Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: TEARDROPS ON THE CITY 3LP (concluded)

This is a follow-up posting to the last blog that attempted to clarify the differences between the original and reissue releases of this famous triple vinyl bootleg from THE RIVER European Tour in 1981.

Upper, the original matte surface;
Lower, the reissue laminated sleeve

[4]  As already mentioned, the notable difference is observed in the interior sleeve: the original has non-laminated matte surface. On the other hand, the reissue sleeve is laminated and becomes more darker than the original, most probably due to the use of re-photograghed image of the original one. This not only reproduces the fold line on the center of the sleeve as shown previously (that is NOT an actual fold), but also results in noticeable loss of picture details (for example, compare the mechanical appearance of a telephotographic camera). Like the outer colored sleeve, the interior image is also slightly expanded and therefore cut a little on its margin when compared to the original sleeve.

Bootleggers seem to take care of the inner sleeves as well
for the original press (left).

[5]  The plain-paper inner sleeves holding a vinyl record also show some distinction between these two releases. Firstly, the inner sleeves from the original pressing have cut-outs at the four corners while only the upper two corners are processed for the reissue sleeves. Secondly, unique to the original press is that each inner sleeve is lined with semi-transparent plastic sheet, the treatment too well-prepared for a bootleg. Thirdly, you can find the difference in a stamped number that is found on the bottom right corner of each inner sleeve. Although it is not possible to know what these numbers mean, they seem to be pressing-specific, namely N10/3/2 for the original pressing (both the two copies I own) and N21/1/1 for the reissue. Supposedly, these different numbers may reflect difference in the timing of the release of the two pressings (i.e. early and mid 1980s). However, the numbering style is pretty much the same, suggesting that these inner sleeves are provided by the same supplier.

Finally, what I found interesting is that Twist and Shout, the final encore tune that is included as the last track on Side 6, continues to play beyond the track and even on the run-off groove of the dead wax. This manufacturing error, which has probably occurred during the cutting of a lacquer master, is commonly associated with the two different releases. The observed fact represents evidence that the two different releases are actually pressed using the same stampers, and explains why I call the mid-1980 release as a reissue rather than a pirate copy or bootlegged bootleg.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: TEARDROPS ON THE CITY 3LP (continued)

At least one of the best-looking vinyl bootlegs
Upper, (what I believe) original copy; beneath, repressing

There are at least two main reasons for this Swedish 3-LP set from 1980s to be one of the most popular and sought-after vinyl Brucelegs over the decades. One is, as explained in the last post, attributable to its attractive gate-fold sleeve featuring full color and black & white live photos inside and outside, possibly taken from the actual show. Another reason is the fact that the original master tape of this Stockholm concert (May 8th, 1981) no longer exists, which means that the original pressing of the vinyl bootleg is the best possible source of the existing recording. The following is the excerpt from the booklet of the CD-R set entitled TEARDROPS ON THE CITY Revisited, released in 2002 by Piggham labels, which is purportedly remastered from a virgin vinyl copy, trying to recreate this acclaimed performance in the best possible digital format:

"... These two sets (i.e. TEARDROPS ON THE CITY and FOLLOW THAT DREAM) are sadly the only document we have from the shows since the mastertapes were destroyed during the mid-eighties by a fire in a building in the North of Sweden. This fact rendered the vinyl sets to be the only way to access the shows ever since..."  

It is of note that in January 2013, an independent recording source of this show, together with that of the previous night (May 7th, 1981), was for the first time uploaded as torrent files to relevant internet sites. On this recording, Run Through The Jungle is complete and you no longer hear annoying audience conversations during Prove It All Night and at the beginning of The Ties That Bind, although there are no improvements in the sound quality in my opinion.

As I wrote in the last post, I've seen that this vinyl bootleg is reissued in mid-1980 much like in its original form when Springsteen's popularity reached at its height. Although I don't know how many are pressed for the original release, it seems that the bootleggers repressed this title considerably many more than the original, as the reissue version has been widely circulated and frequently appeared on eBay. In fact, many websites and auctions feature the reissue mistakenly as the original pressing (for example, see this). So, what defines the original pressing or reissue?

