironically referred to the concert the previous night (Oct. 16th, 1975) attended by media and industry guests who were invited by Columbia Records (Note that Springsteen was not informed of this). Vinyl color is not mentioned anywhere but the flyer adds emphasis to the labels as saying "WE CAN ONLY GUARANTEE LABELS ON THE FIRST 1000 ALBUMS WE SELL". I think this suggests that the vinyl color was black. If colored vinyl, this point must have been mentioned on the flyer because such a special treat would be a strong sales point and thus appeal to collectors.

Yet another flyer, which was issued later than the one mentioned above, lists more bootlegs such as their third Springsteen title HOT COALS FROM THE FIERY FURNACE (HAR 164; briefly mentioned previously here and there) and introduces again THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... as shown below:

Part of the Hoffman Avenue Records flyer included in my copy of their 3rd (and last original) release HOT COALS FROM THE  FIERY FURNACE. Note that the album title is still called THE ROXY and the catalog number (HAR 162) is erroneously typed.
The bootlegger seems to be proud of the poster sleeve. Although not shown, the flyer also says "THE COST OF ALL LPS IS $4 per DISC (DOUBLE LPs = 2 DISCS) PLUS 50¢ POSTAGE AND HANDLING FOR EVERY 2 LPs YOU ORDER (MINIMUM 50¢)", meaning a slight increase in the retail price.
 

Here the vinyl color is stressed as RED. Mr. Cohan told Heylin that he always tried to use colored vinyl when it was available at the pressing plant (referenced from the aforementioned BOOTLEG book). So, I think when the first two Springsteen bootlegs were pressed for the first time in 1975, colored vinyls were not available at the plant(s) he used (and that's why the early flyer does not tell anything about vinyl color). However, such vinyl variations were probably available when Mr. Cohan was ready for pressing the third Hoffman

Have you ever seen black vinyl copies for the first (orange slick
insert) and second (yellow one) pressings of the third Hoffman
Avenue Records release with the custom picture labels? A light
blue sheet is the flyer accompanied with the second pressing.

Avenue Records title in February 1976 (and I guess he has used them instead of black vinyl). To support this, I have never seen black vinyl copies of the early pressings for HOT COALS FROM THE FIERY FURNACE (with the custom picture labels; shown here). If this is true, colored vinyl versions of THE JERSEY DEVIL and THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... were probably pressed (as repressing) around the time when the initial, colored edition of HOT COALS ... was pressed. As far as I've seen, black vinyl copies of THERE AIN'T NOBODY ... is always coupled with the white slick insert. So, I am almost certain that the Roxy '75 bootleg was originally black vinyls and came out with the white slick insert.
— To be continued.