Collecting log: CBS/SONY's bizarre 12" DISCO sampler with Springsteen's track

Probably, nobody would think of a Springsteen track on the shown sampler. The front sleeve is misleading since any artists and groups indicated are not featured on this promo compilation disc (check the tracklist on the right). The catalog number (YAPN 23) is not found anywhere on the sleeve (including the spine), and the tracklist is like a promotional flyer, printed on a separate sheet and taped on the plain yellow rear sleeve. So, I guess this color-illustrated sleeve was not specific to this particular pressing but commonly used for the "Super Disco Sound" series (i.e., this issue is Volume 19).

Collecting log: THE RIVER Japanese 2LP samplers with a promo-only sticker and a concert-report flyer (Part 3 of 3)

Three variants are differentiated from each other
by colors and label names.

Except for a few album/single releases*, it is still not so difficult to find Japanese sample copies for standard vinyl pressings from the 1980s, and those for THE RIVER (CBS/SONY 40AP 1960-1) are no exception. However, as far as I've seen, the stickered sample copies for this double album are hard to come by. 

* I can think of the following three: LIVE/1975-85 (CBS/SONY 75AP 3300-3304; see 11/23/2020), BORN IN THE U.S.A. Master Sound (CBS/SONY 30AP 2878), and Brilliant Disguise one-side single (CBS/SONY 04SP 1075).

Between 1979 and 1980, CBS/SONY and EPIC/SONY (a division of the CBS/SONY Inc. group handling non-Columbia Records artists) issued sample copies with colored stickers, which were very likely in limited quantities, as only a small fraction carry the sticker among those in circulation. These stickers say "strongly recommended disc" in large Japanese words of Kanji and Katakana combination, with either label name beneath it (pink, CBS/SONY; red and yellow, EPIC/SONY; see the images on the left). So, they are not non-official stickers made and put by wholesalers, dealers, or retailers. Many of these stickers are pasted with a small round or tack label on which the domestic release date (month/day) is hand-written.

Collecting log: THE RIVER Japanese 2LP samplers with a promo-only sticker and a concert-report flyer (Part 2 of 3)

Speaking of white-label promos, this repacked special edition of the first three LPs is probably the only known box set for which white-label vinyl records were pressed for promotion. Released in Australia late in 1979 or early 1980 (CBS S3BP220504) and ranked 12th in the Top 40 Worldwide Bruce Springsteen Rarities featured on RECORD COLLECTOR No.329 (November 2006). The regular box was also released in New Zealand (CBS S3BP220504) and the U.K (CBS 66353; see the image on 01/01/2020).

Collecting log: THE RIVER Japanese 2LP samplers with a promo-only sticker and a concert-report flyer (Part 1 of 3)

A typical black-and-white album advertisement, quoting Jon Landau's famous words in Japanese translation, simultaneously appeared in various FM and other music magazines in late 1980, timed with the album release.

More than five years ago, when I picked up on this blog a famous Japanese vinyl rarity from THE RIVER, I briefly introduced CBS/SONY Japan's strategy to promote the album here in the Far East (see the last paragraph on 09/19/2017). While Ryo Okada, who was in charge of Springsteen back then in the company, was delighted by this album with a higher potential ever for becoming a smash hit, he had to think over about how to promote Springsteen and his then-new release two years after he tried every means possible to publicize the man and his previous album DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (see 09/19/2015 and 03/05/2016). Finally, he decided to invite domestically known music critics and journalists to a four-night stand (October 30, 31, November 1, and 3) at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena during the ongoing 1980 North American tour and let them write a concert review (Note that it was five years before Springsteen visited Japan for the first time on the BORN IN THE U.S.A. world tour). These reminiscences by R. Okada are told in the booklet exclusively available in the Japanese edition of THE TIES THAT BIND: THE RIVER COLLECTION (Sony Music Japan SICP-4612), issued in late 2015.

An addendum to Collecting log: recent miscellaneous purchases under COVID-19 (2022)

Don't be fooled by a soul/funk icon pictured on the sleeve. This promo CD compilation released in 1991 under
a non-Columbia/Sony label here in the Far East includes a never-performed-live track from Bruce Springsteen.