Picture label on Side 6 and the simple hand-etched matrix
number "6" on the dead wax area

I've owned three copies in my library, of which two copies, I believe, being the original while the remaining one corresponding to the repressed copy (BTW, the last copy was acquired in the last year; see the previous post). The matrix inscriptions are identical among the three copies (simply "1" for Side 1 and so for other sides), indicating that the vinyl discs of these copies are most likely pressed from the same stampers (that is one reason why I refer it as reissue rather than pirate or bootlegged bootleg). However, based on my simple measure to distinguish early and late copies of the same title, there are obvious signatures of photocopied reproduction that are specifically associated with the sleeve of the reissue version, as listed below.

[1]  On the front cover, there is lesser margin space between the edge and texts of the album title/artist name, which has most probably arisen during the process of reproducing the original sleeve (panels A and B).

[2]  Sleeve reproduction also causes the lousy printing quality of the reissue. Images that look fine on the original appear coarse or grainy on the reissue, especially those on the front cover shot (panel C; compare the two jean jackets, for instance). Other notable examples include “MADE IN HOLLAND” printed on the bottom right corner of the rear sleeve (panel D) and “PILOT” body-printing on the ballpoint pen pictured on the right side of the interior sleeve (panel E). “HOLLAND” on the back cover is blurred and out of focus on the reissue. The “PILOT” logo is visible on the original copy whereas the interior sleeve of the reissue is darker and nothing can be read on the body of the pen. Moreover, the reissue faithfully reproduces wrinkles and folds on the sleeve of an original copy against which the actual photos were taken for reproduction (panels F and G; one of the two-pseudo wrinkles close to the spine in panel G is also visible on panel A).

[3]  The interior black & white sleeve of the reissue is laminated while that of the original one is not (panel H). The outer color sleeve of all the three copies in my possession are laminated, though. This raises a small doubt in my mind about whether what I believe the original copy is actually original or not. Could there exist a completely non-laminated version (although I have never seen such a copy thus far) ?  I'd appreciate any feedback on my thought on this topic.

— To be continued.

Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: TEARDROPS ON THE CITY 3LP

"Ridiculously overpriced, impossible to find even at the ridiculous price, these two three record sets nonetheless rank as the very best sound quality of any Springsteen live bootleg and that's saying something.”  That's what the author started with when he began to write about two Swedish vinyl bootlegs, FOLLOW THAT DREAM and TEARDROPS ON THE CITY, in a short column article entitled “The essential bootleg album guide” that is featured in the fanzine Backstreets no. 6 (May 1983).

The five titles of Swedish vinyl bootlegs from the early 1980s.
Upper row: (What I believe) the original pressings.  Lower row: The reissues from the mid-1980s.

Before that bootleg column, however, the fanzine already introduced these Swedish bootlegs in the second issue (1982) right after they were out: "The best bootlegs by far, perhaps the best bootlegs in the history of bootlegging, are the three Swedish triple sets: TEARDROPS ON THE CITY; FOLLOW THAT DREAM; and MOVING ON TO STOCKHOLM (sic). All three are three record sets pressed on high quality vinyl, stuck in attractive four color covers and put together with as much care as a record company would. The sound quality is as good as any live album ever released by a rock artist."  

These words obviously sound exaggerated now, especially for the description on the sound quality. As exemplified above, every review on these bootlegs praises their sound and BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (P. Humphries & C. Hunt,1985) states "superb" or "excellent" all round production for FOLLOW THAT DREAM and TEARDROPS ON THE CITY, respectively. These reputations had built up my expectations only to result in mild disappointment when I first listened to these vinyl sets. In reality, they are audience recordings after all, despite the fact that their sound quality certainly stands above average as THE RIVER Tour bootlegs.

