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).

Despite what the back cover says on this second release from Exodus Records (ER-002), no serial number is printed or hand-written on my copy. Also available on black vinyl. Maybe an Italian bootleg (though Discogs reports the U.S. origin), but can anyone confirm (or deny) that?  FLAT TOP AND PIN DROP, the first release of this bootleg label (ER-001), also available as picture and black vinyl editions, is most probably an exact copy of the old bootleg of the same title (see 5/10/2018).

In 1989, Great Dane Records released 20 titles of live
CDs from various artists, including five Springsteen
albums. Scanned from the booklet for the Master-Plus
version of THE SAINT, THE INCIDENT, AND THE MAIN
POINT SHUFFLE (GDR CD 9012).

Unfortunately, however, I could not find any interesting items wherever second-hand record shops or stores I had my eyes on. Maybe the times were not right for vinyl hunting, due to the format transition from vinyl to CD in the bootleg industry. After all, it was a flea market in Rome where I dug out what I did not own. For Springsteen collectors, the year 1989 is remembered for the advent of the first bootleg CD from Great Dane Records, Italy. At this point (early June 1989), their first release, YOU MEAN SO MUCH TO ME (GDR CD 8901; 10/12/2014), was the only available title at import record/CD shops here in Japan, and I did not know what titles would follow the next. Then I found the two new CD releases at the flea, LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND (GDR CD 8906; original, not the Master-Plus version) and LIVE AT THE BOTTOM LINE (GDR CD 8907), both coming in a bulky jewel case. Just beginning to circulate, bootlegs in the CD format were undoubtedly the hottest collector's item in the late 1980s. So, I was fairly satisfied with the result of hunting and almost skipped checking a container full of vinyl discs at the flea shop, where I found a double-record set never seen before in terms of the package and recording date. Further unexpected were the two vinyl pressings, which were picture discs.

The hand-etched matrix numbers read SOOD 007 1A-A on SIDE ONE
(upper) and SOOD 007 1D on SIDE FOUR (lower). SIDES TWO/THREE
are SOOD 007 1B/1C (not shown). The bootleggers seem to have
imitated those of the Singer's Original Double Disks (SODD) label
releases, such as YOU CAN TRUST ... (whose dead-wax code is
shown on 10/22/2022), although "SODD" is misspelled as "SOOD."

NEW YORK CITY SERENADE (Exodus Records, ER-002) mainly presents the October-19-1974 performance at Memorial Chapel Concert Hall, Union College, Schenectady, NY. This concert was perhaps the 6th or 7th among about 40 shows at which Suki Lahav joined and played between October 1974 and March 1975. Although the picture-disc set covered only the first eight of 14 songs from that night, two essentials to which Suki significantly contributed were included (i.e., Incident On 57th Street and Spanish Harlem). Moreover, two of the three bonus tracks were culled from the same era (New York City Serenade and A Love So Fine from Trenton, NJ, November 29, 1974). So, this release was one of the only two vinyl bootleg titles in existence, along with an all-time classic,  YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR, that captured rare live concerts featuring Suki and represented young Springsteen's talent. This explains why I consider it a classic vinyl bootleg even though not a complete set, not in excellent sound, and so late to have come out in the vinyl era. In fact, I have never seen any bootleg guidebooks on my hands that list this release (i.e., three volumes of so-called Bootleg Bibles, the concise Unofficially Springsteen, from the U.K., and the vinyl album section of the WANTED book Volume One by Jan Rodenrijs).

— To be continued to Part 5 / back to Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3.

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.

Clinton Heylin, the author of BOOTLEG: The Secret History of The
Other Recording Industry (1996, St. Martin's Griffin, New York),
wrote HOT COALS ... as "perhaps the most authentic Springsteen
boot yet produced," which I hardly disagree with (By the way, my
all-time favorite from this bootleg album is Up On The Roof).
The Main Point '75 live recording (SIDE 2/TRACK 3) is incorrectly
listed as "Thunder Road" and "February of 1974" on the slick
insert of THE JERSEY DEVIL.

Despit the fascinating live performances accompanied by a female violinist/backig vocalist, those concerts from the pre-BORN TO RUN period (October 1974 to March 1975) featuring Suki Lahav had not been substantially bootlegged, except for Philadelphia's WMMR FM-aired Main Point gig (February 5, 1975). As the previous two posts mentioned (10/22/2022 and 10/28/2022), the double LP YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR, originally out probably in 1976 and repressed and copied many times since then, was the only representative of such a vinyl bootleg until late in the vinyl era in the late 1980s. However, the two compilation-styled bootlegs preceding this title already picked a few live excerpts from that small coffeehouse in Philly's suburbs. Namely, THE JERSEY DEVIL, the first ever Springsteen bootleg, included Wings For Wheels (which eventually evolved into Thunder Road). The purportedly fourth Bruceleg HOT COALS FROM THE FIERY FURNACE contained New York City Serenade and For You, although the latter was Springsteen's solo performance on piano without Suki's contribution.

One of many European bootlegs released in the mid-to-late 1980s and known to have circulated as three variants. In addition to the multicolor disc, this title was pressed on black vinyl with September Songs labels and issued without a yellow sticker on the color sleeve. Furthermore, the picture-disc edition was available. Strangely, the sleeve spine prints "Springsteen — live in FRANKFURT." Probably manufactured by the same German bootleggers who made WELCOME TO GERMANY, a 4-LP set of the June-15-1985 Frankfurt show, which was also available on both black and multicolor vinyl with September Songs and plain white labels, respectively.

In the mid-to-late 1980s, when a huge flood of Springsteen's bootleg records hit the collector's market from Europe, a part of the Main Point material was released under the title called SHADES OF A BIG LAND, a single LP probably produced by German bootleggers. This bootleg devoted one side (SIDE 2) to four Main Point tracks (i.e., Incident On 57th Street, Mountain Of Love, Born To Run, and Wings for Wheels). On this vinyl, you can hear DJ Ed Sciaky's short insertions "WMMR, 99.3" and "WMMR, Philadelphia" during the intro to Incident ... and right after Born To Run, respectively, both of which were eliminated on YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR ...  So, this European release was not a pirate copy or sourced from the old bootleg but an independent pressing.

The recording of Lost In The Flood is also taken
from October 19, 1974.

As explained above, until the late 1980s, only Main Point '75 bootlegs had been in circulation that featured Suki. Having said that, I can think of one exception that was released before BORN IN THE U.S.A. (June 1984) and captured her playing from a non-Main Point source, albeit carrying only one song. That is ALL THOSE YEARS, a legendary 10-LP box bootleg. This massive compilation set, as you know, carefully selected many rare performances of then-yet-not bootlegged or officially released, among which was a stunning cover of Spanish Harlem with Suki's solemn violin (see the transcription from the bootleg booklet above). It was taken from Memorial Chapel Concert Hall, Union College, Schenectady, NY, on October 19, 1974, and found on SIDE 1 of DISC 4 titled 1974 "Bound For Glory."

Then, back in 1989 (33 years ago!), on my first trip abroad (to continental Europe), I found that this concert was available in a double picture-vinyl format (and bought a copy there), although the set did not represent a complete show.

— To be continued to Part 4 / back to Part 1 or Part 2.