On the 200th-anniversary blog post, plus Collecting log: recent miscellaneous purchases under COVID-19 (2022)

This year-end post marks the 200th entry I've written about my collection and started knowledge sharing in the last seven years plus four months. It might be crazy to think about what I've done: sticking around a single foreign artist peaking decades ago and blogging 200 times exclusively about his collector's items in a non-native language from the Far East island of Asia. Initially, the blog was a way to relax, forget work, stop worrying about things, and refresh my mind. I also intended to use the blog as a collecting log and memorandum to what I think and notice of the collectibles I obtained over the years (and that's why I call my blog "log"). However, doing blog things has become more than those. It is a pure joy to communicate with fellow collectors and fans worldwide. I'm very grateful to all of you for visiting, reading, and commenting. Fortunately, I have never received any negative or demotivating comments or feedback on what I wrote in this blog, which I really appreciate.

Should I open a used record shop?  These are all U.S.-pressed copies of DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TWON LP (Columbia JC 35318) I have used to conduct a comprehensive survey to decipher unusual dead-wax matrix inscriptions, such as PK, PMI, PMN, PN, PV, and PPP (see a series of blog articles here). All are cheap-second hand, though.

Recalling back to the past posts after the previous anniversary (#100 post; 05/21/2017), the most remarkable to me is a series of efforts to decode trail-off matrix numbers of the six unusual early U.S. editions of DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN LP, which are distinguished by unique dead-wax inscriptions, such as PK, PMI, PMN, PN, PV, and PPP (latest updated on 08/22/2022). This has made me re-realize how to enjoy a variety of vinyl-pressing variants of the same album (see the image above). 

According to the label and booklet printings, the two alternate takes differ in
running length (5' 43" versus 5' 35"). I have confirmed that each track plays
as indicated. Thus, the Brazilian vinyl track is longer than the Japanese CD
version (cf., The standard take clocks 5' 03"). Note that the Brazilian vinyl was
released in 1982, three years before the Japanese CD came out. It has been
pointed out that the Japanese CD runs slightly faster. Considering these, I
guess the version on the Brazilian vinyl represents the correct playing time
of this famous alternate take.

What comes up next in my mind is the unexpected finding of the Brazilian vinyl copies of NEBRASKA featuring the alternative take of My Father's House with the synthesizer coda (05/22/2019, 07/13/2019, 07/22/2019, and 03/31/2021). Commercially, the extended version of this track had long been believed to be available only on Japanese CD issues (up to the third pressing with the catalog number SRCS 7860 released in 1995). So, the Latin American LP was a total surprise to me when I played a copy of it for the first time (see the image right). Later, someone added this information to the Notes section to the relevant Discogs entry (BTW, I have received only one "I knew that" response since I posted this). I also enjoyed writing detailed reports on digging out not-commonly-known releases, such as the Compatible eXpansion (CX)-encoded, noise-reduced edition of BORN TO RUN LP (09/30/2021 and 10/08/2021; see also one of the images below).

Here are some statistics. Below are the top 10 most accessed posts for the entire period (September 8, 2014, to December 26, 2022), excluding the three index pages.

1. BORN TO RUN US pressing LP variants: Album credit variations (#79 post: July 29, 2016)
2. Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS (#14: October 24, 2014)
3. BORN TO RUN US pressing LP variants: the script cover (#26: January 25, 2015)
4. BORN TO RUN US pressing LP variants: Clarifying pressing plant-specific matrix number suffixes 1A, 1B, and 1C (#100: May 21, 2017)
5. DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Pinckneyville pressing (Pressing Plant owned by MCA Records) (#95: March 18, 2017)
6. DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Hauppauge pressing (Pressing Plant run by Keel Mfg. Corp.) (#101:  June 30, 2017)
7. Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: THIS GUNS FOR HIRE 5LP box (#67: April 23, 2016)
8. Collecting log: LAST AMERICAN HERO FROM ASBURY PARK, N.J., Japanese custom promotion-only compilation LP (#52: September 19, 2015)
9. DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Gloversville pressing (Pressing Plant owned by MCA Records) (#105: July 29, 2017)
10. Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: "E" TICKET (#11: October 12, 2014)

The 2022 miscellaneous purchase #1: I was able to find another
CX-encoded LP copy (Columbia JC 33795; the second in my
possession). This special edition is rather tough to find here
because it constitutes only a small fraction of the U.S. copies
of BORN TO RUN LP (see 09/30/2021 and 10/08/2021).

