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| Don't be fooled by a soul/funk icon pictured on the sleeve. This promo CD compilation released in 1991 under a non-Columbia/Sony label here in the Far East includes a never-performed-live track from Bruce Springsteen. |
A new year's blog begins with a supplement to the final post in 2022 (12/29/2022) since I forgot to mention a not-commonly-known CD compilation as one of the last year's miscellaneous purchases, which has neither been mentioned on the Lost In The Flood collector's page nor thus far registered on the Discogs database. The featured track is Springsteen's cover version of Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips (written by Nancy and John Cassidy), a funny kid song released in 1991 on Disney's charity CD called FOR OUR CHILDREN (Walt Disney 60616-2). Springsteen originally planned to use Pony Boy as his contribution to the CD, which was replaced with this and eventually saved for the last track on 1992's HUMAN TOUCH (Columbia CK 53000). It's not difficult to understand why Bruce took these children's songs for recording if you know he just became a brand-new father around that time.
Among collectors, this solo acoustic recording is better known as a B-side of Itsy Bitsy Spider (by Little Richard, also from the charity CD), a withdrawn Australian two-track 5-inch CD (Columbia 656735 2). BTW, I thought I had the copy but found I didn't (and still don't). Anyway, I bet many collectors believe this track is available only for these two CD releases, plus the 10th-anniversary commemorative edition of the CD album reissued later.
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| Pony Canyon was a Japanese licensee for Walt Disney Records from 1990 to 1999. The company also manufactures and distributes DVD/Blu-ray discs (PCBP54416/PCXP50792) for the motion picture BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (2019), although the soundtrack CD is released by Sony Music Japan (SICP-6317). |
Last May, however, I found this cover tune on a Japanese promo 12-track CD called CUTS: Pony Canyon July '91 Cut Tunes From New Release. This compilation album was also released in 1991, as its title tells, not by Sony Japan but by Pony Canyon, Inc. (DSP-134). That's no wonder because Columbia Records or Sony Music Entertainment did not (and still does not) own the copyright of FOR OUR CHILDREN CD. In addition, the CD seems quite limited in number, and the paper cardboard sleeve features the soul giant rather than the iconic rock figure. These explain, at least in part, why I have been unaware of it for over three decades until 2022.
Although not a major collectible, this non-Columbia/Sony promo disc would call the attention of Bruce CD completists as it is certainly rare with a track not available on his regular albums, and hard to come by even here. Or more attractive to those who collect James Brown?