Collecting log: The Japanese original release of NEBRASKA LP. Was it really issued with a magnificent full-color poster? (Part 2 of 2)

A typical NEBRASKA ad in music
magazines in Japan came with a
catchphrase, "This is a personal
message to you from Bruce."

Among collectors, certain copies of Japan's original NEBRASKA LP (CBS/SONY 25AP 2440) have been highly sought-after because a collectors' bible, the Blinded By The Light book (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London), reports that the first 1000 copies were issued with a 24" x 36" color poster (exactly, A1 size: 23.4" x 33.1"). As explained in the previous post (09/18/2024), however, I have long been skeptical about this description.

Back when it was originally released in Japan in October 1982, many posters were not inserted into the LP sleeve but were handed in-store as a roll-up form to those who bought the album. Suppose there were poster-contained LP records in the order of a thousand copies instead of 100 or 10 copies only. If that were the truth, in my sense, we could have had many more chances to see or encounter such copies, at least here in Japan.

The 24" x 36" poster is neatly folded to a size that
fits into the LP jacket, obviously done at the printer.
However, it's too tight when a record disc, inner
sleeve, Japanese liner note, and poster are all put
inside the sleeve together.

That being said, the poster-contained copies have been circulated in the second-hand market, even though quite hard to come across. For example, I've seen two copies sold successfully on eBay in June 2006 and July 2019. In the former case, the cumulative total bids of 18 for the copy auctioned by a Japanese seller resulted in a winning bid of US $213.16 (that would cost $332.85 in 2024, according to the US Inflation Calculator). The latter copy from Italy fetched $371.00 (calculated to be $456.82 in 2024) with a total of nine bids.

As far as I've seen, if not all, almost all of these posters were six-folded professionally and accurately in perfect squares that fit into the album sleeve, including the above two examples (and mine). In addition, the first pressing of the Japanese LP was not shrink-wrapped, as opposed to the second and third pressings released in 1982 and 1984, respectively (different obi decorations easily identify the three releases). However, these do not necessarily mean that the folded posters were originally included or inserted into the sleeve of a certain limited fraction of the original copies.

The back cover of Backstreets Mag no. 10 issue
displays the NEBRASKA poster processed in a
modified, mezzotint-like appearance. Note the
folded lines that look identical to the image in 
the previous post (09/18/2024). 

Back in 1984 (four decades ago!), the Number 10 issue of Backstreets magazine published a four-page featured article entitled "THE BOSS IN JAPAN" that introduced various Japanese collectibles. The album and poster in question were mentioned following the regular second pressing LP of GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, N.J. (CBS/SONY SOPO-124) decorated with a wrap-around obi strip that completely covers the album sleeve (see 11/30/2014 for this collectible LP):

The only other noteworthy stock variations is the Japanese Nebraska which in its first limited edition came complete with a magnificent full color poster, folded and inserted into the jacket.   It was impossible to find even in Japan and commands high collector’s prices now. An even smaller number of the posters were printed and not folded. For our money, this is one of the very nicest posters of Bruce yet, a must see (it’s on  the back cover of this magazine, in a mezzotinted version).  [Text underline made by this blogger]

According to the credits, this article was compiled with the help of a few Japanese collectors and experts, including Mr. Yosuke Ono, the then and still most famous Springsteen collector in Japan. So, the information conveyed therein is considered highly trustworthy. Nevertheless, errors and mistakes are rather common in collector magazines, especially the more informative ones like this. For example, the GREETINGS LP mentioned above is mistakenly called the "first" edition. The above excerpt reports that the unfolded posters were printed in an even smaller number (than the folded posters), which contradicts what I've observed: the unfolded (rolled) posters have circulated relatively more frequently in online auction and the collectors' market. In fact, two such posters are currently being put up for the YAHOO! JAPAN Auction by different sellers (auction IDs p1153621639 and w1141750178; both will end tonight).

The poster section of the 6th Annual Summer Warehouse
Sale Catalog issued in 1995 by Backstreets Records lists
a folded NEBRASKA poster alone without the LP for sale
at $200! The poster size (18" x 30") is erroneously smaller
than the actual size.