The difference is obvious compared to the access ranking data at #100 post (05/21/2017). Although previously, bootleg articles occupied four positions of the top 5, the current results show only three entries, ranked 2nd, 7th, and 10th, among the top 10. Nevertheless, these three bootleg posts have kept high popularity for long among readers and visitors. The remaining seven are three posts each from the U.S.-pressed BORN TO RUN and DARKNESS variant series, plus that on the extreme promo-LP rarity from Japan. Notably, the three BORN TO RUN U.S.-pressing articles rank higher than the other four. Does this reflect that fellow collectors find these posts useful to identify a given U.S. copy of this all-time classic LP? If so, I'd gladly continue revising and updating the information.  

Focusing on the recent posts after #100, the results of the top 5 access ranking are as follows.

1. Same as the 6th ranking above (#101 post)
2. Same as the 9th ranking above (#105)
3. Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: BORN TO BE THE BOSS original black vinyl pressing (Part 1 of 2) (#158: August 8, 2020)
4. Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: FOLLOW THAT DREAM 3LP (Part 1 of 4) (#140: October 26, 2019)
5. Collecting log: BORN IN THE U.S.A. LP ー Matrix numbers of the earliest U.S. pressing and an error copy with off-centered labels (Part 5 of 5) (#139: September 30, 2019)

While the older posts get more access, vinyl-bootleg articles remain popular. Unpredicted was the 5th-ranked entry of the blog on the regular pressings of BORN IN THE U.S.A., one of the most mediocre collectibles among many others commercially available. Maybe some regular visitors use this page just as a bookmark to access this blog site?

The 2022 miscellaneous purchase #2: Probably, the best hunting
result this year, just obtained this month. The tri-folded insert
accompanied by the latest addition (third copy in my possession),
contrary to the other two, has no handwriting of the catalog
number for the regular copy of this 3-inch CD single released
in 1992 (SONY SRDS 8226; see 05/19/2017).

Country-based statistics showed that about one-third of the total access was from the U.S. Then, Japan, the U.K., Italy, and Russia followed. The further ranking was mostly occupied by continental European countries, except for Canada, in the following order: Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Austria, and the Netherlands. It is of interest to me that the access numbers from Japan and Russia were unexpectedly ranked high because neither country entered the top 10 in the previous survey (05/21/2017). I even wrote in the last post (12/03/2022) that the Japanese are an apparent minority among readers/visitors of this blog (based on the ultra-scarce  number of comments and PM I received), which turned out to be untrue. So, I must revise my perception.

The 2022 miscellaneous purchase #3: A promo-only double CD set 
from Japan called CBS/SONY HOT TRACKS COLLECTION 1988: Nov.
Dec. 1988 (XDDP 93021-2). This rare 32-track compilation features
Chimes Of Freedom (live) from Stockholm (Disc 2/Track 14) and
contains two inserts in a folded full-color cardboard sleeve.

As for this year's miscellaneous purchases that might call attention from collectors, check out three collectibles (LP, CD single, and CD album) as found on this page. Two (purchases #1 and #2) of these have already been described in detail in the past blog posts (09/30/2021 and  05/19/2017). The remaining #3 purchase is yet another promotion-only CD sampler from CBS/SONY Japan containing  one track from the Boss, just like those introduced in the previous "miscellaneous" series (11/12/2020 and 10/27/2021).

Finally, as mention at the beginning, this post is the last to conclude the blog in 2022. May the new year bring you peace, joy, and happiness.

HUMAN TOUCH / LUCKY TOWN Japanese collectibles (not on vinyl): On the 25th anniversary of the twin album releases (concluded)

Part of my cassette collection. On the 5th from the right is 
the one I consider the most unique and rarest among these.

