On the 200th-anniversary blog post, plus Collecting log: recent miscellaneous purchases under COVID-19 (2022)

This year-end post marks the 200th entry I've written about my collection and started knowledge sharing in the last seven years plus four months. It might be crazy to think about what I've done: sticking around a single foreign artist peaking decades ago and blogging 200 times exclusively about his collector's items in a non-native language from the Far East island of Asia. Initially, the blog was a way to relax, forget work, stop worrying about things, and refresh my mind. I also intended to use the blog as a collecting log and memorandum to what I think and notice of the collectibles I obtained over the years (and that's why I call my blog "log"). However, doing blog things has become more than those. It is a pure joy to communicate with fellow collectors and fans worldwide. I'm very grateful to all of you for visiting, reading, and commenting. Fortunately, I have never received any negative or demotivating comments or feedback on what I wrote in this blog, which I really appreciate.

Should I open a used record shop?  These are all U.S.-pressed copies of DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TWON LP (Columbia JC 35318) I have used to conduct a comprehensive survey to decipher unusual dead-wax matrix inscriptions, such as PK, PMI, PMN, PN, PV, and PPP (see a series of blog articles here). All are cheap-second hand, though.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: Suki on double vinyls! — YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR from the mid-1970s and NEW YORK CITY SERENADE from the late-1980s (Part 5 of 5)

Doberman is one of the earliest known CD-R bootleg labels, releasing their first ever
Springsteen titles in 1996. Initially, their copies came with CD-R discs with no artwork,
just a hand-written catalog number. Accompanying inserts were stamped with a serial
number in blue. I obtained most of these CD/CD-R imports from Spanish retailers
in the mid-to-late 1990s (see 12/08/2020).

Great Dane (1989—1997), Scorpio (1989—), Crystal Cat (1992—), E Street (1993—1999), and so on. With the advent of underground CD labels, the early and mid-1990s were exciting years for bootleg collectors. We saw not only lots of new releases not bootlegged previously, but also reissue titles to appreciate classic concerts again, often in better quality or at least free of the clicks and pops inherent to vinyl discs. Towards the late 1990s, however, the circumstances substantially changed.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: Suki on double vinyls! — YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR from the mid-1970s and NEW YORK CITY SERENADE from the late-1980s (Part 4 of 5)

I bought this double bootleg in 1989 at a flea market in Rome, still with the price tag on the front sleeve asking for 37,000 lire (equivalent to US $26 and JP 3,700 Yen based on the then exchange rate). Of course, I negotiated a discount (down to 32,000 lire or so), and the shop owner accepted it because I also purchased two brand-new bootleg CDs from him.

A wooden wall decoration given at
Moon Valley Hotel, where I stayed in
Seiano 33 years ago (the dates and
location are stamped on the back;
see the inset above).

Back in June 1989, when I was in my mid-twenty, I got my first opportunity to visit foreign countries in Continental Europe: Italy, Switzerland, and France. First landing in Rome after an exhausting long flight from the Far East, I took trains and headed south to the first destination, Seiano di Vico Equense, a beautiful site south of Naples with a full view of the Gulf of Naples and Vesuvio (Although I have had no chance since then, someday I hope to visit there again). I stayed there for a week or so to fulfill the main purpose of the trip, then moved up to the north, and before reaching Switzerland, stopped in Rome and Milan for a couple of days. While I enjoyed the sightseeing, history, and culture in these ancient cities, I did not forget to expand the bootleg collection of my favorite artist, hopefully by picking up some rarities otherwise unavailable here (In those years, I was still much more interested in bootlegs rather than official products).

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: Suki on double vinyls! — YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR from the mid-1970s and NEW YORK CITY SERENADE from the late-1980s (Part 3 of 5)

Released nearly four decades ago, every die-hard collector must own
this box set, either as an original numbered copy, an un-numbered
repress, or both (and yes, I do have both; see 12/27/2017).

