Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: RESTLESS NIGHTS ー THE RIVER outtakes LP ー original picture-disc and later black-vinyl editions (Part 1 of 3)

This cool-looking picture disc was one of the most extensively played vinyl studio
bootlegs on my turntables, until the release of the TRACKS 4-CD box set in 1998
that contained six of the nine RIVER outtakes on the bootleg.

It's always fun for vinyl collectors like me just to look into unique artworks and descriptions found on bootleg LP sleeves, including slick insert covers. Vinyl picture-disc records are more enjoyable, since this fascinating format is better suited for the display by framing and hanging on the wall. In fact, there were already several bootlegs in this format out there when there was still only one official picture disc (for the DARKNESS promo) and before the flood of vinyl Brucelegs, including various colored and picture discs, during and the post BORN IN THE U.S.A. era. However, I used to avoid purchasing the picture-disc edition of vinyl bootlegs, especially when regular black-vinyl counterparts were also available.This was because I primarily collected bootlegs to appreciate live or unreleased recordings that were otherwise unavailable from the official sources. For this purpose, cassette tape trading could have been an alternative means, but to my knowledge, it had not been well organized and developed in Japan compared with the situation in the U.S. So, I thought it was not a wise choice to select picture discs that generally sounded worse with more surface noise. Besides, many of these picture discs were reissues or pirated copies for existing bootlegs and often issued only one disc even if previously released as a multi-disc set. 

The left two images were taken by myself back in February 2001, upon the request of Mr. John G. Leach, the founder of the original Brucebase database (http://www.brucebase.btinternet.co.uk; URL not working anymore). Back then, I was running a website exhibiting my collection. He looked through my site and sent me an e-mail message asking for high-resolution image files for some bootleg titles. Such JPEG files contained the above two left images that were displayed in the studio boots section of the website called The Studio Bruceleg File. For comparison, I took similar photos of the current disc on this occasion for the first time in 20 years (right two). Then, and sadly, I found that the clear parts did show the symptom of discoloration, the disastrous phenomenon frequently observed with picture discs, notably shaped ones manufactured in the 1980s in the U.K. My bad, I had long forgotten that the disc remained kept in a PVC bag still with the price sticker! Check the previous post (12/23/2016) for the ugly discolored examples of Springsteen's official picture discs.

RESTLESS NIGHTS was the first vinyl picture disc I added to my bootleg collection. That was back in early August 1984 before the first bootleg of the then-ongoing North American tour appeared in the collector's market. Only one copy was available at the usual import record shop (called JEUGIA in Kyoto, Japan) and I bought it at the expense of 4,000 JPY that was the same amount as the fixed retail price for the Japanese THE RIVER 2LP (CBS/SONY Japan 40AP1960). Even though a single disc, pricey setting was a rather norm for bootleg imports back then, especially for Springsteen's special editions. According to The Bruce Springsteen Bootleg Guide Vol. 1 (Tony Montana, 1985, Montana Production Inc., p. 37; see the top image on this page), this picture bootleg was made in Italy, although I didn't and still don't know any background information about this release.

If I'm not mistaken, RESTLESS NIGHTS was the first bootleg album full of THE RIVER outtake/unreleased tracks (though, exactly saying, it contained two tracks already released on the B-side of the official singles and one DARKNESS outtake). 

• SIDE 1: Be True / Rickie Wants A Man Of Her Own / Cindy / Roulette / Restless Nights
• SIDE 2: Loose Ends / Take'em As They Come / You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) / Held Up Without A Gun / The Way

Production-wise, this European bootleg is excellent with picture labels, pressed on
colored vinyl, and comes in a printed inner sleeve (on both sides) that was rarely
accompanied by bootleg releases.