This is the final part on the Japanese Top 3 collectibles concerning HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN, following two blogs reporting the second- and third-ranking items posted last May. In my personal view, top on the list is an item that may be questionable to some collectors for its authenticity. That is again a seldom seen cassette tape issued by Sony Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., for promotion of the twin album a few months after the release. The tape captures a broadcasted live from the Hollywood Center Studios, Los Angeles, on June 5th, 1992, collectively known as "Dress Rehearsal" for the upcoming 1992-1993 world tour. The recorded performance is nothing rarity as it was aired over FM radio across the USA, and consequently, has been widely available in some forms including various bootleg releases. The reason why I ranked it as number one is based on the fact that the aired performance (or part of it) has never been released in any official form in any country of the world except this one, provided that it is truly a genuine Sony product.

The only known official DRESS REHEARSAL release? On the back is the lead-off article of a Japanese weekly magazine back in 1992 featuring the then-new albums and the promotion tour.
 

The cassette tape begins and ends with DJ talk and in between comprises from The Star-Spangled Banner/Born In The U.S.A. to the acoustic Hungry Heart (the best version of the song in my opinion), indicating that the source is a whole FM-radio broadcast, specifically done by radio station "95.5 KLOS" in Los Angeles which is briefly mentioned by DJ right after My Hometown. This means that unaired performances of six songs, such as the show opener Better Days and a post-broadcast performance Real World from the new albums, are not included on the tape. The sound quality is no more superior to tapes personally recorded on the air by listeners or bootleg CDs made from such recordings. Then, one may wonder if it is not an official but a fake product that is sourced from these recordings widely available. I, however, seriously consider it as a legitimate Sony product licensed for the domestic distribution. The reason is summarized mainly in the following three points:

Lucky Town album promo cassette
(not in my possession)

• As a cheap and convenient way to record music, cassette tapes had been one of the staple music media in Japan since the vinyl era. Indeed, Sony Japan had continued to use this media as a standard for promoting Springsteen's albums (at least up to DEVILS & DUST; its promotional cassette is seen on the 6th from the right in the picture on top of this page). Moreover, custom promotion-only titles have been released, such as THE "LIVE": The Legend Comes Alive, A WHOLE BUNCH OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, and 1973-1995 DIGEST (again, check the pic above). Thus, it is quite possible that the FM-sourced recording, which had (and still has) never been broadcasted in Japan, was chosen to boost the album sales because it represents a live showcase for the twin album.
• The cassette tape comes with the text-only inlay card that lists artist name, title, date, venue and track sequence in black, and generic information such as company name, logo and a "NOT FOR SALE" promo indication in cyan, on pale grey background. The cassette itself carries the generic company labels for promotional release with a "sample" or "promo" indication by the three Kanji characters, on which the artist name is printed. The overall design of the inlay card and labels on the cassette is consistent with those of the promotional cassettes for Human Touch c/w Better Days single and for the respective albums (see pictures). The same black cassette container and clear plastic cassette holder case (with “Made in Japan” mark) are used for Dress Rehearsal and Human/Lucky single release tapes, and probably so for the album promo cassettes (which I don't own; see the picture above).
• Although cheap pirate cassettes have been widely in circulation especially in Asian countries (excluding Japan), this format is generally not worth making fake or bogus for valued items, unless highly collectable targets exist to be counterfeited. I don't think that the Dress Rehearsal tape deserves such a target. Probably, the only known example is the cassette version of the soundtrack for the Israeli movie "Kvish L'Lo Motzah (Dead End Street)", that counterfeits the extremely rare 3-track 12" vinyl, as mentioned on the Lost In The Flood website. 

The same company inlay card is used for these promo cassettes. There are three errors on the Dress Rehearsal tracklist: Darkness on the Edge of "the" Town, "57Channels" (And Nothin' On) and My "Home Town". Such errors often occur with Japanese releases.

Among the three points noted above, the strongest to support my conclusion is the use of official inlay sleeve and cassette labels. One potential problem on collecting Sony promo cassettes, however, is that the inlay sleeve/label design is not consistent over the years and often subject to change (for example, see the spine designs pictured on top of this page). This could cause confusion as to the authenticity of the product although, to the best of my knowledge, no fake or counterfeit is known to exist for such rare collectibles as THE "LIVE" cassette or the others. Whether genuine or bogus, this cassette is so rare that I have never seen it on any occasion, except only once when I obtained my own copy.

