What is the rarest release you actually possess?

The rarest record I own is probably this art project by this local artist/musician called Spunkle. He did this thing called the Prepared Vinyl Project, where he painted 7" singles, so you can't actually listen to them. I don't know how many he did, but I guess every single one was different. It smells lovely though.

Of course, if you're counting releases by bands that I was in, I've got some incredibly rare stuff (haha).

I have a Movietone 7-inch that I believe was pressed in a run of 100, and then Modest Mouse's "Birds v. Worms" single was either 500 or 1,000 (at one time that single was going for $70 on eBay, but probably not any more.)

"Upside Down" 12" Jesus and Mary Chain
"Andii in a Karmann" Senseless things mini-album
"Julian Cope Demos" - Island Records Promo cassette
"All Tomorrow's Parties" Velvet Underground and Nico

I don't know what Stewart Anderson means by "I can no longer manage to produce a CD that makes triple figures" (see here - money or number of units?), but it looks as if anyone who has bought a recent 555 release owns something very limited.

...and a 2x7" comp put out by "Abo", who recorded as Yeast Culture--heavily silkscreened and scribbled-on. Portland, OR/ Seattle, WA oddities--Smegma, Yeast Culture, Ultra, and an offshoot(?) of Strength Through Joy. 100 copies released with an extra 7" featuring the "Dada Action Group". I can't remember the title...Bird...Bird...
something...

I really need to get round to flogging that on ebay

I kind of agree, but that basically translates into rare = $$$, which Matt said he didn't mean.

I do have the "limited edition" Stooges boxset, The Complete Funhouse sessions, which is also completely useless.

Oh, and I have the cd-single of "Motown Junk" by the Manic Street Preachers, which I'm told is worth a little bundle. I certainly don't remember buying it, however.

As BJork and Tori Amos have the richest fans, their rarities are many moneys, granted.

Rare means you want one but can't get one. There are singles of limited edition but if the shop still has 480, it's not rare.

Killer version of "Don't Touch My Tomato."

I had loads of the early sterolab records which I later sold when I got bored of them. Again, I regret. I also had an original of Tigermilk which I sold for £80 thinking that was as high as the value was going to go.

Whereas, xxxxxxxxxxx fans are poor so cannot afford to push values up to inflated levels.

Well, it's just that who needs twenty-eight consecutive takes of any song, y'know? The box only served to demystify one of the greatest albums of all time (to my mind, of course). The thing about Funhouse is that it sounds so loose (pardon the pun) and spontaneous, and the box set only serves to ruin that illusion, portraying the band as rather suprisingly meticulous and (relative) perfectionists.

Limited - god alone knows. I have two C90s each containing about 40 home demos from Track & Field's token Cardiff band The Loves. I doubt more than about five copies exist of either.

worth most money and a 500 copies is probably the orginally version of the Dinosaur 24-24 album with Arthur Russell

I've got that. I'd say Lake or Youngs' Advent records are rarer.

- Smashing Pumpkins "91-98" promo-CD compilation
- Placebo "Covers" promo-CD

By the way, do you have any idea if there is a tradition of using gold instead of aluminium on first edition CDs? I have both Fugazi-"End Hits" and Tiger-"We Are Puppets" in golden metal CDs, and I think that later releases used regular aluminium...

Not entirely relevant to thread, but I noticed this week that a used not-signed-or-anything-noteworthy copy of Get In by Kenickie now seems to go for no less than £30 on amazon marketplace, which is kind of sobering and makes me want to encase my own copy in velvet wraps, having never paid more than £20 for anything music-y ever (this being CD copy of Back In Denim which seems to remain out of print and rare-ISH but is surely due comprehensive reissue at some point soon etc etc)

Justified Ancients of MuMu: 1987 WTFIGO (LP)
Negativland - U2 (CD)

May also have things that had less copies available, but danged if I know what they are.

1 of 100 autographed edition of 1972 by Josh Rouse.

...what about hand-made LP jackets? I don't personaly have any but they certainly deserve mention here.

http://www.an-irrational-domain.net/images/memo/memo58.JPG

my pride and joy is the first Lucky Kitchen release - the Suetsu & Underwood 2xcdr - #8/10, cuz the packaging and the contents are just too fucking cool.

I have 'xaman' on LP.

