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).

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