Collecting log: THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE U.S. LP — Why are the first pressings with "ROSALITA" hype stickers so scarce?

Two examples of the stickered copies in my possession. Left: The album title appears cream-yellow on both front sleeves (though the purple stickers are colored differently), indicating that these copies are the second pressing (Columbia PC 32432). Right: Company logo and catalog number printed on each rear sleeve (upper) and the Side Two matrix number of the “bright purple sticker” copy (lower).

About a year ago (08/24/2020), I wrote on the hype sticker (   INCLUDES  "BADLANDS"  35318   ) for Springsteen's fourth LP, DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (Columbia JC 35318), assuming that this round-cornered rectangle seal was the first example of album-specific stickers of his original vinyl releases in the U.S. However, it was not true. Even though not so often, used copies of his second album, THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE, have turned up online auctions with its hype sticker on the shrink wrap (   FEATURES  "ROSALITA"  32432   ). I overlooked this fact because I believed that such stickers were coupled with the pressings whose catalog number is prefixed with "PC" rather than "KC," as two examples are shown above from my collection. As we all know well, the former is assigned for the second press (PC 32432) issued in 1975 around the BORN TO RUN era until the third pressing with the catalog number prefix "JC" and barcodes (JC 32432), while the latter is given to the original released in 1973 (KC 32432). 

An example of the press kit for the second album containing unused
custom stickers (not in my possession; although I don't remember when
and where I got this image, the pictured kit must belong to a fellow
collector somewhere). Who does own it now?

Indeed, as far as I've checked online, most of the stickered copies currently and previously in circulation are the second pressing, with the third pressing minor in number. For this reason, I've long wondered why the first pressing with the custom sticker is so scarce and seldom found on the market. A clue to my trivial question may lie in the fact that back in 1973, as shown in the image right, the album's press-kit packages contained a batch of unused stickers, among other promotional stuff (i.e., the album's lyric sheets, an official letter from Laurel Canyon Ltd., a DJ time strip, and photocopies of some newspaper articles). Inclusion of the official letter from Laurel Canyon, but not from the record company, probably means that Columbia Records had nothing to do with the promo kit, which was packed by Springsteen's private management.

If so, these custom stickers must not have been originally glued on the shrink-wrapped album sleeve when the first-pressing (KC-prefixed) copies were shipped to wholesalers. Instead, the stickers were sent out to the office of Laurel Canyon Ltd., where someone might have pasted them on the album covers one by one manually for the promotional purpose, just like how the picture sleeve for his 1973's debut single Blinded By The Light was hand-manufactured (See the Lost In The Flood collector's website for a full account of the Blinded custom sleeve story). This could be an explanation to answer my own question.

This promo copy with a DJ time strip is the only example I know of the
first pressing (KC 32432) with the hype sticker (not in my possession).
Note that the sticker is directly glued to the LP sleeve that was shrink-
removed (Image taken from the auction).

Of course, the above is my pure speculation. However, the only one "KC" pressing with the custom sticker I've ever seen might support my guess. Although not exactly remembering, perhaps about a year back, I found this copy sold on eBay (see the image right; I refrained from bidding at the auction because of the fair sleeve condition), which is currently listed on Discogs as a promo copy (see here). Take a look at the photo and note that the sticker is pasted directly on the sleeve from which the shrink wrap has already been removed. The way the sticker is glued probably indicates that this copy did not carry the sticker originally when shipped in sealed conditions from one of the three Columbia Records' manufacturing factories. The speculation needs to be further examined, though.

Three examples of non-sticker versions of "KC"-prefix pressings in my possession. Left: A regular pressing (middle) is pressed at Santa Maria and still shrink-wrapped, with the matrix-number suffixes 2C/2C. Two promotional copies (top and bottom) are Pitman pressings with the matrix-number suffixes 2A/2E and 1A/1A, respectively. The discs for these promo releases are identical to regular red-label pressings since no white-label promo are known to exist for the U.S. release of this album. Center: "Demonstration" stamped on the rear sleeves (red, 1A/1A; black, 2A/2E). The shrink wrap was removed from these promos in order probably to stamp the promo indication on the rear sleeve. Right: Side One label of the 2A/2E copy with the promo stamp. Lower Right: DJ time strip glued on the bottom of the front sleeve for the 1A/1A copy, which also comes with the lyric sheets from Laurel Canyon Music Ltd. (This copy was previously mentioned: see 12/27/2015).

