Collecting log: Further digging of NO NUKES collectibles and a nothing-to-rave-about but unexpected finding (Part 4 of 4)

The "Promotion copy not for sale 2" videotape, given away for free to those who purchased a TRACKS 4-CD box when it was out in Sweden in November 1998, contained eight live footage clips, of which five were unreleased or available only as promos back then. The remaining three were from THE MUSE CONCERT / NO NUKES (shown is a Japanese low-budget edition released in the 1990s) and VIDEO ANTHOLOGY /1978–88 videos.

The final part of this subject picks up one more compilation item, which is unusual in this blog: a VHS cassette containing NO NUKES material. Of course, I'm not talking about old used videotape copies of the commercially released soundtrack movie with the three live performances (The River, Thunder Road, and the edited Quarter To Three), which are still available in the second-hand market at a cheap expense. I obtained this generic, mediocre-looking cassette videotape in 1999, nearly a quarter century ago. Although its relation to NO NUKES is weak, containing only one clip, I thought this is a good opportunity to write down this video in the blog, as it was certainly rare back then (and still is now), and hard collectors had (have) sought it out for that reason. 

The index of a December/1998 issue of LuckyTown Digest
reporting a new promo videotape from SONY Sweden
(all e-mail addresses made unreadable).

I remember this VHS cassette was first reported in December 1998 on LuckyTown Digest, an internet mailing list for fans and collectors of the "Boss," which was quite useful, enjoyable, and active almost daily between the mid-1990s and early 2000s (The old-timers should miss it!). The contributor was someone in Sweden (his name is not divulged here) who reported this unheard promo in brief with the essential information, such as movie-clip listing, under the subject title New Sony promo video tape (?). Subsequently, the Winter 1998 issue of Backstreets magazine (#61; published in 1999) mentioned it in the On Disc column, starting with "For some lucky fans in Sweden, Tracks was packaged with a promotional video containing eight clips, some rare or unreleased ..."

How many copies still survive?

More specifically, according to the Swedish collector above, approximately 400 copies were given away free as a bonus exclusively to customers who purchased the TRACKS 4-CD box at two record stores. The video came in a plain, light-brown paper case, which was too simple and cheap. It was labeled "Promotion copy not for sale 2" on the spine of the video cassette, with no mention of Springsteen and no descriptions or symbols indicating that it was an official Sony or CBS/Columbia label product. So, he was seriously worried that many CD-box buyers would throw away this complimentary videotape into a trash bin or utilize it as a blank tape to dub over something else since it must not have been a valued item or anything special, at least for ordinary fans and bandwagon purchasers. In his post on the mailing list, he wrote beseechingly, "If there's a God in heaven, please stop them!"

The encoding format of the video was European PAL, so to view the clips on the tape, I first had to find an audio/video vendor who could convert it to NTSC format compatible with Japanese equipment. It contains the following eight clips:

• Born To Run / Badlands / Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) / Prove It All Night (live in Phoenix, July 8, 1978)
• The River (from THE MUSE CONCERT / NO NUKES video)
• Glory Days (live in Stockholm, June 15, 1992)
• Hungry Heart (from Berlin 1995 promotional video)
• Born To Run (the full-band version from VIDEO ANTHOLOGY /1978–88)

Let me briefly review, content-wise, why this VHS cassette was rare and highly sought after. Although there were tons of underground releases in circulation bootlegging the professionally shot Phoenix 1978 footage, four of the five clips, except Rosalita, had never been officially available until THE PROMISE: THE DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN Story 3CD/3DVD (SONY Japan SIPC 2971-6) was issued in 2010. Long before THE PROMISE box, Rosalita was viewable on VIDEO ANTHOLOGY / 1978–88 (CBS/SONY 42ZP 122) in 1989. However, the released version was edited to eliminate the introduction of band members during the interlude. 

On the other hand, the Swedish promo video contained the complete version with the full band intros, putting together three more unreleased Phoenix clips back then, although the complete Rosalita and the guitar introduction part of Prove It All Night were broadcast over the airwaves on television, such as MTV programs first in 1984 and BBC's documentary "Glory Days" in 1987, respectively. The only missing clip was The Promised Land, for whatever reason. So, at least up to 2010, this VHS tape was the best official collection of the Phoenix '78 performances to own.

The penultimate clip, Hungry Heart, is taken from the VHS cassette tape included in the Germany-only Berlin '95 limited edition promotional box (no catalog number), well-known among collectors for the corrugated cardboard sleeve. The accompanying booklet in my copy is written in English, which is rarer than the German-text version, according to the Lost In The Flood collector's website. My purchase records show that I placed the order for this promo box on the 10th of November 1995 from a U.K.-based retailer, which probably explains why mine contained the English booklet. Although I'm not sure, the English variant might also be distinguished from the German edition by the difference in the sticker pasted on the clear slim case for the maxi CD single included in the package (Columbia 662315 2). My copy carries a white rounded square sticker on the CD case. As far as I've seen, however, the German set holds the same CD-EP with a true circle sticker in black (see the inset on the lower-right corner of the center image).

Still, the rarity on the video cassette is Glory Days' premiere performance from the HUMAN TOUCH & LUCKY TOWN 1992–1993 Tour launched in Sweden. To my knowledge, this clear pro-shot footage has not thus far been officially available in any other release, although truncated and viewable only from the middle of the performance. I have not watched the video for long, as I no longer own VHS players. However, suppose (though fairly confident) I remember correctly and no errors were associated with the PAL-to-NTSC conversion. In that case, the featured clip is not the full performance as opposed to the report on the Brucebase Wiki (1992-06-15, Recording section). 

The remaining three clips were all previously released commercially or promotionally, including The River from the NO NUKES film. The Brucebase Wiki seems uncertain about the source of this clip on the promo video, describing it as follows: "The performance of 'The River' (or from the next day) was included on a rare, promotion-only 'freebie' VHS tape given away to customers purchasing the Tracks box set in select Swedish record stores in November 1998" (1979-09-21, Recording section; Note the underline made by this blogger). For this, I'm 100% sure the video features the first-ever live performance from the first-night stage on September 21, 1979, not from the next night.

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