Finally, yes or no, which is the answer to this subject? Despite the Backstreets Mag's article, my answer is probably no. I'm still not confident, though. I guess the folded posters were probably also handed over at retail shops because of the relative ease of handling and carrying in a record bag compared with the rolled ones. On the other hand, although not impossible, it must have been too tight to push a multi-folded poster into a standard single LP sleeve that holds a vinyl disc, a thick inner sleeve, a questionnaire card, and a two-folded Japanese lyric translation/liner-note sheet. 

After all, the correct answer to this question might not mean so much to us collectors because a folded poster, whether originally enclosed in the sleeve or not, makes a great companion piece to this Japanese record.

— Back to Part 1.

 

Collecting log: The Japanese original release of NEBRASKA LP. Was it really issued with a magnificent full-color poster? (Part 1 of 2)

Six-folded posters are available almost strictly as a set with the
album. In contrast, the rolled and unfolded posters (see the
image on 09/24/2017) generally circulate alone at auctions
and collectors' markets.

Japan is one of the great sources for vinyl and CD collectibles, not only for unique products of both regular and promotional releases but also for standard-issue variants (e.g., obi decoration and variation, graphic modification with Japanese characters, Japan-only booklets, etc.). However, there have been misunderstandings and insufficient information on some common and rare collectors' items. Let me start by mentioning a few notable instances that have already been featured in past blog posts. 

• The first vinyl edition of LIVE/1975-85 (CBS/SONY 75AP 3300-4) is often said to come out with a gold obi, so as the initial CD version (CBS/SONY 75DP 700-2) did, but the red is the first (see 11/23/2020). 
• It had long been unknown or unnoticed that the extremely rare, promotion-only Human Touch c/w Better Days 3" CD single (SONY XDEP 93043), also subtitled The Boss Is Back!!, was originally accompanied by a tri-fold insert with the twin album's info and lyrics, just because such insert is missing in most copies in circulation (see 05/19/2017).

Another example of my awareness concerns the first LP edition of NEBRASKA (CBS/SONY 25AP 2440), released here on October 9, 1982. The collectible section of the Blinded By The Light book (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London) writes, 'First 1000 copies issued with a 24" x 36" colour poster,'  which, to my understanding, is a somewhat misleading description. Why? That's because it says as if a poster were included in the first 1000 copies of the album (which I don't think so). Still, such an interpretation seems to be a long-held belief among many, especially foreign collectors. In the following, I explain the reasons for my claim.

• In Japan, promotional and bonus posters were generally handed to purchasers by retail shop cashiers as rolls rather than folded and inserted into album sleeves to ensure the posters remained crease-free for display (the rolled NEBRASKA poster is shown in the blog post on 09/24/2017).
• This was (and still is) the standard way for Japanese record companies to distribute posters to customers. 
• The only exception I can think of among his Japanese releases is Live Collection (CBS/SONY 20AP 3326), a Japan-exclusive four-track 12" EP released in 1987, which included a tetra-folded color poster inserted into the shrink-wrapped sleeve.
  

Left: The live version of Incident On 57 Street alone was worth getting this Japan-only maxi-single, although sound-wise, I prefer the same track on the 12" U.K. release (CBS 650193 6;  see 12/09/2014). Right: The front sleeve gold sticker says "with a pinup" in the very small Japanese font, meaning a poster is inserted into the record sleeve.

In agreement with these observations, the vertical obi of the first press shortly states (in Japanese), "★Poster giveaway for first press only. (new line) Please ask in-store for details," but never reads something like "Bonus poster included" anywhere on the obi, sleeve, or liner-note insert (see the image below).

The poster-related note can only be found
on the first-pressing obi (encircled with a
yellow line), which is absent from the obi
strips for the second and third pressings.

• In light of the above facts and observations, it is likely that most of the said 1000 posters were printed for a giveaway and distributed in-store to those who pre-ordered or bought the album at retail shops (I was a real-time purchaser in 1982, back in high school).
• I would lke to stress that if 1000 copies of the LP had been indeed issued with the poster enclosed in the sleeve, we must have seen such copies more frequently for auction and second-hand sale (but in fact, extraordinarily much fewer chances to see them even here in Japan).
• On the other hand, unfolded posters alone are occasionally turned up at online auctions or available at the collectors' markets, supporting that they were handed out to album purchasers independently of the LP record.

