Collecting log: THE RIVER Japanese 2LP samplers with a promo-only sticker and a concert-report flyer (Part 3 of 3)

Three variants are differentiated from each other
by colors and label names.

Except for a few album/single releases*, it is still not so difficult to find Japanese sample copies for standard vinyl pressings from the 1980s, and those for THE RIVER (CBS/SONY 40AP 1960-1) are no exception. However, as far as I've seen, the stickered sample copies for this double album are hard to come by. 

* I can think of the following three: LIVE/1975-85 (CBS/SONY 75AP 3300-3304; see 11/23/2020), BORN IN THE U.S.A. Master Sound (CBS/SONY 30AP 2878), and Brilliant Disguise one-side single (CBS/SONY 04SP 1075).

Between 1979 and 1980, CBS/SONY and EPIC/SONY (a division of the CBS/SONY Inc. group handling non-Columbia Records artists) issued sample copies with colored stickers, which were very likely in limited quantities, as only a small fraction carry the sticker among those in circulation. These stickers say "strongly recommended disc" in large Japanese words of Kanji and Katakana combination, with either label name beneath it (pink, CBS/SONY; red and yellow, EPIC/SONY; see the images on the left). So, they are not non-official stickers made and put by wholesalers, dealers, or retailers. Many of these stickers are pasted with a small round or tack label on which the domestic release date (month/day) is hand-written.

The stickers are directly pasted over the sleeves, with small labels notifying
the release dates (11/1 for the album and 11/21 for the single; see the insets).
Note that CBS/SONY still used white labels for sample 7" singles until 1981,
although up to 1979 for album releases.

Concerning Springsteen releases, I have never seen any other sample albums and singles with these stickers but THE RIVER and the first single, Hungry Heart (CBS/SONY 07SP 511). I own only one copy each in my collection, and as shown on the right, both are the first edition with the original vertical obi or withdrawn color sleeve. Although sample discs have been released for the second/third album pressings with different obis and the 7" single with the corrected black and white "phone booth" sleeve, most probably, no stickered versions exist for these reissued and corrected copies. A small quantity of the sample copies for the second single, I Wanna Marry You (CBS/SONY 07SP 525), could also have been released with the sticker. However, I have thus far not seen such sample copies.

Left: the stickered sample copy. Red-stamped on the tri-folded Japanese liner-note/lyric sheet is the release date (55.11.1), where the year is shown in the Japanese Imperial format (or the traditional Japanese calendar: Showa 55 = 1980 A.D.).
Right: one of the non-stickered sample releases in my collection. See 02/11/2023 for details of the L.A. concert report (pictured top right).

Note the blank image for Springsteen's single-
cut release "NOW PRINTING" (released in
Japan on November 21st, 1980).

The stickered version is rare, even among the sample copies for the album's first pressings. As shown immediately above, my stickered copy includes only a 3-page info sheet for the press release as promotional material. As I already explained (see the last paragraph on 02/11/2023), the stickered copy most probably represents the earliest form of the sample (i.e., pre-release sample copy) for this double album. 

In contrast, a non-stickered copy comes with a short tour report on October/November 1980's Los Angeles concerts (see 02/11/2023) and a flyer advertising the albums released by the label's "Big Three" late in 1980 (Barbra Streisand, Springsteen, and Earth, Wind & Fire; see the image on the right). As you notice, the sleeve image for the first single, Hungry Heart, is not shown on the flyer. Maybe, CBS/SONY's production division was still waiting for approval from the U.S. Columbia Records or Springsteen's management to apply another image for the picture sleeve insert? Just my guess.

— Back to Part 1 or Part 2.