However, this picture LP was not the first bootleg that featured the album's outtakes. I believe that the first bootlegged track from the album's recording sessions was Roulette, which was already found in both ROULETTE and DON'T LOOK BACK, the two U.S. single-LP bootlegs from the very early 1980s. Following was yet another single LP called BY THE RIVER that came out from Europe, devoting one side to four unreleased tracks (Take'em, Cindy, Loose Ends, and Rickie) in addition to Roulette and the other to miscellaneous live recordings. Subsequently, two more unreleased tunes, Restless Nights and You Can Look (a rockabilly take), were included among the four tracks on a double 7" set entitled The River That Talks coming in a nice gate-fold sleeve. I also bought a triple-colored-vinyl box called "LUTHER" around the same time as RESTLESS NIGHTS, containing some of THE RIVER outtakes, including Roulette again. Note that the famous SON YOU MAY KISS THE BRIDE bootleg LP came a few years later than these releases.

Because I was not so enthusiastic about hunting 7" records,
my copy of this great Scorpio's release is neither numbered
on the rear sleeve nor colored on vinyls.

When I obtained this picture disc, I still didn't own either the European LP or the double 7" single mentioned above. So, six of the nine tracks left off the 5th album were completely new listen to me (namely, excluding Be True, Roulette, and Held Up). Admitting myself as a big THE RIVER fan, I really got into this bootleg to fulfill my need and personal curiosity until the arrival of new tour bootlegs here late that year (BTW, the first 1984-tour bootleg I found and obtained was a shitty sounding BORN IN CINCINNATI ; see 06/06/2015). This made it one of the most extensively played among my collection of both official and underground releases.
— To be continued to Part 2.

Collecting log: Blinded By The Light U.S. 7" singles (Part 4 of 4) ー Puzzled by the booklets accompanied by the Play:Back issues

Play:Back booklet Issues 16 (left) and 17 (right). The former contains articles on Springsteen and Andy Pratt, and their songs are released together on a Play:Back 7" EP (Columbia AS 45) in January 1973. However, it is the latter (where neither artist is mentioned explicitly) that is accompanied by most record copies in circulation if they still retain a booklet.

Matrix numbers are machine-stamped
ZSM157443-1A on SIDE 1 (not shown)
and ZSM157444-1A on SIDE 2 (Bruce's
side) of the styrene-molded disc.

Columbia/Epic's Play:Back series was a unique survey attempt that allowed consumers to preview and criticize newly released or unreleased music from the labels' artists, roughly equivalent to ten to more 7" EP discs a year at $3.00. The annual subscription fee in 1973 covered only the packaging and mailing, and according to the Inflation Calculator on the DollarTimes website (https://www.dollartimes.com/), the amount had the same buying power as $18.39 in 2021. These records were delivered in the original mailing envelope containing a booklet, questionnaire, and business reply envelope to send back the subscription card that was also included. Like the Script Cover edition of BORN TO RUN, it's almost impossible to obtain the complete set nowadays. Most probably, not a small number of original owners might have faithfully filled out the questionnaires for the feedback to the company while they threw away the remaining paper stuff.

Issue 17 mentions Springsteen only in the tour/concert-
listing section called ON THE ROAD AGAIN (p. 15), as
indicated by green squircles.

The accompanying booklets (called "newsletters" in the company's advertisements; see the previous post) feature articles written by and about company's producers, recording artists, and updated information. I've seen that most circulating copies of the booklet for Blinded By The Light (with Andy Pratt's Avenging Annie as A-side) are colored Aegean or blue indigo on the front cover. As far as I checked, this 16-page booklet (Issue 17) does not mention Springsteen anywhere, except his gig info that is found on the reverse side of the rear cover (Feb. 1st to 5th at Max's Kansas City in N.Y.C., New York and 15th in Wallingford, Connecticut). Likewise, Pratt and his song get no mention at all in the print.