"A cover of the Ben E. King hit of the Sixties. The chance to hear a song like this in any way Springsteen concert is what makes him the Boss. In his career there have been so many songs showing up only once or twice and then disappearing: this is one of those gems. On violin you can hear Suki Lahav, who joined the E Street Band for few dates in 1974."
A live performance of Spanish Harlem with Suki Lahav playing violin, recorded on October 19, 1974, is featured as one of the 66 tracks on the legendary bootleg album ALL THOSE YEARS. The above description is found in and transcribed from the gorgeous 20-page booklet accompanied by this underground box set released in Italy around 1983.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: Suki on double vinyls! — YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR from the mid-1970s and NEW YORK CITY SERENADE from the late-1980s (Part 2 of 5)

Obviously, Springsteen's facial shot by Eric Meola is the prototype of the Texaco-serviceman-guised drawing on the bootleg cover. On the right is an actual photo image featured on the interior of the famous Script Cover gatefold sleeve that houses the advanced U.S. promotional test pressing of BORN TO RUN LP (1/25/2015). The same picture was also used, as it is, for the cover image of another bootleg, LIVE AT THE BOTTOM LINE 8/15/75, released late in 1975 (8/11/2016). BTW, you may notice a small JASRAC sticker (a typical one from the mid-to-late 1970s; see 5/10/2018) on the bottom left corner of the bootleg. JASRAC stands for Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, and the presence of its sticker means that the bootleg's content is officially licensed. But, then, how could this happen? Probably, JASRAC distributed the sticker to the import trader in response to the successful application for the license, who then put it on the album cover. In fact, here, we often see JASRAC-stickered copies of bootleg vinyl and CD imports.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: Suki on double vinyls! — YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR from the mid-1970s and NEW YORK CITY SERENADE from the late-1980s (Part 1 of 5)

The first half from a dozen line up of the
Singer's Original Double Disks label releases
(SODD 000 to 012) is shown. This includes two
early Springsteen bootlegs from the mid-1970s,
of which the SODD 006 title has two typos
(Flat Tops And Pin Drops; see 5/10/2018).
Taken from the slick insert of Beatles'
SECOND TO NONE (SODD 009).

"SODD (Singer's Original Double Disks) was Ken's usual medium for double-sets (still a relative rarity in the mid seventies). Though SODD only issued a dozen titles, they produced some of the Kornyphone Family's finest artifacts. Their second release — You Can Trust Your Car to the Man With [sic] the Star — was a radio broadcast of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band recorded at the Main Point, on the outskirts of Philadelphia, February 1975, capturing in FM quality the six-month period when the E Street Band had electric violinist Suki Lahav adding her delicate timbre to their sound. With prototype performances of 'Wings for Wheels' (soon to become 'Thunder Road') and 'She's the One' (incorporating parts of 'Backstreets'), and chestnuts like 'Incident on 57th Street' and Dylan's 'I Want You', it may well be Springsteen's greatest extant performance. But this broadcast had only been aired on local Philadelphia radio. It took the SODD set, one of a handful of Springsteen bootlegs at the time, to spread the word to all and sundry."
Quoted from BOOTLEG: The Secret History Of The Other Recording Industry, Clinton Heyin, 1996, St. Martin's Griffin, NY.

Collecting log: a single U.S. test pressing from LIVE/1975-85 with an unusual coupling of two sides from the five discs (Part 2 of 2)

What is curious about this particular test pressing is that, although the disc plays two sides culled from ten sides of LIVE/1975-85, its playing-side combination is unusual. Namely, one side represents SIDE 3 of DISC 2 (i.e., Backstreets, Rosalita, and Raise Your Hand from the Roxy, 1978), while the other corresponds to SIDE 5 of DISC 3 (i.e., Badlands to Racing In The Street from the 1980-81 tour) of the officially released set.

As grooves on the vinyl disc tell, the test pressing (upper row) consists of SIDES 3 and 5 of the 10-side live recordings, not coupling SIDE 3 with SIDE 4 or SIDE 5 with SIDE 6, as in the standard release (lower).

Collecting log: a single U.S. test pressing from LIVE/1975-85 with an unusual coupling of two sides from the five discs (Part 1 of 2)

Based on the sticker indication, this test pressing was created nearly
two months before the official release in the U.S. (Nov. 10, 1986).

Looking at vinyl disc's dead-wax stamps and inscriptions or simply matrix numbers, we can easily recognize a few notable differences that distinguish LIVE/1975-85 (Columbia C5X 40558) from his previous seven albums (i.e., up to BORN IN THE U.S.A.). As listed below, I compare matrix information of SIDE ONE (of Disc One, if multi-disc release) of his first eight albums, each of which is taken from an early U.S. copy in my private possession. 

