DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: trivial thoughts on the hype stickers (Part 2 of 2)

Two DARKNESS sticker variations with the U.S. release.
The purple version is rarer than the red one.

As one of the six focused series ("DARKNESS US pressing LP variations"), I've been blogging on collecting the U.S. pressings of DARKNESS LP (Columbia JC 35318), particularly focusing on the early vinyl copies*. When this album was pressed in Spring 1978, unusual pressing plants of non-Columbia Records participated in the manufacturing process due to the temporary shutdown of one of the three Columbia's plants (i.e., its Pitman, New Jersey plant; see 03/18/2017). So, my motivation for the collecting effort has been to get in-depth knowledge on how many variations exist for the early release concerning vinyl-pressing plants. As already explained in detail in the past blog posts on this series, such variations can be distinguished by examining dead-wax matrix numbers and other markings, stamper ring, and label design, including typesetting, of a given vinyl disc, which often exhibits pressing plant-specific signatures.
*One of the essential features of the early copies is to have either TML-M or TML-S stamped on each side's trail-off dead wax.

Shown above are promotional copies of the U.S. DARKNESS LP from my collection, all of which came in the "large tracklist" sleeve. On the other hand, I have never seen a promo version of the "small tracklist" sleeve release (Has anyone got it?). From this fact and observation, I came to the idea that the former sleeve variant preceded the latter early in the album release in 1978.

Generally, uniquely designed hype stickers on shrink wrap are also associated with early or original pressings (although such labels usually have no specific relationship to particular pressing plants). As I wrote in the last post (08/24/2020), however, the U.S. DARKNESS LP seems to be unusual in this respect. My points are summarized as follows:

• The DARKNESS sticker is almost exclusively available on one variant of the album sleeve with the "small tracklist" on the rear side (either with or without barcodes). However, as far as I've seen, this variant was NOT used for the very first pressing of the album release and delayed slightly than another sleeve variant featuring the "large tracklist" (w/o barcodes). In contrast, the "large tracklist" sleeve is much more common to the white-label promo release as well as early copies pressed at several pressing plants owned by other than Columbia Records, such as MCA, NAMI, and Keel (11/19/2018).
• The sticker only mentions Badlands, the second single, among the featured 10-album tracks, and disregards the first single Prove It All Night.

From the above points, I had long thought that the early copies from the album mostly had not been stickered, I guess, possibly because Springsteen didn't want to do so (due to enough hype surrounding BORN TO RUN). However, my long assumption was backward when I obtained the 8th copy with the red sticker. 

Until I obtained this copy (8th with the sticker in my possession), I had never seen, known, or heard of either a "large tracklist" sleeve or a white-label promotional edition labeled with the hype sticker. This one is a Terre Haute pressing with the matrix number suffixes -1D/-2E.

To my surprise, the 8th stickered copy was a white-label promotional release with a typical Columbia's time strip that is glued on the front side of the "large tracklist" sleeve. Although this copy is the only example I've ever seen, the presence itself instantly denies my thoughts on the sticker, provided that it is really one of the advanced circulation copy. That being said, I think there still is the possibility that this particular one was manufactured as a usual promo but once stocked, and later distributed after labeled with the sticker when it became available.

Though much less known, the purple-colored hype sticker version had also been released. As expected, my copy is housed in the "small tracklist" sleeve. Pressed at Columbia Records' Santa Maria plant (matrix number suffixes: -1B/-2C).

Finally, although much less common, there is yet another sticker with purple letter printing. I've seen most of the sticker is printed in red and the purple version is minor in number. I don't know why the latter is rarer, but at least to my eyes, the red sticker stands out more than the purple prints. So, I just guessed the purple sticker could be a short-lived version, or result from a printing error. No evidence for either, though. The table below shows the updated list of stickered copies in my collection (Nos. 1 to 7, see 08/24/2020; Nos. 8 and 9, this post).

