Collecting log: My Lucky Day (when I happened to get a rare sample record)

In Japan, Brilliant Disguise, the first single off the album TUNNEL OF LOVE in 1987, was released twice commercially as a 7" format: one as a standard two-track disc (backed w/ Lucky Man) and another as a low-budget, one-track reissue (CBS SONY 07SP 1070 and 04SP 1075, respectively). To boost the sale of these singles and the album, CBS/SONY distributed three promo/sample 7" counterparts (the same catalog numbers as aforementioned and XDSP 93096). Two of them have become highly sought-after collectibles, one solely for its rarity (center; this post) and another not only for its scarcity but also for the unique promotion-only sleeve design (left; see also 11/20/2016).

No, no, this rather short post is not about a track commercially released online as the second single from WORKING ON A DREAM, an album released in 2009 with mixed reviews (BTW, I own only a few collectibles from this album). Since the demise of the Coronavirus pandemic, I have been able to visit a few second-hand record stores in my local area regularly (about once every month). Obviously, net auctions and online shopping were not enough to enjoy hunting vinyl records and satisfy my interest and inquiring mind as a collector. What was lacking was an exciting and exceptional moment to visit a store onsite, pick up a vinyl record, and, luckily, find an unexpected bargain at a low price.

"2024-04-04 (April 4, 2024; see the receipt)" was my lucky day.
The only distinguishing marker between promo and stock copies
of this rarity is a "Sample disc" indication in Kanji above the right-
side company logo on the SIDE A label. No Japanese words that
refer to "Promotion only" or "Not for sale" are printed on the label
and grocery bag-style sleeve.

This happened last month when I went to one of the regular stops (the same used record store mentioned previously; see 02/23/2020). Just then, the store was selling a bunch of 7" singles and EPs at a discount. Among hundreds of domestic and imported discs, I dug out two "regular release-looking" copies of Brilliant Disguise one-sided single (CBS/SONY 04SP 1075), known as a Japan-only low-budget 7" release with no B-side track. Both were sold for one coin [i.e., 500 Japanese Yen (JPY)], which equaled three bucks and a little more and cost 100 JPY higher than the retail price (400 JPY) when originally released in 1987 (cf., the standard two-sided single with Lucky Man was sold for 700 JPY). I owned only one copy of this relatively limited edition, so there was no reason to miss the opportunity to get the two in fairly nice condition at a bargain price.

Sample and regular discs share the same
matrix number machine-stamped on
SIDE A (04S0-1075A1).

Then, to my surprise, one of them was found to be a sample copy, which was only recognized by a small, boxed three-letter Kanji character printed on the A-side label (the B-side is blank). The store staff probably was unaware of this or forgot to indicate it on the price tag because tons of 7" singles were for sale back then. As I already mentioned almost nine years ago (07/12/2015), this one-sided single has significantly enhanced its value in the collector's market solely because of its extreme rarity but nothing else, like the other two sample releases [i.e., sample copies for LIVE/1975-85 5-LP box (CBS/SONY 75AP 3300-3304; see 11/23/2020) and those for the BORN IN THE U.S.A. Master Sound reissue (CBS/SONY 30AP 2878)]. Just to mention a couple of examples (according to my previous post and Popsike; here), eBay sold it for $360 in 2015 with seven bids and even fetched $620 in 2022 with 22 bids! Simply unbelievable.

Many Japanese sample 7" copies have leaked from radio
stations. Such copies are generally stamped on their sleeves
to indicate some date (e.g., the airplay date), the location of
a radio station, or both. The pictured example reads "October
19, 1987, Osaka," where the year is shown in the Japanese
Calendar as "(Showa) 62." The release date of this single in
Japan was October 10, 1987.

Certainly, the above three examples are seldom seen in the market even here and are considered to have been pressed in quite limited quantity compared to many other sample releases. However, they are generally not my prime collecting targets since there are no substantial differences from regular issues. In my view, these samples are like U.S. promo album copies in the 1980s (except those for THE RIVER; see 11/23/2016), which were, in fact, nothing but stock copies with a gold promo stamp on the rear sleeve. Just so you know, CBS/SONY released an advanced promo 7" for this first single cut from TUNNEL OF LOVE with a completely different cover artwork (CBS/SONY XDSP 93096; shown in the top image of this post), which truly deserves a top collectible among many Japanese promo pressings (for details, see 11/20/2016).

I have stopped adding new vinyl
releases to my collection after I
bought a copy of the double white
LP of GREATEST HITS (Sony
Records Int'l SIJP-1081/2), the
first Japanese vinyl pressing in 36
years since TUNNEL OF LOVE
in 1987.