In 1975, when BORN TO RUN (Columbia PC 33795) became a hit nationwide in the U.S. (and after that), Columbia Records campaigned to promote his back catalogs, probably resulting in the "PC"-prefix copies with the sticker pasted on the shrink wrap, the most commonly found stickered version. It is also probable that such stickered "PC" repressings might have appeared in 1977 when the record company seriously considered releasing the promotion-only 12" edition of Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) on both sides (Columbia AS 330; unissued)* or in 1979 when the promotion video clip from the 1978's performance (July 8th, Phoenix, Arizona) was premiered on television in the U.S. (later issued commercially on video and DVD).
*Bruce Springsteen: Blinded By The Light, P. Humphries & C. Hunt, p. 154, Plexus, London, 1985.

Interestingly, as in the case for the DARKNESS LP (see 08/29/2020), two versions of the hype sticker are available for the second album, which differs in the background color (bright or deep purple: see the top image).

• Bright purple sticker (Sides One / Two):    P AL-32432-2C        /  P BL-32432-2C
• Deep purple sticker   (Sides One / Two):    P AL-32432-2G  1T  /  P BL-32432-2K  2T

(straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched) 

 

As deduced from the matrix numbers, my copy with the deep-purple sticker came from Columbia Records' Terre Haute plant. The bright purple-sticker version was probably pressed at the Pitman factory based on the elimination method since neither 1T/2T (= Terre Haute pressing) nor 1S/2S (= Santa Maria pressing) plant-specific signature is inscribed on the dead-wax portion of the vinyl disc. I don't know whether the background color of hype stickers reflects the difference in the location of pressing factories.

Collecting log: recent miscellaneous purchases under COVID-19

Japan may initially have received high praise overseas for keeping low the number of COVID-19 contagions. However, the unusual lifestyle continues, and the infected people increase to serious levels in some metropolitan areas these days, especially after introducing government-backed discount programs for food-service and travel industries to boost the economy hopefully. Yes, we recognize that the third wave has come here. Although not able to get deep into blogging activities under the current situation, my collecting effort has not been discontinued. Here is a brief summation of the selected recent results (mostly through domestic online auction).

LETTER TO YOU  (Columbia19439803801, Euro-pressed black & white splatter vinyl)

While I ordered the splatter version (center) from Sony Music Shop, the grey vinyl (right) was obtained at Tower Records (available there probably at the cheapest in Japan when ordering). A newspaper clipping on the left features the album review from the morning edition (November 4th, 2020) of the Asahi Shinbun, a major Japanese newspaper.

In the middle of last month, I noticed that Sony Music (Japan) took pre-orders for this store-exclusive version of the new LP. I just ordered a copy because I figured the fixed retail price [4,747 Yen, including consumption tax (10%); free shipping] was still cheaper than the total expense when making the order overseas, especially considering the costly international postage. The retail price also meant that it must have been a straightforward import, nothing like the specially treated previous two releases in Japan, CHAPTER & VERSE (SIJP 29-30; 6,000 Yen excluding tax) and WESTERN STARS (SIJP 86; 6,380 Yen including tax). Indeed, the copy I received on October 24th was just a sealed Euro pressing, with none of OBI, Japan-only booklet, and slick insert sheet to modify the rear sleeve (for company credit and barcode revision). Honestly, I didn't expect much for this release, and having known the inclusion of three re-recordings from the 1970s, I guessed that it would have been a mixed-bag assortment like HIGH HOPES (Columbia 88843 01546 1). Surprisingly, however, the album is nicely done (although I still prefer WESTERN STARS to the latest one). Nostalgic, but the vocal is young, fresh, and strong, backed solidly by the E Street sound. My complaint is directed to the disc number that should have been a single, but not a double, for both playing and listening convenience (i.e., two sides are better than three).