— Back to Part1.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: trivial thoughts on the hype stickers (Part 1 of 2)

Hype stickers, generally affixed to the front side of an album sleeve, are used by record companies to highlight specific tracks on an LP, such as single-cut releases, or to get attention to other attributes like multi-disc numbers and featured guests on the recording sessions. I don't exactly know from which Springsteen's LP a hype sticker is featured on the very first or original U.S. pressing (I'm talking about those specific to an album but not generic ones such as "The Nice Price" stickers). The likely album one would mention is probably DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (Columbia JC 35318), which, if still sealed or shrink-wrapped, occasionally accompanies the rectangle round-cornered sticker that simply says    INCLUDES  "BADLANDS"  35318    in red on the white background.

The album's first single cut is Prove It All Night, but a bit strangely, the front sticker mentions the second single release only.

There are a few trivial but arguable points I have long noticed regarding the U.S. DARKNESS sticker. As far as I've seen, the first point is that such a label is quite frequently associated with one of the two album sleeve variants that prints tracklisting in a small font and production credits in white letters on the rear side ("small tracklist" sleeve). As I wrote before (11/17/2018), there is yet another sleeve variant featuring the large tracklist and black-letter credits ("large tracklist" sleeve), which appeared on the market, most probably, a bit earlier than the "small tracklist" sleeve. When the barcodes were introduced on the back cover in 1979 or 1980, they exclusively occurred on the "small tracklist" sleeve* that had continuously been used for repressing the album in the 1980s. I had seven red-stickered copies, all of which came in the "small tracklist" sleeve as pictured on this post (also refer to the table below).
*Besides the presence/absence of barcodes, the "small tracklist" sleeve release had further variations based on the inner sleeve type: one being identical to that included in the "large tracklist" sleeve issue whereas the other made of thinner paper with inferior printing quality. Both serve as hallmarks for the late pressings.

All the seven rear sleeves (= "small tracklist" sleeves) of the above-shown copies display track names smaller than those on another sleeve variant without the sticker (= "large tracklist" sleeve; shown on the bottom). The album credits on the bottom-left corner are colored differently (white versus black). Barcodes are printed only on one copy in my "small tracklist" sleeve collection (far-right).

From these observations, I assumed that most, if not all, of the very first or original pressings** of the U.S. LP were released without the hype sticker. If this were indeed the case, that would be reasonable to explain why the sticker lists the second single [Badlands (Columbia 3-10801), released on August 14, 1978] rather than the lead-off cutting [Prove It All Night (Columbia 3-10763), issued on June 9] from the album (out on June 2), which is another trivial question. 
**Check the relevant table legend on the previous post (11/19/2018) for my definition of the very first or original pressings of the U.S. DARKNESS LP.

Assuming that the above speculation is not off the mark, why might the early pressings (= "large tracklist" sleeve releases) have been devoid of the sticker?  I don't know, but according to Dave Marsh's authorized biography Born To Run (Dell Publishing, 1981), Springsteen initially didn't want any advertisement for the album because he was notoriously disgusted with the hype surrounding BORN TO RUN. So, I thought that this particular experience he had when he released the previous album (to DARKNESS) might be, at least partly, related to or cause the absence of the sticker on the "large tracklist" sleeve.

These were what I thought about the DARKNESS album and stickers until I obtained the 8th red-stickered copy in my possession that showed something different from the other seven copies.
— To be continued to Part 2.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: BORN TO BE THE BOSS original black vinyl pressing (Part 2 of 2)

The copy in my possession (the yellow one) is not currently
with me as I keep it back in my hometown (parent's home).
So, I don't have further details, but what I wrote here.
(Image of the matrix number on SIDE 1 is taken from Eddy's
Bruce Springsteen Lyrics website)

