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.