Generally, vinyl bootlegs from this tour are of low quality in terms of sound (Note: I'm referring to those floating around before the release of BORN IN THE USA). This is attributable to lack of excellent audience recordings circulated, no FM-broadcast shows available, and only a few soundboard tapes leaked to be bootlegged: to mention a few examples; NASSAU (12/28/1980; 3LP box) was circulated early and widely but an absolute garbage; EL BOOS EN BARCELONA (4/21/1981; Single LP), questionably high-priced in the vinyl era possibly due to the limited number, is again awful sound; and HUNGRY HEART (UK '81 shows; 3LP) is a rare Japanese boot with horrible sound quality. These are in marked contrast to many of the pre-"THE RIVER" vinyl Brucelegs that are sourced — irrespective of generations — from FM-broadcast or line-recording tapes. BTW, this does not necessary mean that they all sound excellent, but you would agree with my opinion if the sound quality of these Swedish releases were compared to those of, for example, YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR and LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND.

Gate-fold Bruceleg releases from 1970s
Upper, LIVE on Coral Records; Lower, LIVE IN THE
PROMISED LAND (a.k.a. WINTERLAND 1978) 

On the other hand, the packaging of these bootlegs, housed in a full-color gate-fold sleeve, is undoubtedly far more impressive than those of the US Brucelegs which often came with so called "slick" or "insert" covers (BTW, I love those good old amateurish appearance of classic vinyl Brucelegs). Before these Swedish releases, I can think of that there was only one Bruceleg title that had been released in a full-color sleeve (i.e. LIVE on Coral Records) and there were only two that had come in a gate-fold cover (i.e. again LIVE and LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND). So, it would not be difficult for those who weren't then real-time collectors to imagine how high the impact of these Swedish boots were on Bruceleg collectors back then. In fact, TEARDROPS easily gets my vote for one of the best, if not the best, sleeves of all the Springsteen vinyl bootlegs. These days, if vinyl bootlegs have their value, it is in their existence themselves or packaging rather than as sound media. This may indicate that some of these vinyl releases, if they are well cared for the package or all round production, can be regarded as highly collectibles nowadays even in the digital era (one such Bruceleg title that easily comes up with in my mind is ALL THOSE YEARS 10-LP box).

The three Swedish titles from THE RIVER European Tour, TEARDROPS ON THE CITY, FOLLOW THAT DREAM and BORN TO BE THE BOSS, have been repressed in mid-1980s (see the picture above), when the popularity of Springsteen, hence the demand of live bootlegs, reached the peak after the huge success of the BORN IN THE USA Tour. So, on the next post, I will compare the two different releases of TEARDROPS ON THE CITY and try to define the original pressing of possibly one of the most sought-after vinyl Bruceleg titles released in early 1980s.

 — To be continued.

BORN TO RUN US pressing LP variants: white label promo (3)

DJ time strip, commonly found in the US white label
promotional (and regular red label) LPs up to
DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN.

This is a continuation of the previous posts on the US vinyl pressings of BORN TO RUN, starting off the first blog this year, and the final part on the WLP copies. As explained before, the five copies in my possession are grouped into (1) the "John" misspelt sleeve, (2) the error-fixed and corner-cut sleeve with some promo stuff, and (3) the error-fixed and corner-cut sleeve with a time strip pasted on the front. Here's the last one which seems to be the most common among the various forms of the WLP album.

 3. WLP in the error-fixed and corner-cut sleeve with a time strip pasted on the front

WLP Copy #4
Matrix: numbers: P AL-33795-1B MCR_II / P BL-33795-1B MCR;
Corner cut; Time strip on front; No promo stamp

    As shown right, I have two copies of the WLP with a time strip for radio station airplay. Their gate-fold sleeves are cut out at the top-right corner and no promotional-specific terms are stamped on the back. As far as I've ever seen, there are no "John" misspelt sleeve version with the time strip sticker, indicating that these WLP copies are released relatively late. 
   