COMMEMORATIVE COMPACT DISCS  (SONY TDCD 90042-90043)

The tetra-folded custom-double CD holder fits comfortably into the thick cardboard slipcase (new addition; backward), which is missing in the previously obtained copy (forward; shown also here before). I still don't know what the CD set commemorated at Sony, Japan, back in 1991 when it was released.

Although I'm primarily a vinyl collector, I own a fair amount of CD collection, too, as I occasionally displayed or mentioned some of them in this blog. Shown here is a gorgeously packaged, promotion-only double-CD compilation (w/ Born In The U.S.A., Track 6 on Disc 2) released in 1991 from Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. This set was already introduced here a year ago (9/30/2019), and recently, I obtained and added another (second) copy to the collection. That was not for the investment, but because until recently, I did not know that my first copy was incomplete. This summer, I found this seldom come-across rarity on an online auction where the custom double-CD holder was housed in a specially designed, sturdy cardboard slipcase. My first copy lacked this essential piece from the full package. On collecting, nothing is better than owning a complete set, and that's why I had to get the second one. BTW, the Lost In The Flood collector's page does not mention the slipcase on the item description because it was me who reported this gorgeous Japanese collectible to the website a long time ago, not knowing that the outer case was missing from the first copy.


THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE  
(CBS/SONY SOPL-239 with a 4-page promotional biography)

 Besides the promo biography, the latest addition came with a standard
disc, a printed inner sleeve, and a foldout sheet including liner notes
with lyrics in English and Japanese, but lacked the OBI (upper).
Both sides of the biography (lower).

The Japanese edition of the second LP (the first press) has at least two appeals to vinyl collectors. One is a typological error on the OBI strip that is unique to the white-label promotional issues (04/26/2015). The other is a 4-page folded booklet of biography that was originally accompanied by some copies of the promotional and regular pressings (04/29/2015). Both are hard to come by even here in the Far East (and highly-priced even if found). The latter most probably represents Springsteen's first-ever promotional booklet or pamphlet officially released by CBS/SONY Records, since the LP is his debut album here March 21st, 1974, preceding GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, N.J. (CBS/SONY SOPL-248) that is out later on July 21st that year. To the best of my knowledge, Blinded By The Light (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London) is the only reference source that mentions this promo print, although the book describes it erroneously as "a 5 page biography" (p. 168). Luckily, I found and grabbed it for less than 2,000 Yen last month in a net auction without competition.


THE MUSE CONCERT / NO NUKES  laserdisc (Videoarts Japan Inc., VALJ-3138)

Playing the guitar outro for Prove It All Night on the second night (Sep. 22nd) ?  Sourced from this laserdisc or videotape, the pirate DVD has been produced and circulated. The accompanying liner-note sheet is quite hard to read through due to low-contrast orange & white printing.

Even if not among the best performances, the Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future (NO NUKES), held in New York City in 1979 during recording sessions for THE RIVER, are historically among the most significant in his career. A total of five performances from the two-night stand are included in the triple-disc soundtrack LP (Stay and Devil With The Blue Dress Medley) and the 103-min documentary film (The River, Thunder Road, and Quarter To Three), which are later released as a double CD and visual format (videotape and laserdisc), respectively. Collecting-wise, two versions of the promotion-only Devil ... 12" vinyl disc, which are played at different speeds, have been popular classic collectibles, with the 33⅓-rpm edition being impossibly rare (see 04/25/2019 to 05/12/2019). 
Although I have never owned laser-disc players, this title in the now-defunct format is worth getting for the front sleeve alone. I obtained the Japanese edition at fairly a cheap price (480 Yen; the fixed retailed price was 5,800 Yen back then, excluding consumption tax). In my opinion, it features one of the best live-stage shots used for official 12-inch sized sleeves, along with AS REQUESTED AROUND THE WORLD (05/10/2020 to 06/06/2020). As already pointed out, several previously unseen clips from the charity concerts are used on the documentary and music video from LETTER TO YOU, indicating that there should be the complete performance footage for each night by Springsteen and the band. Wishing the full part of Springsteen's footage to be officially released from the vault.