I also have the Drill ep by Radiohead which I bought for 50p. Unfortunately, I lent it to my brother about six years ago and have never seen it since.

Rarest thing I've got that anybody's ever actually heard of: probably either Propaganda's "Duel" double-pack 7" or the original 7" version of James Brown's "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" (the one with an acid-rock band backing him up).

i sold mine.

anybody want it, i'd really like to sell it...I dont know how rare that is...but email me if you are interested.

I have Skullflower's Xaman, it looks funny.

2 rare things temporarily in my posession...the Theoretical Girls LP test pressing from the 80s that was never released, and the Static cassette.

How rare was that Table of the Elements Nickel tour 7"?

I sold most of my 90s hip/rare releases to Other Music.

But as far as actually rare releases...I'd say some of my Homosexuals material, like the Ici Las Bas 12" or the Number is Bigger then the Dot single. Not super rare if you have 20 to 50 dollars to spend...

Gropeck Whipperjenny!

dave 225, do you mean the '88 pressing of the Black Album? And does it differ in any way from the eventual release?

After that, numerous 7"s which were limited but if no-one actually cares about them (possibly the case) then I don't know how rare they really are; I have a Church Steps 7" that I think was limited to 100 or something. I'm sure no-one is searching for it.

I suppose the rarest records I have in terms of the number produced are white labels and promos of various dance tracks. I don't even know what half of them are though, so I have no way of knowing how many were released.

Anyone have any of those early Boards of Canada releases that only came out in runs of 200 - 400 CDs / tapes?

Rarest record i've ever owned though was the first Perry Leopold album which i'm sure has gone for a grand somewhere. Most i ever sold a record for was 200 bucks for the Beatles fan club Christmas album. In the past, I've mostly traded rare stuff. No money involved.

damnit. Piazzolla is right. Warn fugged it up.

The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds (Capitol, T 2458) LP - signed by Brian Wilson
Borbetomagus, s/t (Agaric, Ag 1980) LP
Borbetomagus & Hugh Davies, Work on What Has Been Spoiled (Agaric, 1981) LP
Glenn Branca, Lesson No. 1 (99 Records, 99-01 EP) EP
Glenn Branca, The Ascension (99 Records, 9901LP) LP
Tony Conrad with Faust, Outside the Dream Syndicate (Caroline, C 1501) LP
Crain, Speed (Auomatic Wreckords, 1) LP limited glow-in-the-dark cover, #75 of 100
Andrew Cyrille/Milford Graves, Dialogue of the Drums (Institute for Percussion Studies, IPS 001) LP
The Dead C., DR503 (Flying Nun, FN92) LP
The Dead C., Eusa Kills (Flying Nun/Xpressway, FN130) LP
The Dead C., Harsh 70's Reality (Siltbreeze, SB 1112) 2LP
Arthur Doyle plus 4, Alabama Feeling (Ak-Ba, AK 1030) LP
Faust, The Faust Tapes (Virgin, VC 501) LP
Luc Ferrari, Presque Rien no 2/Promenade Symphonique a Travers un Paysage Musical (INA-GRM, HM 38) LP
Gate, Amerika (Majora, no number) LP
Gate, Metric (Majora, no number) LP
Milford Graves featuring Don Pullen, Nommo (SRP, LP 290) LP
Milford Graves, Meditation Among Us (Kitty, MKF 1021) LP
Julius Hemphill, Dogon A.D. (Mbari, MPC 501) LP
Julius Hemphill, Blue Boye (Mbari , MPC 1000X) 2LP
Noah Howard, Patterns (Alt Sax) LP
Noah Howard, The Black Ark (Freedom, 28 426-5 U) LP
MEV/AMM, Live Electronic Music Improvised (Mainstream, MS/5002) LP
Charlemagne Palestine, Strumming Music (Shandar) LP
Rashied Ali/Frank Lowe, Duo Exchange (Survival, SR-101) LP
R!!S!!, Lake (No Fans, NFR02) 2L
The Shadow Ring, City Lights (Dry Leaf Discs, DF003) LP
Shellac, Futurist (no label, no number) LP
Sun City Girls, Grotto of Miracles (Placebo, PLA-19) LP
Sun City Girls, Dawn of the Devi (Majora, no number) LP
Sun City Girls, Kaliflower (Abduction, ABDT-001) LP
Richard Youngs, Advent (No Fans, NFR 01) L

and some other shit nobody cares about.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc400/c459/c459811458u.jpg

