COLLECTORS' NEWS (01/04/09)
iTunes US are currently running a special pre-order offer for their "Working On A Dream" album download, which includes the supposedly deleted bonus track "A Night With The Jersey Devil". Thanks to Paul S. Levine for the info.

In other news, a 1-track promo CD of "The Wrestler" has recently been distributed to Academy Award voters by Fox Searchlight Pictures for consideration in the "Best Original Song" category.

 

UPDATE # 128 (12/27/08)
[ NOTE: Frequent visitors may have to click the "Refresh" button on certain pages in order to see the newly added scans/text. ]

(Special thanks to Massimo Truchet for the info/scans)

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (12/24/08)
Another “Working On A Dream” album track, “Life Itself”, is going to be available as an exclusive Amazon mp3 download from 12/28. With “The Wrestler” recently having been officially released as a “single” on iTunes as well, there now is almost a third of the entire CD ready for online purchase in digital form. Thanks to Mark Bahlen for the update.

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (12/22/08)
Major US department store chain Walmart is set to release an exclusive 12-track “Greatest Hits” Springsteen CD sampler with unique artwork on 01/13/09.

 

WEBMASTERS’ NOTE (12/21/08)
Check out this YouTube video to listen to the unique edited US 7-inch single version of “Blinded By The Light” (with the potentially “offensive” verse about “some kidnapped handicap” omitted) and watch a super-rare original 1973 stock copy spinning on a high-end turntable!

 

WEBMASTERS’ NOTE (12/18/08)
A current eBay listing for a copy of the 1974 UK “Intersong Music” 6-song, 12-inch Springsteen vinyl acetate by an Italian seller mentions our website and contains the following remarks:

“[...] I can say that I own all the acetates shown in lost in the flood Bruce Springsteen Collector's page except for the Castiles Acetate. There are many others not shown in this site. besides, the ones in that site which have no pics do not exist. [...]”

Yeah, right.

Just for the record: While it is certainly true that many circulating acetates are not featured on our relevant page, the seller’s claim highlighted in the above quote is COMPLETELY FALSE. All of these discs were in fact sold at auctions held by “Backstreet Records” via their printed catalogues in the 1990s, which is where we drew most of our information from...too bad that “daniele_mi” appears to have missed them!

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (12/12/08)
Billboard.com confirms that “Working On A Dream” will be available on vinyl, while the previously reported “deluxe” CD/DVD combo is going to contain 38 minutes of behind-the-scenes studio footage shot during the making of the album.

In related news, the UK “Working On A Dream” cardboard sleeve “promo” CD single we mentioned in our 11/28 Collectors’ News entry has turned out to be a fake, which is fairly easy to tell from the odd disc design (shown below). Thanks to Massimo Truchet for this update.

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (12/08/08)
brucespringsteen.net has posted what appears to be the official “Working On A Dream” album artwork:

Ouch.

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (12/05/08)
And just when you thought that there were no more major discoveries to be made in the world of Bruce Springsteen 7-inch vinyl collecting...a never before heard-of, previously undocumented, totally unknown 1981 UK white label promo 45 of “Two Hearts” (backed with “Ramrod”, no less!) suddenly and as if by miracle surfaces on eBay, in dead mint overall condition, at a laughable starting bid of £ 4.99/$ 7.38. The seller’s item description states that this promo carries a catalogue number of CBS A 1845, which - according to our own researches - would certainly fit in with the record company’s coding system used in 1981, although we find it a bit odd that both the preceding and subsequent numbers were assigned to commercially issued picture sleeve singles made in the Netherlands (The Nits’ “Red Tape” [CBS A 1844] and Julio Iglesias’ “Begin The Beguine [Volver A Empezar]” [CBS A 1846], respectively). So what’s the conclusion, you may ask? Truth be told, we’re not really sure ourselves - however, without doubting the seller’s reputation, the considerable amount of fake vinyl items that have turned up over the course of this year leaves us more than just a little bit skeptical...

 

UPDATE # 127 (12/05/08)
[ NOTE: Frequent visitors may have to click the "Refresh" button on certain pages in order to see the newly added scans/text. ]

(Special thanks to Mark Bahlen and Martin Vervaart for the info/scans)

 

UPDATE # 126 (12/02/08)
[ NOTE: Frequent visitors may have to click the "Refresh" button on certain pages in order to see the newly added scans/text. ]

(Special thanks to Pascal Horsthuis and Massimo Truchet for their help with most of these updates)

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (11/28/08)
Ah, the magic of “digital singles”..: While the title track off Bruce’s forthcoming album is currently available on iTunes only (after Springsteen himself had given it away for free via his own website last Monday), Amazon.com will exclusively be offering another new song, “My Lucky Day”, as an official mp3 download from 12/01.

Meanwhile, over the course of this past week, a handful of copies of the US “Working On A Dream” 1-track promo CD (CDR?) single - issued in a slimline jewel case with picture insert - have made their way onto eBay and were quickly snapped up by collectors for comparatively modest “Buy It Now” prices ranging between $ 49.99 and $ 74.99. A UK cardboard sleeve version (also sold on eBay at slightly less than 5 quid a pop) exists as well; stay tuned for more details to be posted here soon.

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (11/26/08)
Here’s a closer look at the slipcase for the Italian “Bruce Springsteen Studio Collection” we reported last time, again courtesy of Massimo Truchet, who also tells us that this series features specifically pressed CD’s with unique BSC catalogue number prefixes.

Catching up with the latest “Working On A Dream” news, the album’s second “bonus track”, "A Night With The Jersey Devil", has been mysteriously deleted from official press releases originally posted on both brucespringsteen.net and the Shore Fire Media website without notice, and (as Backstreets.com confirms) will in fact not be contained for reasons yet unknown.

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (11/22/08)
Another newspaper Springsteen CD promotion, this time by Italian publications “La Repubblica“ and “L’Espresso”, is coming up: Starting next Wednesday (11/26), the “Bruce Springsteen Studio Collection” series will feature “mini-LP” replicas of 12 albums plus a special cardboard slipcase to store them all in. Thanks to Massimo Truchet for the info and picture shown below.

In other news, Amazon.com has recently posted a piece of artwork related to the upcoming new album “Working On A Dream”, in conjunction with an mp3 download of the title track (and first [digital] single) scheduled for release on 12/09. Also listed on Amazon is a “Deluxe” 2-disc version of “Working On A Dream” including a bonus DVD that apparently will contain “30 minutes worth of tour footage”.

 

COLLECTORS’ NEWS (11/21/08)
Thanks to Dave Hellyar for notifying us on a newly surfaced white vinyl pressing of the “Born To Run” LP that was apparently “made in Canada” (sounds familiar?) and most likely is nothing more than yet another fake in the same vein as this year’s various picture disc releases and the green vinyl issue of “The Ghost Of Tom Joad”. Caveat emptor!

       

 

[ FOR OLDER NEWS & UPDATES, CLICK HERE ]