BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN "THE PROMISE" RARE STUDIO & LIVE SONGS 1974-1978 - DINODISC LP

$

26

SPRINGSTEEN "THE PROMISE" RARE STUDIO & LIVE SONGS 1974-1978
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E-STREET BAND "THE PROMISE" RARE & UNRELEASED STUDIO & LIVE TRACKS 1973-1978 LABEL: DINODISC – 32455 - bs78 CR #279 LABEL CATALOG NUMBER: CR #279 YELLOW WRAP-AROUND PAPER INSERT  RELEASED: 1982 MATRIX (SIDE A): (Etched) 4318 A R MATRIX (SIDE B): (Etched) 4318 B R
CONDITION:  VINYL: EX   JACKET: VG+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
This week on EBay I am offering up this vintage 1982 original pressing of the fantastic Bruce Springsteen 'collector' record 'The Promise'. 
This is my personal, original copy that I purchased 'new' back in NYC in the early 80's. It has remained in my record collection ever since and I've taken great care of it. It's been poly-line sleeved, inside and out, since I purchased it, stored properly in my collection, and it's still in great condition. 
Please read the full description of this 'collector' album's content, great songs, recording dates, and more details on the record's condition below. ~~~~~~~~~~~
This 'collector' record contains various outtakes and live tracks, focusing on rare tracks that were unreleased at the time, unique live performances of songs that were usually done in a different style, or live performances of songs that, for one reason or another, Bruce wrote but did not include on his albums at the time.
Although some of this material was later released on 'Tracks' and other retrospective compilations, at the time this record was released in 1982, this was all still quite rare and unique material, making this rather hard to find 'collector' record essential for any serious Springsteen collection.
This record was conceived and put together as a sort of 'bridge' or link between Bruce's 1975 album 'Born to Run' and 1978's 'Darkness on the Edge of Town', filling in the gaps, and focusing on Bruce's more deeply personal and emotional songs.
They were all rare and unreleased at the time, and several of them remain unreleased to this day.
Back in the 70's, Bruce's legendary long concerts mostly contained songs performed by the full E Street band, but some of the best, most magical moments came when Bruce would perform one of his own original songs just by himself, solo, usually on the piano. When he did this, it was usually done as an encore or at the end of a long set.
Those rare and unexpected solo moments were where you could really hear the emotion and passion in Bruce's voice and lyrics, and they were always highlights of his live performances.
When this album was released in 1982, this was appreciated by us Springsteen collectors as an excellent sounding compilation of some rare performances of Springsteen's most passionate and emotional songs. A few of these songs were taken from classic, well-known Springsteen shows that most of us already had in our collections, but some were brand new to us.
It was great to have all these powerful, passionate and emotional songs compiled onto one album and this record makes a fantastic live album from Bruce’s classic golden years.
This album contains 11 great songs, some performed in the studio and some performed live. This is also a rather long album for a single disc, clocking in at over 54 minutes, nearly an hour. The songs include:
THE TIES THAT BIND SEASIDE BAR SONG ZERO AND BLIND TERRY BECAUSE THE NIGHT THE PROMISE THUNDER ROAD (Slow Acoustic Version) INDEPENDENNCE DAY (Solo Piano version) POINT BLANK THE FEVER FIRE SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN ~~~~
Although the record itself doesn't list the dates and location where these songs were recorded, Bruce collectors have identified the sources of these songs, so I'll sum that up below:
SEASIDE BAR SONG / ZERO AND BLIND TERRY  Studio Outtakes Circa 1973
THE PROMISE / BECAUSE THE NIGHT  Studio Outtakes Circa 1977
INDEPENDENCE DAY (Solo Piano version) 7-7-78 The Roxy, Los Angeles, CA
THE TIES THAT BIND 9-19-78 Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ
POINT BLANK / THE FEVER / FIRE  SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN 12-15-78 Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This album contains some of the best, most iconic, most heartfelt and emotional early Bruce Springsteen songs.
It covers the time period from 1973 right up to 'The River', which was released shortly before this album appeared in the shops in early 1982, but focuses on the time period around 1977/78 and the writing of the songs that would appear on 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'. 
The range of emotions that Bruce reveals on this album is amazing and shows what a great songwriter he was.