Having said that, honestly, I can't deny that I'm feeling happy with the unexpected outcome of this purchase. The case was like winning the lottery, as I had no idea it was an extremely rare sample copy before purchasing it. While my collecting career has had several "lucky days" in the past (for instance, see 01/30/2020 and 05/14/2022), I'm greedy and eagerly await the next unexpected finding, which brings a unique joy and reminds me of the thrill of vinyl hunting.

P.S. By the way, I have some feelings about the recent compilation and cover albums pressed on a variety of colored vinyl, which have become a commonplace standard when it comes to releasing vinyl titles. I find them rather boring and uninspired, mainly because of the lack of new material. In addition, they are not so rare but not cheap (not even considering the recent Yen depreciation here). Surely, collecting them all in different colors is fun. Still, I can't help but think selling these kinds of duplicates is too much of a money-grabbing scheme, so I have refrained from buying any of the latest vinyl releases (and am just disappointed to know that the BORN IN THE U.S.A. 40th Anniversary Edition is slated for release as a single LP without any unreleased tracks and concert footage).

Collecting log: Born To Run / Backstreets Japanese 7-inch single with an unusual inner company sleeve (Part 2 of 2)

Although most copies of the Japanese Born To Run single came in a generic ocean-blue company bag, some accompanied a custom-designed inner advertising sleeve for the now-defunct Pan Am Airways, encouraging Japanese nationals to fly the airline company when traveling to the United States on the occasion of the bicentennial celebration in 1976.

In the late 1960s to early 1970s, CBS/SONY (Japan) Inc. partnered with Pan American Airways (ceased operations in 1991), commonly known as Pan Am, and advertized this airfreight company and its Boeing 747 jetliner (which had just entered service at that time) on their inner sleeves for some 7-inch singles. According to the relevant page on the Discogs database, such vinyl discs were released as "Air-Play Series 45 RPM" between 1969 and 1972, at least three years before Springsteen's first single, Born To Run, coupled with Backstreets (CBS/SONY SOPB 334), was issued here in 1975. However, one of my possessions came in a Pan Am color-inner sleeve, although it differed from those shown in the Discogs.

The Twin Tower was also an iconic NYC
landmark familiar to the Japanese, partly
because a Japanese American, Minoru
Yamasaki, designed the architecture (he
was the first male Japanese American
featured on the TIME magazine cover in
1963). I occasionally visited there in 1993
while staying in the States.

Because of the time-frame mismatch, I had long thought that the copy did not originally accompany the Pan Am sleeve, which supposedly replaced the original inner due to damage on it or whatever reason during circulation in the second-hand market. However, I saw another copy of Born To Run with this unique inner bag, which was auctioned online late last year. This prompted me to examine the possibility that a small fraction of Springsteen's first singles in Japan were released with such a special inner sleeve.

Through the internet search, I did find a few other examples of CBS/SONY's 7-inch singles released in 1975, whether domestic or foreign artist releases, that came with the same Pan Am sleeve used as an inner bag. So, despite the abovementioned information on Discogs, the partnership between CBS/SONY and Pan Am must have continued beyond 1972 until 1975 or further. This "1975" Pan Am sleeve emphasized on the color picture side the United States National Bicentennial in 1976 to attract Japanese tourists, the sentences of which (written in Japanese, of course) are translated as follows:

• America is waiting (printed in larger white letters on the red background on the top of the inner sleeve).
  
• The year 1976 marks the bicentennial of the founding of the United States of America. 
• Commemorative events have already begun in cities and states across the United States. 
• Please take this opportunity to visit there using Pan Am. 
• There are three flights from Tokyo to the West Coast and one to New York. 
• The available planes are jumbo jets.

By contrast, nothing is mentioned about the 200th anniversary of the National Foundation on the "1969-to-1972" sleeves, which supports the Born To Run's inner sleeve as a later version distinct from "Air-Play Series 45 RPM." 

The said Born To Run copies with the Pan Am inner sleeve probably can't be regarded as a Springsteen collectible in a true sense because that special inner was not necessarily specific to his singles but also other concurrent releases from the record company. However, it is certainly a rare variant of one of the classic Japanese items from the mid-1970s that might interest hard collectors and 7-inch mania. On the other hand, I have thus far not seen any copy of Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out / She's Th One (CBS/SONY SOPB 350) with the Pan Am inner, the second single off the third album and released early in 1976.