These could explain why the first pressing (easily identified by the obi) with or containing a poster seldom comes across even though 1000 copies were supposed to be so. Then, what explanation is possible for the six-folded poster, as shown in the top image?

— Continued to Part 2. 

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: 'E' TICKET, its very limited first edition, also known as the advanced release (Part 5 of 5)This article supplements and follows up on the previous posts on this bootleg in October 2014.

"Another (fake)" advanced copy (upper)  differs from a
genuine copy (lower) in several respects.

Content-wise, the final post on the very first release of this classic bootleg focuses on a topic that may be rather unimportant or uninteresting to you: comparing it with another "ADVANCED PRESSING - E TICKET - COLLECTORS ITEM" that also came in a simple white cover with only the above title printed on it. For years, this release seemed (and still seems) to have caused confusion among bootleg collectors, which is still observed in online vinyl record databases and blog articles. An example is found in the relevant Discogs entry (see the image below) that describes it as being pressed in Germany and released in 1975!

I don't know exactly when this particular bootleg was manufactured and began to circulate. As far as I checked, none of the bootleg catalogs I received from domestic retailers in the mid-to-late 1980s listed this version among many pirated varieties of "E" TICKET (see the image immediately below). It was probably issued in the late 1980s but not imported to Japan (although I am not sure as I lived in Kyoto, where not many bootlegs were readily available, unlike in Tokyo) or released after, maybe in the 1990s when vinyl records became minor as a bootleg medium because of the advent of CD.

A bootleg catalog from the late 1980s lists an example of a typical pirate release of "E" TICKET, which came in an insert cover. Back then, because of a fervent demand for Springsteen's underground releases, Japanese bootleg retailers usually asked for high prices for vinyl bootlegs, as shown here, especially of old famous titles like this used copy, even though it was not an original or early pressing, as indicated by "RE" (=reissue). Compared to the bootleg's price (6,800 JPY), an official LP was generally sold for 2,500 or 2,800 JPY in Japan.

Discogs describes the release year as 1975,
which is wrong. The label name is misspelled.

If you own a copy of this copycat, you would instantly deny that it was released in the late 1970s as an advanced release of one of the most famous Springsteen bootlegs. For example, I can mention at least the following four facts to explain why:

• The white sleeve is much cleaner in appearance and manufactured of better quality, which cannot be considered from the 1970s' plain white cover often used for West Coast bootlegs. As you see in the image on the top, white covers from the 1970s are generally prone to showing age.
  
• The album title is not stamped but printed in indigo color on the front sleeve, which contradicts why the early release had to employ a stamped cover before the famous black-and-white picture sleeve edition (i.e., the delay in printing). The rear sleeve also prints "PROMOTIONAL COPY—NOT FOR SALE." Although this note is a hackneyed expression repeatedly used by bootleggers to conceal the identity of their products, I have seen few bootlegs featuring this phrase on Springsteen's original bootlegs released in the 1970s.
  
• The hörweite stereophonie label was reproduced on the wax in different colors with inferior printing quality. As I already pointed out (10/19/2014), this custom label was not used for the "genuine" advanced or early pressings, probably due to the same reason why the picture sleeve was not used. Instead, such vinyl pressings came with Ruthless Rhymes labels, one of the several representative West Coast bootleg labels frequently used in the late 1970s.
• The matrix numbers, handwritten ST / MX 1 on SIDES ONE and ST / MX 2 on SIDE TWO, were obviously taken from a label inscription "℗ 1971 Deutschland (ST/MX) 33 1/3 r.p.m." (which is also printed on Ruthless Rhymes labels). To my knowledge, however, none of the early or original discs carried such numbers on the deadwax space (their matrix numbers are ESB-75-002-A / ESB-75-002-B), clearly indicating that this "advanced" pressing has nothing to do with the early or original release of the classic bootleg.