HUMAN TOUCH / LUCKY TOWN Japanese collectibles (not on vinyl): On the 25th anniversary of the twin album releases (continued)

The text-only sleeve is often used for advanced promo releases, especially in 
regions outside the U.S., like Japan, as any picture material is not available
or not allowed to be used when discs are ready for distribution. A combination
of two small Kanji characters in parenthesis means "planned" or "scheduled."

The second selection from what I consider the Top 3 Japanese rarities from HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN is probably the rarest and most sought-after among all of Springsteen's 3" CDs. The Boss Is Back!!: Human Touch c/w Better Days (SONY XDEP 93043) is an advanced promotion-only single release for distribution to radio stations and music critics/reviewers before it was available for regular sale in Japan on March 19, 1992. For this reason, and owing to the unique, now defunct disc format and custom-designed black & red title sleeve, this CD has become highly demanded by collectors all over the world. Back in 1992, the Backstreets magazine was (at least to me) the primary media source for collector's items, but failed to mention this "Mega Rare" promo disc on any of the issues (#39 to #44) that cover the releases of the twin albums and associated singles, and the US/Europe promotion tour during 1992-1993. This was probably because of the limited quantities released exclusively to a Far East country. Curiously, despite its rarity and popularity, this item is undervalued and placed outside the Top 40 Worldwide Springsteen Rarities that are featured in the number 329 issue (November 2006) of the Record Collector magazine (although, of course, it is fascinating and quite a useful guide to the subject and I do appreciate the effort put out by the authors).

The advanced promo shows a completely different package from the regular snap pack release. When triple-folded, the accompanying lyric/information sheet, missing from most of the circulating copies, becomes almost identical to a slimline jewel case, which is still not small enough to be set inside the plastic case. 

Wherever found in collectors' market or at auction, circulating copies are rare enough; generally, such copies are housed in a 5" plastic jewel case with the aforementioned sleeve insert. Even rarer, however, are those with a lyric/information sheet; the CD is originally accompanied with a triple-folded, pale yellow/dark indigo paper that has been lost from most copies in circulation. The fact had remained unknown even to veteran collectors until recently when I posted this somewhere on a collectors' forum four years ago (which drew the notice of the Lost In The Flood website eventually to update the relevant information there). I don't know whether all the individual copies came with this extra sheet or only the small number of copies did so. The former is more likely the case because originally, the CD must have been issued in a small limited run of probably at most 100 pressings. Luckily, early in its release year (1992), I obtained one copy, then another a couple of years later, both in the intact form with the sleeve and folded sheet.
 

It's a long outdated format. Left, promo-only release; right, commercial release. In contrast to packaging, both CDs share essentially the same writing except for catalog number, playing time, and promo notification.

Hand-written on the promo sheet is the catalog number for the regular
3" CD single (SONY SRDS-8226), as printed on the flip side of the
snap pack sleeve on a white background.

Then, you may wonder why most of the copies lose this paper sheet. The sheet size measures approximately 12.4 cm x 42.2 cm, which hardly fits inside the slimline jewel case even in a tri-folded state. So, as you can see in the photo image above, each sheet included in my copies has been further folded in order, probably, to try to put it inside the case. I guess because of this inconvenience, most of these sheets were thrown away at radio stations or kept separately from the jewel case holding the CD. It features the lyrics of the two tracks in both English and Japanese translation, the track list and credits for each album with the front sleeve picture, and a live shot from the 1984-85 tour. There are four short notes in Japanese regarding the forthcoming tour, which were unconfirmed leads back then and have turned out to be mostly incorrect, as translated below:

• The showcase live is planned for Europe around May.
• The tour would begin this summer in the U.S. and then Europe.
• Rumors have it that there would be a major concert in Central Park.
• The Japanese concerts are also planned, possibly the next year or after.

Nowadays, the copies with this folded sheet are quite difficult to find even here. I have not seen these copies in the complete form or missing the sheet in the domestic market and auction for a long time.

