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.