The images on the far left compare album titles stamped (upper) or printed (lower) on the front sleeves of the two advanced releases. The comparison is also made for record labels between an original regular pressing (middle left) and a "fake" advanced disc (middle right). Part of the round rim text on each label is magnified in each upper right corner to compare printing quality. Note the difference in the diameter size of the stamper rings. The "fake" advanced release carries a "promotional copy" indication on the bottom of the rear side sleeve (far right); no such promo notification is present in the "genuine" advanced copies or regular pressing in a black-and-white picture sleeve with the German production credits on the rear.

Shown deadwax matrix numbers are from SIDE TWO
of a "fake" advanced disc with reproduced hörweite
stereophonie labels (top), a "genuine" advanced disc
with Ruthless Rhymes labels (middle), and a relatively
common original press with original hörweite
stereophonie labels (bottom).

Okay, but how did the bootleggers come up with the idea of releasing a "fake" advanced edition of the classic bootleg? Although there is no evidence, I guess the bootleggers who made it, probably manufactured somewhere in Europe in the late 1980s or 1990s, knew about the behind-the-scenes story of releasing "E" TICKET. It seems to me that this obvious copycat LP is not just a bogus product but an homage to this classic bootleg that every (old) serious Springsteen fan and collector must have added to the collection in any form or edition. What do you think about this?

When I wrote for the first time on this bootleg soon after I launched this blog site (10/12/2014), I never thought I would write about it again after ten years. Also, I did not expect I would have continued the blog thing for ten years. And I don't know when my record-collecting journey will come to an end...

— Back to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or Part 4.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: 'E' TICKET, its very limited first edition, also known as the advanced release (Part 4 of 5)This article supplements and follows up on the previous posts on this bootleg in October 2014.

On June 23, 1979, the Billboard Issue reported a momentous
event—the Largest Recording Seizure in Los Angeles Ever: the
confiscated bootlegs included "E" TICKET, although the actual
album title was not given in the article (Note that Billboard has
released magazine issues into the public domain by releasing
them on Google Books and the Inernet Archive).

Arguably, "E" TICKET is one of the most famous and important releases in the history of Springsteen bootleg, emerging in the late 1970s and often pirated in the vinyl era. The sound quality is splendid as a bootleg, probably sourced from a demo cassette provided to a New York publisher in 1975 (see below). In addition, the bootleggers wisely avoided using a slick insert cover (the standard of bootleg back then) and borrowed a great outtake shot for DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (as you know, officially used for the front sleeve of the U.K. 12-inch single off THE RIVER; see 12/22/2019). So, the album sleeve was quite appealing, looking like an official product as if it followed DARKNESS, although the material was nothing related to this album. And don't forget that this release was one of those bootlegs that upset the man and the record company in 1979, leading to one of the most famous lawsuits against bootlegging in the history of the U.S. music industry.

In 1978, FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS was 
reviewed in two U.K. music newspapers by
Giovanni Dadomo in Sounds and Susan
Hill in Melody Maker.

Chronologically, it was the first illegal LP exclusively sourced from studio recordings of outtakes and unreleased tracks, including instrumentals. Perhaps FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS came out and circulated earlier in the underground market. However, this equally important bootleg was not a full studio-recording bootleg and contained two live recordings among the five featured songs. Whether which bootleg appeared first may be the subject of the debate. Although not definitive, the reason I believe the above is that FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS was picked up and reviewed in 1978 in two British music newspapers, Sounds (September 16 issue) and Melody Maker (November 11 issue), whereas "E" TICKET was reported as a subject of the lawsuit in 1979 in two major U.S. magazines, Billboard (June 23 issue; anonymously as an unauthorized album; see the image above) and Rolling Stone (September 6 issue; being mentioned the actual title).

The original picture sleeve of "E" TICKET has a printed spine, while 
as far as I know, all FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS issues, including  
the original, have no such spine, except for a later copy shown here.

It is widely known that the source of the FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS material is a six-track 12-inch acetate that was originally given to Intersong, a U.K.-based music publishing company, in 1973. Although the acetate also contained THE FEVER, this demo track was not included in the bootleg despite plenty of room for the inclusion (the complete content was later digitized properly and released in 1992 on a bootleg CD titled FORGOTTEN SONGS). In contrast, to my knowledge, there has been scarce information about the actual source of "E" TICKET, except for one case explained below. 

