Collecting log: More on DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN Japanese LP (1st press)

A two-page advertisement from a major Japanese music
magazine issued around the time of the album release.
This portrait picture has been used for promotional posters.

Back in 1978, the promotion of Springsteen's then new album DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (CBS/SONY 25AP 1000) was handled here in Japan by Mr. Ryo Okada of CBS/SONY Records. As already mentioned in the past blog, upon the release of THE PROMISE box (SONY SIPC 2971-6) in 2010 to commemorate the 32th anniversary of the album, he was interviewed about the struggle of promoting this dark-toned album following enthusiastic BORN TO RUN, which is included in the booklet exclusive to the Japanese edition of the box set. In the interview, one thing he emphasizes is how he really wished Badlands (CBS/SONY 06SP 256) could be cut, instead of Prove It All Night (CBS/SONY 06SP 232), as the lead-off single to get more airplay on the radio for achieving the commercial success and spotlight on this album. This interview also contains some information that might attract interest from record collectors like me, a part of which has already been introduced in the aforementioned blog article. In the following, though trivial, I attempt to summarize the rest of such information particularly related to this LP.

Instantly memorable catalog number found on the white label for
promotion only and the regular label that is rubber-stamped with
the word "mi-hon-ban" in the three Japanese Kanji characters
meaning a sample disc.

In 1978, DARKNESS is released on June 2 in the US, and then in Japan within one month therefrom (July 1). Back then, this schedule was exceptionally tight for releasing a foreign album here. He told that it was sometime in May that he first heard of the news of the new album. So, every decision must be made quickly in the manufacture and production of the album and the first single. According to him, the clear-cut catalog number (exactly, the serial number “1000” of “25AP 1000”) of the album was specially assigned for this release so that the staff of the sales department of the company easily remembered it. Mr. Okada recalled that he managed to get prior approval from his boss for this particular catalog number [By the way, "25" and "AP" refer to the fixed retail price (2,500 JPY) in the domestic market and the release format (i.e., album release), respectively].

Two versions of the original colorful Obi (the left is earlier)
which contrasts with the rather somber album jacket.
The live snapshot on the top, from 1976-77 tour, is really cool.

Special treatments are also made for the Obi strips for the first pressing of this LP, as evidenced by the use of the multiple color scheme (red, yellow, blue, white, and black). This was rather a rare case, at least with the CBS/Sony products, because at the time, two-colored Obi was the standard for the company's LP releases. In fact, the colorful Obi adds to the great effect of the album jacket which stands out when compared to those of contemporary albums released by other artists from the same record label. Featuring a color photo image is also rather exceptional. He explained that this live snapshot was provided by the Canadian branch of Columbia Records/CBS Records when the Obi artwork was to be designed for the prompt release. Since the shot fitted perfectly what Mr. Okada envisioned, it was adopted immediately and placed on the top of the Obi. From these tales, it seems that he has done whatever he could with religious care for the highly anticipated album by a potentially important, but relatively unknown foreign young rocker here.

A one-page version of the album Ad found
in a major music magazine issued in 1978

Speaking of the first pressing DARKNESS Obi, as you might notice, there exist two variants: one without and another with an extra red-colored margin on the right (about 1.6 cm width). What this part of the Obi writes about is that the free giveaway of an extra-large poster is available for the first 20,000 purchasers and limited to the initial pressing only (I believe that the poster was handed to a buyer at shops upon purchasing the album). So, the wider Obi strip is a proof for the very first DARKNESS album pressed in Japan. The size of the free poster is indicated on this space of the Obi as 1 m 3 cm height x 1 m 47 cm width.

Finally, I point out two minor differences between the US and Japanese LP sleeves that probably you already know. One is with respect to the inner sleeve which is made of noticeably thinner paper for the Japanese version compared to the US counterpart. Another difference is found on the rear side of the album jacket.

Rear sleeve variation with respect to font size and color: left, original US press
(with a gold promo stamp); middle, US repress (with a red & white "Badlands"
sticker on front); right, Japanese 1st press.

As shown right, the original US release uses the large font for listing the album tracks on the top left and black ink for printing the album credits on the bottom left. The Japanese original (and reissue) releases, however, use the small font for the tracklist as seen in the later US pressings. On the other hand, the album credits remain printed in black but not in white ink, just like the US original pressing. I cannot find any clue to explain this mixed-up font usage in his interview.

Collecting log: DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN Japanese white label LP with an extremely rare promotional booklet (concluded)

In my collection, one of the Japan-pressed vinyls for DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (CBS/SONY 25AP 1000) seems to comprise an almost complete (or full) set of promotional items. This particular copy comes with a white label promo (WLP) LP, two separately stapled fact sheets, and the promotional 20-page booklet, as well as the regular inclusions (i.e., a printed inner sleeve, a lyric sheet, and the Japan-only fold-out insert featuring liner notes by Japanese critics and the translation of lyrics into Japanese). Here, most widely circulated promotional releases of the fourth album are WLP without any other promo addition. Those with fact sheet(s) or advertising flyer(s) are less frequently found, but often appear on online auction or used record websites. However, I dare say that the WLP copies accompanied with the promo-only booklet are impossibly hard to come across.

Two fact sheets: left, 5-gape; right, 7-page.