Following the original black-vinyl pressing, the next came up was the picture-disc edition, subtitled SPRINGSTEEN SUMMER '85 printed on the leather-like sticker that is glued on the clear plastic bag holding four discs. Strangely, the bag depicts multiple wavy lines (at least three variations in wave color, yellow, red, and light blue), which makes it hard to see picture discs inside. My purchase log recorded that I bought a copy (the yellow one), right in the summer of 1985 (1985/08/23), at the aforementioned imported record shop in Kyoto (Part 1; BTW, back in 1985, a copy of this set was quite expensive). The four picture discs were made from stampers that were different from those used for pressing the original vinyls since hand-etched matrix numbers don't match up between the two (black vinyl, BS 1 to BS 7; picture disc, TT 1A to TT 1G; note that SIDE 8 is blank without matrix codes on both versions). This clearly indicates that the picture-disc set is not a reissue of the original but a pirate pressing. Each picture disc has "PRINTED IN AUSTRALIA" printed on both sides, even though the original is believed to be Swedish origin.

SIDE 7 matrix inscriptions look double on the clear vinyl
due to the transparency.

With the rapid development of the home delivery service here in the mid-1980s, my main option to get underground releases had gradually shifted from hunting in-store to mail-order to domestic bootleg retailers. As I wrote before (02/15/2015 and 10/26/2019), around in 1987, BORN TO BE THE BOSS became available through mail order and distributed in Japan, together with FOLLOW THAT DREAM and TEARDROPS ON THE CITY. From what I've seen, these repressings account for most vinyl copies for the three Swedish titles currently in circulation (excluding the apparent pirate copies). Compared to the other two titles that are faithful reproduction to each original, this 4-LP set differs from its first issue in that the records are pressed on clear vinyl.

In contrast to the picture discs released in 1985, the clear-vinyl edition shares the identical matrix numbers (BS 1 to BS 7) with the original black-vinyl version on each side of the individual discs. So, the black and clear discs were made from the same stampers. Except for vinyl colors, I could find no significant differences between the two editions. Generally, however, reissue sleeves more or less exhibit inferior printing quality when compared with original or earlier releases (as seen in the above two Swedish re-releases). In fact, the close comparison of the rear-sleeve block fonts used for tracklisting revealed slight deterioration, like partial block cracks here and there, with the clear-disc edition.

Note that the rear sleeve fonts for the clear-disc pressing (right) are printed in somewhat inferior quality.
For example, compare "R" of "RIVER" between the two sleeves.

Although not always useful, originally accompanying inner sleeves serve as a measure to distinguish one pressing from another. All the four black-vinyl discs in my possession are stored in a plain white envelope with a center die-cut hole, which is lined with the semi-transparent thin sheet, like that of the original TEARDROPS. On the other hand, the four inner bags for the clear-vinyl version share commonality with those of FOLLOW and TEARDROPS repressings: (1) with no die-cut hole, (2) cut at two upper corners, and (3) stamped a similar code (N 11/3/6) on the bottom right corner. These suggest that the three titles were repressed simultaneously at some point in the mid-1980s (hence circulated together, as I saw in Japan). 

The two editions show some differences in the specification of Inner record bags, like FOLLOW THAT DREAM and TEARDROPS ON THE CITY, the other two 1981-tour bootlegs from Sweden. Left, black vinyl; right, clear vinyl.

Honestly, because of the twin Stockholm releases, I had never gone deep into this London set. It sounded (to me) a little flat and distant with high audience noise (which is essential to feel the live atmosphere but too much in this release). Having said that, I used to listen to it for the then-rare live tracks like Follow That Dream, Johnny Bye-Bye, and Can't Help Falling In Love, all not performed in any of the previous tours. With average sound quality, these quiet songs were more listenable than rocking tunes on this bootleg.
— Back to Part 1.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: BORN TO BE THE BOSS original black vinyl pressing (Part 1 of 2)

Two editions are distinguished only by vinyl colors. Then, which one came first?

