Just happy to be able to see the official release of 1979 NO NUKES footage!

My NO NUKES collectibles. Check four consecutive posts (04/25/2019 to 05/12/2019) on vinyl collectibles and another post (11/12/2020) on the laser disc. A white die-cut sleeve release on the lower row, second from the right, is a promotion-only interview disc titled MUSE VIEWS (Musicians United for Safe Energy, Inc. PROMO 12-1-79), although it does not feature Springsteen. I don't own the physical CD release of The Live Archive series from Nugs.net.

For me, 2021 had started with high anticipation for the official release of the two-night footage from the NO NUKES concerts in 1979 ever since I saw the promotional video clip for Letter To You  (see 11/12/2020). Fortunately, the year ended with what I anticipated for, although I craved the full shows rather than the excerpts from both nights. Old-timers know that before MTV's launch in the early 1980s and the success of BORN IN THE U.S.A., how scarce it was to have opportunities to watch his live performances on television that was the primary visual media, especially outside the U.S. (e.g., Even the three official tracks from the NO NUKES movie were rarely aired here). 

A flyer for the "No Nukes" movie scheduled for screening in Tokyo,
from 7th September to 4th October 2001, at Shibuya Cine Palace
(which ceased operations in 2018).

Back then, I managed to obtain famous Largo 1978 and 1980 video cassettes and used to watch these bootlegged tapes over and over in a video booth at University Library (as VHS players were still luxury for poor students to purchase). Consequently, for better or worse, what is captured on the "Largo" tapes has set the standard live footage of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to me. Because of this, honestly, I had never been obsessed with any official live video/DVD/BD releases since his first ones without and with the E Street Band (i.e., IN CONCERT/MTV UNPLUGGED and LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY, respectively), until 1975's, 1978's, and 1980's tour concerts became available in three respective anniversary box sets for the three classic albums, BORN TO RUN, DARKNESS, and THE RIVER. 

Another long-awaited purchase: a recently purchased ultrasonic
vinyl-record cleaner (model no. HG01, HumminGuru, Hong Kong)
ran fully during the winter holidays. The photo shows the washing

 operation of a Brazilian copy for the 1985 pressing of NEBRASKA
LP, the latest acquisition to examine whether or not the reissue
still carries the alternate version of My Father's House, just like
the first pressing released in 1982 (see 07/22/2019).

As is always the case with official releases, THE LEGENDARY 1979 NO NUKES CONCERTS has been critically analyzed and reviewed for overdubs, editing, or audio/visual sync issues by audiophiles, collectors, or die-hard fans. In fact, the substantial editing and overdubbing have already been known for years by comparing the officially released tracks from the soundtrack album (ASYLUM ML 801 for the U.S. LP issued in late 1979) with the circulating audience recordings, bootleg video clips uploaded on YouTube, or recent Live Archive release. Folks, forget about all these criticisms (although those kinds usually interest me a lot) and enjoy it as it is. I'm truly happy to be able to view the extraordinary performance during his peak period with full of energy, especially more than four decades after the first listening experience to the soundtrack version of Devil With The Blue Dress Medley on the radio when I was just a high school boy (see 04/25/2019). 

BTW, does anyone know what Bruce is doing near the audience during the rather extended bridge between Devil ... and Rave On on the first-night stage? The scene is viewable right before he kicks off the latter song (Note that the official release inserts Quarter To Three from the second night between the two tracks). Just curious.

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: CHAPTER & VERSE 2LP Japanese edition. A real disappointing release, speaking collector-wise

The Japanese edition is found out to be just a simple repackage of the European release, additionally reproducing the rear sleeve as a slick insert for Japanese credits and information (see the enlarged image of the portion below). Note that vinyl discs are not originally protected by frosted inner plastic poly bags. Including such poly bags was normal for conventional vinyl discs released in Japan, though.

Confused by description. As opposed to what the sticker says
in English, the vinyl discs never look multi-colored. On the last  
line, however, it also says "amber-colored record" in Japanese.

In Japan, TUNNEL OF LOVE was Bruce Springsteen's last album released on vinyl, and in the 29 years since then, no vinyl albums have been pressed here under his name. Last September, Sony Music Japan International (SMJI) announced that the company would release the vinyl edition of the latest album CHAPTER & VERSE for the domestic market on December 7th, 2016. The advertisement said that the LP discs would be issued on "Multi Color Vinyl" and limited to 1,000 copies. Unfortunately, the vinyls are not pressed domestically but imported from Europe, and priced considerably high as a double-disc set [6,480 JPY (including 8% consumption tax) = US $57.59 as of today's exchange rate]. As a vinyl collector, however, I had high expectations on this release as something special because it was a Japanese production famous for careful work and because of the first vinyl LP release here in almost three decades.