The Ascension and Lesson Number 1's values are decreasing rapidly now that there are fancy new CD reissues. Sell your vinyl now and buy the CDs!

but then, they´re casettes and not records

other stuff i have

Avocado baby A million and nine (slampt) CASSETTE
Billjardakademin Fallbillder / Arbetarmelodi (id) 7"
Cristina Is that all there is? (ze) 12"
Death comet crew At the marble bar (beggars banquet) 12" (dunno if its rare)
George Harrasment Masai sleep walking (black noise) LP
Homosexuals Homosexuals EP `(black noise

Ici las bas same (back noise) MINI LP
L Voag Move ep (no label) 7"
L Voag The way out (no label) LP
Lew Kirton Heaven in the afternoon (tk disco) 12" (dunno if it´s rare but it´s expensive)
Nancy sesay and the Melodaries C´est fab ( It´s war boys) 7"
International Harvester - Sov gott rose marie LP love rec
Sir Alick and the Phraser In search for the perfect baby (black noise) 7"
Suspicions, the The laughing policeman (arista) 7"
Tronics Love backed by forces (alien records) LP
Versatile newts Blimp / Newtrition (shanghai) 7"
Vivien Goldman Dirty Washing ep (99 records) 12"
Vivien Goldman Launderette (window) 7"
Y Pants Beat it down (neutral) LP
Y Pants Off the hook EP 7"
Arthur Russell - Let´s go swimming 12"
Arthur Russell - World of echo LP
Dinosaur - 24-24 LP
2 49 Americans Lps

and a lot of more stuff
(recently had to sell a lot fo rare diy/postpunk singles)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4001420362&category=2266

and some small run noise tapes/LPs... Wolf Eyes/Emil Beaulieau split 7" edition of 50. tapes in editions of less than that by the usual suspects.

a Minimum Chips lathe that there are only 30 of (although it was repressed onto vinyl later).

a couple of rare-ish CDR (but "proper") releases of which there are 50 or less. there are now marginally over 100 copies of my first band's album in existence as the 400 copies i had in my possession are damaged and unplayable.

a bundle of cassette-only releases, including the first three Cat's Miaow tapes (>100 copies, probably heaps less)

more 7" singles that were "limited to 500 copies" than you can shake a stick at

but the rarest of all is a yellow/black vinyl copy of the Mavis's first 7" of which only 3 copies exist (the rest are solid yellow or solid black. mine is fancy!)

I have this too, Clarke. I've got a promo copy of it that came with some blurb that says there were 500 of them pressed.

Spacemen 3, Walking With Jesus 12" on Glass Records, Serial #0001

Oh, and I've got Falling and Laughing (the original Postcard version)...on tape!

it bugged me when that ant single came out in an edition of 100 on fabulous friend records(sarah records was against this sort of thing weren't they?), i have a copy but that sort of thing annoys. luckily those songs are being reissued on his compilation because they're wonderful songs especially 'the queue to your heart'.

Dude, whatEVER. there's lots more but most of the stuff I have that's 'worth' something is only 'worth' something to a very small amount of people. I don't have any rare Beatles or anything (except for that cool poster with the butchered dolls). Everything I have / had that's valuable eventually gets sold - records are great but food and hot water are better. Thank you, Audiogalaxy. Thank you, Kazaa. Thank you, Soulseek.

-- Nick H (nhill8...), March 15th, 2004.

DING DONG

Marc Almond - The End of New York, pulled because of 9/11
Apoptygma Berzerk - 7, pulled because of uncleared samples

Both autographed, neither very rare.

and others that i am sure i have no memory of ..

Yep

No left at home

http://www.fab4collectibles.com/vj_singles.htm

Rare? Maybe. Desirable? Er......no thanks.

Various early jungle/hardcore mix cd's which may (or may not) be worth something.

Outernational by Billy Mackenzie on CD.

The Subpop Helter Shelter box set (Elastica/Supergrass etc) which is still sealed.