We get to hear songs like 'The Promise' about the struggles of chasing his early dreams, songs like 'Independence Day' about the constant struggles with his Father and his constraining situation at home, but we also get powerful uplifting songs of escape and freedom like 'Seaside Bar Song' with it's message to "get in your wheels and roll..." as well as the joy and happiness of 'Santa Claus is comin to town'.
The version of 'Santa' on this album is an excellent jubilant live version from San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom in December 1978, not the common standard version from C.W. Post college that we all know.
The majestic title track 'The Promise' is a fantastic song about lost hopes and lingering regrets. 
“All my life I fought this fight / The fight that no man can ever win. Every day, it just gets harder to live / This dream I’m believing in. Thunder Road, baby, you were so right... Thunder Road, there’s something dyin’ / Down on the highway tonight.”
'The Promise' is often seen as a follow up or ‘sequel’ to 'Thunder Road' and it's become one of Bruce's most loved and celebrated songs.
I personally think it's one of his best songs. It would have been a perfect inclusion on the original lineup of 'Darkness', but was left off and remained unreleased for many years.
A clean, polished, piano-based version of 'The Promise' was eventually released on the 'Tracks' box set, but the version on this album is a very early, raw. emotional, heartfelt rendition and just amazing. ~~
I have the First pressing of this album in my collection, and it came with a typed blue paper insert that had comments by 'Le Cheeta Bleu' about the songs. Most of the comments are simple and often misleading, but I thought their description of 'Zero and Terry' was spot on.
"This is a fascinating account of the leader of a street gang called The Pythons and a young girl who run away together, only two face State troopers sent by the girls enraged father".
The song first appeared in Springsteen‘s live shows in the fall of 1973. The song was recorded for Bruce's second LP but not included on the final release."
The comments about 'The Promise' say "Here’s one to pull on your heart strings. It was intended for the Darkness LP, but dropped in favor of the title track. Springsteen was concerned that the lyrics would be interpreted as a comment on his lawsuit against manager Mike Appel". 
A more likely inspiration may be Greil Marcus‘s book 'Mystery Train'."
About 'Thunder Road' they say: "This is the infamous slow version. Anyone who was lucky enough to see it performed live this way will always remember it as a work of pure poetry." ~~~~~~~~~~~
Overall, an excellent selection of 'vintage' Bruce Springsteen material. 
As I mentioned, all of the songs on "The Promise" were rare and unreleased at the time this album was released, making this record essential for any Springsteen fan. ~~~
This is an original pressing from 1982. This is the second pressing, with the Yellow paper insert, on the odd independent Dinodisc label.
The First pressing, limited to 200 copies, had a B&W printed jacket with a classic Lynn Goldsmith photo of Bruce and Springsteen's full name on the front. That First pressing had a nicer jacket, but the sound, mix and EQ wasn't great.
This 2nd pressing was completely re-done and re-recorded from the same original source tapes and sounds much better than the first pressing. The songs all sound better, clearer and crisper, and the dynamics and sound levels between the songs is more even, making the album flow better.
The sound quality on this pressing is fantastic; loud, clear, fresh and full. Much better than the typical sound of these 'collector' records. This is on black vinyl and the songs are a mix of Mono and Stereo.
The best sounding version of this record are these original Yellow insert pressings with the paper wrap-around insert jackets.
In true 'collector' record style, there is no mention of the Artist or Band on the cover or labels.
This album was later repressed in the mid 80's with a Blue paper insert ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'The Promise' is a great sounding compilation of rare songs, a fantastic Springsteen record and one of the classic, great sounding, most famous and important releases in the history of Springsteen 'collector' records. 
It's an album that every Springsteen fan should have in their vinyl collection and also deserves to be in any 70s rock vinyl collection. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures. VINYL: This copy is beautifully pressed on thick, heavy, high quality black vinyl and this pressing has fantastic high quality sound to match. 
The vinyl is still fantastic. Clean and bright. No scratches, scuffs or damage. The vinyl is EX, like new, and played only a few times.
You can see from my photos how terrific it looks.
LABELS: This album is pressed with rather simple, plain white, custom labels.
The labels are clean and bright. No dings, scuffs, or damage, and the spindle holes are clean and sharp, suggesting infrequent playing and my careful handling over the years.
