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.

Left : An early Pitman pressing (see 4/23/2022). The label image is taken from my personal copy with SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers 1AD/2AA.
Center : A late pressing from Carrollton. Taken from my personal copy with SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers G2A/G2A.
Right : A late Pitman pressing with a "upside down" triangle symbol (printed on SIDE ONE label only). Taken from my personal copy with SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers G2H/G2F.

One of the late pressings (matrix G2A/G2A) in my possession comes  
in a stickered sleeve and is cut by Chet Bennett, as authenticated by 
the inscription of his first name on both sides (shown is SIDE TWO;
encircled with dashed line). Another hand-etching CBS GA refers to
CBS Records' plant in Carrollton, GA. 

As shown immediately above, the label design of the late releases (center and right) was further changed from that of the first Pitman pressing (left), which came out very late among the early issues based on the matrix numbers (see the previous post on 4/23/2022). The artist's name is reverted to the original single-line format (as found on Santa Maria and Terre Haute pressings; see 4/23/2022), while the album title is yet differently split into two lines. The sole difference between the two late-issue labels is whether an inverted-triangle symbol is present or absent, as mentioned previously (3/4/2018). Interestingly, among collectors circle, it has long remained unsolved what this symbol means or refers to (for example, see the long-surviving thread titled "Symbol on mid-80s CBS Records releases... ???" on Steve Hoffman Music Forums).

Chet Bennett's cutting (bottom) results in about a two-time larger
dead-wax width on SIDE TWO than that of the original pressing
mastered by Mike Reese (top). Another late pressing (middle;
handled by an unknown mastering engineer) also has a slightly
wider dead-wax than the original.

I don't know if there are more examples of U.S. label variations for the standard DARKNESS pressings, except for the audiophile releases such as old Half-Speed Mastered and recent Plangent-processed remastered reissues. A possible variant could be the red-label repress without the yellow Columbia rim, just like the very last pressing of BORN TO RUN LP (see 9/13/2015 and 12/18/2016). I have thus far not seen any such copy for the fourth album, though.

One last note: Although DARKNESS was originally mastered by Mike Reese at The Mastering Lab (as indicated by the run-off groove stamps TML-M and TML-S), another notable sound engineer cut the masters for the late issue. Chet Bennett had worked at CBS Records in the 1980s and redone some of Springsteen's titles, such as this and THE RIVER (see 12/22/2019 for his inscription on the DISC ONE/SIDE ONE dead wax). Bennett's pressings are easily recognizable, as he generally inscribes his first name on vinyl discs, and particularly for the DARKNESS LP, the SIDE TWO dead wax is considerably wider than those of the early and other late pressings (see the images on the right). It might be interesting to compare and listen to the two mastering engineers' sounds if you own both analog records.

— Back to Summary of the early pressing labels.