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.