Finally, based on the machine-stamped stamper numbers on the trail-off space, some variations are obvious in the Japanese vinyl pressing (SIDE A, 1 A 1 to 1 A 3; SIDE B, 1 A 1 to 1 A 4). Just for your information, what I observed in my copies is summarized in the table above.

— Back to Part 1.

Collecting log: Born To Run / Backstreets Japanese 7-inch single with an unusual inner company sleeve (Part 1 of 2)

The two most unique picture inserts among the Japanese commercial 7-inch releases (CBS/SONY SOPB 334 and 07SP 511; shown are promotional issues) were reproduced for the front and rear sleeves of the extremely rare custom promotion-only 5-inch CD EP (SONY XDCS 93176) to support the sale of the GREATST HITS album in 1995 (SONY SRCS 7631).

While not a serious 7-inch collector, I've occasionally picked up domestic and imported discs, both online and on-site nearby, if I found them rare, interesting, bizarre, or cheap (such blog posts are put together here). As for such 7-inch singles, whether vinyl pressing or styrene molding (see, for example, 05/14/2016 and 02/23/2020 if interested in this topic), sleeve artwork constitutes a major part of collectors' interest. In this respect, many Japanese 7-inch are collectible, mostly because of the unique graphic treatments on picture sleeves using the Japanese writing system consisting of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.

A recent cheap purchase [The River / Ramrod Dutch pressing (CBS A 1356)] featuring
a unique front picture sleeve (not shown). Whenever I get a 7-inch import, the first thing
to do is to clean the paper sleeve bag using pencil erasers (though stains and blots are
generally impossible to remove).

Japanese singles are also uncommon to the world standard in adopting a paper insert rather than a paper bag for graphical representation. Including custom promotion-only releases, most of Springsteen's singles on the CBS/SONY label were manufactured this way from the first Born To Run (SOPB 334) in 1975 to the last One Step Up (05SP 3017) in 1988, except for the following: Hungry Heart (07SP 511, reissued in the U.S.-style sleeve with an insert of Japanese lyric translation/liner note, upon the recall of the first edition), the promotion-only Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (XDSP 93026, in the custom-designed paper bag), Glory Days (07SP 896, a tri-folded insert), I'm Goin' Down (10SP 914, cardboard gatefold sleeve with five postcards), and two issues of Brilliant Disguise (07SP 1070, a double-folded insert; 04SP 1075, the one-sided single in the grocery-style paper bag).

The Japanese descriptions (rectangled in red) on the top of the sleeve mean something
like, "A paranormal phenomenon!? The album was ranked tenth in its first appearance
on the chart. A star was born who determines the fate of the future of rock music."
BORN TO RUN debuted on the Billboard album chart at the 84th position on Sept. 13,
1975, so the "tenth" must have referred to the chart ranking in Japan, such as on the
Oricon chart.

However, what I want to talk about here is not these picture inserts or sleeves. Due to the picture inserts, Japanese 7-inch discs generally came in a company sleeve. The use of such generic sleeves might have reduced the cost of manufacturing custom paper sleeves, which were specific to each single release for graphic design. Then, were there varieties in CBS/SONY company sleeves for Springsteen single releases? This question was inspired by a recent online auction here I've seen, where the auctioned Born To Run single was NOT accompanied by the standard company sleeve.

CBS/SONY's inner company sleeves in the early to mid-1970s. One of my
Born To Run copies came in an EPIC/SONY sleeve (lower left), probably
replacing its original sleeve during circulation in the second-hand market.

Japanese copies of the Born To Run single, originally pressed in 1975, have been an all-time popular 7-inch collectible worldwide, owing to the following three features: the first-ever Japanese single cut, an eye-catching vivid green Japanese writing on the picture insert, and the exclusive coupling with Backstreets on the B-side. Charles R. Cross, the founder and original editor of the Backstreets magazine, wrote in his book Backstreets — Springsteen: The Man and His Music (1989, Harmony Books, New York) that Japan was also the only country with the sense to issue "Born to Run" backed with "Backstreets," the strongest double A-sided single since "La Bamba"/"Donna."

Generally, CBS/SONY's singles released in the mid-1970s, including Born To Run and Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (SOPB 350), came in the company sleeves with white type/logo in the ocean-blue background. Then, they were replaced by those with orange type/logo in the white background around 1977, and from Prove It All Night (06SP 232) in the case of Springsteen's 7-inch singles, which continued to be used till the end of the vinyl era in Japan in the late 1980s. Before the ocean-blue sleeves, the company had used moss-green sleeves in the early 1970s. In my collection, the white-label promotional pressing came in an ocean-blue sleeve, whereas the regular discs are housed in either ocean-blue or moss-green sleeves, with one particular exception (not the yellow EPIC/SONY sleeve shown in the image immediately above).

