Collecting log: One Step Up / Roulette — the only cassette tape single commercially released in Japan

My first cassette tape purchase was Chimes Of Freedom (US
Columbia 4CT 44445) issued in 1988, featuring the awesome
live version of Tougher Than The Rest. I used to play it on a
brand-new Walkman portable cassette deck—a great Sony
product—wherever I went. This particular copy is still sealed
with a gold promo stamp on the inlay card.

This short post continues from the previous one, featuring a Japanese collectible. Many collectors probably rank music cassettes third among the three primary physical audio media—vinyl and CD being the other two. I also tend to overlook them unless they are particularly rare, uniquely interesting, or complement existing vinyl or CD rarities, such as promotion-only releases (see, for examples, 07/12/2015, 05/14/2017, or 07/05/2017). Here, I revisit a standard cassette tape from CBS/Sony Records (1968—1991) that I acquired long ago but never regarded as particularly significant, leaving it long forgotten in the vault.

The 3-inch CD remains the most highly collectible among the early promotion-
only releases from 1988. Its rarity and distinctive packaging make it not only a
standout piece but also one of the essential items within his entire CD catalog.
I have neither seen copies sold nor uncover them here in Japan.

Released on February 27, 1988, One Step Up was the third single from the album TUNNEL OF LOVE (Columbia OC 40999), backed by Roulette from THE RIVER sessions—one of the most famous unreleased tracks fans were clamoring for at the time. The music industry was transitioning from analog to digital technology around that period, and this single played a part in that shift for Springsteen in the U.S. Not only was it released as a standard 7-inch record, but it also marked the first to appear on Springsteen's promotion-only CD titles in three different formats: 3-inch single CD, 5-inch single CD, and 5-inch CD EP, as follows:

• One Step Up / Roulette (Columbia 38K-7726)
  A two-track, 3-inch disc packaged in a clear stiff sleeve labeled "Compliments of CBS Records" and mostly distributed at a CBS convention.
• One Step Up (Columbia CSK 1031)
  A single-track, 5-inch disc accompanied by picture sleeves.
• All That Heaven Will Allow / One Step Up / Roulette / Be True / Pink Cadillac (Columbia CSK 1046 and CSK 1108)
  A five-track, 5-inch compilation widely known for its title Tunnel Of Love Express Tour, reissued with the title modified to add "Cont'd" and the tour itinerary information updated.

Compared to the first and second editions of the Tunnel Of Love Express Tour CD EPs, the two One Step Up promos were pressed in smaller quantities. Moreover, unlike in Europe and Japan, no CD singles for this track were commercially available in the U.S., making these releases rare, with the 3-inch version particularly sought after (see 12/27/2015).

Do not confuse the release year of this with that of the 7" single;
the fact remains that the cassette single of My Hometown was not
released in 1985 but in 1988, as indicated by the credit on the rear
of the cardboard slipcase.

That's not all, however. One Step Up was the first-ever cassette tape single (Columbia 38T-07726) issued in the U.S. and probably the second-ever worldwide, following the Spanish release of Sherry Darling (CBS 9568K) in 1981, excluding EP and compilation releases in this media format. Despite the earlier catalog number, My Hometown (Columbia 38T 05728), a similar cassette single coupled with Santa Claus Is Comin' Town (live), was not released in 1985 but rather in late 1988 for the Christmas holiday season. The catalog number of the cassette version of My Hometown was likely assigned to match that of the 7-inch record (Columbia 38-05728), which was released in November 1985 as the seventh and final single from BORN IN THE U.S.A. (Columbia QC 38653).

In Japan, single cassettes, particularly those by Springsteen, are much rarer than album cassettes, although LIVE/1975-85 (CBS/Sony 75KP 1500-1502) is probably the only exception among standard album cassettes. These days, finding a copy of this single cassette, especially one still sealed like this, is not easy due to limited quantities. The three images on the right show front, rear, and spine sides of the U.S. edition.

And then, in Japan, this song was commercially released on April 21 from the album (CBS/Sony 28AP 3410), nearly two months after the U.S. release, on 7-inch vinyl (CBS/Sony 05SP 3017), 3-inch CD (CBS/Sony 10EP 3017), and cassette (CBS/Sony 05WP 3017). Notably, to the best of my knowledge, this represents the only instance of Springsteen's single being issued commercially on cassette in Japan. Like the U.S. release, the Japanese cassette came in a cardboard slipcase. However, the front sleeve design is noticeably different, and the spine is more colorful. As far as I am aware, the cassette single was only released in the U.S. and Japan, with no other countries known to have issued this track in this format.