HUMAN TOUCH / LUCKY TOWN Japanese collectibles (not on vinyl): On the 25th anniversary of the twin album releases

This year marks the 25th anniversary of HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN, simultaneously released here in Japan on April 8th, 1992 (about a week behind the US release date). I remember that his new moves (recording without the E Street Band and touring with "the other" band) were highly criticized by many, especially those who saw themselves as old-guard and long-time fans. In this regard, I was rather in a minority because several of the performances they played during 1992-1993 were (and still are) my favorites, including uptempo rocking Atlantic City (as mentioned before), the 1992 version of If I Should Fall Behind performed in the original folk-rock arrangement, and the 1993 rendition of Lucky Town with the extended guitar outro. Moreover, I was in the audience at the Madison Square Garden show on June 26th, 1993, one of the two benefit concerts along with the Meadowlands show right after the completion of the HT/LT tour, which makes these albums something special to me. I well remember a spontaneous audience sing-along on Bobby Jean without Bruce's vocal as he failed to grip and dropped a handheld microphone shortly after singing the first line of this penultimate encore song. Having recognized the audience singing, he refrained from resuming to sing immediately and let the audience sing further for the whole first verse, a memorable incident of the night (bootlegged on an excellent NEW YORK CITY NIGHT CD released by Crystal Cat Records). The MSG concert has been much better known for another incident: Terence Trent D'Arby, one of the special guests, got booed by a certain fraction of the audience, against whom Bruce expressed his fury. Thus, this concert is often referred to as the "Rude Motherfucker Show," quoting what he spitted out on stage.

HUMAN TOUCH/LUCKY TOWN, for the first time, delivers a variety of promo-only and
limited edition CD albums of Springsteen, as noted in the text, including the gorgeous 

wooden casket set (before these, there was only one compilation promo CD entitled
THE FUTURE OF ROCK'N ROLL released in Japan). The bottom two are impossibly rare,
recalled Japanese 
regular 1999 paper sleeve copies (SONY JAPAN SRCS 9472 and 9473).

Back in the early 1990s, compact discs already became the standard medium for distributing music, which led to the release of various promotion-only CDs (pressed, not burned CD-Rs frequently used with the release of TRACKS and after that). Regarding the album format, the U.K., Sweden (two issues), Canada, and Japan have released their versions of greatest-hit type, promo-only CD compilations that differ from one another in the track listing and sleeve design. Moreover, 2,000 copies of the regular twin CDs are numbered and housed in a special wooden case to issue the promo-only package in European countries. The limited picture CD editions are also available commercially in the U.K.
 
Still, despite the rise of CD releases, LP, 12" and 7" discs continue to be manufactured in the U.S. and Europe. Sony Japan, however, has stopped pressing Springsteen's vinyl discs in any formats since the release of the 1992 twin albums. TUNNEL OF LOVE LP and One Step Up 7" single are his last vinyl discs pressed here, and disappointedly, the Japanese vinyl edition of CHAPTER & VERSE released late last year uses the European pressing and package as reported previously. So, my focus on rare Japanese collectibles from these albums is mostly limited to custom promo-only CD and cassette tape releases.

Mine is still sealed, wrapped with polyethylene plastic that has become tightly shrunk now.
The labels on the cassette are orange-colored, just like those of the promo-only LIVE cassette.

Released in 1992, A WHOLE BUNCH OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (SONY XCTS 92005) is one of my three selections on rare Japanese collectibles from this era (I don't include hastily withdrawn, regular CD copies for the 1999 miniature LP paper sleeve series because the two CDs are reissues but not released in 1992-1993). If my memory is correct, CBS/SONY, and SONY, after taking over Columbia Records, had continued to issue promotional album cassettes until the release of DEVIL & DUST in 2005, containing an identical set of tracks from each album and usually with simplified text-only paper sleeves. However, some titles come in ordinary plastic holders like multi-disc albums such as TRACKS and LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY. To my knowledge, only a few are made of custom promo-only cassettes in Japan up to 2005.