WLP Copy #5
Matrix: numbers: P AL-33795-1C MCR_III / P BL-33795-1C MCR;
Corner cut; Time strip on front; No promo stamp

    As for the matrix information, my time-strip WLP copies are different from the other WLPs in at least two respects. One is the suffix codes that are "1B" and "1C" for the copies #4 and #5, respectively. Thus, they are apparently pressed from different stampers from those used for the script cover and "John"-error bearing early vinyls (both with the suffix "1A"). It is of note that the Columbia Records used to apply a suffix code for the reference to the pressing plant where a given vinyl is pressed. So, "1B" and "1C" do not necessarily mean that they are later pressings than "1A", and it is possible that these vinyls differing in suffix codes are pressed at the same time at different pressing plants, for instance, in Santa Maria, CA, Terra Haute, IN and Pitman, NJ. Back then, this was a typical strategy for highly demanded records released by big names such as Bob Dylan. Since Springsteen had never been such a distinguished artist before BORN TO RUN, I am not sure if this mass production strategy was indeed applied to the release of this album by the record company. Several different suffix codes suggest so, though.

MCR markings on Copies #4 (Left) and #5 (right).
Note that the subscripts are found on only Side 1 of each vinyl.

    The matrix marking "MCR" represents another difference. As mentioned on a previous post, this hand-etching carries a roman-numeral-like subscript (i.e. MCR_I, on only Side 1 of the script cover test pressing and the WLP copies #1 to #3). Interestingly, the vinyl copies #4 and #5 come with the different numerals from those of the script cover test pressing and "John" misspelt copies, which look like II and III, respectively. I do not exactly know what these numerals indicate, but at least they correlate with the suffix codes (i.e. MCR_I for 1A, MCR_II for 1B and MCR_III for 1C).
 → Check here for the updated information.

    Finally, although the WLP copies with a time strip sticker in my possession do not contain any promotional stuff, there have been such copies circulating. Shown on the left is an auction from eBay in 2008, with xerox-copies of the press articles but no promo photos. According to my records, this auction was won by someone who bid US $137.50 after a total of 13 bids.

    I think it's time to move to another subject, but ｗill feature the reissue (catalog number JC33795) variants here sometime in the future.

BORN TO RUN US pressing LP variants: white label promo (2)

 Columbia "Demo" stamp, circa 1975

As explained in the last post, there are several variations in the US white label promotional (WLP) vinyl album of BORN TO RUN that have been circulating in collectors' markets over the years. The matrix inscriptions on the dead wax areas of the vinyl indicate that the early WLP copies are pressed with the same stamper that has been used for pressing the script cover test pressing. So far I have owned five copies of the WLP version of this great album which are roughly classified into three groups: (1) the "John" misspelt sleeve, (2) the error-fixed and corner-cut sleeve with some promo stuff, and (3) the error-fixed and corner-cut sleeve with a time strip pasted on the front. The first one was already introduced the last time So, let me continue the subject for the other two.


2. WLP in the error-fixed and corner-cut sleeve with promo stuff

WLP Copy #2
Matrix: numbers: P AL-33795-1A MCR₁ / P BL-33795-1A MCR;
Corner cut; No time strip; Promo stamp; One photo

    There are two copies (#2 and #3) in my collection that fall into this group. According to the matrix information, they are truly the first pressing, with the matrix number suffix 1A and MCR markings on both sides (MCR₁ on Side 1; see the last post). However, the correct spelling of the album sleeve credit indicates that the vinyl discs are definitely not early pressings. As shown in the pictures, the two double jackets represent a typical promotional format, that is, the corner-cut sleeve (note that the inner sleeve is also clipped) with a “DEMONSTRATION NOT FOR SALE” stamp in black ink near the Big Man's head.