If I'm not mistaken, the second bootleg that featured unreleased
and studio outtakes from BORN TO RUN recording sessions was
ROULETTE, pressed in the U.S., and the third was VISITATION AT
FORT HORN, pressed in the U.K., although the latter bootleg
contained only one new track (i.e., a double vocal version of Night;
Linda Let Me Be The One was already included in the former).

Since the reunion tour in 1999-2000, I have stopped collecting bootleg CDs and occasionally downloaded what interested me from fan-based websites early in mp3 and lately in lossless formats. I remember, suddenly in early 2014, the fourteen tracks of the BORN IN THE STUDIO CD (see 06/01/2024), which included all the "E" TICKET tracks, were upgraded to high-resolution audio formats (in 16-bit/44 kHz and 24-bit/96 kHz) and distributed through torrent download websites. This was all thanks to the dedicated efforts of a group of American concert tapers/collectors known as JEMS, who told the tale of how they came to handle the source tape worth being upgraded in the text file attached with audio files (an excerpt; the full text available here at BruceBase Wiki):

Late last year [2013; annotated by this blogger], JEMS’ friend and fellow collector CB told us that he believed a cassette he had received from someone in the New York music publishing business not long after the release of Born to Run could likely be the original source tape for all subsequent copies and releases of this material.

I don't know of any other specific testimonies on the original source of "E" TICKET, although the information is still far from clear, and the details, such as the publisher's name, remain unknown. Mike Appel might have distributed such tapes to promote Springsteen and the then-forthcoming album (just my guess). However, even if this was true, he probably does not remember that.

— Continued to Part 5 / Back to Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: 'E' TICKET, its very limited first edition, also known as the advanced release (Part 3 of 5)This article supplements and follows up on the previous posts on this bootleg in October 2014.

"When vinyl records were ready, the sleeves were not.”
That was what I was told, explaining why these classic bootlegs
from the late 1970s existed in two forms: one simple and the
other looking like official products.

About thirty years ago, or in the mid-1990s, I obtained this renowned Bruceleg from the late 1970s in an unusual form—a bit inky, plain, simple sleeve—from someone in Southern California, where bootlegging activities were the most active in the 1970s. He told me that the very early pressings were not housed in that well-made, black-and white sleeve we know but came in a plain white cover on which the album title and artist name were stamped with a handwritten serial number. He continued this was because the vinyl discs were pressed before the sleeves were finished, so the first pressing did not have a printed sleeve. This also probably explains why LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND was first issued as a triple-vinyl box with a numbered insert rather than the famous gatefold sleeve.

However, since then, I had never seen such bootleg copies until I found one recently auctioned last March. So, what I wanted to do in the first place was to know if the auctioned copy was really the same issue as my possessions, as reported in the previous post  (06/26/2024) and summarized below:

• First, the vinyl disc was identical to my two copies based on the labels and the matrix number on SIDE A.
• Second, the plain white sleeve looked quite similar to mine and those used for other West Coast bootlegs in the 1970s.
• Third, although blurry and messy, the stamped letters on the front sleeve, which might otherwise have been created using a stencil sheet rather than a rubber stamp (or sort of), were found to be identical to those on my copies.

The difference is clear at a glance: writing, size, and ink.
The upper image is courtesy of and used with permission
from HiFi Dojo.

And lastly, one more critical element to be examined is the serial number handwritten on the sleeve. The number "#20" on the auctioned copy was written in a larger script using black ink, whereas that of my possession, #21, was smaller with blue ink, as previously reported (see 10/12/2014 and 06/01/2024) and shown here. Based on the hand scripts, these numbers are identified clearly as being from the pens of different persons. This is the only major difference I found between the auctioned copy and my possession (along with another with copy number "#27") and may clarify why the way of stamping on the sleeve is contrastingly different: the sleeve of #20 is stamped roughly and messy, while the stamped images on #21 and #27 are clear and legible.