The labels are identical on both sides, so I only showed side A. The 'A' on this record label is neatly hand-written, added by the previous owner to help tell the 2 sides apart as the labels are identical.
Again, there's no mention of the artist or song titles, typical of these 'collector' records. 
JACKET: The 'cover' for this record is very 'old school' with just a simple Yellow paper wrap-around insert placed over a plain white cardboard jacket. This was released in early 1982, but made to look like a 'collector' record from many years earlier.
The album cover artwork features a classic picture of Bruce looking rather vulnerable and sensitive.
I have most all of the Springsteen books and thousands of pictures of Bruce and I don't think I've ever seen this exact picture anywhere else. I think it perfectly fits the feel and mood of the music on the album.
As you can see from my pictures, this nearly 45 year old wrap-around insert is still in great condition and looks fantastic other than some mild creasing and wrinkling on the back flap.
The back flap was unknowingly 'bent' when I sleeved it and stored it away in my collection decades ago. Since it was on the back side, I never realized it all these years until I pulled this album out to listen to and consider passing it on to a new collector.
The 'crinkling' isn't horrible and will likely flatten out with proper snug sleeving and time.
The paper sleeve is otherwise in excellent condition. Clean and bright. No names, writing or marks.  The corners and edges are clean, smooth, and relatively sharp. 
The title and lettering is somewhat simple and basic, but classic and effective. The lettering is sharp and clear. The text is a review of the 'Darkness' tour from an unknown source and a simple song listing. Note that one or two of the song titles is underlined by the previous owner. A minor issue, but should be pointed out. I tried to show details in my photos.
The plain white cardboard jacket underneath is old but fine. Clean, bright, no seam splits, writing or issues, but it is oddly a 'cut-out' style with a die-cut window for the label to show thru. I purchased this album 'used' back in the early 80's and I suspect that this was not the original jacket, likely switched out by the record shop staff.
Maybe they did that so the buyer could see the label without pulling the record out of the jacket, but I doubt it originally came like that. No big deal since the 'cover' is the wrap-around, not the plain white jacket underneath.
I've owned this record since the early 80's and it has been sleeved and kept in great condition for around 45 years now. It's about as good a copy of this classic release as you're likely to find these days, despite the 'creased' corner on the insert.
Very nice, all original, and a real gem. I'm sure you'll be very happy to add it to your collection. It would make a great addition to any Classic Rock or Springsteen vinyl record collection.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** NOTE: I'm selling this rare Springsteen 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare, and as described, and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. A great, rare, original, excellent sounding copy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 50 years of vinyl record collecting. 
Over the next few months I'll be offering an assortment of these rare and collectable LP’s. Many of these records have been in my personal collection for decades. Some of them are quite rare and seldom come up for sale. Limited pressings, European imports, promos, fan club releases, live recordings, first pressings and other general rarities.
Keep an eye on my Ebay page, 'jjrbyrne' for more of these great rare collectible albums, EPs and 45 singles. 
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable and system to get a true picture of condition. 
Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
My grading is fair and honest. I have had over 3,700 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years, with 100% positive feedback, and I have been buying/selling on EBay for nearly 30 years, so please bid with confidence!
I'm a One-man operation, this is a hobby, not my job. I do this for fun. I do this because I love music, love collecting vinyl and want others to share in that same experience. I take my time listening, researching, grading, listing and packaging. I will NOT sell any record that I personally would not want in my collection.
As you well know, packing and shipping rare records requires special care and attention, therefore, shipping cost within the lower 48 states is $5.00 on this item. If you would like insurance, or anything faster than Media/Economy Mail, please let me know and I can arrange it for you. I’ll work with you to make sure you’re happy!
I will gladly combine multiple records, or other items on my page, and make the shipping much less for you. I don’t inflate the shipping costs; they are what they are. I strive to keep them as low as possible.  See my feedback for comments on my quality packing and shipping.
All items are packaged with sturdy cardboard mailers and appropriate padding. I take pride in my packaging and shipping and package all my records as if I were sending them to myself. I treat the records you win as if they were my own, and mail them the same way. 
All orders are processed and shipped within 2 business days of receipt. We package and ship our vinyl records with the greatest care, using proper packaging to ensure that your rare and collectible vinyl records arrive in pristine condition.
