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.