Then, the next question arises: why were two different persons engaged in the handwork? Of course, there are several possibilities we can think of. For example, two or more bootleggers were involved in the album production, and they individually stamped the covers and gave each handwritten number. As a completely different scenario, although I think it's unlikely, the stamped sleeves were originally released without a serial number, which was later handwritten by collectors who got the copies. In the late 1970s, several bootlegs were issued with a limited number, but almost all were stamped rather than handwritten (for example, see 05/16/2015 and 07/26/2020). I cannot go into more detail as I have no other information or material to examine.

According to Clinton Heylin, along with "E" TICKET, THE DEMO TAPES
is one of the four classic vinyl bootlegs of Springsteen studio outtakes
(the remainders being FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS and SON YOU MAY
KISS THE BRIDE; C. Heylin, E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce
Springsteen & the E Street Band, Viking Books, London, 2013).
The original copies of this U.K.-pressed bootleg were numbered
by stamping, not by handwriting.

By the way, you may wonder how the auction turned out. It was around 6 p.m. on March 14 (in Japan Standard Time) that I noticed it on eBay, which was, if my memory is correct, about five hours after the said bootleg copy was opened for auction by the seller in New York (i.e., March 14 midnight in U.S. Eastern Standard Time; Note that eBay has utilized the Western Standard Time as the official time). It was a Buy-It-Now auction set at $118.80, so I could have purchased it (although the sustained depreciation of the Japanese Yen against the U.S. dollar and increasing international shipping costs have become a heavy burden for us Japanese collectors). In fact, I was quite tempted to do so, but in the end, I did not. The auction was closed five hours later (around 10 a.m. EST on the same day), and the result has been listed on Popsike here. I bet only serious (and probably knowledgeable) collectors would buy this never-nice-looking record—the current owner may be someone who frequently visits and reads this blog. Even if so, I wouldn't be surprised and wish they could be.

— Continued to Part 4 / Back to Part 1 or Part 2.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: 'E' TICKET, its very limited first edition, also known as the advanced release (Part 2 of 5)This article supplements and follows up on the previous posts on this bootleg in October 2014.

A copy with serial number #20 was recently auctioned on eBay (left). It looks very similar to mine numbered #21 (right) and #27 (not shown; the pictures on 10/12/2014 and 06/01/2024), which hold a special place in my vinyl Bruceleg collection. When I obtained the two copies from someone who resided in California nearly three decades ago, he explained these as an advanced pressing of this all-time classic bootleg of Springsteen. The left image is courtesy of and used with permission from HiFi Dojo (eBay seller).

As far as I've seen, the well-known black-and-white sleeve generally contained
a vinyl disc with yellowish Ruthless Rhymes labels more often than the cream-
colored version found with the advanced pressing. I believe Ruthless Rhymes
preceded hörweite stereophonie labels.

It's been almost 30 years since the serially numbered advanced edition of this legendary studio-outtake LP joined my bootleg collection. During this long period, neither had I happened to come across nor been able to locate any other copies in the same or a similar guise at collector's shops on-site and online or on auctions online, except for an apparent fake (see 10/19/2014). Then, as a total surprise, suddenly and recently, another copy came up at an eBay auction last March, as briefly reported in the previous post (06/01/2024). Conveniently, the seller in New York uploaded several photos of the sleeve and disc on the auction site. So, immediately, I was able to compare the seller's copy with one of my possessions (copy number #21).

The side-A matrix number was somehow visible on the vinyl disc image of the
auctioned copy (left, courtesy of HiFi Dojo), so I cut out and enlarged that part.
Although the low-resolution picture (lower right), the auctioned disc carried the
same hand-etching, ESB-75-002-A, as my copy (upper right).

Firstly, each vinyl disc carries cream Ruthless Rhymes labels (the B-side of which is the reversed image, as you know), neither the yellowish version nor hörweite stereophonie labels, which were used for generally known picture sleeve edition featuring a famous DARKNESS-era shot on the front. The exact dead-wax information of the auctioned copy was not available. Still, the side-A matrix number, a handwritten "ESB-75-002-A," was somehow confirmed from one of the pictures the seller uploaded on the auction site. So, the auctioned copy is most probably identical to my own, bearing the characteristics of the early pressing of this classic bootleg. 