— Continued to Part 2.

 

Collecting log: Further digging of NO NUKES collectibles and a nothing-to-rave-about but unexpected finding (Part 3 of 4)

These four multi-vinyl radio show programs were released in the 1980s and exclusively featured Springsteen (two from Westwood One and United Station Programming radio networks each). Devil With The Blue Dress Medley (a.k.a. Detroit Medley) from NO NUKES, 1979, was included in all but A CONVERSATION WITH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (far left).

In the 1980s, Sringsteen's two live performances from the NO NUKES soundtrack LP (Asylum ML-801; see, for example, 05/04/2019) had often been featured in non-commercial vinyl pressings in the U.S., among which notable were radio show-program discs. Of the two tracks, Devil With The Blue Dress Medley (better known as Detroit Medley among fans) was the obvious choice over Stay with special guests Jackson Browne and Rosemary Butler, included in some Westwood One (WWO) radio network releases, such as a various artists compilation THE ROCK YERAS — PORTRAIT OF AN ERA: HOUR 44* and an exclusive featured program BORN IN THE USA SPECIAL* 3LP, released in 1981 and 1985, respectively. WWO already distributed A CONVERSATION WITH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (BSS 85-1), another 3-LP exclusive program similar to BITUSA SPECIAL, first in 1984 and again in 1985; however, neither Detroit Medley nor Stay was included. Meanwhile, the United Station Programming (USP) Network distributed two multi-record sets for radio airplay, both of which also contained Detroit Medley: one in November 1987, shortly after the release of TUNNEL OF LOVE (Columbia C 40999) and the other in June 1988, during the European tour for the album promotion.   *No number assigned.

So called Detroit Medley from the NO NUKES soundtrack album is found on each label side of wax shown in these images except for A CONVERSATION WITH ..., which does not feature this live track. The label design significantly differs between the two radio programs from WWO (left two), while that of the two USP sets is similar to each other (right two). All eight sides of USP's RADIO SPECIAL labels have a typo, "Weekend of June 1987," in which the broadcasted year is wrong and correctly "1988."

The first of the two USP releases was a triple-disc set with 32 songs entitled BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND STORY* (hereafter called BAND STORY), hosted by the legendary Ed Sciaky from Philly's WMMR and scheduled to air on the weekend of November 25 (Wed.) to 29 (Sun.), 1987. The second USP program, THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND RADIO SPECIAL* (abbreviated as RADIO SPECIAL onwards), came as a quadruple LP including 41 tracks, presented by Dave Charity and slated for radio broadcast on the weekend of June 24 (Fri.) to 26 (Sun.), 1988. The two programs were similar in content and largely overlapped with material, mostly from the albums up to TUNNEL OF LOVE in almost chronological order, with interviews of the man and his band members, mainly Clarence Clemons, and several other related artists such as J. Browne, inserted between tracks.  *No number assigned.

Part of cue sheets listing the Detroit Medley - Stay segment on the two USP radio
programs, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND STORY (upper)
and THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND RADIO SPECIAL 
(lower). Note that Stay is J. Browne's original recording, not taken from 
NO NUKES, though not indicated explicitly.

Both radio shows carried the same 2-track segment of Detroit Medley - Stay, starting with a short interview of Steve Van Zandt at the beginning and inserting that of J. Browne between the two (although the RADIO SPECIAL 4-LP additionally included the interview with Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs after Stay). Curiously, the two tracks were reversed in order compared to the sequence on NO NUKES. Why? That's probably because Stay in these radio shows was not taken from NO NUKES but from Browne's original album RUNNING ON EMPTY (Asylum 6E-113). So, Springsteen and the band do not play on the track. In addition to this, the BAND STORY 3-LP contained three more tracks where Springsteen was not featured mainly or not at all (Blinded By The Light covered by Manfred Mann's Earthband, This Little Girl by Gary U.S. Bonds, and You're A Friend Of Mine by the Big Man & J. Browne). Two tracks were brought into RADIO SPECIAL further, besides the four mentioned above (Sun City by the Artists United Against Apartheid and Light Of Day performed by the Barbusters).

Circus Song (live) on the USP 1988 radio program (shown is part of the front
page of the cue sheets). Including this first-ever Springsteen's official live
release makes this radio special rarer and more attractive than other radio
shows and similar compilation releases.

