Collecting log: BORN IN THE U.S.A. LP ー Matrix numbers of the earliest U.S. pressing and an error copy with off-centered labels (Part 1 of 5)

On the front sleeve of the U.S. releases, original and early vinyl pressings
came with a blue and white sticker whereas a black and white one was
used for later and repressed copies.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the release of BORN IN THE U.S.A. (blog posts related to this album are summarized here). Just like in the U.S., before the internet era, radio airplay here was the primary source of listening to newly released songs, although the number of radio stations in Japan was (and still is) way smaller than that of the U.S. I believe it was a Friday night of May 1984 when Dancing In The Dark, the advanced single off the album, was for the first time aired in Japan (and I listened to it) on the NHK-FM radio program called Sound Street (PM 10:00-10:45), which was hosted by Yoichi Shibuya, one of the most influential critics in popular/rock music in Japan (previously mentioned here; he is one of those who contribute essays to the rare promotional booklet for the Japanese edition of DARKNESS LP).
 
Back then, probably I was not the only die-hard fan who had the initial impression of something strange and equivocal on the new single, right after the first listening to that light rock sound which is enforced by the synthesizer as French horn. I well remember, however, that my concern was blown away at the start of the same radio program some weeks later, when the new album was allowed to be aired on radio and I heard Max's drum explosion of the first song and also title track to the album. If my memory is correct, the 45-min program was devoted in its entirety to the then eagerly anticipated new album, during which seven or eight songs were played following the album sequence, with lyric translation read by DJ Shibuya as introduction to each track. The songs not aired in the program include Darlington County, Working On The Highway, and probably Glory Days (not sure though), possibly because these were not appealing to the host DJ lyrically, musically or both, in addition to the time limitation of the program.

I still keep my first copy with the price tag (upper left). In
addition to the blue/white front sticker (right), the deadwax
MASTERDISK stamp and mastering engineer's hand-inscription
"RL" (lower left) serve to identify the early pressing.

Although the LP album (US Columbia QC 38653) was issued in the U.S. on the fourth of June, 1984, the domestic release (CBS/SONY 28AP2850) in Japan was scheduled more than two weeks behind the U.S. date (June 21st). So, I decided to buy a U.S. vinyl edition as soon as it was available. The brand-new copies were in stock early that month at the usual record store in Kyoto where I used to pick up both official and unofficial discs imported from the U.S. and Europe. They were sold at 2,000 Yen (equivalent to US $8.58 according to the exchange rate as of June 1984), which was found to be much cheaper than the delayed Japanese pressing with the fixed retail price of 2,800 Yen.
 
Sending seven singles into Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1984 and 1985, BORN IN THE U.S.A. is one of the highest-selling album ever. By 2012, this album has reportedly sold more than 30 million copies. Although the estimation include not only vinyl discs but also cassettes, CDs and other digital media, the pressing number is obviously immense for vinyl format alone. So, I was just curious about the earliest known matrix numbers for the U.S. edition of this mega-hit LP. The early pressings can be characterized at least by the following three points: (1) a blue & white hype sticker, but not a black & white one, is glued on the shrink wrap on the front side of the LP sleeve; (2) the word MASTERDISK is machine-stamped on the trail-off area of both sides of the vinyl record; and (3) two hand-etched letters, RL, which represent the initials of Mastering Engineer Robert "Bob" Ludwig, are also found on the dead wax region (at least one side, usually on the right-hand side of the MASTERDISK stamp).

The currently known earliest matrix numbers for the original U.S. pressing of Springsteen's best-selling LP album
(left, Side One; right, Side Two)

Before this album was released, two major pressing plants of Columbia Records located in Santa Maria (CA: 1963-1981) and Terre Haute (IN: 1953-1982) had already ceased the operation. So, any U.S. vinyl copy for this album must have been manufactured at a plant either in Pitman (NJ: 1960-1986) or Carrollton (GA: 1981-1991). Currently, I own only six copies that meet the above criteria, and based on the matrix numbers, the earliest pressing has the suffix codes -3A/-2A and originates from Carrollton, as indicated by the pressing plant-specific codes G1 and G2.

All the seven TOP 10 singles
are listed on the B&W sticker.

     Side One:  G1   PAL-38653-3A    MASTERDISK  RL     
     Side Two:  G2   PBL-38653-2A    MASTERDISK  RL
              (hand-etched, oblique; stamped, straight)

The suffix codes in the matrix numbers for the other five copies exhibit variations such as -3A/-2M, -3L/-2B, -3AE/-2AM, -3AG/-2AK and -G1A/-2BB (for Side One/Side Two; note that no RL inscription is found on -2M, -3L and -G1A deadwax). On the other hand, a later pressing in my possession with a black & white sticker bears a bit more complex matrix numbers on the dead wax, as shown below. The letter "P" hand-etched on both sides and faintly stamped on Side Two identifies this as pressed at the Pitman factory, although I have no idea as to what the remaining codes mean, except the catalog-number associated PAL/PBL-38653.

     Side One:   P   <JXMP>        PAL 38653   G3V
     Side Two:   (H-MP)    P   p   PBL-38653   G2AD

A search on the Discogs database supports that the currently recognized, earliest matrix numbers are PAL-38653-3A and PBL-38653-2A for Side One and Side Two, respectively. However, taking into account the massive pressing number, continued exploration is needed on circulating copies. By the way, when collecting various pressings of a single same title, collectors often encounter unusual or bizarre copies such as misprints. The next post shows an example for this particular LP.
— To be continued.