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

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

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

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

Album discography on the bottom of the last page

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just 30 years ago ...

Exactly 30 years ago tonight, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band played the last of 8 concerts to conclude the Japan leg of the BORN IN THE USA World Tour. If my memory is correct, the final 8th concert was not originally planned but added for the public demand. It was a weekday (Tuesday) and the curtain time was set at 6:00 PM, a few hours earlier than in the US, due to the regulation here (i.e., concerts must be finished by 10:00 PM). Back then, a poor student managed to get two tickets through mail order, escaped early from school together with his classmate, and headed for Osaka Castle Hall where he saw finally what he had eagerly been waiting for. A good memory of youth.