From my point of view, these radio show sets are very appealing and highly collectible for (1) their content volume, (2) numerous interviews spread over multiple discs, and (3) custom-designed sleeves (cf., Like the WWO releases above, radio show discs usually came without or in plain generic sleeves). Of the two, the RADIO SPECIAL 4-LP is especially interesting, as the first track to appear on the program is Circus Song (live), an early version of Wild Billy's Circus Story on the second album, taken from the performance during "A Week To Remember" concerts organized and promoted by Columbia Records, at Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, on May 1, 1973.

"A Week To Remember" was seven consecutive night concerts held in Los Angeles between April 29 and May 5, 1973. It was sponsored and organized by Columbia Records to promote the label's 23 artists, including Springsteen. His performance on May 1 (Tues.) was reviewed in 425 words in the accompanying booklet (Play:Back Issue 25). Interestingly, none of his original song titles except Spirit In The Night were correctly named or mentioned, probably because his set consisted mainly of the then-unreleased material, such as Cirus Song, Tokyo, and Thundercrack (Tokyo is still not officially available in any form). The following short description is given to the performance of Circus Song: "The carnival song with accordion and Gary on tuba was next [to Spirit in The Night], and it warmed the crowd considerably." I own four copies of this 4-track 7" EP whose matrix number is either ZSM158458-1B or -1D (shown here) on SIDE ONE, whereas all discs share the same number, ZSM158459-1B, on SIDE TWO.

When I spotted this acoustic live recording on this radio show in the early 1990s, it was a small but exciting moment for me since Circus Song was only found on Columbia Records' promotion-only Play:Back EP issued in June 1973, very early in his career (Columbia AS 52; for the Play:Back series, see 02/23/2021 and 03/01/2021). Since then, it had never been available on any form of his commercial releases until the release of the BORN TO RUN 30th-anniversary edition box in 2005 (i.e., the live footage was captured on DVD). Thus, this live track has not yet been available commercially in audio-only form since its first official release in 1973, half a century ago! Note that, although unconfirmed, the audio recording of Circus Song might have been featured on one or a few other radio show releases, too. 

— Continued to Part 4 / Back to Part 1 or Part 2.

Collecting log: Blinded By The Light U.S. 7" singles (Part 4 of 4) ー Puzzled by the booklets accompanied by the Play:Back issues

Play:Back booklet Issues 16 (left) and 17 (right). The former contains articles on Springsteen and Andy Pratt, and their songs are released together on a Play:Back 7" EP (Columbia AS 45) in January 1973. However, it is the latter (where neither artist is mentioned explicitly) that is accompanied by most record copies in circulation if they still retain a booklet.

Matrix numbers are machine-stamped
ZSM157443-1A on SIDE 1 (not shown)
and ZSM157444-1A on SIDE 2 (Bruce's
side) of the styrene-molded disc.

Columbia/Epic's Play:Back series was a unique survey attempt that allowed consumers to preview and criticize newly released or unreleased music from the labels' artists, roughly equivalent to ten to more 7" EP discs a year at $3.00. The annual subscription fee in 1973 covered only the packaging and mailing, and according to the Inflation Calculator on the DollarTimes website (https://www.dollartimes.com/), the amount had the same buying power as $18.39 in 2021. These records were delivered in the original mailing envelope containing a booklet, questionnaire, and business reply envelope to send back the subscription card that was also included. Like the Script Cover edition of BORN TO RUN, it's almost impossible to obtain the complete set nowadays. Most probably, not a small number of original owners might have faithfully filled out the questionnaires for the feedback to the company while they threw away the remaining paper stuff.

Issue 17 mentions Springsteen only in the tour/concert-
listing section called ON THE ROAD AGAIN (p. 15), as
indicated by green squircles.

The accompanying booklets (called "newsletters" in the company's advertisements; see the previous post) feature articles written by and about company's producers, recording artists, and updated information. I've seen that most circulating copies of the booklet for Blinded By The Light (with Andy Pratt's Avenging Annie as A-side) are colored Aegean or blue indigo on the front cover. As far as I checked, this 16-page booklet (Issue 17) does not mention Springsteen anywhere, except his gig info that is found on the reverse side of the rear cover (Feb. 1st to 5th at Max's Kansas City in N.Y.C., New York and 15th in Wallingford, Connecticut). Likewise, Pratt and his song get no mention at all in the print.

