As introduced at the beginning of Part One (10/12/2025), music writer Clinton Heylin regarded "E" TICKET, FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS, THE DEMO TAPES, and SON YOU MAI KISS THE BRIDE as among the definitive studio vinyl bootlegs — a view that is hard to dispute. What I find intriguing about his selections is that, although Springsteen is a quintessentially American artist, all but "E" TICKET are said to have originated in the U.K.
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| THE LAUREL CANYON DEMOS (shown at the bottom), which appeared in 1989, was probably the first — if not one of the very first — Springsteen bootleg CD titles. MUSIC PUBLISHER'S DEMOS 1972 (shown at the top) included four additional related tracks from the VISITATION AT FORT HORN LP. These early-era underground CDs of his demo recordings were straight- forward transfers from the original bootleg LP or its pirate copy. |
While I'm not entirely certain whether SON YOU MAY ... actually came out there (so they can safely be considered non-U.S. bootlegs, at least), FIRE ON ... and THE DEMO TAPES were reportedly sourced from acetate discs originally circulated within the British music industry around 1973. These discs were intended to generate interest among British artists, producers, and record companies, and to secure cover versions or releases that could help establish Springsteen's reputation outside the U.S.
In June 1988, Record Collector, a leading U.K. music magazine, looked back on the early years of his career in a feature article by Peter Doggett titled Bruce Springsteen: Asbury Park to E~Street (no. 106, pp. 3–6), and reported as follows (excerpts from p. 5):