The rear sleeve of the auctioned copy (left; courtesy of HiFi Dojo)
and mine (right) are smeared with ink, probably because these
sleeves were piled while the stamped ink on the front was left
half-dried (see also 10/17/2014).

Secondly, the album sleeves of the two copies are generic plain white, as shown in the images above and on the right. Unfortunately, the auctioned copy was never in fine condition, with more stains and blots than mine, especially on the front side. However, both are the same as those frequently used for many cheap-looking, slick-cover U.S. bootlegs, mainly manufactured on the West Coast in the 1970s. 

In fact, among the first five titles in the history of Springsteen bootleg (see 08/11/2016), the three from the West Coast were released in a generic plain white sleeve with a slick insert. In contrast, the other two purportedly produced by the East Coast bootleggers were not (i.e., printed black and white single cover or color gatefold sleeve). The subsequently released West Coast bootlegs continued this traditional cheap style (see 10/22/2022 and 05/10/2018) and the only exception I can think of among the 1970s releases is BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 78. An infamous Californian bootlegger, Andrea Waters (much better known as Vicky Vinyl), was sued in 1979 by Springsteen and CBS Records for manufacturing and distributing four bootlegs, including "E" TICKET, but she denied having made this one (briefly reported on 10/12/2014). Whoever produced "E" TICKET, almost certainly, this bootleg also came from the West Coast.

Were the images made by a handcrafted stamp
or a handmade stencil sheet? Another trifling
question concerns an empty, small, incomplete
rectangular frame: Would the bootleggers have
intended to write something also in that space?
The upper image is courtesy of HiFi Dojo.

Thirdly, the amateurish stamp on the front sleeve is one of the crucial factors in determining whether or not these were manufactured by the same bootleggers. Unfortunately, the auctioned copy was poorly stamped, resulting in a considerably blurred and dirty image. In addition, the plain white sleeve has developed lots of blots and stains. However, the text in a larger rectangular frame is read as "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 'E' TICKET," which can be confidently judged to be the same as the handmade stamp on my copies. It is of note that, although it might have been tentative, the initial title was 'E' TICKET, neither "E" TICKET, the finalized title using double quotations instead of single, nor E TICKET, without quotation marks often carelessly used by record sellers and collectors.

The rectangular stamp frame on the sleeve of the auctioned copy is missing only the left-side line, while my two copies, besides the left-side line, lack the bottom of the frame line without leaving any trace. Furthermore, stamped lines and letters are quite thin, as if they were drawn by a pen rather than stamped. Although trivial, these observations have led me to have a small doubt if these really are stamped images; instead, a handmade stencil sheet or plate, or something like that, might have been used for these to indicate the title and the performer on a plain white sleeve with a vinyl disc inside. I'm not an expert on these things, so I'm just guessing.

— Continued to Part 3 / Back to Part 1.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: 'E' TICKET, its very limited first edition, also known as the advanced release (Part 1 of 5)This article supplements and follows up on the previous posts on this bootleg in October 2014.

The clipping of a Japanese magazine (wherein the reported title can be translated as "Bruce Springsteen ran out of patience against bootlegging") was probably taken from an October 1979 issue of an FM radio/music magazine (I'm not sure, as only the clipping has been kept with me).  Mostly based on the relevant articles from Billboard (July 29, 1979) and Rolling Stone (September 6, 1979), the Japanese magazine reports that Springsteen and his record company sued the bootleggers with distribution networks in California (i.e., Vicki Vinyl and her partners-in-crime, though their names were not given), mentioning this studio-outtake album as one of the four bootleg records they manufactured (see inset, which can be translated as follows: "Four bootleg albums of Springsteen were made, including the famous E TICKET," where "Four" refer to PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE, FIRE, and LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND, besides this). I remember I felt somewhat strange that the anonymous writer of the report described "E" TICKET as "famous," given the magazine's wide target readership (covering all music categories, including classical music) and the issue's publication year (1979; Springsteen was not so popular and widely known in Japan until his smash hit of Hungry Heart in 1980). It must have been famous only among bootleg collectors...