Another I own that came with a Blinded disc is also 16 pages in length and features a similar front sleeve in different coloring with beige background. However, the content is completely different from the aforementioned Issue 17. Interestingly, this booklet (Issue 16) says on the front, "the first issue of the new, expanded PLAYBACK," and picks up Springsteen and Pratt on a two-page spread each, with the lyrics of each song on the right side. Springsteen's article is written by Associate Editor Wayne Robins and titled as Remember Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom? Their theme song was “Hare Krishna, Harry’s chicken, Harry Truman, Harry Up!," sung to the tune of “My Sweet Lord", which is a kind of "how it got started" story. Then, the question arises as to whether this version of the booklet really and originally came with the Blinded EP (Columbia AS 45). Not sure, but I guess it might have done, based on the last sentence that concludes the article, unless it was a notice to the next issue: The song that stands out in most people’s minds the first time out is "Blinded By the Light," the lyrics of which are on the facing page, and which you can hear by putting on your Playback record.  (Note the underline made by this blogger)

In Issue 16, Springsteen's debut is covered by two pages (pp. 9 and 10) with the full lyrics for the first-ever single.

Epic Records label's AS 44 EP release, 
maybe not a Play:Back release (not in my
possession; images taken from Discogs)

Nevertheless, most circulating copies of the Play:Back's Blinded 7" accompany Issue 17, supporting that it was indeed the booklet for this single EP. If Issue 16 was not the booklet for Blinded, it must have logically been coupled with the previous release (i.e., Columbia/Epic AS 44). Searching into the Discogs and 45cat databases hit a bonus 7" promo disc with the same catalog number and released in 1973 by the Epic Records label, called An Exclusive Interview With Tammy Wynette / George Jones Conducted By Frank Jones (the links to Discogs page here and 45cat here). However, by appearance, this 7" interview disc is unlikely to be part of the Play:Back series, as the labels and record sleeve differ completely in their color and design (see the images right). Moreover, its matrix numbers (ZSM 157143/ZSM 157144 on Side A/B)* are not sequential to those of the immediate preceding or following Play:Back releases:

• Columbia AS 43: ZLP 157439/ZLP 157440* (Jon Hammond interview disc)
  
• Columbia AS 45: ZSM 157443/ZSM 157444* (Avenging Annie /Blinded By The Light )
  

These facts and observations lead me to presume that there exists a yet unconfirmed Play:Back AS 44 single with the matrix numbers 157441/157442. 

*Columbia's matrix prefix codes ZLP and ZSM refer to 7" single mono and stereo, respectively, both playable at 33⅓ rpm.

Issue 16 also introduces Andy Pratt and his Avenging Annie featured on A-side to Blinded single (pp. 13 and 14).

Columbia' Play:Back series AS 39 and AS 43.
Major changes in the label design must have
occurred between the releases AS 40 and 43
(not in my possession; images from Discogs).

Here I raise two possibilities. The first one is a compromised interpretation of the above observations, suggesting two versions for the Columbia AS 45 disc released with either Issue 16 or 17. The Springsteen/Pratt articles found on Issue 16 might support this idea, although I cannot think of any logical reason for issuing two different booklets for a single disc. The other possibility denies Issue 16 as coming with the Blinded disc, likely indicating that it was included in one of the preceding 7" releases that corresponds to the first issue of the new, expanded PLAYBACK release, as printed on the front cover. So, what is the first renewed release? One candidate is the AS 43 EP mentioned above, entitled John Hammond, Producer Of The Original Billie Holiday Recordings, Discusses Them With Dan Morgenstern Of Downbeat Magazine (whose links to Discogs page here and 45cat here). This interview disc carries the same blue labels as the typical Play:Back releases, which are clearly distinguished from the old-style labels, as shown on the right images, such as AS 39 (whose links to Discogs page here and 45cat here). No information is available for the associated booklet, though. 

Obviously, further research into these early releases needs to be done, including the white-label version of the Blinded set with yet another variant booklet (see below), for which the details remain unknown.

The issue number is unknown, though never before August 1973 (when the photo session was conducted with the band for the second album). Featured on the back cover (left) is the man who filmed the CBS live promo footage of Bruce in LA in 1973 and Phoenix in 1978. Provided by courtesy of someone via the Lost In The Flood collector's page (special thanks are given to Peter).

— Back to Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3.

Collecting log: Blinded By The Light U.S. 7" singles (Part 3 of 4) ー Puzzled by the booklets accompanied by the Play:Back issues

Generally, Springsteen's first official 7" single is regarded Blinded By The Light / Angel (US Columbia 4-45805), released close to a half-century ago today (02/23/1973) and cut in a shortened length (3 : 58) from the debut album GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, N. J. (US Columbia KC 31903). The white-label version of mono/stereo coupling was also issued for promotional purposes. Both editions have earned their status as collectors' items, with the regular stock being extremely difficult to obtain due to the scarcity and a high cost (sometimes reaching a four-digit U.S. dollar price on the collectors' market). However, as you collectors know, the phrase "first official 7" single" is not true in a strict sense because more than a month in advance of the regular release (01/12/1973), the full-length, unedited version (5 : 05) already appeared on a special 7-inch sampler (US Columbia AS 45) as part of Columbia/Epic Records' program called Play:Back.

