Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: THE DEMO TAPES original U.K. release limited to 500 numbered copies (Part 3 of 3)

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.

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):

Mike Appel saw potential earnings for Springsteen as a songwriter as well as a performer, and late in 1972* he persuaded Bruce to record another acoustic demo tape, entirely composed of songs omitted from the first album. Once again**, this has been bootlegged, appearing on albums like "Visitation At Fort Horne (sic)" and "The Demo Tapes". The tape was duplicated and sent out to record companies and management agencies in America and Britain, in the hope that other artists would record Bruce's songs; in the event, only Allan Clark of the Hollies obliged, issuing "If I Were The Priest" in 1974.

Various other demo tapes were issued by Appel over the next couple of years; while several acetates were sent out in Britain by Bruce's U.K. publisher, Intersong Music. One of these surfaced at Sotherby's rock auction last year, and sold for a very modest £360*** — despie the fact it included several of Bruce's best songs from this period, including "The Fever", "Seaside Bar Songs", Zero And Blind Terry" and "Thundercrack". 

*Mostly incorrect. Although the complete and accurate details remain uncertain, the recordings are believed to have taken place between May and August 1972, according to a report on BruceBase Wiki.

**Referring to the fact that the Jon Hammond demo session (May 3, 1972) had previously been bootlegged under the title THE BOSS OF THE BOARDWALK, as noted in the preceding paragraph (not cited here).

***I do not know whether the acetate reportedly sold at the auction in 1987 was the one used to produce FORGOTTEN SONGS, the definitive CD version of FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS released in 1992. According to an article by Lynn Elder in Backstreets magazine (no. 38, p. 30, Winter 1992), “A copy recently went up for auction in England, sold for thousands of dollars, and the result is this disc.” In contrast, Wanted: the Bruce Springsteen bootleg guide volume 1, disputed this claim, stating: “The acetate was never auctioned, as stated in the article, but changed hands between two collectors privately” (Jan Rodenrijs, p. 23, December 1997).

Two Bruceleg CDs sourced from early acetate demos, released between 1992 and 1993. I acquired my first copy of FORGOTTEN SONGS by mail order from a collector's shop in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, on May 13, 1992 [as stamped “4" (from "4. 5. 13") on the registered letter sheet, denoting the Japanese Imperial year Heisei 4 (1992)]. The following year, as indicated on the price sticker ("05.28.93"), THE DEMO TAPES CD was released, and I bought a copy at a record store — either Generation Records or Second Coming Records (I don’t remember which) — in New York City while I was staying in the U.S. for a year. Although not shown, the tri-folded booklet prints all lyrics for the 10 featured songs.

An Intersong 7" acetate disc of The Fever / Seaside Bar Song (bootlegged on FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS LP and FORGOTTEN SONGS CD) was listed in Backstreets Records' "50 GREATEST HITS" auction during the summer of 1995. The image shown is from Catalog #38, titled "6th Annual Summer Warehouse Sale."

It is well known that Mike Appel, Springsteen's first producer and manager, was captivated by the young artist's talent, believed in his potential for success, and supported him with great enthusiasm. This led me to wonder whether similar figures existed in the British music industry at that time — before the breakthrough of BORN TO RUN in 1975. At least one such figure can be identified: Adrian Rudge, managing director of Intersong Music, the company mentioned in the citation above.

According to a short article titled How long should a music publisher back a hunch? published in Music Week (p. 18, September 14, 1974), a music business paper for the U.K. and Europe, Rudge first heard Springsteen’s demo tapes in December 1972 and signed him to Intersong early in 1973, investing heavily in promotional materials and record distribution despite minimal initial response. He said:

"There were times when it seemed I was banging my head against a brick wall. There was my pile of 43 Springsteen titles. And a pile of rave-review cuttings about his work in the States, where he's a big box-office hit, pulling in 5,000 dollars a gig."

The same auction catalog also listed a Laurel Canyon 10" acetate of Southern Sun (also known as Southern Son), bootlegged on both LP and CD versions of THE DEMO TAPES.

These forty-three songs must have included those cut on acetates and later surfaced as what we now call two classic vinyl bootlegs. Rudge continued:

"But nothing happened this end, despite all the hard work. I pushed his albums, Asbury Park and East (sic) Street Shuffle, to anybody I thought might help. I was sold on him from the start. Call it blind, bloody-minded faith if you like — but the guy really IS different. He has to be a giant, and soon, in the UK."

"If it takes another couple of years, no matters. He's worth all the hard work."

Unmistakably enthusiastic and dedicated. His remarks reveal not just professional persistence, but genuine belief in Springsteen’s artistry. After nearly two years of disappointment, his efforts finally began to pay off when David Bowie, The Hollies, and Allan Clarke had each recorded Springsteen songs. The article concludes by noting that Springsteen was then seeking a new keyboard player — as David Sancious had just left the E Street Band for his own project, together with the drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter.

Decades later, as THE DEMO TAPES and FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS occasionally find their way onto my old turntables, it is a quiet joy for an old-timer, a little weary of the sleek precision of modern digital sound, to lower the needle onto these vinyl discs made from acetate sources, and to let the warm hiss and crackle carry the mind back to those distant days when a young talent was still struggling toward his moment of triumph.

— Back to Part 1 or Part 2.