 

Collecting log: Spirit In The Night - Growin' Up / Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) early U.S. promotion-only custom 7" EP

The white-labeled, promo-only EP originally came in a generic die-cut
company sleeve. Oddly, the sole track from the then latest second
album is placed on SIDE 2 while two songs cut from the previous
debut album are featured on SIDE 1.

For many serious Springsteen fans, June 2 is remembered as the original U.S. release date of the then long-awaited 4th album DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (US Columbia JC 35318). Since this year marks the 40th anniversary of the release year (1978), such fans have already posted a celebration thread in various forums dedicated to the Man and His Music. Serious analog collectors, however, might know that on the same day 44 years ago (June 2, 1974)*, a promotion-only 3-track EP was released to U.S. radio stations, which has become among top collectibles nowadays. While better known for its catalog number prefix "AE7" (which is given to Columbia's promo-only 7" releases), to date, Spirit In The Night - Growin' Up/Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (US Columbia AE7 1088) is one of the toughest early promo records to find.
*From the description in Blinded By The Light (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London).

The year 1995 is when eBay was
founded on September.

To mention but a few examples, this EP was auctioned in 1995 (23 years ago!) with a minimum bid of US $250 as part of the 6th annual summer warehouse sale on the Backstreets Records (BTW, the auction is termed "50 GREATEST HITS BACKSTREETS AUCTION: The Don Rasmussen, Phil Ceccola, and John Flynn Collections"). The same auction also offered a U.S. stock copy of Blinded By The Light/Angel  7" (US Columbia 4-45805) and its legendary picture sleeve (sleeve only, no record) at $500 and $175 minimum bids, respectively. So, you can roughly estimate the relative collecting value of this EP back then. In the 2000's, it was ranked at the 14th (valued £700 in mint condition) among the Top 40 Worldwide Springsteen Rarities, an featured article published in the number 329 issue (November 2006) of the Record Collector magazine. Finally, using the catalog number as keyword, a quick database search on popsike.com showed three results of recent eBay auctions, with the final prices of US $1,126 (September 2014), $1,000 (January 2015), and $720 (March 2016).

Probably, only another "AE7"-prefixed record to be found on Springsteen's U.S. 7" catalog is Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (live) (same track on the other side; US Columbia AE7 1332) released in 1981 for promotion of IN HARMONY 2, a charity album by various artists (US Columbia AL 37641).

The main reason why this mediocre-looking 7" disc is among the most highly sought-after 7" is straightforwardly simple: its scarcity just like the cases of regular stock single release copies for Blinded By The Light and Spirit In The Night/For You (US Columbia 4-45864). As Springsteen himself reminisces in his recent autobiography, back then, he received little support from the Columbia Records for the promotion of his second album, THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE (US Columbia KC 32432), with no single-cut releases commercially (Aside from the conflict between Springsteen camp and the company, a logical reason for this was that every song on the album is lengthy with the shortest clocking in at nearly 4.5 min, which was not suitable for radio airplay).

Machine-typed matrix numbers on Sides 1 (upper) and 2 (lower).
Columbia's prefix "ZSM" refers to 7" EP stereo 33⅓ rpm.

Such an uncooperative stance of the company towards him was also reflected in this white label 7". Although the exact pressing number is unknown, the circulating copy number seems to be quite small even as promo. It's certainly rarer than the white-label promo mono/stereo version for the aforementioned two single cuts from the debut album, or any of the three Playback 7" EP series featuring Springsteen's track (disc alone; a complete set including a custom sleeve, a relevant booklet, and a questionnaire card, all packed in an original mailing envelope, is equally hard to find, too). Moreover, the only song (i.e. Rosalita) taken from the then new album was probably not regarded as the main track of this promo release because it is not featured on the front side (Side 1) but put away onto the flip side.

Semi-translucency verifies that styrene is
the material used for making a given 7" disc,
provided that it is a U.S. Columbia release.

