Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: ALL THOSE YEARS — unofficial but the first retrospective release of a supectacular 10-LP box collection (Part 1 of 3)

Two copies are in my possession, with and without a limited serial
number. The first copy I got was a reissue without a serial number
at the JEUGIA Karasuma Shijo (烏丸四条) branch, Kyoto, in 1987.
It took a few more years, but luckily, I obtained an early copy with
a limited number in the 200s from a European collector at a much
cheaper cost than the original copy I first saw in 1984.

"It is the nicest collection of Springsteen material released anywhere, commercially or bootlegged."  Steve Reed (1984) 'All Those Years' a great set. Backstreets, Number 11 (Vol. 3, #3), excerpted from p. 23.

"The thoughtful choice of songs and all round excellence of sound, packaging and production makes this the ultimate in bootlegging."  Patrick Humphries and Chris Hunt (1985) Fire on the fingertips (Bootleg singles, EPs and albums). In: Springsteen: Blinded by the Light, excerpted from pp. 133–134, Plexus Publishing Limited (London).

"Most [sic] complete Springsteen set ever made."  Author unknown (1986) Section One: Non-commercial releases. In: The Bruce Springsteen Collector's Guide, excerpted from pp. 4–5, 1986, publisher unknown.

"The original vinyl version, which had also originated in Italy, had excited considerable comment in the wake of Springsteen's own disappointing three-CD collection Live 1978-85 [sic]."  Clinton Heylin (1995) Chapter 17. It was less than twenty years ago ... In: Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Reccording Industry, excerpted from p. 311, St. Martin's Press (New York).

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.

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.

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

The "Promotion copy not for sale 2" videotape, given away for free to those who purchased a TRACKS 4-CD box when it was out in Sweden in November 1998, contained eight live footage clips, of which five were unreleased or available only as promos back then. The remaining three were from THE MUSE CONCERT / NO NUKES (shown is a Japanese low-budget edition released in the 1990s) and VIDEO ANTHOLOGY /1978–88 videos.

The final part of this subject picks up one more compilation item, which is unusual in this blog: a VHS cassette containing NO NUKES material. Of course, I'm not talking about old used videotape copies of the commercially released soundtrack movie with the three live performances (The River, Thunder Road, and the edited Quarter To Three), which are still available in the second-hand market at a cheap expense. I obtained this generic, mediocre-looking cassette videotape in 1999, nearly a quarter century ago. Although its relation to NO NUKES is weak, containing only one clip, I thought this is a good opportunity to write down this video in the blog, as it was certainly rare back then (and still is now), and hard collectors had (have) sought it out for that reason.

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.