 

When I dug out a sample copy for the Japanese DEVILS & DUST
CD (Sony SICP 782-783), it was accompanied by a custom
promotion-only cassette with a handwritten number in circle.

Contrary to the U.S. and European countries, cassette tapes had long been a staple music medium in Japan, used for both promotional and commercial purposes. Even after the cessation of commercial releases, album cassettes continued to be produced as promotion-only items, at least until WE SHALL OVERCOME: THE SEEGER SESSIONS (Sony Muisc Japan International Inc., SICP 1080-1), released in 2006. I have yet to encounter any Japanese cassettes promoting the subsequent albums released in 2007 or later; they might have been completely replaced by CD-Rs (see 05/14/2022 for a few examples).

Thoughts on My Father's House on NEBRASKA LP (Update 3/3):The alternate take with synth coda on regular vinyl pressing!!!

NEBRASKA LP B-side misprints. From top to bottom: South Africa,
U.S. (left), Canada (right), Zimbabwe, Brazil (left), U.K. (right),
South Korea (left; not sure of its authenticity though), and Hong
Kong (right).

Having confirmed that the extended version of My Father's House is consistently featured on the recently obtained, three old independent pressings (in terms of vinyl stampers used; check the last blog), I'm almost confident that the regular Brazilian LP of NEBRASKA (CBS 138.641) is the only apparent vinyl source of the alternate version of this track that has been released commercially. Taking into account the number of circulating copies, I don't think this South American edition of the album is particularly rare. However, the LP certainly stands as a unique vinyl collectible with a rare version of a song that is not available on any other vinyl disc. It is of note that Springsteen obviously considers this song as one of the important compositions in his career, since it was recently handpicked by himself for CHAPTER & VERSE, the companion album for his autobiography published in 2016, and more recently, performed regularly on a series of Broadway concerts in 2017 through 2018.

Because the same message is written in the accompanying acknowledgement letters, I found that
my recent purchase of a copy of NEBRASKA LP was from the Brazilian seller who once sold me a first pressing
copy of THE RIVER LP (front) many years ago. Note that a Held Up ... misprint remains uncorrected in
the second pressing copy (back).

As mentioned on the last blog, the version on the Brazilian LP plays a little bit slow when compared to its counterpart on the very first CD pressed in Japan. Then, a question arises as to which running time, on vinyl or CD, is correct?  It has long been known that the early Japanese CD copies run too fast. This issue on the playing time is apparent from the fact that despite including the longer take of My Father's House, the total running time of such CD is about 20 seconds shorter than that of the later corrected releases containing the regular version of the track without the extended coda. For example, my CD deck reads the total running time of the two early U.S. discs (both Columbia CK 38358) as follows: the first edition with a Japanese CD (withdrawn), 40 min 24 sec; and the second edition with a domestically pressed CD (corrected), 40 min 47 sec. Because of this, I guess it is more likely that the vinyl take represents the exact speed and pitch of the track. If so, the correct playing time of the alternate take is 5 min 43 sec rather than 5 min 35 sec.

Examples of Made-in-Brazil regular and promotional vinyl collectibles in
the 1980s, derived from the album THE RIVER through TUNNEL OF LOVE.

Like Japan, Brazil is a country where various unique vinyl discs of Springsteen have been released for promotional use only as well as for regular sale. To the best of my knowledge, the 1980's single-cut release of Hungry Heart (CBS 43.043) is the very first of such examples there. This 7-inch single, which plays at 33⅓ rpm rather than 45 rpm like most 7-inches, is housed in a unique color sleeve of his facial shot (different from the withdrawn Japanese version pictured here) and coupled with Stolen Car as B-side track, which is exclusive to this release all over the world. As exemplified by this, these vinyl collectibles are notably unique in that they exhibit differences in track configuration, sleeve artwork, or both. Although the NEBRASKA LP marks a new entry to rare Brazilian vinyl collectibles, this album is distinguished from all the others by that its uniqueness lies in featuring a rare alternative track rather than assembling selected tracks that have already been made on previously released albums and singles.

Finally, the finding of the alternate take on the regular vinyl release has brought up the following questions to my mind.  

Promotional insert mentioning BORN IN THE U.S.A. made
me wonder about the original release year of NEBRASKA
LP in the South American country.