Shown are two examples of the Play:Back advertisement (below two) found on Columbia's company sleeves designed like a newspaper (titled "The Inner Sleeve"), gathering short articles and information on the label's artists. The left two images are from Volume 72A3/4 and the right two from Volume 72A4/4, both coming in two early U.S. pressings of the GREETINGS album (matrix number suffixes: -1A/-2A and -1C/-2C, respectively). Springsteen and his debut album are featured on Volume 73A1/4.

The Play:Back program was a subscription-based marketing survey performed in the early/mid-1970s. In this program, Columbia's 33 ⅓ rpm 7" EPs, which contained brand-new or yet-unreleased songs by new and established artists, were mailed to subscribers to elicit their responses and feedback to featured tracks. Typically, these discs had one number from two or more artists, carried distinctive blue labels, and came in an identical white sleeve with the Play:Back logo and type. A series of singles were not commercially available, each with an info booklet promoting artists on Columbia’s roster and a special questionnaire card that consists of multiple survey questions. You can find the advertisement for this program on the inner sleeves for Columbia's vinyl albums back in the era, including the original pressing of his first LP, explaining what was intended and how to make the subscription payment ($3.00 per year).

Lost in the puzzle of "Which disc came with which booklet."

Besides Blinded By The Light, Springsteen was picked up on two more occasions in the series, which selected the then-unreleased Circus Song performed live (Columbia AS 52; released on 06/22/1973) and Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (Columbia AS 66; 01/29/1974) from the second album THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE (US Columbia KC 32432). Concerning the three Play:Back issues featuring Springsteen's tunes, what made collectors puzzled for long was the correspondence of a given disc with the accompanying booklet. This was because many copies in circulation were (and still are) missing a booklet, and even if coming with it, such sets often showed questionable combinations. Moreover, some booklets do not necessarily mention or introduce featured artist(s) on the associated disc, making the situation further confused. Unfortunately, the collectors' bible Blinded By The Light book (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London) does not help on the booklet matter.

Among the three lineup, the Blinded set (left row) is the closest to 
the complete with a questionnaire card, although still lacking a few
pieces, such as a subscription card and a self-addressed envelope
returnable to Columbia/Epic's Play:Back division.

If my memory is correct, it was the Lost In The Flood website among collectors' databases that first attempted to clarify and provided the accurate information on this issue. My first e-mail correspondence to the website dating back to June 2003 was, in fact, to ask for an opinion on "Which booklet came with which disc" [By the way, according to the reply from an web administrator (Peter), I was the first collector to contact the website from the Far East]. Although not updated since 2015, according to the current listing on the website, the correct combination between the three 7" titles and accompanying booklets is like the left image, which has been the consensus among vinyl collectors (though the discs are actually not vinyl-pressing but styrene-molded). I think, however, there is one more booklet that is considered for the Blinded By The Light single on the Play:Back series. I'm not talking about the one, most likely accompanied by the mega-rare white-label promo disc and featuring Springsteen and the band members on the black & white cover (taken during an August 1973 photo session for the second album).
— To be continued to Part 4 / back to Part 1 or Part 2.

Collecting log: Blinded By The Light U.S. 7" singles (Part 2 of 4) ー The promo-only white label is more common than the stock copies, but do you know two versions exist?

A recent purchase (right) made me aware of the existence of two different editions of the while-label promotional disc for Springsteen's first commercially issued single. No, of course, I'm not talking about two different company sleeves. Note the surface of the discs — one looks shining while the other sort of matte, which is not caused by ageing but rather reflects original physical properties of the discs.

White label promotional (WLP) releases of 7" singles are generally valued more highly than the regular stock counterparts, simply for the former are usually rarer than the latter in existence. However, the opposite is also true in particular circumstances where the stock copies go far beyond poor sales. This, in fact, is the case for Blinded By The Light / The Angel (Columbia 4-45805) and  Spirit In The Night / For You (Columbia 4-45864), Springsteen's first and second singles cut from his debut album in 1973. As mentioned in the last post (02/12/2020), the standard U.S. copies of Blinded By The Light, which were released today 47 years ago, have been sold at outrageous prices in auction and collector's markets. By contrast, the WLP 7" is relatively easier to find out with a vastly lower expense (see table below), unless it comes in the custom promotion-only colour sleeve. By the way, do you know that two versions exist for the WLP disc?