In addition to the scarce copy number, the unique disc format also makes it highly collectible. It is an EP that plays at 33⅓ rpm and contains more than two tracks exclusive to Springsteen's, which is rare in his 7" discography. Other similar official records I can think of are impossibly rare, two Bolivia-only releases of 4-track EPs, each consisting of BORN IN THE U.S.A. (CBS 10445) or TUNNEL OF LOVE (CBS 10522) excerpts, as well as a South African-only LIVE/1975-85 4-track EP (CBS SSC 6011). Back in early years of collecting, I was once offered a copy at a cost around $100, which I declined for the reason I don't exactly remember. Probably because it was still big bucks for a university student, and because early in my collecting career, I was far more getting into bootlegs than official records. Later, I obtained a copy at a similar expense that was a little bit worn as shown here, even though still playable with no skipping on my turntable. Finally, for your information, like most of the regular 7" discs from the U.S. Columbia labels, this EP is not a vinyl pressing but a styrene-molded disc (i.e. It is translucent red when held against strong light; Check a series of blog posts starting from here for vinyl vs. styrene topics). So, be cautious that overplayed copies must have many scratches/scuffs and sound really bad!

Collecting log: DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN Japanese white label LP with an extremely rare promotional booklet (concluded)

In my collection, one of the Japan-pressed vinyls for DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (CBS/SONY 25AP 1000) seems to comprise an almost complete (or full) set of promotional items. This particular copy comes with a white label promo (WLP) LP, two separately stapled fact sheets, and the promotional 20-page booklet, as well as the regular inclusions (i.e., a printed inner sleeve, a lyric sheet, and the Japan-only fold-out insert featuring liner notes by Japanese critics and the translation of lyrics into Japanese). Here, most widely circulated promotional releases of the fourth album are WLP without any other promo addition. Those with fact sheet(s) or advertising flyer(s) are less frequently found, but often appear on online auction or used record websites. However, I dare say that the WLP copies accompanied with the promo-only booklet are impossibly hard to come across.

Two fact sheets: left, 5-gape; right, 7-page.

Two stapled, xerox-copied fact sheets are 5- and 7-page long, entitled "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SPRING BACK" and "LAST AMERICAN HERO FROM ASBURY PARK N.J.: BRUCE THE BOSS SPRINGSTEEN ON THE STREET AGAIN", respectively. The former sheet features promotional statement about the album and music, credits, track-listing, and the discography. The latter, whose title coincides with the famous promo-only compilation album (CBS/SONY YAPC 95) released simultaneously with the DARKNESS album, prints the biography and translation of the article "Springsteen Resprung" from an issue (June 5th) of Newsweek in 1978. On the last page, this fact sheet also briefly mentions THUNDER ROAD, the seminal and first-ever fanzine devoted to Springsteen although it was an unofficial publication.

Many of the live snapshots, that are found on the Japanese THE RIVER tri-folded insert, already appear on the DARKNESS promo booklet two years before the release of this double album.

The signature on the rear cover of the booklet is identical to that
found on the Japan-only foldout insert for the second (and later)
pressing of the second album (CBS/SONY SOPO-125 and 25AP 1273;
shown is a promo copy with the former catalog number).

The booklet contains album and concert reviews, photos (all black & white except front and rear covers), discography, and essays on the young talent and his music, by a total of eight contemporary popular/rock music critics in Japan (among whom most famous is probably Yoichi Shibuya, also known as Founder of Rockin'On, a leading Japanese magazine on rock and popular music). Some of these critics also contribute to liner notes of the past and (then) future albums released in Japan. Photographs mainly consist of various on-stage shots which later appear on the fold-out insert exclusive to the Japanese pressing of THE RIVER (CBS/ SONY 40AP 1960-1). Then I've known that these live footage are actually from 1976-1977, contrary to my long (and wrong) thoughts that these snapshots were taken during the DARKNESS tour just because they are featured on the Japanese insert of the then next album (i.e. THE RIVER).