WLP Copy #3
Matrix: numbers: P AL-33795-1A MCR₁ / P BL-33795-1A MCR;
Corner cut; No time strip; Promo stamp; Two photos; A 4-page
reprint from Gallery and a 1-page reprint from Record World

     Unique to these pressings is the inclusion of promo photos and Xerox copies of magazine articles, suggesting that they are distributed as press kits rather than for radio-station air play. This inference may be supported by the absence of the time strip sticker that is often pasted on the front sleeve of the WLP copies (but this does not necessarily mean that there are no press kit packages containing the gate-fold sleeve with the time strip). One of my two copies (#2) includes only one promo photo while the other (#3) carries two each of promo photos and article reprints (a 4-page review article from the August 1975 issue of Gallery and the one-page club report from the 8/23/1975 issue of Record World featuring the opening Bottom Line gig). I do not know exactly whether each copy is as it came originally or some pieces are missing from the whole package. I guess, probably, such press kits may differ originally in their contents with different combinations of promo photos and article copies. For example, shown below is the most gorgeous WLP package I’ve ever seen (it’s not my possession), which includes only one photo and is without the reprint from the Record World article when compared to one of my copies above.

From eBay auction in 2006 (not in my possession). The set includes an 8" x 10" promo photo, a 1-page reprint from Time Magazine, a 4-page reprint from Gallery, a 7-page reprint from Crawdaddy, a 2-page reprint from The Real Paper, a 3-page reprint from the LA Times, a double size 2-page reprint from Good Times, and a double size 3-page reprint from Melody Maker. According to my record, the final amounts were US $540.00 with 8 bids.

— To be continued.

BORN TO RUN US pressing LP variants: white label promo (1)

Although it still takes big money to obtain a copy of the script cover (for example, the latest eBay auction ending on January 25 has involved a total of 11 bids with the final amounts of US $1,107.00), you can easily find and get, at a much cheaper cost, the white label promotional (WLP) issues of BORN TO RUN LP US pressings. As pointed out in the previous post, based on the matrix information, the early promo and regular LP copies are made with the same pair of stampers that is originally used for pressing the script cover test pressing. So, if you pursue the best original sound (not remastering!) available for the vinyl album, an early WLP copy may be the choice unless it is exhausted due to aging and overplaying at a radio station.

All are white label promo copies with some differences.
See the text for the details.

There are several variants out there for the WLP issues of BORN TO RUN LP US pressings. The white labels themselves seem to have no variation. However, these WLP copies not only differ in the matrix inscriptions and album credits on the rear sleeve, but also some contain extra stuff as components of a press kit, such as promo photos and reprint articles from magazines and journals featuring the man and his music. Other factors that give rise to variations are whether the sleeve has a corner cut and whether a time strip is pasted on the front sleeve. Some vinyl discs also come in the sleeve with a promo stamp (not that gold-inked "For Promotional Only" stamp but a black stamp) whereas others are not. I have accumulated five US copies of the WLP which are roughly classified into three groups based on the above criteria: coming in (1) the "John" misspelt sleeve, (2) the error-fixed and corner-cut sleeve with promo stuff, and (3) the error-fixed and corner-cut sleeve with a time strip pasted on the front.


1. WLP in the “John” misspelt sleeve

WLP Copy #1
Matrix: numbers: P AL-33795-1A MCR₁ / P BL-33795-1A MCR;
No corner cut; No time strip; No promo stamp

This should be one of the earliest copies of the WLP since it comes in the sleeve with the "John" spelling error on the rear side, which is corrected by an overlay sticker. The copy in my possession has no corner cut, no time strip on the front, and no promo stamp on the rear. So, this copy is not distinguishable from the regular first pressing unless the labels on the wax are examined. The hand-written run-off groove etchings are identical to those of the script cover test pressing, with the suffix of the matrix numbers being 1A and the "MCR (Master Cutting Room)" marking on both sides. 

MCR marking on the first pressing (left, Side 1; right, Side 2).
Note the subscript "I" found only on Side 1.

By the way, if you closely look at the MCR marking, you'll notice that it has a subscript "I" that looks like a roman numeral (MCR_I). This modification is made on Side 1 only and appears to be common to the script cover and the first pressing of the regular red label release with the misspelling; the marking on Side 2 is just "MCR" for these pressings. Interestingly, the numeral number increases after second and third rounds of the vinyl pressing. → Check here for the updated information.

— To be continued.