The matrix numbers of LIVE are relatively long, carrying unique codes like "DMM" and "EDP," and overall faintly inscribed on the run-out vinyl area (see the dead-wax images below). Such features reflect the differences in record production processes newly introduced into this deluxe LP box.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: A revision to Decoding Two- or Three-Letter Matrix Hand Etchings on the Early Pressings — "PPP" was NOT a code for Columbia Records' Pitman but for another New Jersey pressing plant!

The oldest American company for children's
music turned out to have helped Columbia's
Pitman plant for pressing Springsteen's 4th
album (image taken from Discogs). 

Early vinyl copies of Springsteen's original albums up to THE RIVER (Columbia PC2 36854), the fifth released in October 1980, were pressed at three record-pressing plants Columbia Records owned and located in Santa Maria, CA, Terre Haute, IN, and Pitman, NJ. However, DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (Columbia JC 35318), his fourth, was the exception due to the temporary suspension of production at the New Jersey factory caused by labor strikes between April 2 and May 17, 1978, when this long-awaited album was slated to be released in late May (cf., The album was slightly delayed to be released on June 2). As a result, several pressing plants of non-Columbia Records were subcontracted to the Pitman to prevent the inevitable shortage of album supply, mainly in the East Coast market.

Collecting log: BORN TO RUN Japanese original LP with an oval-shaped sticker

Finally, the shrink-wrapped, stickered copy joins my collection. All the
others obtained previously are shrink-removed without the sticker.

As you can know from my blog title, I was born and raised in the Far East country of Japan, collecting vinyl and CD collectibles of my favorite artist for many years. So, you might assume that I own, if not all, nearly all of the official rare collectibles released here under his name, from major items like custom promo-only stuff from the 1970s and 1980s to minors such as cheesy CD-R samplers released in the current century (see the image below for some examples from 2007 to 2009). But, no, that is not true. My official vinyl/CD collection is rather limited in variety and far from perfection, still lacking this and that sort of major domestic rarities, whether promo or regular releases. Why? Although paradoxical, that is right because I live in Japan and have spent all of my life here (except for a one-year stay in the U.S.).

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Notes on the late pressing labels and deadwax

Even a barcode-bearing, very late issue comes with the hype sticker
as viewed in the mirror (This one is a Pitman pressing with the matrix
numbers G2C/G1C). See my thoughts on DARKNESS stickers posted
previously (8/24/2020 and 8/29/2020).

The DARKNESS label variation continues. Here are some notes for the U.S. late pressing, although I don't own as many copies as the early pressing. With the shutdown of the pressing plants in Santa Maria, CA (1963 to 1981), and Terre Haute, IN (1953 to 1982), in the early 1980s, vinyl releases after that from Columbia Records were manufactured at the old Pitman factory, NJ (1960 to 1986), and the newly launched facility located in Carrollton, GA (1981 to 1991). As the major differences from the early releases, at first, these late issues came in the sleeve with the small tracklist/white credit on the rear side, often accompanying the barcode on the upper right corner. Second, the inner sleeve is made of thin paper with poor-quality pictures. Finally, the discs do not carry TML-M or TML-S stamps on each side of the dead-wax space.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Summary of LABEL variations found in the early pressings

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN REVISED AND UPDATED.

1. As of August 21, 2022, this article was revised and updated in light of new information reported on 8/20/2022. The major change focuses on one of the two Pitman pressing variants, "Pitman pressing ー Variant Two (listed below as no. 9)," which turned out to be a product of Peter Pan Records' pressing plant in Lakewood, New Jersey. Accordingly, it was renamed "Lakewood pressing" (or could be alternatively called "Pete pressing").
   
2. As of February 23, 2023, this article was corrected in response to the comment by wbhist (see here), who provided an accurate size of the stamper ring for Lakewood/Pete pressings as well as the three Columbia pressings (i.e., Pitman, Santa Maria, and Terre Haute). Although this post originally reported that these pressings shared the same diameter size, as in the comment, I confirmed that Pete's diameter [2.75" (69.9 mm)] is slightly longer (by approximately 1 mm) than the others [2.703125" (68.7 mm)]. Moreover, the ring size of the Hauppauge/Keel and Holbrook/Goldisc pressings was also found to be a bit more than 69 mm and, thus, the same as the Lakewood pressings (2.75"). Accordingly, all the relevant information has been corrected.