Pages 18 and 19 list short excerpts of articles from various magazines
(all other pages are written in Japanese)

Oddly, to the best of my knowledge, this booklet has not been documented or even mentioned anywhere in the relevant literature, such as Blinded By The Light (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London) and early issues of the Backstreets magazine (e.g., the issue no. 10 features a focus article on Japanese collectibles). In my opinion, this fact further strengthens its extreme scarcity because there's no room for the fake or bogus with this printed collectible. Moreover, I think that the existence of this promo-only booklet (and the simultaneous promo-only release of the custom compilation album) give evidence of the high degree of expectations back then the record company (CBS/SONY Japan) had on this young rocker, even though he had a three-year blank for releasing new recordings and gained (if any) only minor popularity here in the Far East.

Collecting log: TOP 3 collectible acquisitions in 2015

Ready to send out 2015?  Near the close to another year, I have looked over the collectibles that were acquired this year, just like I did in the final blog last year. Here is the TOP 3 collectible acquisition in 2015, as selected by my own subjective criteria.


THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE (US Columbia KC 32432)

The original US copy with the catalog number prefix "KC" used for promotion.
Behind is the second issue (PC 32432) with the album title printed in yellow.
Inset: Red promo stamp on the rear sleeve.

For Springsteen's first and second LP releases, no white-label promotional copies are known to exist concerning the US pressing. So, regular copies with red Columbia stock labels are issued for promotional purposes. These copies are housed in regular picture sleeves with a timing strip pasted over the front and a gold or red "Demonstration Not For Sale" indication stamped on the rear. This is a rare promo copy additionally accompanied by a 10-page original copy of song lyrics from Laurel Canyon Music, Ltd.

Machine-typed matrix numbers in dead wax on both sides end with the suffix
1A/1A, denoting this being the very first, original pressing (shown is Side A)

Stapled lyric transcription sheets credited by Laurel Canyon Music are often included in test pressing and early promo packages of the first three albums, with the most known example being the BORN TO RUN script cover set and another being GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, N. J. test pressing LP. Notably, the regular pressing of the second album is the only Springsteen LP that has been issued without the printed lyrics for the featured songs (except for the Japanese release). Couldn't this fact make the promo THE WILD lyric sheets rarer and more valuable than the other two?

Closing up the bottom part of the lyric sheet for Wild Billy's Circus Story with Laurel Canyon music credits

THE PITMAN FAMILY OF MUSIC: Our First 20 Years CBS Records 1960-1980 (US CBS P 15663)

The sleeve is in still shrink-wrapped nice condition.
By the way, why is Backstreets chosen among many others?
(not complaining but just wondering)

This very scarce promotion-only LP is an in-house release of CBS Records in 1980, as a given-away gift only to employees of the company's pressing plant in Pitman, New Jersey, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the plant. The disc features snippets of songs from dozens of CBS artists, including Springsteen. Although his contribution is only a short segment of Backstreets just before ending outro on Side 2 of the LP, I really enjoy listening to an overwhelming array of old hits on the record (the complete track info and more images are available at Bruce Springsteen Lyrics).

Matrix number on the black vinyl edition is
not hand-etched, but machine-stamped
(shown is that on Side 1)

I obtained it on eBay auction at a fairly low bid amount (just below $14) because this copy is missing an accompanying 16-page booklet. Also issued as an extremely rare picture disc (which I don't own). According to this page ("Searching For A Gem" Bob Dylan's Officially Released Rarities and Obscurities), the matrix numbers on trail-off areas of both sides (Side 1, AS 15663-1A; Side 2, BS 15663-1A) are hand-etched on the black vinyl while stamped on the picture disc. However, found on my copy of black vinyl are the stamped ones.

One Step Up (US Columbia CSK 1031)

One Step Up US promo-only 5" and 3" CDs, probably the earliest
among all the custom promo-only CD releases of Bruce Springsteen

This advanced CD single of my favorite TUNNEL OF LOVE tune was released in the US, probably in early 1988. To my knowledge, the item represents Springsteen's first-ever release of a custom promotion-only 5-inch CD (someone, please correct me if I'm wrong). Maybe the first ever promotion-only CD in any format among his entire catalog, or second only to the equally tough-to-find One Step Up / Roulette promotion-only 3-inch CD single (US Columbia 38K 7726). Below is a partial scanned image from the info sheet for CD RARITIES AUCTION listing these CD singles held by BACKSTREETS Records sometime in the summer of 1989.