Payments can be made by any of the multiple options that Ebay offers.
I will be happy to exchange feedback with anyone I complete a transaction with.
THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far. I know I rambled on a bit, but can't help it. I have a passion for records, especially 'Collector' records and Bruce Springsteen.  I hope this listing was entertaining and informative.   -- JOHN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE  EARLY HISTORY OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 'COLLECTOR' RECORDS FROM MY PERSONAL VIEWPOINT.
I've been a lifelong Springsteen fan. I grew up in New Jersey, just outside of New York City. As a teen, I spent many weekends and summers with my family down along the Jersey Shore and was introduced to Bruce's music at an early age, around the time of his first album.
My first Bruce show wasn't until November 1975, after 'Born to Run' was released, but I was an early fan from day one.
Back in those early days, it was hard keeping up with Bruce Springsteen's music and output. Bruce was quite prolific, started writing many new songs, and despite releasing two albums in 1973, Greetings from Asbury Park" and "The Wild, The Innocent & The E. Street Shuffle", Bruce still had many more songs completed, too many for his first albums. If you wanted to hear any of those songs, you had to 'know people'. 
It seemed that everybody I knew had a 'Bruce Story' and every record collector I met knew 'somebody' that owned a copy of a rare Springsteen song or performance on tape. I had heard reel to reel tapes and cassette tapes of Bruce's earlier 1973/74 live broadcasts, and early 1974 radio station appearances through friends and in the shops, but nobody owned any vinyl pressings of them. 
Vinyl copies of these 'rarities' and radio shows were unheard of in the early 70's and such things didn't exist at the time.
As a young record collector, I would venture into the city with my older brother and his buddies, tagging along on their record shopping runs. By my late teens I was living in lower Manhattan and doing my own regular record shop circuit, digging for obscure rarities.
Rare 'collector' records were just starting to show up in the bins of certain record shops around this time, mixed in with the regular titles. They weren't at the 'normal' mall and chain record shops, but they were plentiful if you 'knew people' and knew where to look.
In those early years most companies that pressed these types of records were based in L.A. and out on the west coast, so Bruce Springsteen, some guy from Jersey, wasn't their priority. They tended to focus on acts like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin, the more universally popular stuff.
The very first Bruce Springsteen Collector records to appear were pressed by a Los Angeles based company called 'Hoffman Avenue Records', founded by Lou Cohan, a Cyprus California teacher and Springsteen collector. Lou was originally from Trenton, NJ, and published one of the early Springsteen fanzines, 'Thunder Road', which we all read.
Starting in the summer of 1975, Hoffman Avenue records pressed some of the very first Springsteen collector records: 'THE JERSEY DEVIL', 'THERE AIN'T NOBODY HERE FROM BILLBOARD TONIGHT' and 'HOT COALS FROM FIERY FURNACE'. 
The first Springsteen collector record, 'THE JERSEY DEVIL', came out on Hoffman Avenue Records (HAR 147) around September 1975. It was the first Springsteen vinyl collector record I ever saw in the shops. The cover had a drawing of Bruce, dressed as the furry Jersey Devil with horns and sneakers. He has a long tail, curled in an 'S' shape, and he's carrying his guitar.
It contained a very early version of 'Thunder Road', called 'Wings for Wheels' from the February 1975 Main Point broadcast, a very early version of 'New York City Serenade', live versions of 'Contessa/Santa Anna' and 'Tokyo/And the Band Played' from a 1973 show at the Main Point, and 'Up On The Roof' from the 1975 Main Point broadcast. 
An amazing record packed with rarities that was a real 'find' for any Springsteen fan. I can still remember, despite it costing $8, twice the price of a 'normal' record back then, scooping up the first copy I ever saw at one of my regular NYC record shops.
Originals had a cheap, simple, B&W slip-sheet wrap-around cover, silver 'Hoffman Avenue' labels, and were pressed on cool, multicolored red 'splatter' wax.
They had hand typed song titles and liner notes and included a simple typed Hoffman Records 'catalog', giving information where you could buy other 'Hoffman Avenue' records. (for cheaper than what the store was charging!), so my vinyl obsession and addiction kicked in. ~~~~
'THERE AIN'T NOBODY HERE FROM BILLBOARD TONIGHT' (HAR 160) appeared in November 1975.
