Collecting log: AS REQUESTED AROUND THE WORLD U.S. promotion-only compilation album with great cover artwork (Part 1 of 4)

The outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has severely affected our lives and life, bringing this world to unforeseen stagnation. Frustratingly, the current epidemic situation in Japan shows no sign of improvement in controlling the virus, which seriously restricts our daily life. I believe many Japanese would agree that this is not only attributed to the disastrous delay in the Government's action against COVID-19 in favor of the now-postponed Tokyo Olympic/Paralympic Games and inbound tourism-supported domestic economy, but also due to the indisputable incompetence of our Prime Minister, as we often see in hereditary politicians.

During these stay-home days, I attempted to reorganize my vinyl collection and
found a total of four copies of my favorite record with the great sleeve (I had
thought that I had three). One copy came with a plain inner bag on which a
backstage pass was pasted for a French concert (Montpellier, April 24, 1981) 

During the past months, my most serious concern directly associated with COVID-19 had been my daughter, who stayed and studied in continental Europe for more than half a year via an exchange student program. Sadly against her will, (the Japanese side of) the university authorities forced her to cease her study abroad, with her ambition still unfulfilled, and urged her to fly back home right in the middle of global confusion and threat caused by COVID-19!  Because of this, I had had no motivation to write blog posts at all since the last one, at least until recently when I saw her safe return and the termination of the subsequent two-week quarantine period that was imposed on returnees from outside of the country.

Love at first sight with the album
cover art nearly four decades ago.
The scanned image is part of an
article from an early 1982 issue
of a major FM magazine published
in Japan. Note that it was rare
that a general magazine featured 
a non-commercial, promotion-only
release of a particular artist.

Then getting back to the blog. Let me resume it with one of my all-time favorite official records, though not being as super rare or ultra collectible as those picked up in the recent posts (01/30/2020 and 02/12/2020). AS REQUESTED AROUND THE WORLD (Columbia AS 978) is a U.S. promotional compilation LP that is out in September 1981 as a commemorative release for completion of THE RIVER '80/'81 tour. While this promo record serves as a sampler from the fifth album, it is also Springsteen's second-ever "Greatest Hits"-type LP, following an extremely rare Japanese LAST AMERICAN HERO FROM ASBURY PARK, N.J. (CBS/Sony YAPC 95) released in 1978 (09/19/2015 and 01/28/2017). Over and above that, what has made it a steady collectible is its breathtaking live shot on the front artwork, previously used on the "A Night For The Vietnam Veteran" concert poster. Simply, the best official album cover, in my opinion (and I guess many would agree).

It was back in early 1982 when I got to know the existence of this promo LP. Back then, FM radio played a much more important role than now as a free music source (especially to poor young students), although there were only a few domestic stations in Japan, such as FM-NHK (nationwide) and FM-Tokyo/Osaka (local). So, I used to read major FM-radio magazines that were published here bi-weekly, checking out airplay lists available for my favorite radio programs. These magazine issues also featured regular reviews on new releases on record/tapes and music events like concerts and special articles on various topics related to music, musicians, audio equipments, and so on. A February (?) 1982 issue from such a magazine called "Shukan FM" ("Weekly FM" in English) contained a unique article where 10 critical predictions were made on the rock music scene that year.

As shown on the left, it was Springsteen that was covered on the top of these predictions, with the headline: Will Bruce Springsteen, the last big name, come to Japan in '82?  This was not a groundless idea since according to Dave Marsh's Born To Run (Dell Publishing, 1981), Japan was considered as a tour location for THE RIVER ("The tour that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began in the fall of 1980 took them across America more than once, east to west and, in midwinter, north to south. Later, it would take them to Europe and Japan and Australia, and back home to New Jersey."). Based on the interviews with two key industry persons at CBS/SONY Records and Udo Artists Inc. (the then and still leading company for tour organization/promotion in Japan), the article reasonably came to a negative conclusion on the possibility (and the prediction, of course, turned out to be wrong). Interestingly, Mr. Ryo Okada of CBS/SONY (who was back then in the charge of Springsteen and mentioned thrice in this blog: 09/19/2015, 03/05/2016 and 09/19/2017) confidently predicted that the next release (following THE RIVER ) would be a double or triple live album because, according to him, Springsteen recorded every concert of the 1980/1981 tour (note: he might mean "every concert he attended", though not clear from his interview). 

I found my first copy that was displayed on the wall, together with
other promo records such as the Fade Away 3-track 12" vinyl, of a
local second-hand store in the East Coast of the U.S. The copy was
bought for $35 as hand-written on the price tag sticker that is still
attached on the clear outer bag.

And as you see right under the headline in the above image, the magazine article featured a small picture of the official record sleeve I had never seen before. This was how I got to know of this promo LP. Mr. Okada must have provided the magazine publisher with the album information since it was a non-commercial foreign release. I remember I was so impressed by the cover art that I was desperate in knowing more and getting deeper into the details of the release. Unfortunately, no fundamental information, such as the issuing country and catalog number, was provided on the short description beneath the album cover that only wrote something like "Promotion-only album where Bruce's talent is fully appreciated, including hit songs like Born To Run, Badlands, The River, and Hungry Heart." So, hoping to receive the information from CBS/SONY Records, together with a self-addressed stamped return postcard, I sent letters of inquiry to the headquarters office in Tokyo only to get no replies (it was a pre-internet era). Maybe the office staff were embarrassed by sudden inquiries from a local boy since the CBS/SONY label had nothing to do with the promo record issued from the U.S. Columbia label. Anyway, it was some years later that I got my first copy, not here but abroad, as shortly described for the picture right above.
— To be continued to Part 2.