Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: FOLLOW THAT DREAM 3LP (Part 2 of 4)

Silver pressed CD reproduction of the two famous Swedish
vinyl bootlegs. The three triple-CD sets are released in the
early 1990s, then followed by some CD/CD-R titles which
attempt to improve the vinyl-sourced sound quality.

As almost always happened with reputable bootleg titles, FOLLOW THAT DREAM had been pirated and re-bootlegged since its original release in late 1981 or early 1982 from North Europe, not only on vinyl but also on CD/CD-R, due to the unrecoverable loss of the master recordings. As a result, several variant copies are still in circulation in the second-hand market and frequently turn up on internet auction. The original release, though quite hard to find nowadays, is easily distinguished from most of the vinyl reproduction by comparing the differences in dead wax-matrix numbers, label color and design, and sleeve format and print quality (see a photo collage of these variants below). As described concisely in the bootleg section of Blinded By The Light (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London), the original pressing came on black vinyls with black labels. The photo used inside the gate-fold sleeve was a spectacular color shot of band-on-stage, rather than of Bruce alone (leaning on a microphone stand) which was used for most of those reboots.
 

Examples of various non-original vinyl copies of FOLLOW THAT DREAM that typically came with plain colored labels and featured the "Bruce alone" photo inside the gate-fold sleeve. The single-pocket sleeve version is also known to exist. Note that these are not from my collection.
 

Reprint of the bootleg column from
#3 issue of the fanzine reporting vinyl
Brucelegs released in 1981-1982.

In the U.S., the pirate copies were probably pressed and circulated on the market by the first half of 1982, at latest. This assumption is based on a one-page bootleg column (On vinyl: More new bootlegs than you can imagine) in the Backstreets magazine #3, shortly reporting the occurrence of the U.S. copies to the original Swedish set. This issue must have been published by summer 1982 as it does not mention anything about the then forthcoming album NEBRASKA that was eventually released that fall, which led to the above idea. The column article reports as follows: "FOLLOW THAT DREAM has recently been repressed in the U.S. and is now available all over. The repress also features a color cover though it's not great quality and looks like a copy. The sound is still good but nothing like the original."  The magazine also reports, "We've heard that TEARDROPS is an audience recording and FTD is a soundboard tape," although both are in fact audience recording.

This DARKNESS outtake album shows similarities to the U.S.
version of FOLLOW THAT DREAM with respect to the inside
design of the gate-fold sleeve and the use of plain colored
labels on the waxes. The front sleeve is shown on the lower
right corner. The second pressing came in a black & white
slick cover as shown on the upper left. I remember back
then, most of the takes that are included in this studio
bootleg were new listens to me.

The U.S. copies featured the aforementioned "Bruce alone" image for the inside of the double sleeve. Likewise, this photo was also used for the gate-fold sleeve of STILL ON THE EDGE, another U.S. 2-LP (plus a bonus 7" single) bootleg that collectively gathers outtakes and rehearsal takes from DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN sessions. As this DARKNESS studio collection is also reported in the above column of the magazine issue, the two bootlegs were probably out on the U.S. market almost simultaneously or consecutively. Indeed, according to my collecting log, I obtained "this" edition of FOLLOW THAT DREAM and STILL ON THE EDGE December 1982 and March 1983, respectively, at import record shops in Kyoto City. In addition, production-wise, these gate-fold releases are resemble each other in record label and sleeve design. From these observations, I speculate that the same U.S. bootlegger(s) might have been responsible for the production of these underground releases. I remember back then, it was not so difficult to locate both bootleg titles here in Japan. So, I also guess that the two sets were pressed in relatively large quantities as bootleg releases.
— To be continued.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: FOLLOW THAT DREAM 3LP (Part 1 of 4)

Which one is the earlier release?  Shown above are two different issues both of which carry black labels on
the waxes and feature an on-stage band shot on the inside of the full-color gate-fold sleeve (the two apparent
prerequisites for the original). The original edition of this classic bootleg title from the early 1980s was and
still is highly sought after by Bruceleg collectors.