The classic bootleg review continued — speaking of the official live archive series, the most significantly upgraded recording I can think of, which had previously been bootlegged on vinyl, is the final of the six concerts at Wembley Arena, London, from the European leg of THE RIVER tour (06/05/1981). BORN TO BE THE BOSS, originally from Sweden and consistently named so for the bootlegs of this show, appeared thrice on quadruple LP in the 1980s under the Holsten Team Records label, and twice on double CD and triple CD-R in the early 1990s and around 2000, respectively, by Templar and Piggham Records. These CDs are sourced from vinyl sound with pop and clicking noise, and both vinyl and CD versions lack The Promised Land from the first set (which is included in the archive release). Therefore, although I'm not so sure (as I'm not a tape collector), these underground releases originate from the same single audience tape that has probably not circulated among collectors. This situation is essentially the same as those of FOLLOW THAT DREAM and TEARDROPS ON THE CITY, the two other famous Swedish bootlegs that also document the 1981 European tour performances (in Stockholm).

The inside and outside of the gate-fold sleeves
and record labels look all the same bewteen
the two editions. In each image, the black-
vinyl version is placed on top.

As noted above, three vinyl variants are known to exist for this bootleg: black vinyl, clear vinyl, and picture-disc editions. I don't exactly know when the original version, which was pressed on black vinyl, first came out on the collectors' market. The Backstreets magazine introduces its release enthusiastically (and exaggeratedly, as usual) on the bootleg column titled New Tour Boots, by Jack Duluoz, in the Spring issue, 1985 (Number 13): 
"Clearly the best unauthorized record of the past year is The Boss Is Turned On [sic, correctly BORN TO BE THE BOSS]*, a beautiful four record set from a Wembley show in 1981 — this is a magnificent looking and sounding record and ranks on a par with Teardrops On The City. Obviously it's a project done by Springsteen fans and their care shows through. It's a very rare release though and even in Sweden (where I live, and where bootlegs are much more common) it's hard to come by."
*BORN TO BE THE BOSS is referred to mistakenly as THE BOSS IS TURNED ON that captures Steel Mill live and is one of the several Bruceleg acetates released in Japan. I have never been interested in these Made-In-Japan acetates. They are just rare stuff, neither more nor less, and nothing else. Frankly, I do not see any fascination with this type of bootleg.

Then, the column reports the first wave of bootlegs from the 1984 American leg of the BORN IN THE U.S.A. tour. Issued from late 1984 to early 1985, these new titles include an unannounced pre-tour gig AT THE STONE PONY (1LP, 06/08/1984), BORN IN CINCINNATI (4LP, 07/06/1984), ALPINE VALLEY Vol. 1 & 2 (2 x 2LP, 07/13/1984), PORN IN THE U.S.A.! (2 x 2LP, 07/24/1984), DO YOU LOVE ME (4LP, 08/16/1984), WE GOT A LONG NIGHT A SPECIAL NIGHT LITTLE STEVEN WILL COME TO PLAY TONIGHT (1LP, 08/20/1984), and THIS GUNS FOR HIRE (5LP, 09/18/1984). I remember that some of the above bootlegs were openly displayed for New Year's sales in 1985 at an import record store I used to visit, put together with reissues of older titles such as HAPPY NEW YEAR 5LP gorgeous box set. Of course, I could not afford to buy them all. Among these, the standout (in appearance) was DO YOU LOVE ME, pressed on colored vinyl and housed in a full-color gatefold sleeve and fully printed inner sleeves. So, this New Jersey show counted as my second I have added to my BITUSA-boot collection, following the CINCINNATI live.

A pre-BITUSA tour boot I really got into was

RESTLESS NIGHTS that mostly consists of THE
RIVER outtakes (bought on August 10, 1984).

Later issued on black vinyl.

By the time these new-tour bootlegs hit the market, BORN TO BE THE BOSS was already out. Therefore, this nicely packaged 4LP set could have been mentioned in one of the magazine's earlier issues. In the immediately previous issue (Number 12, Winter 1985), however, the magazine was probably not able to make room for underground releases, mostly due to the new tour coverage and concert reviews (as a result, no bootleg column in this issue). Or maybe there were probably no or few new titles worth mentioning just before the flood of new-tour boots. Going back one more issue (Number 11, Fall 1984), I found that the bootleg article was exclusively devoted to reviewing the legendary ALL THOSE YEARS 10-LP box.  
— To be continued to Part 2.