My First Vinyl Bootlegs (concluded)

The three in original form (or sort of)

Information about original copies of Springsteen bootleg vinyls have been available from various published sources including literature and internet reviews. For me, although out of date covering only up to 1984, Chris Hunt's section of Blinded By The Light (P. Humphries & C. Hunt, 1985, Plexus, London) is still the primary source when referring to vinyl Bruceleg titles.

According to BBTL, the first edition of HOT COALS FROM FIERY FURNACE on Hoffman Avenue Records (HAR164; the original copy of THE JERSEY DEVIL: Ragamuffin Gunner) was pressed on multicolor vinyl with picture labels and came in an orange and black slick cover. Among the three bootlegs I'm talking about, relatively detailed information is available for this old bootleg, in part because the man who made it is long publicly known, and featured and interviewed in essential readings such as BOOTLEG: The Secret History Of The Other Recording Industry (C. Heylin, 1996, St. Martin's Griffin, New York). I know slightly more than what are said about the pressing number and slick cover variation. So, this vinyl title is going to be featured on "Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited" sometime in the future.

As for YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR on Singer's Original Double Disk labels (SODD 001), the original pressing had a black and orange insert cover and came on black vinyl. Although there are variations with respect to insert color and record labels (for example, see here on this blog), the white insert edition seems to be one of the earliest, as it came with the record label "World Records" which is also used for the orange insert version. Another classic bootleg.

DON'T LOOK BACK: Bruce Springsteen Collectors Items 1974-1980 on PUD Records (PUD P 4234) was released around in 1980, about 4 years later than the release of the above two classic bootlegs. For this title, BBTL describes that "Delux black and white photos with black lettering. Second pressing has blue border on cover. Extremely rare in its original form". Yes, all the releases feature black & white photos on their front and rear sleeves, but I had wondered what color was originally used on the sleeve border, because there were differently colored sleeves floating around. I've seen at least light blue, red, orange, green, white, and grey versions with light blue seemingly most widely circulated (By the way, the detail information on the variation is found in brucespringsteen.it). Then, I came to know the white border version most likely to be the first edition according to another bootleg guide: "First 100 copies had no back ground color. Later copies had light blue, blue and orange added", from The Bruce Springsteen Bootleg Bible Vol. 1 (Tony Montana, 1985, Montana Production, Inc.).

Although similarly designed, there are several minor variations
on the rear sleeves. 

Because this bootleg was sold at fairly cheap prices, I own four copies whose sleeves differ one by one although the vinyl discs are grouped into three types based on the labels and matrix numbers. Both the white and green border versions carry the identical vinyl with the yellow PUD labels and the hand-written matrix numbers PUD104A P4234 / PUD104BRE P4234. These two vinyls weigh 138 g (white) and 149 g (green) which are heavier than the other two (grey border, 124 g; light blue border, 114 g). They are most likely the first pressing or at least early copies.

The grey border version actually came with the plain black sleeve on both sides of which the large stickers reproducing the original sleeve (except grayish font color) are glued. The vinyl has plain black labels on both sides with the hand-etched matrix inscriptions LL101 / LL102. Printed on the bottom of the rear sleeve sticker is the small writing "Quik-Q Records, 156 Broadway, New York, N. Y.  10115" which is not found on any other copies. The light blue border version, the first copy I got among the four, has a stamped plain white label on each side of the vinyl as shown in the last post, with the matrix codes PUD104A / PUD104B (that are hand-etched as completely different script from those of the white and green border versions). These two copies feature the vertically arranged album title that is printed on the right side of the rear sleeve.

Content-wise, this bootleg is a compilation of unusual live performances and then-unreleased studio tracks, which I really enjoyed once immunized against "bootleg sound" (especially, a slow Tenth Avenue, an acoustic Rosalita and the incredible Fever performed as guest of the Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes show). Strangely, something like drum-machine beat can be heard at the last moment of Rosalita, which is not on the original recording of the radio show from which this particular performance is taken. This strange sound is edited out on the track in the light-blue border version, another indication that this one is the most lately produced pirate copy among the four discs I own.