Best of Blondie signed by Debbie Harry and 3 early Tori Amos CD singles signed by her which I won in a competition.

drive like jehu - s/t LP in original handmade packaging (with real duct tape)
drive like jehu - yank crime LP in hand designed red/white/black rick fork sleeve
three mile pilot - chief assassin to the sinister LP in hand designed burlap sack packaging
violent ramp 7" test pressing (thanks MSG you fuck)

more when i think of any...

I possess a copy of a master CD my favorite Twin Cities band made before they realized they didn't have enough money to have it duplicated. I also have some bootlegs of Twin Cities bands my friends would make while they were doing sound. There's something sort of beautiful and sick about having the only copy of a show.

I don't even know what's really rare here though. Paid $10 (actually 75 francs) at the time for the last two albums together.

Did they actually have music on it? Wasn't it "the artist's favorite tracks" or something like that?

Is that the CD or Lp or both?

"it bugged me when that ant single came out in an edition of 100 on fabulous friend records(sarah records was against this sort of thing weren't they?), i have a copy but that sort of thing annoys. luckily those songs are being reissued on his compilation because they're wonderful songs especially 'the queue to your heart'."

They ensured anyone who didnt get a copy to burn the songs /and / or it would be avaliable on the comp later on. I don´t want my copy though if you are interested. I can part with it for 20euro or something like that.

"Orange Juice, Falling and Laughing.. on 7"! (With Felicity flexi but no free postcard)"

Had that TWICE. :-)
Also Sea urchins pristine christine (bought one form Jim here on ILM)

I GOT TWO COPIES OF THE NEW BUFFALO 7" :-)

'Gimme that :-)

Man I been looking for that for years

there's other stuff. memory doesn't serve me well this morning.
m.

now that would be a thread

I have the Replacements "Stink" (original hand stamped) in both the red (500 released) and the black (1000 or so released) ink. I have a lot of stuff from my MPLS days, actually that is probably worth a lot.

I think my friend completed his set last weekend when he picked up the PULP and Manics ones...

Femenine Is Beautiful
Suicide Alley 7" - 1st Release - limited to 500
Suicide Alley 7" - 2nd Release - limited to 300
New Art Riot 12" - 1st Release - Silver and Green
New Art Riot 12" - 2nd Release - Pink Vinyl
New Art Riot 12" - 2nd Release
Motown Junk 12" Heavenly
You Love Us 12" Heavenly
Sleepflower CD
Revol 10" - Nº 20
PCP / Faster 10"
Nobody Loved You CD
Masses Against The Classes 10"

Generation Terrorists 12" Picture Disks - limited to 5000
Generation Terrorists Picture Disks CD - limited to 5000
Gold Against The Soul - Gold Disk
Gold Against The Soul 12"
The Holy Bible CD Picture Disk
The Holy Bible CD Canadian Release
The Holy Bible 12" Picture Disk
This Is My Truth 12" Picture Disk
Lipstick Traces 12" 3x LP - Limited to 1000....

That is all the rare(ish) by them that I own.

That is all for now.

Maybe I shouldn't've mentioned that.

(the only one I don't have from that song is the Head Soundtrack)

i would say so. i mean, one copy of a CDR of crap is worth less than 2000 copies of a Tintern Abbey 45..

i have that Beautiful South best-of as well.. but i doubt it's rare.

i like most of the Caff releases, although a couple took some time to grow on me. the only truly shit one is the Manics, which is also one of the most desireable it seems..

yeah, but is yer copy of the debut promo/torso/mono/unpeeled/first press/near mint? cuz if it is, someone will give you 1500 clams for it on ebay.

Lots of cd-singles that are out-of-print as well as cd-albums from the eighties (industrial, ebm, metal, hardcore, etc.) Not worth a damn but rare.

Also: every cd and cd-single ever released by Betty Boo in almost all different formats. Ha!

stirmonster/twitch did, but he might have sold them?

Debut, but with big sticker covering emerson head on t'back. peeled but sticker kept whole, not mint but not bad. Got it from e-bay quite a long time ago for £30. My good.

Second album, fully signed except for Moe (the only VU member I have conversed with funnily enough)

Third, Jap pressing which was at the time the only way of getting the 'english' mix. Now its the standard version.

Loaded, Max's, both latter pressings and not rare.

Squeeze, not dead expensive but hard to find now.