An excerpt from an auction list of Backstreets Records issued in 1989

As you read, this promo CD5 was the most highly rated among collectible CDs on the auction list ("The single rarest Bruce CBS promo - many people at first denied that this existed"). This was partly because back then (roughly three decades ago!), CD was a newly developed, hot vehicle for music distribution that attracted many collectors. So, demand was quite high, particularly for custom promotion-only releases like this, which were usually available in extremely limited quantities. Using the same front sleeve as the US 7" vinyl and European CD3 singles, at first glance, this early promo CD5 looks as if it is a regular commercial copy (though no such CD copies exist). It is not ranked in the top 40 worldwide Springsteen rarities featured in the November 2006 issue of Record Collector (No. 329). Certainly, however, consistently hard to come by and so still highly collectible in my opinion, although I don't exactly know the current value. Luckily, to my surprise, this particular copy was found buried in a pile of used CDs at a second-hand record store. Priced at 3,500 JPY (= US $29). As pictured above, this is the second copy in my collection. Probably, the most exciting outcome of collectible hunting in 2015 (though not a vinyl disc but a CD).

All the best in the New Year 2016!

THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE Japanese promo-stamped LP with a biography

Besides the white label promotional (WLP) LP with a typographical error on the Obi, there is another collectible for the first pressing vinyl copy of the Japanese issue of THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE (SOPL-239). In Springsteen's world discography featured in Blinded By The Light (P. Humphries and C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus Publishing), if you check the Records and promotion only items of interest section of Japanese releases, you'll find the description for the second album, "Promotion copies came with a 5 page biography." I own two copies of the WLP (one with the Obi and the other missing it); however, neither of which came with the biography. So, I've been wondering if the biography was lost from these copies as they are second-handed. Or did it really come originally with the WLP copies?

A copy of WLP with a typo-Obi (left) and a promo-stamped regular copy with a 4-page fold-out booklet (center & right)

Then, I came across a used vinyl copy of the album with a booklet that includes the biography. It is not a 5-page but a 4-page, A4-sized fold-out booklet and the record label is not WLP but a regular one with a "SAMPLE - NOT FOR SALE" stamp on Side A only (as pictured above). I am not confidently sure if this particular copy with the booklet indeed corresponds to what is mentioned in the Blinded By The Light book, but I guess it is likely. In addition to the biography, the booklet is full of information including the introduction to the man and his music, the second album reviews taken from Billboard, Cash Box and Real World (in both original English description and its Japanese translation), and a concert review from Cash Box on a performance at Max’s Kansas City, NYC (again, both in English and Japanese).

Album discography on the bottom of the last page

The album discography is also featured in the booklet although back then there were only two official releases; at that point, the first album was not released yet in Japan. So, neither "Japanese" title nor domestic catalog number (CBS/Sony SOPL-248) is given and the US catalog number (Columbia KC 31903) is cited instead.

Advanced WLP LPs released in Japan were often accompanied with advertised flyers and xeroxed copies of fact sheets that were stapled together. Promo booklets, however, rarely occurred especially in the vinyl era (On the other hand, various booklets have been published coincidentally with the CD releases for the albums such as THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD, GREATEST HITS, THE RISING and a series of the paper sleeve reissues). As far as I know, there is only one other example of a promo booklet that has been issued for the vinyl release. Extremely limited numbers of the WLP copies of DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (25AP1000; first pressing with a colorful vertical Obi) seem to have come with a gorgeous 20-page booklet, which will be featured on this blog sometime in a future.

THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE Japanese white label promo LP: A typo on the Obi

What's wrong with this cover?
(Japanese white label promo copy)

THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE, Springsteen's second album originally released in the US in November 1973, is his debut album in Japan that is issued in March 1974, as can be known by the catalog number (CBS/SONY SOPL-239) which precedes that assigned to the initial copies of the first album GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, N.J. pressed in Japan (CBS/SONY SOPL-248). This is a fact well known, but there is a less known fact that the album could have been released at least one month earlier (i.e., February, 1974) than the actual release date. Why?  Take a look at the album cover pictured left, which explains the reason of the delayed commercial release.

A proofread error on the obi of the white
label promo LP (right) has been corrected
for the commercial release (left).

Shown above is the front sleeve of the white label promotional copy for the Japanese LP with the original vertical Obi. If you check the sleeve carefully, you may notice that something is wrong on the vertical strip — that is, there is a typographical error on the Obi which misprints the first two of the large, red-inked Japanese characters or Kanji, in a reverse order (which, of course, does not make any sense). For those who do not understand or are not familiar with Japanese, the typo is easily recognized when the Obi from the advanced promo copy (on the right in the right-hand picture) is compared to that of a regular stock copy (left); the error is indicated by proofreading marks. Thus, the one-month delayed release was caused by this error which should have been corrected before the release of the advanced white promo LP.  
By the way, what does the sentence of these large fonts mean? It is a "Japanese" title given to a foreign album. In the vinyl era, it was a customary practice for Japanese record companies to provide any foreign LP/single release with a Japan-specific title because back then, the companies believed that such additional titles in Japanese would help attracting consumers to domestic releases over imports and thus promote the sales of records. However, it was impossible to modify or change the design of an LP sleeve with Japanese fonts without artist's permission, which explains at least partly why Obi strips were developed and common to most Japanese LP and 12" releases. Interestingly (and oddly enough), such a "Japanese" title did not necessarily reflect a faithful translation of the original English title, and often unrelated, questionable one was created. For Springsteen's second album, the "Japanese" title can be reverse-translated into something like "THE CRY OF YOUTH (or THE SHOUT OF YOUTH)".  Weird even to me who uses Japanese.

This "delayed release" story is officially spoken in a reminiscent essay penned by the then company staff at Music Publishers Division of CBS/SONY Japan, which is published in the vol. 5/no. 5 issue (October 1987) of the Japanese magazine SWITCH. This issue of the magazine is a special edition that features Springsteen on the cover and as the main article entitled "GREETING TO ASBURY PARK, N.J." To the best of my knowledge, the typo on the Obi strip is only found with the white label promotional copies. This fact makes the white label promo, if the typo-carrying Obi remains still retained, much rarer and more unique than the stock copies for which the Obi has been corrected.

Collecting log: Rosalita Dutch 12" vinyl (still sealed)

Including or not including the poster. That is the question.
Together with the hard-to-find 7" counterpart.

No, no, this is not a recent acquisition. I have long kept this 12" vinyl, pressed in Holland and released in 1979, under sealed condition.  There are several reasons that make this particular release special among the entire Springsteen's official records. This is the first-ever commercially available 12" vinyl under HIS name, the first-ever commercial release of the title track along with the 7" counterpart pressed in the same country (although it is already released in 1974 on the second album and on the 3-track US promo-only 7" EP), and by far the only maxi 12" single with Night from the third album. However, what makes this release so collectable is not the vinyl itself but the inclusion of the folded poster of a 1975 live stage shot. Reportedly, such copies are quite limited in number and only the early pressings come with it.

BTW, why Rosalita is issued in 1979 in Holland as both 12" and 7" singles, 5 years after  its original release in 1974, has been unclear to me. Might it coincide with the premiere in Europa on TV broadcast of the promotional video clip of the live performance at a concert in Phoenix in 1978?

A copy of the early pressing with
the poster (pic from Popsike)

I have no idea whether my sealed copy is such a major rarity or one of the relatively common old vinyl without the bonus addition. Sometime I feel the temptation to tear up the wrap-around shrink to see if the poster is inserted into the sleeve, but so far I have been able to hold it back.

Any clue as to how to distinguish "the" copy from other pressings without opening the shrink wrap?