Generally in the vinyl era, THE RIVER tour was poorly represented by bootleg releases in terms of sound quality, at least partly due to the lack of excellent live recordings. This situation was in contrast to that for live bootlegs released in the 1970s or during and after the BORN IN THE U.S.A. tour: many of the early underground releases, as exemplified by a series of DARKNESS tour bootlegs, are sourced from radio broadcasts of live performance (thus, at least they are listenable), while audience recordings from the BORN IN THE U.S.A. tour have overall improved the sound quality compared with those from THE RIVER tour.

The original has the Ludam Records label on the waxes and comes in a
hinged box. Despite being one of the worst underground releases, this
bootleg had repeatedly appeared on the market with different labels in
an unhinged box and even in the form of picture disc (as a single disc
release). One of the earliest known THE RIVER tour boots to circulate.

I can still recall several disappointing experiences of purchasing 1980-81 tour bootlegs back in the old days, which often turned out to be of terrible sound quality. To my mind, NASSAU, a pricey triple-LP box from the first (28/12/1980) of the famous three concerts in New York to conclude 1980, is easily placed on the top of the worst list. Two songs, Because The Night and Hungry Heart (with Flo and Eddie on back vocals), from this concert are among the featured 40 tracks on LIVE/1975-85 (Columbia C5X 40558). So, although it was an awful bootleg, I have kept the copy in my collection just because it shows how the released version of Because The Night is heavily edited its guitar solo on the official live album. On the other hand, oddly, the bootleg is missing Hungry Heart. Other titles I can mention (and still in my possession) include EL BOOS EN BARCELONA (serially numbered single LP), THE BOSS HITS THE BADLANDS (2LP plus a 7" disc), HUNGRY HEART (Japanese 3LP), and so on.

The Stockholm concert was also released on another 3-LP bootleg that
used the same recordings as those of FOLLOW THAT DREAM. However, it
does not feature the entire performance, missing several songs, and the
package pales so much in comparison. The illustration on the upper right
is taken from the rear side of the unspectacular single-pocket sleeve.
 

Despite the relatively low ratings given to those THE RIVER tour bootlegs, however, we have seen nothing but praises (like "superb all-round production") on a few particular vinyl releases back in the early 1980s. FOLLOW THAT DREAM is one such famous exception, as reported enthusiastically in the Backstreets magazine (#2 probably issued late 1981 or early 1982) and reviewed in various bootleg guides including the late Chris Hunt's bootleg file found in the Blinded By The Light book (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London). Although no introduction is necessary, this triple-vinyl bootleg captures the complete performance for the first of the two-night stand on May 7th and 8th in Stockholm during the European leg of the 1981 tour. Along with the equally impressive sister release TEARDROPS ON THE CITY that documents the following night's concert, this release comes with a deluxe full-color gate-fold sleeve and represents one of the must-have bootlegs in the vinyl era (although, in my opinion, it is not deniable that the sound quality of the recordings was over-rated to begin with).

From a bootleg catalog issued September 1987 by a Japanese retailer. 
For price comparison, back in 1987, the official Japanese edition of
LIVE/1975-85 (CBS/SONY 75AP 3300-4) five-LP box was sold at the set
price of 7,500-Yen. Due to the limited supply, he urges customers
not to miss this opportunity to purchase the three Swedish triple-LP
boots. Take note that the retailer believes or pretends to believe
FOLLOW THAT DREAM as soundboard-sourced. 

One notable fact with the two Swedish bootlegs is that both in the original form are still highly sought after even nowadays by Bruceleg collectors. This is primarily because, reportedly, the master recordings for the two concerts were damaged and no longer recoverable due to a fire accident that occurred somewhere in Sweden in the mid-1980s. Thus, the original releases of FOLLOW and TEARDROPS are considered the best possible recording sources for these Scandinavian concerts that are highly reputable among various tour locations. As pointed out when I wrote about TEARDROPS ON THE CITY on this blog 4 years ago, these vinyl titles were reissued around in 1987 fairly in a faithful replica of the original edition (see the scan of a part of the bootleg dealer's catalog above). On the following posts, I summarize the differences between the original (or exactly what I believe the original) and reissue pressings.
— To be continued.