The folded insert has one side for track listing and discography, and the other for
biography and a liner note by a music critic who also pens that of NEBRASKA
(not from my copy as it is sealed; the image quality is not good).

This 12-track cassette tape certainly pales compared to another custom promo-only THE "LIVE": The Legend Comes Alive cassette at least in terms of its packaging and appearance. However, this item might appeal to collectors for some points, such as the unique track listing (different from that of the self-titled Japanese promo-only CD compilation [SONY XDDP 93084] as seen in an above image) and packaging (though a rather simple paper holder sleeve), and an accompanying folded, two-sided insert. In addition, it's a rare Japanese release. I had not seen this promo cassette in the domestic market for years until last March's Yahoo! JAPAN auction, for which someone put up a sealed copy. Beginning with a starting bid of 5,000 JPY, the auction ended with the winning bid fetching 20,500 JPY (= approximately US $180 with the exchange rate as of today) with a cumulative bid of nine.

Collecting log: 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) US 12-inch Maxi single and Supplementary Note to BORN TO RUN US pressing LP variants: unusual red labels (JC 33795) on Sep 13, 2015

Do unusual red US Columbia labels without a yellow-rim indicate
the later regular pressing around early 1990's?

Another 12-inch vinyl I bought at cheap in my recent trip to Tokyo but not mentioned on the last blog was 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) - The Remixes (Columbia 44 74416) that is issued in the US back in 1992. This Maxi single contains three variants of the title track remixed by Little Steven, plus the non-album B-side Part Man, Part Monkey that is almost regularly played in 1988 during TUNNEL OF LOVE EXPRESS Tour. I remember I first listened to this tune in 1991 through a 3-CD bootleg called SPRINGSTEEN, RAITT AND BROWNE (TCD 16, Templar Records) that was managed to get by mail order to the now-defunct Great Dane Records, Milan, Italy (Templar was a sort of sub-label of Great Dane that distributed bootleg CDs under Templar labels). The bootleg captures the famous solo acoustic performance on November 16, 1990, which is now available as an official live archive release. I also experienced the live performance back in 1993, right in this noisy remix arrangement.

For not obvious reason(s), I had not tried to get a copy of this particular release before. Maybe it was just because I had not had the opportunity to purchase it (in fact, this was the first time for me to see the real copy at shops), or just because there were no positive reasons to buy it, even though all the 4 tracks are still not available on any regular LP releases (BTW, I still wonder why the original version on the HUMAN TOUCH album was not included on this 12" single).

A major difference is the introduction of bar codes on both sides of the labels of the 1992 remix disc. I'm wondering what is meant by an inverse triangle on the left of a spindle hole. I don't know, but I guess it refers to the main side (Side 1 or Side A) because this symbol is absent on Side 2 or Side B label of each disc (shown as two smaller images vertically arranged in the middle of the panel). Can anyone confirm this?

Anyway, going back to the accommodation and taking out the disc from the sleeve, to my little surprise, I found that the record labels looked like what I called "unusual" when I mentioned about a variant pressing of the US BORN TO RUN LP (refer to the previous post on September 13, 2015). In that blog article, I wrote "Probably, a minor label variation for Columbia Records reissue series (maybe after 1980?) that is nothing to rave about, but just to record it here, for reference purposes." But back then, I was not able to narrow down when this non-common Columbia label reissue was out in the US market, because I couldn't find out any other example of this label.

Hand-etched on the dead wax of 57 Channels is "Precision TD",
which may indicate Cutting Engineer Tim Dennen at Precision
Mastering, Hollywood, CA (However, some others say Tony
Dawsey at Masterdisk, NYC; I don't know which is correct)

Still, I don't know exactly when the US Columbia has changed the label design or introduced this non-familiar version of the label to LP and 12" discs. As far as Springsteen titles are concerned, the regular red labels with a yellow COLUMBIA rim are used up to Chimes Of Freedom 12" EP that is released in 1988, but both HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN, the 1992 twin album, employ custom-designed labels. Although the detailed information still remains to be obtained, it is at least now clear that that particular copy of BORN TO RUN LP is one of the very late regular releases, most likely pressed just before 1990 or shortly after.