Album credits on the slick insert of the Japanese release (upper) and on the actual rear sleeve originally manufactured in Europe (lower).

There is a Japanese blog written by an anonymous SMJI's staff who always provides up-to-date information on currently on-going projects he is involved in. According to him, the export to Japan was delayed due to recent high demands for pressing vinyl discs at an European pressing plant (at GZ-Media in Czech Republic, specifically; thanks Eddy for the info) that was responsible for supplying these records to Japan. Therefore, the release here was postponed to two weeks behind the original date slated for early December. Interestingly, he blogged that they (SMJI's staff) didn't know what the vinyl discs looked like until they saw the actual LPs, meaning that the situation got out of their control when it came to pressing vinyls. This may explain the contradictory description regarding vinyl color as found on the company's advertisement on various media and on the golden sticker on the front sleeve [i.e. multi color vinyl (written in English) versus amber-colored record (in Japanese)]. He also mentioned on the blog that, owing to the defective discs contained in the imported lot, the limited copy number must be less than 1,000 although the exact number was not revealed. Anyway, I have received two copies of this expected release right on the rescheduled date (December 21st), which was pre-ordered on last September from Amazon (with no discount).

On the top side of the Obi, there is a small misprint of
the catalog number "SIJP 29-3" (correctly "SIJP 29-30").

Frankly, what I saw was disappointing, to say the least. My point is that this new release lacks what has made Japanese LP releases so reputable over the years. It does have an Obi and booklet. However, I never thought that the whole package was imported including the sleeve that prints the foreign label name (Columbia), catalog number (88985370831) and album credits. So, in order to rectify these, what SMJI did was to recreate the rear sleeve as a slick insert to put the relevant Japanese information on it, such as the domestic catalog number (SIJP 29-30), bar code, retail price (6,000 JPY plus tax) and so on. You cannot know that it's a Japanese LP from the sleeve spine if you stock it on the record shelf because the spine credits remain unmodified, leaving the original EU catalog number and label name. As such, in my opinion, the result looks totally sloppy compared to past "Made In Japan" LPs of Springsteen, even though the sleeve comes with an Obi and a gold sticker glued on front. The Japan-exclusive 8-page booklet features mainly lyrics translation into Japanese and track-to-track liner notes, which are nothing special just reprinted from the CD releases, with no pictures except album discography on the last page. Another shortcoming is, as already mentioned above, that the vinyl discs are certainly colored (amber or golden brown) but never look multi-colored as announced and advertised ("marble colored" would be more appropriate). If it had been done so, to the best of my knowledge, this could have been the first ever official multi-colored vinyl release (In comparison, there are many bootleg releases pressed on multi-colored vinyl). In conclusion, I dare say that this is nothing but a rip-off for vinyl collectors, because of the fixed retail price which is greedy expensive, and because I can see no real merit in purchasing this release compared to the overseas counterparts.

Thoughts on My Father's House on NEBRASKA LP (Part 3 of 4)

Alternate take for Stolen Car first appeared on a bootleg LP in the
mid-1980s (although the bootleggers used to call it Son You May Kiss
 The Bride) and then was officially released on TRACKS in 1998. The
famous John Hammond audition tapes recorded in 1972 have also been
circulated on various bootlegs (for example, see here) and the
advanced promo 3-track CD-R (Gateway Mastering Studios, CD PRO)
for the 4-CD compilation box is the first official release featuring
the acoustic demo of Growin' Up.

During the past 43-year career of recording and touring, Springsteen has not only released an incredible number of his compositions, but also re-released many original songs in the form of acoustic demo, alternate mix, different arrangement or live rendition, on several compilation LP, EP or live albums. As far as studio recording goes on album format, if my memory is correct, it got all started in 1998 with the release of TRACKS 4-CD box (US Columbia CXK 69475) on which he purposely included for the first time alternate versions to some songs that are already made on the previously released original albums or the flip side of some 7" singles, such as Growin' Up, Stolen Car and Stand On It just to mention a few. In this respect, the long version of My Father's House, that is commercially available only on the CD version of NEBRASKA pressed in Japan between 1985 and 1995, is a unique exception among his alternate tracks because it was released accidentally or inadvertently, as shortly introduced in Part 1 of this series.