1. How has the Brazilian CBS got the alternate recording into their hands?  This is totally unknown. It is possible that there was mishandling of the album recording between the U.S. and Brazillian CBS, just like the case of the first Japanese CD pressing (described here shortly). Thus far, however, no evidence has been known to substantiate such possibility.
2. Are the vinyl copies really pressed and manufactured in 1982?  Promotional version of the LP is known to exist, which comes with the gold-promo stamped sleeve and a promo insert in Portuguese, although the disc itself is a stock pressing. An interesting fact is that the insert mentions BORN IN THE U.S.A., indicating that these promo copies were released in 1984 or thereafter. They might be used for promoting reissues of the album thanks to the worldwide success of his seventh album and the long-stretched promotional tour. However, this made me wonder if the original release year of NEBRASKA is indeed 1982 in Brazil. There could be a possibility that the vinyl album was pressed in 1984 or 1985, and if so, which coincides with the year when the CD edition with the alternate track was manufactured in Japan.
3. Which take, regular or alternate version, is used for the cassette (CBS 16641) and CD (Sony Music 746.045/2-463360) releases?  Brazillian CBS has also released the album in cassette and CD format (I don't own neither copy). So, it is of interest to know which version is featured on each format. I'm especially interested in the cassette, since most probably, this format was issued simultaneously with the vinyl LP (see the photo below). On the other hand, the CD must have issued later as indicated by the renewed brand name "Sony Music" on the catalog number.

What seems a cassette in a holder, together with the catalog number (16641), is printed on the rear of
the LP sleeve, indicating that both formats are released simultaneously (cassette not in my possession).

Hopefully, someone reading this blog might answer to these questions or provide clues to answer them. 

Thoughts on My Father's House on NEBRASKA LP (addendum)

About a year ago, I wrote my thoughts on a longer, alternate version of My Father's House in four consecutive posts (here to here). On this subject, I had, and still have, one trivial question to be answered: Which version, standard or alternate, was originally included on the cassette tape (CBS/SONY 25KP 868) released in Japan?  Commercially, the alternate version first appeared in 1985 on the Japan-pressed copies of NEBRASKA CD,

  Various Japanese releases of NEBRASKA and an official poster
distributed for the promotion in 1982.

including those exported to the U.S. and Europe where they were manufactured as the first edition. According to the Brucebase website, this was because the U.S. Columbia Records have mistakenly sent the different master tapes (pseudo-stereo mix) to CBS/SONY for pressing CD in Japan. So, logically, the version on the cassette, which is released in 1982, must be the standard, shorter take without a synth code, just like that on the vinyl album. So, why I got to think about this?

Years ago long before starting this blog, I noticed the following interesting posts concerning the take on the Japanese cassette, which are still readable in a Steve Hoffman Music Forums' thread that has been initiated in 2004 (Does my Springsteen Nebraska CD have the long version of "My Father's House"? ; here). In this thread, someone made an inquiry post (found as post #14) as follows:

    This thread forced me to play my 2 copies of Nebraska, my original 1982 JPN. vinyl press and my
    1999 JPN. paper sleeve CD. Neither has the long version of MFH. 
    
    Would ANY original vinyl have this long version?
    Would the JPN. orig. CD have the long version?
    Would the US orig. CD (made in Japan?) have the long version?
 
    Help!

Then, there was a response (post #16) by someone to the above:

    1: No. It only came out on a Japanese promo cassette. (the underline made by this blogger)
    2: Yes
    3: Yes

This reminded me of those old days of air-checking
FM-radio program back in high school.

The responder responded to the inquiry post confidently, and based on his other posts on the thread, seemed to be very knowledgeable about these stuff (and so what he said seemed believable). This has made me try to seek and examine the promo cassette version of the track. So far, I haven't got the answer yet. This is simply because I have not been able to locate the promo version of the cassette which must be extremely rare even if it existed (The oldest promo cassette in my collection is for BORN IN THE U.S.A.; see here). OK, then what about the regular commercial version of the cassette?  I own few of regular cassette releases for Springsteen titles, and recently obtained a worn-looking used copy at 300 JPY. Fortunately, the 35-year-old tape was not worn or damaged, replayed well on my equally old Nakamichi deck (a low-end model, BX-2, also released in 1982), and sounded still excellent. However, what I heard was exactly the same as the standard take, although on this occasion I enjoyed listening to the whole album in a long autumn night.

→ Read three consecutive posts starting from here for the updated information.

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

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.