Thoughts on My Father's House on NEBRASKA LP: Asian pressings and its relation to the Japanese discs (Part 2 of 2) — Notes on CBS/SONY's stamper numbers

Upper: The front sleeve of the Taiwan pressing (left) is of significantly
lower printing quality than the Japanese release (right, the obi removed).
Lower: The rear of the Taiwanese sleeve (left) is unique in featuring the
lyrics compared to the standard sleeve (right, Japanese).

In appearance, a Taiwanese copy of NEBRASKA LP in my collection is like a typical Asian pirate pressing that differs notably in several aspects from the official releases in the U.S., U.K., and Japan. First, it is licensed by an obscure company (Lee Ming Records Ltd.) with a unique catalog number (LMSP-004). Second, the front picture of the album sleeve is inferior in its printing quality (which is also true for the Korean LP), losing the details compared with the Japanese LP (CBS/SONY 25AP-2440), and strangely carries the lyrics on the back. So, the cardboard inner sleeve is not contained. Third, the record labels are amateurish in black & white with completely different looking from those of the Columbia/CBS Records, depicting what is considered a company or label logo, "Star Power." All these observations might be enough to conclude that it is a product of piracy activity.

Thoughts on My Father's House on NEBRASKA LP: Asian pressings and its relation to the Japanese discs (Part 1 of 2)

Asian NEBRASKA LP releases. Upper (left to right): three Japanese editions and a Taiwanese copy. Lower: Korea (left) and Hong Kong (right) pressings.

As I reported previously (see 7/13/2019), the initial vinyl pressings of NEBRASKA from several countries have an error on the side-two label, misprinting the playing time for My Father's House longer (5 min 43 sec rather than 5 min 3 sec). These examples count at least eight, including the U.S. and U.K. releases, although only the Brazil pressings truly contain the long version of the song (see 7/22/2019). The same misprint is found in two releases from Asia (i.e., South Korea and Hong Kong). I also have a Taiwanese copy that lists the track length as 5 min 5 sec. These Asian records, but Hong Kong's, are generally not my collecting targets because of the uncertainty of authenticity. However, this album is the only exception for me to collect from these countries.

Thoughts on My Father's House on NEBRASKA LP: an Update to The alternate take with synth coda on regular vinyl pressing!!!

The Japanese CD editions of NEBRASKA (up to the third pressing) featuring the long version of My Father's House have been typical collector's items. Shown is a brief description from a mini-catalog of Backstreets Records issued around 1988.

We, collectors, are always interested in an alternative take or mix on a previously released track, even if the difference is subtle between the two. Among the overwhelming amount of officially released Springsteen's studio/home recordings, My Father's House with an extended coda is the first such example of a regular album track. However, neither he nor the record company intentionally released it, which, for unknown reasons, resulted from using an alternative "pseudo-stereo" album mix featuring this song as the only outstandingly different track from the standard release (see the relevant entry in BruceBase; see also 09/22/2016).

Just happy to be able to see the official release of 1979 NO NUKES footage!

My NO NUKES collectibles. Check four consecutive posts (04/25/2019 to 05/12/2019) on vinyl collectibles and another post (11/12/2020) on the laser disc. A white die-cut sleeve release on the lower row, second from the right, is a promotion-only interview disc titled MUSE VIEWS (Musicians United for Safe Energy, Inc. PROMO 12-1-79), although it does not feature Springsteen. I don't own the physical CD release of The Live Archive series from Nugs.net.

For me, 2021 had started with high anticipation for the official release of the two-night footage from the NO NUKES concerts in 1979 ever since I saw the promotional video clip for Letter To You  (see 11/12/2020). Fortunately, the year ended with what I anticipated for, although I craved the full shows rather than the excerpts from both nights. Old-timers know that before MTV's launch in the early 1980s and the success of BORN IN THE U.S.A., how scarce it was to have opportunities to watch his live performances on television that was the primary visual media, especially outside the U.S. (e.g., Even the three official tracks from the NO NUKES movie were rarely aired here).