Another I own that came with a Blinded disc is also 16 pages in length and features a similar front sleeve in different coloring with beige background. However, the content is completely different from the aforementioned Issue 17. Interestingly, this booklet (Issue 16) says on the front, "the first issue of the new, expanded PLAYBACK," and picks up Springsteen and Pratt on a two-page spread each, with the lyrics of each song on the right side. Springsteen's article is written by Associate Editor Wayne Robins and titled as Remember Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom? Their theme song was “Hare Krishna, Harry’s chicken, Harry Truman, Harry Up!," sung to the tune of “My Sweet Lord", which is a kind of "how it got started" story. Then, the question arises as to whether this version of the booklet really and originally came with the Blinded EP (Columbia AS 45). Not sure, but I guess it might have done, based on the last sentence that concludes the article, unless it was a notice to the next issue: The song that stands out in most people’s minds the first time out is "Blinded By the Light," the lyrics of which are on the facing page, and which you can hear by putting on your Playback record.  (Note the underline made by this blogger)

In Issue 16, Springsteen's debut is covered by two pages (pp. 9 and 10) with the full lyrics for the first-ever single.

Epic Records label's AS 44 EP release, 
maybe not a Play:Back release (not in my
possession; images taken from Discogs)

Nevertheless, most circulating copies of the Play:Back's Blinded 7" accompany Issue 17, supporting that it was indeed the booklet for this single EP. If Issue 16 was not the booklet for Blinded, it must have logically been coupled with the previous release (i.e., Columbia/Epic AS 44). Searching into the Discogs and 45cat databases hit a bonus 7" promo disc with the same catalog number and released in 1973 by the Epic Records label, called An Exclusive Interview With Tammy Wynette / George Jones Conducted By Frank Jones (the links to Discogs page here and 45cat here). However, by appearance, this 7" interview disc is unlikely to be part of the Play:Back series, as the labels and record sleeve differ completely in their color and design (see the images right). Moreover, its matrix numbers (ZSM 157143/ZSM 157144 on Side A/B)* are not sequential to those of the immediate preceding or following Play:Back releases:

• Columbia AS 43: ZLP 157439/ZLP 157440* (Jon Hammond interview disc)
  
• Columbia AS 45: ZSM 157443/ZSM 157444* (Avenging Annie /Blinded By The Light )
  

These facts and observations lead me to presume that there exists a yet unconfirmed Play:Back AS 44 single with the matrix numbers 157441/157442. 

*Columbia's matrix prefix codes ZLP and ZSM refer to 7" single mono and stereo, respectively, both playable at 33⅓ rpm.

Issue 16 also introduces Andy Pratt and his Avenging Annie featured on A-side to Blinded single (pp. 13 and 14).

Columbia' Play:Back series AS 39 and AS 43.
Major changes in the label design must have
occurred between the releases AS 40 and 43
(not in my possession; images from Discogs).

Here I raise two possibilities. The first one is a compromised interpretation of the above observations, suggesting two versions for the Columbia AS 45 disc released with either Issue 16 or 17. The Springsteen/Pratt articles found on Issue 16 might support this idea, although I cannot think of any logical reason for issuing two different booklets for a single disc. The other possibility denies Issue 16 as coming with the Blinded disc, likely indicating that it was included in one of the preceding 7" releases that corresponds to the first issue of the new, expanded PLAYBACK release, as printed on the front cover. So, what is the first renewed release? One candidate is the AS 43 EP mentioned above, entitled John Hammond, Producer Of The Original Billie Holiday Recordings, Discusses Them With Dan Morgenstern Of Downbeat Magazine (whose links to Discogs page here and 45cat here). This interview disc carries the same blue labels as the typical Play:Back releases, which are clearly distinguished from the old-style labels, as shown on the right images, such as AS 39 (whose links to Discogs page here and 45cat here). No information is available for the associated booklet, though. 

Obviously, further research into these early releases needs to be done, including the white-label version of the Blinded set with yet another variant booklet (see below), for which the details remain unknown.

The issue number is unknown, though never before August 1973 (when the photo session was conducted with the band for the second album). Featured on the back cover (left) is the man who filmed the CBS live promo footage of Bruce in LA in 1973 and Phoenix in 1978. Provided by courtesy of someone via the Lost In The Flood collector's page (special thanks are given to Peter).

— Back to Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3.