BORN IN THE U.S.A. Japanese test pressing LP w/ flyers (and advanced promo cassette tape)

Despite the fair condition, this test press sold extremely well
(from actual auction)

Auction watching continues. Regularly checking Yahoo! Japan auction for rare Springsteen collectibles, I saw another case of high competition that has ended early this week (July 13) with the incredible final bid of over $500. The auctioned item was a test pressing copy of Japanese BORN IN THE U.S.A. LP (CBS/SONY 28AP 2850) in a white plain cover with the small custom sticker. The total bid volume was 29 from six competitors (again I was just watching, not joining the auction). Interestingly, at least two bidders seem to have joined the auction of the custom promo-only THE "LIVE" cassette tape which was mentioned on the last blog (July 12).

Playing my favorite sequence of
No Surrender / Bobby Jean / I'm Goin' Down

According to the Lost In The Flood collector's website, this record is "super rare," and admittedly rarer than the aforementioned promotional THE "LIVE" cassette tape. However, I had never predicted this outcome because, as you can see, there are lots of stains and blots on the white LP sleeve that could be evaluated in good condition, at best (if it were just plain white, it could be replaced but there is a custom sticker on it). Even worse, the auctioned copy was not a complete set as it did not come with anything but the vinyl disc, which certainly decreases the value of this particular copy; the test pressing LP should contain at least three papers: stapled two sheets of xerox copies of the Japanese liner note (the same as the one available in the regular LP copies), a two-sided brown/black flyer advertising the album, and a one-sided red/yellow/black sheet announcing the lead-off 7" single Dancing In The Dark (CBS/SONY 07SP 810) from the album. Although not sure, the lyric sheet might have been included as well (which is not found in my set). The matrix numbers of the test pressing are identical to those of the sample copies and regular first pressing.

The custom sticker on the white plain sleeve is also used for the advanced promo cassette package, the fact which would explain at least in part why the sticker size is rather small (so that it fits a generic cassette case).

THE "LIVE": The Legend Comes Alive Japanese promo-only cassette tape

Certainly rare but over-valued?

The blog article this time, unlike regular ones, is not on vinyl but about cassette collectible. I had been watching with a great interest a Yahoo! auction in Japan since last week because of highly competitive bidding. The auctioned item was the above-mentioned custom promotional-only cassette tape (CBS/SONY XDKP 93022), which ended up a few days ago (July 9) with the final bid close to $300! I guessed the final bid amount would be around one-third of the actual one, though. As you can see, this particular auction resulted in total cumulative bids of over 20 that were actually placed by three presumably hard core collectors (I did not join the auction, just following).

I wonder what "B001" and B002" stamped on the bottom of the
cassettes refer to.  Reflecting the difference in release timing?

Released nearly three decades back, I know the item is rare and hard to come by even in Japan, and the Lost In The Flood collector's website describes that this cassette is ultra-scarce, especially in comparison to the vinyl LP counterpart which is relatively common as a promo-only release. I agree with this comment (though NOT regarding it as super rare from my point of view); however, the final bid amount is just overwhelming taking into consideration that this was a domestic auction not intended to open internationally. I mean, because of the rarity and popularity, severe bidding competition is often expected for neat Japanese collectibles like this one if put forward on international auction such as eBay, which would eventually result in incredibly high bid amounts (but which would usually not happen at domestic auction because of the relatively smaller number of participants and because domestic collectors obviously have more chance of finding the item than oversea collectors).

A good example is a recently completed eBay auction on the sample copy for Brilliant Disguise one-side Japanese 7" vinyl (CBS/SONY 04SP 1075) with the final bid of $360. Just for your information, back in late 1980s, the regular copies were sold at 400-yen (approximately $3 according to the current USD-Yen exchange rate). Simply unbelievable as the difference between

"Mi-hon-ban" three-Kanji character
referring to sample disc

the sample and regular copies is only whether or not "Mi-hon-ban" (three Kanji characters) is printed on the orange paper label and nothing else (see boxed three Kanji letters on the left-hand picture, generally meaning "sample disc" but often used with no distinction for test pressing or acetate disc). As for Brilliant Disuguise singles released in Japan, much more famous and highly valued is a custom-promo only white label 7" version (CBS/SONY XDSP 93095), but I wonder whether even such a copy deserves this amount of money.

On the cassette itself: although LITF does not mention clearly, as shown above, the white cassette case for this release is not a cheap conventional one, but rather seems to be specially designed (though not sure as I don't collect cassettes in the first place), with the sleeve protected by a clear plastic layer, and inside is a pocket holding a fold-out reprint for the promo-only LP's rear sleeve.