Never seen any other Bruceleg discs with the
hörweite stereophonie label but "E" TICKET.

"Original release was on Ruthless Rhymes records and the second press has custom labels and a wrap cover* with the same artwork, although complete glued covers with the green custom labels exist as well as a picture label variant. The very first pressing has a plain white cover with E-Ticket stamped and a written number (in blue ink) on the sleeve (with RR labels). (These came out before the standard covers were available and are pretty rare now)."
Excerpted from the relevant entry in the Bootleg/For Collectors section of Brucebase Wiki (Underlining was done by this blogger for emphasis). 
*As far as my understanding goes, the sencond press with the custom green/yellow hörweite stereophonie labels came in a printed black and white sleeve.

Yes, the underlined sentences above (maybe sourced from the blog articles: 10/12/2014, 10/17/2014, and 10/19/2014) are what I was told about the very first or advanced pressing of "E" TICKET, one of the most famous Springsteen bootlegs, by someone on the West Coast in the mid-1990s when worldwide communication became feasible through the internet. He was long recognized as an early enthusiastic Springsteen fan from the 1970s and also known as a distinguished collector (from whom I obtained my two copies almost 30 years ago: 10/12/2014). Since then, however, until very recently, I had never had a chance to see or encounter any examples of the stamped, plain white cover edition with a handwritten limited number, except my own two copies. Although this update hardly conveys novel information on this particular Bruceleg, I'd like to share my recent finding of another copy (but not purchasing it) with you, especially vintage bootleg fans and collectors. 

"E" TICKET was soon upgraded in 1990, at the dawn of bootleg
CDs, and released by Scorpio Records under the title BORN IN
THE STUDIO with four extra tracks — one of the classic CD
Brucelegs in early years.

Thursday evening, March 14th, when I was thinking about what would become the second blog post on ALL THOSE YEARS 10-LP box (posted on 03/30/2024), I recalled that the foreword to the booklet that came with the box set mentioned a studio outtake of Born To Run featuring female choir vocals (Suki Lahav's) and string ("We believe it would have been useless including different versions of Born To Run and Racing In The Street or ..."). Old-timer collectors must know this still unreleased version of the anthem for youth was bootlegged for the first time on "E" TICKET, released 5 or 6 years before this Italian box. So, I briefly touched on that in the post I was writing, which inspired me to do a quick survey on eBay into this classic bootleg just out of curiosity: I was curious about how many different versions were currently circulating on the market regarding sleeve and label design, how much sellers were asking for their copies, and so on.

Then, when I saw the list of search results, I had to do a double-take. What came up on the top of the search list (meaning the latest one up for aucton) was a copy of the stamped, white-cover limited-numbered edition, which was just put up for auction by the proprietor of a one-stop music shop located in New York called HiFi Dojo! 

Yes, there it was. Finally, I confirmed the existence of another copy
of the seldom-seen advanced edition other than mine at a recent
online auction. The photo is courtesy of and used with permission
from HiFi Dojo (eBay seller).

Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I was fairly excited and moved by this unexpected finding that would not matter to any of my family members, including my wife (who has no interest in our Boss whatsoever), because it has taken me nearly 30 years to come across another copy except for my possessions!!! 

While I have never doubted that such a too-simple, rather crummy stamped cover is definitive proof of the genuine very early release of this legendary bootleg (as the abovementioned information source was top-notch and reliable), I also wondered why no copies, at least as far as I've seen or noticed, had turned up over a few decades in major online markets, such as eBay, and collector-oriented record stores. 

Perhaps the number of sets originally made in this guise or surviving copies is quite limited. It is certainly one of those items that collectors, once they own, do not want to part with (yes, I admit that), considering its essential part in the history of Springsteen's underground releases and its standout recognition and popularity among many other Brucelegs. For example, one year and a half ago, on the occasion of the blog's 200th anniversary posting, when I surveyed the total access number for individual posts for the then entire period (Sep. 8, 2014, to Dec. 26, 2022), the first "E" TICKET post (10/12/2014) was still popular: it ranked in the top 10 (see 12/29/2022).

— Continued to Part 2.