This was another Hoffman Avenue release, and the 2nd Springsteen 'collector' record I was aware of. This record contained the KWEST-FM live broadcast of the October 17, 1975 show at the Roxy Theater in Hollywood.
This show featured the rarely performed 'Pretty Flamingo', the only live version of the Byrds' 'Goin Back', plus many rare and classic Bruce songs.
That particular Roxy concert was attended by many L.A. music industry people, radio personalities, and local musicians, who were curious to see what the Springsteen hype was all about. The title of the album, 'There Ain't Nobody Here From Billboard Tonight', is taken from what Bruce said on stage the following night, when nobody was there except true Springsteen fans.
Like 'Jersey Devil', it was pressed on multi-color splatter vinyl, with a simple Black & White fold-over paper cover that showed the promo poster for those L.A. shows.
The classic poster featured Bruce, shown from behind, wearing a BTR tour jacket, with his guitar slung over his shoulder. A pair of sneakers dangled from the guitar's headstock. One of the classic early Springsteen 'collector' records and covers.
The deadwax of this release had the HAR-160 markings, chosen because it was label owner Lou Cohan's old address, 160 Hoffman Ave in Trenton, NJ. It was also one the first Springsteen collector records that I know of that had inscriptions in the deadwax; "BRUCE I WANT YOUR BILLBOARD!" on Side 1 and "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN — V. V." on Side 4. The other sides had dedications "THIS SIDE FOR MELINDA" and "THIS SIDE FOR JEAN & MARK" thanking their friends, helpers and collaborators.
The famous "Catch me if you can" phrase at the end of the record on side 4 was attributed to the legendary L.A. record producer Vicky Vinyl, who ran the local 'Idle Minds' label and helped fund and expedite this early Hoffman Avenue pressing. ~~~
A third release from Hoffman Avenue records, 'HOT COALS FROM FIERY FURNACE' (HAR 164) first appeared around February 1976.
This was an amazing and excellent 2-LP 'collector' record, packed with rarities, such as an early 'Saint in the City', 'Lost in the Flood', 'New York City Serenade', a rare slow version of '10th Ave Freeze-out', a 20-minute slow 'E Street Shuffle' with the iconic story about meeting Clarence on the boardwalk, a rare solo piano version of 'For You', and the first live performance of the Animal's 'It's My Life'.
Still one of my favorite early Bruce 'collector' records. ~~~~~~~~~~
By the summer of 1975, there were a couple of rare Springsteen 'collector' records available on Hoffman Avenue records, but the one event that fueled the demand for more live Springsteen records, and opened up the market, was Bruce's Bottom Line radio broadcast in the summer of 1975.
In August 1975, just prior to the release of his third album "Born to Run", Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a 5-night stand at The Bottom Line, a small club on West 4th Street in the Village.
The band played 10 shows, 2 shows a night, during that 5 day run. The early show of the 3rd night, August 15th, was broadcast live on one of our local rock stations WNEW-FM.
Very sortly afterwards, vinyl copies of the show started showing up in the local Greenwich Village record shops.
The first I can remember was 'LIVE AT THE BOTTOM LINE 8/15/75' which had a simple B&W cover, featuring a smiling, close-up picture of Bruce, cropped and taken from the cover of 'Born to Run', with the song titles and running times printed at the bottom, to make it appear like a radio station timing strip.
The record was cleverly designed to look like a radio transcription disc or radio station promotional record, in order to avoid any attention or scrutiny in the bins.
Shortly after this plain looking record hit the stores, 'BRUCE SPINGSTEEN LIVE' on the Coral Records label started to show up in the Village shops.
This 2-LP collector record was the best and most famous version of Bruce's 1975 Bottom Line concert.  It was packaged in a fully printed, deluxe gatefold sleeve, and had a fantastic full color illustration of 1975-era Bruce on the cover.
Before this album, most collector records had amateurish looking rubber-stamped covers, or crude, one color, mimeographed, paper slip-sheet covers, simply inserted over a blank jacket.
The Coral Records pressing of 'Bruce Springsteen Live' (Coral Records NR-909), was a beautiful, professional looking album and set a new standard for what a Springsteen 'collector' records should look like and sound like.