Two stapled, xerox-copied fact sheets are 5- and 7-page long, entitled "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SPRING BACK" and "LAST AMERICAN HERO FROM ASBURY PARK N.J.: BRUCE THE BOSS SPRINGSTEEN ON THE STREET AGAIN", respectively. The former sheet features promotional statement about the album and music, credits, track-listing, and the discography. The latter, whose title coincides with the famous promo-only compilation album (CBS/SONY YAPC 95) released simultaneously with the DARKNESS album, prints the biography and translation of the article "Springsteen Resprung" from an issue (June 5th) of Newsweek in 1978. On the last page, this fact sheet also briefly mentions THUNDER ROAD, the seminal and first-ever fanzine devoted to Springsteen although it was an unofficial publication.

Many of the live snapshots, that are found on the Japanese THE RIVER tri-folded insert, already appear on the DARKNESS promo booklet two years before the release of this double album.

The signature on the rear cover of the booklet is identical to that
found on the Japan-only foldout insert for the second (and later)
pressing of the second album (CBS/SONY SOPO-125 and 25AP 1273;
shown is a promo copy with the former catalog number).

The booklet contains album and concert reviews, photos (all black & white except front and rear covers), discography, and essays on the young talent and his music, by a total of eight contemporary popular/rock music critics in Japan (among whom most famous is probably Yoichi Shibuya, also known as Founder of Rockin'On, a leading Japanese magazine on rock and popular music). Some of these critics also contribute to liner notes of the past and (then) future albums released in Japan. Photographs mainly consist of various on-stage shots which later appear on the fold-out insert exclusive to the Japanese pressing of THE RIVER (CBS/ SONY 40AP 1960-1). Then I've known that these live footage are actually from 1976-1977, contrary to my long (and wrong) thoughts that these snapshots were taken during the DARKNESS tour just because they are featured on the Japanese insert of the then next album (i.e. THE RIVER).

Pages 18 and 19 list short excerpts of articles from various magazines
(all other pages are written in Japanese)

Oddly, to the best of my knowledge, this booklet has not been documented or even mentioned anywhere in the relevant literature, such as Blinded By The Light (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London) and early issues of the Backstreets magazine (e.g., the issue no. 10 features a focus article on Japanese collectibles). In my opinion, this fact further strengthens its extreme scarcity because there's no room for the fake or bogus with this printed collectible. Moreover, I think that the existence of this promo-only booklet (and the simultaneous promo-only release of the custom compilation album) give evidence of the high degree of expectations back then the record company (CBS/SONY Japan) had on this young rocker, even though he had a three-year blank for releasing new recordings and gained (if any) only minor popularity here in the Far East.

Collecting log: DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN Japanese white label LP with an extremely rare promotional booklet

These releases up for auction are accompanied with promo
pictures, pamphlets, booklets or fact sheets
(photos taken by the shop owner).

If you remember, last September I wrote about a local used record shop where various rare collectibles of Japanese pressing vinyls of domestic and foreign artists were reserved for a private auction. As for Springsteen collectibles, reserved for auction were extremely rare promotional releases of the first and second LPs, which are mostly known for the unique wrap-around and typographical-error obi, respectively, and the custom promo-only Killer Tracks 12" EP, as shown previously here. The shop owner had told me that he was planning to hold the auction at the end of 2015, which was slightly delayed and actually began mid-January this new year, ending on the first day of February. Towards the end of the auction, he uploaded several pictures of the auctioned items on his shop’s blog. Shown above are additionally uploaded images for the other Springsteen LPs that were up for the auction.

Really tough to find. Indeed, I've seen this only twice so far.

Because it was a kind of closed auction in which all participants were allowed to bid through e-mail or fax, individual bidders couldn't know how much amounts were raised (if any) by competitors for a targeted item. Then, after auction, the final bid amount for each item was disclosed only to a highest bidder to request the payment (The information on how to join the auction, as well as auction list, were given in Japanese on the shop's website). Last weekend (after three weeks of the end of the auction), I drove down to visit the shop again. While quite busy for packaging the auctioned items for shipping to winners, the shop owner kindly took time to talk to me. My main interest was, of course, the final results of the auction (i.e., what the final bid amounts are for these Springsteen items). Although he didn’t go into the details of what amounts were exactly paid by highest bidders for individual cases, from what he said, it seems to me that in most cases the amounts fell within the ranges as predicted in domestic market.

Various Japanese promo booklets and pamphlets following the
releases of HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN

Among the auctioned items, what called my attention most was a promo LP copy of DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (CBS/SONY 25AP 1000) with a 20-page Japanese booklet (pictured above) that was distributed exclusively for promotion purposes when the album was originally released here (July 1978). An LP copy with this booklet, or the booklet alone, is such a rare item that it is seldom seen and circulated even in Japan. In fact, this was the second opportunity for me to see it in my entire collecting career. Luckily, many years ago, I was able to get the one the first time I found it (which was shown on this blog previously).

Several colorful booklets and pamphlets have been issued in Japan for promotion of Springsteen's albums, but most of which are for the CD releases following HUMAN TOUCH and LUCY TOWN (Note that in Japan, TUNNEL OF LOVE is the last Springsteen album released in vinyl format and that no vinyls have been pressed since these twin albums). In the vinyl era, posters were a main paper medium for promotion of new releases and reissues. Actually, I cannot think of any other booklets but this one in terms of rarity and page volume, although the promo biography pamphlet included in the first press of THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE LP (CBS/SONY SOPL-239) is also scarcely seen.
— To be continued.