Last September, I made a short visit with my wife to the closest major city to my location in West Japan. While my wife was enjoying shopping at a giant department store, I visited a small used record shop nearby where I came across a WLP copy of this single in an old orange/white company sleeve. This was a bit surprising to me because such an old (pre-Born To Run) promo copy is nowadays quite hard to encounter in-store here. The copy looked a little deteriorated and priced at 4,104 Yen that included an 8% national consumption tax (= US $36.7 as of today's exchange rate). After a brief consideration (as I already got a copy many years ago), I decided to pick it up.
 
As I wrote previously (between 05/11/2016 and 05/29/2016), an interesting fact with 7" singles issued by U.S. Columbia, at least Springsteen's, is that most of the standard edition are made of polystyrene (hereafter called styrene). Although my 7" collection never is huge (as I'm not a 7" mania), all the U.S. stock singles in my possession are styrene-made except for the "tall font" edition of Born To Run / Meeting Across The River (Columbia 3-10209) and a few others released in the 1990s. However, the early WLP discs, released by 1975, are opposite: all my copies for Blinded By The Light, Spirit In The Night, Born To Run, and Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (all mono/stereo coupling) are made of polyvinyl chloride (vinyl), excluding a custom promotion-only Spirit In The Night - Growin' Up / Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (Columbia AE7 1088), although this does not necessarily deny the existence of styrene-WLP for these early 7-inches.

The matrix numbers on the mono side of styrene-mold (left) and vinyl-pressed (upper right) discs.
A roughly hand-scratched "S" is found on the vinyl disc only (lower right).

So, after going home and checking this old 7" purchase, I did not expect that it was a styrene-mold disc. According to the information provided by a 7" collector/expert (05/29/2016), back then at Columbia Records, vinyl discs were pressed at the Santa Maria factory, CA, whereas styrene records were produced at the Pitman plant, NJ, for this disc format. Consistent with this, my old WLP disc has the plant-specific matrix hand-etching S (for Santa Maria), as shown below (oblique, hand-etched; straight, machine-stamped):

Vinyl pressing is generally distinguished from
styrene mold by the presence of a so-called
stamper ring around the center hole (indicated
by a green arrow) and a rather tapered edge
of a disc (left in the lower image). For the
details, check the previous post (2016/05/14).

Vinyl WLP edition (manufactured in Santa Maria)

• Mono side:    J ZSP158224-2D      S
• Stereo side:     ZSS158225-2D      S

Styrene WLP edition (manufactured in Pitman)

• Mono side:    J ZSP158224-2B
• Stereo side:     ZSS158225-2B

Two Columbia U.S. series prefixes, ZSP and ZSS, refer to 7" single playable at 45 rpm in mono and stereo, respectively, with a single letter J (as J ZSP) denoting disk jockey (thus assigned for promotional copy). And here's the matrix numbers for the stock copies (as pictured in 02/12/2020):  

Styrene regular stock edition (manufactured in Pitman) 

• Side A:    ZSS158225-2A   (Blinded By The Light)
• Side B:    ZSS158226-1B   (The Angel)

Comparing the three matrix numbers for the stereo version of Blinded By The Light (underlined above), interestingly, the suffix code (-2A) of the standard disc precedes those of WLP records (-2B and -2D), which rarely occurs generally. At least with Springsteen's records, neither I know any other similar instance, nor do I know why this rare case happened, except for the debut LP. I'm also not sure whether the differences in the matrix suffixes just reflect the difference in the location of manufacturing plant (namely Pitman or Santa Maria), or indicate the differences in both the location and timing of manufacture (i.e., I guess there is the possibility that -2A might be issued earlier than -2B and -2D).

This copy with the sunburst stock labels resembles another holy grail
but is in fact a "Collectables" series reissue (Columbia 13-33323)
that was released sometime in the 1990s, coupled with Born To Run,
but not with For You. The disc shows characteristics of vinyl but not
of styrene.
 

Anyway, it is obvious that WLP copies for the debut single occur as two variants that differ in chemical precursors used for making discs. I guess this would also hold true for the second single Spirit In The Night since the circumstance around the matrix numbers and pressing plant is similar or rather more complicated. Although I don't own the regular stock pressing (= a holy grail collectable), my WLP copy is made of vinyl with the matrix number suffixes -1C/-1E (mono/stereo) and "T" hand-etchings, indicating that it was not manufactured at Pitman or Santa Maria but at the Terre Haute plant, IN. This single needs further exploration though...

— To be continued to Part 3 / back to Part 1.