Before this record, most companies tried to maximize profits and put little to no effort into their album jacket designs, but Coral's 'Bruce Springsteen Live' kicked off a period of much nicer looking, better packaged, collector records.
Shortly after this classic record came out, we started seeing much more attention being paid to the cover art and packaging of Springsteen collector records. 
The amazing 'YOU CAN TRUST YOUR CAR TO THE MAN WHO WEARS THE STAR' release. a 2-LP record featuring the WMMR Philadelphia broadcast of the February 5, 1975 Main Point gig from Bryn Mawr, PA then appeared on the market.
It was pressed on the 'Singer's Original Double Disk' label (SODD 001), and, although First pressings still had a simple tangerine colored slip-sheet cover, it's iconic cover featured a drawing of a late 1974-Era Bruce, dressed as a Texaco gas station attendant. This was one of the first Bruce Springsteen collector records to feature artistic, hand drawn, original cover artwork. Many more would follow.
This trend towards original hand-drawn artistic covers ushered in the classic William Stout artwork era. Stout would go on to design many classic covers for records released on the famous TMOQ, 'Trade Mark of Quality' west coast label. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Springsteen 'collector' records then became more and more popular in New York's record shops as the 70's progressed, but the problem was that it was a total guessing game and crap-shoot when purchasing these records; you never knew what you were getting.
This was in the pre-Internet, pre-Discogs era, and there weren't any reliable guides to tell you what was on these records, or how they sounded. Goldmine magazine, Jerry Osborne, and a few other people, published guide books for record collectors back then, but they covered commercially released records, not collector records.
Knowledge about these 'collector' records was largely learned by talking to record shop owners, other collectors, and at record conventions. Knowledge was mostly learned by taking chances and buying these collector records whenever you ran across them in the shops. An expensive 'hit or miss' approach.
By the late-70's, the 'best' collector records were often copied, re-pressed, and re-packaged by other companies, usually with lower pressing quality and crummy to atrocious sound. You never knew what you were getting.
Every once in a while, you would strike gold, and find a true rose among the thorns. 'Fire on the Fingertips' was one of those early Roses. It started showing up in the shops around the Fall of 1978.
Although it was difficult to tell what exactly was on it, due to the song titles all being strange and purposely mis-titled, it was all rare & unreleased material, and all in excellent sound quality. A true Diamond in the rough. 'Fire on the Fingertips' was one of the highlights of the late 70's run of Springsteen collector records.
Right after Bruce's September 1979 'No Nukes' concert at the Garden, the definitive triple-LP version of the complete 1975 Bottom Line show, 'THE GREAT WHITE BOSS' came out, which included all the DJ chatter and all the songs, including the long, jazzy, jamming 'Kitty's Back' from the broadcast.
After 'Great White Boss', zillions of different Bruce 'collector' records started to appear on the New York market and didn't let up until after the 'Born in the USA' tour ended.  ~~~~
After the long, exhausting River tour wrapped up in September 1981, after nearly 140 3-hour shows, Bruce and the E Street band the band were one of the biggest rock acts in the world, but in need of a well deserved break.
At the end of the tour, Bruce retreated to his newly-rented house and ranch in rural Colts Neck, NJ, and spent time recuperating, relaxing and thinking about his career.
He didn't do many club or publicity appearances at the time, instead, unknown to his fans, went into a dark, contemplative period, quietly writing the songs that would later become 'Nebraska'.
Bruce basically disappeared from public and went silent, so we Bruce fans couldn't wait for the next new material, the next new song or record, and then suddenly this album showed up on the scene.
This pressing of 'The Promise' first showed up in the summer of 1982, looked very 'old school' and had lots of great, then unreleased, rare songs, so I naturally grabbed it up when I saw it during one of my regular vinyl digs in the record shops along Saint Mark‘s place in the Village.  ~~~~~~~
By the mid-to-late 1980s, Italy and Sweden had relaxed their copyright laws, making 'collector' records fall into a semi-legal grey area, which opened the floodgates. Many many more Springsteen 'collector' records hit the market from Europe. By then, CDs had started to take over the market and vinyl releases of Springsteen 'collector' records became less frequent. The golden age of vinyl 'collector' records dried up pretty quickly, although they continued to trickle out if you knew where to look. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~