Found on the dead wax of the NEBRASKA LP pressed in the US and
other countries like Holland is the initials "D.K." for Dennis King
who cut the final metal master at the Atlantic Records studios.

Back in 1982 before the CD release, this alternate track was cut on the acetate and made on the vinyl test pressing during the post-recording/manufacturing processes of NEBRASKA LP. These pre-release discs have been circulated in collectors' markets (see Part 2), which are the proof that this track had almost been made on the final LP. So, like other serious collectors, I was also seeking the possibility if the regular vinyl copies were out there that contained the alternate My Father's House. By far, no such vinyl pressings are known to exist on the world in any commercially released form, at least to the best of my knowledge. Interestingly, however, some of the regular LP from several countries represent another probable proof that the alternate take almost ended up on the album. Such LP copies mistakenly indicate the length of My Father's House as 5' 43" instead of 5' 03" on the Side 2 record label. This small, but implicative printing error may be known for years among vinyl collectors or NEBRASKA freaks, as the album was available more than three decades ago. But to my shame, I hadn't been aware of this until very recently.

The misprinted Side 2 label of the regular U.K. pressing lists the incorrect track time for My Father's House as 5' 43" (left). Although the vinyl test pressing does not indicate the track length anywhere on the record label or on the sleeve (right), comparison of the matrix numbers with the regular copy clearly shows that it does not feature the alternate take.

On this late March, I received a PM from a fellow collector in the U.K. and we had some nice talk and exchanged collector-wise info on NEBRASKA LP. During the communication with him, he sent me scanned images for the record labels including those of the U.K. pressing, which led to my utterly belated finding on the misprint (see the picture above; thanks D.R. for bringing this to my attention!). Many years ago, I obtained a test pressing copy for the U.K. album, back then hoping much for the inclusion of the alternate take of My Father's House. However, this test pressing was found to contain the common regular take, and in fact, it shared the same hand-etched matrix numbers ("CBS 25100-B3" on Side 2) with the regular copy I own. So, all the test pressings do not necessarily contain the alternate version of the track, and I guess the US test pressing is probably the only available source for the long version on the vinyl format.

Needless to say, this prompted me to check five regular US copies for this LP I own (three copies for the earlier catalog number TC 38358 and two copies for later QC 38358, though both prefix codes refer to the list price of $8.98), and I found that one of the TC 38358 copies indeed had the same printing error the U.K. copy has made (see the image below). In addition, even though the differences are tiny, the track lengths for Used Cars and Reason To Believe do not match those on the Side 2 label of the other four copies.

One US copy with the catalog number prefix "TC" carries the Side 2 misprint (upper left) while the other two "TC" copies in my possession do not (upper right; only one is shown). The former, with a gold promo stamp on the rear sleeve (seen on top of the lower left image), is likely to be pressed at Pitman Pressing Plant in NJ, because back then the matrix code suffixes A/B was assigned to this pressing factory. On the other hand, the matrix inscription "G!" indicates the latter from the Columbia Pressing Plant in Carrollton, GA. This copy also comes in the promo sleeve but the ”TC" prefix on the spine is overlaid with a "QC" semi-transparent sticker (middle in the lower left image). The label of a "QC" copy lists the track time correctly (lower right).

This particular copy is considered to be an early pressing based on the earlier catalog number prefix "TC", a gold promo stamp on the rear sleeve (though the labels are red; probably no white label promo exists for the US pressing, see here on this blog), and the matrix numbers (with the suffixes 1A and 2B on Sides 1 and 2, respectively). The printing error on the US LP label seems to be specific to pressing plant because, according to matrix numbers, the misprint version (TC 38358) came from Pitman, NJ, whereas the remaining four (both TC and QC 38358) from Carrollton, GA. However, this is not conclusive and more copies need to be examined.

By the way, It is said that no US copies have been circulating with the matrix suffix 1B (I don't remember the source; maybe from one of the NEBRASKA-related threads from STEVE HOFFMAN MUSIC FORUM ?), and I guess 1D, 1F and 1H as well that are all probably to be assigned to Side 2. Provided that this is true, I enjoy thinking on the possibility that the master disc with the matrix suffix 1B (or any of the other equivalents) originally featured the alternate take of My Father's House but was ultimately rejected as the final master and abandoned. Such a scenario could explain why neither promo nor regular pressing with this earliest suffix code ever surfaces.
— To be continued.