I have a couple of Steel Tips records (a 7" and a 12") post-Coleman. I'm not sure how desirable/coveted they are. Pretty much your standard quirky '80s new wave-type stuff, though not unappealing in places. Rock critic Billy Altman produced the best tracks.

David Grubbs/Squirrel Bait "Motorola Cloudburst" 7" -- 500 made.

Mountain Goats "On Juhu Beach" 3" CD

too many 7"s to list

and the Slint EP on Jennifer Hartman had 2000 pressed, from what I remember. It was a pretty big deal on WNUR at the time.

Go Team 7" with Kurt Cobain on it

Happy Cadavers 7" (pre-Squirrel Bait David Grubbs band)

Stations 7" (pre-Big Black Albini band, though he wasn't on the 7")

Are the early Sarah things all limited editions then?

I'm fairly sure that "Pristine Christine" had at least 2 pressings of 1000, I'm not sure about the others. I'd be amazed if, say, that first Golden Dawn single made it past the initial pressing of 1000.

(The Sha La La flexis were generally 2500 or so apart from the Siddeleys / Reserve one, as I understand, of which significantly fewer were made).

an irregularly-shaped one-sided 45 that consists of 2 minutes of some guy going "this is the amaaaaazing record" in falsetto over some synth washes

Without a doubt the rarest tihng I own is the cassette master of Monster Magnet's Forget About Life, I'm High On Dope demo - only 1 in existence.

And, I guess, the Butthole Surfers double live thing... although, I really treated them badly and they're available as free mp3s through eternity.

used to have this great Legendary Pink Dots tape that came in a model tank box ("Kleine Krieg"), but sold it.

most $ ever paid for rare record ($75?) was my copy of La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela's "Black Album: but actually there are 2600 copies!

Uh... got it for the equivalent of around 2.75$ in Krakow. Will never be able to decide whether to sell it or not.

And my dad has a Glenn Miller acetate. He won't play it any more, just looks at it from time to time.

that's the copy i have!

I also had the red house painters 7" for wop a din, which I think was limited to 500. sold that also.

is my guess.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/computer_1.jpg

http://www.tropicalcomputersystem.com

I've also heard the promo copy of KMFDM's "Retro" that I have is quite rare.

i have it! i love it. one of my fave 12-inches.

this is rare? I found one in a dollar bin!

I have one or two Redd Kross LPs when they were Red Cross. And the first Three O'Clock LP when they were the Salvation Army. Ditto on rarity. I also have the Yes L.A. Dangerhouse sampler that I saw for $50 at a swap meet many years ago.

I just sold that before my move.

According to Discogs there were only 1000 copies of the German version of Air Liquide's Nephology released, and I have one, so I guess that's pretty rare. Unfortunately Air Liquide is not the sort of artist to draw high prices, so it still isn't worth much.

Not that I'd want to sell it, because it's one of my favourite albums.

7 for sale.
not that high a demand unfortunately.
i remember seeing this at the time, and let it go.
the 1000 thing was allthe rage at that time - see the golden era of FAX records, though i believe those are quite valuable these days.

Oh shit, I had a couple of those early 90s FAX CDs (one by Shades of Orion and one by someone else), but I sold them away years ago... How much would they be worth now?

Tuomas.
dont look/search ebay.
you'll get stress related grey hairs a lot quicker. especially shades of orion if the original.

The only fax release I have is the Oskar Sala one, which is not worth loads. Tragically.

First, 2nd, and 3rd Halo of Flies singles, which were released in batches of a few hundred. Mint condition. I wish I could actually get some money for them.

My most prized rare release is Cop Shoot Cop's Headkick Facsimile 12" </Alex in Grouchland>.

Probably not rare, but I have this Elvis EP from the late 50s:
http://www.worldwideelvis.com/EP-1207japandisplay.jpg

I also have Smithsonian's The Jazz Singers 1919-1994, a magnificent 5-CD set that went out of print pretty quickly.

I have quite a few small run techno and electronica releases, 500-1000 copy runs. None of them are worth much, though. Had the original pressing of Boards of Canada's "Hi Scores" EP on Skam, but it got reissued and I lost it anyway.

Mate of mine made a small fortune out of UK hip hop 12 inch singles he got sent working as a freelancer for Hiphop Connection. Few years later they were suprisingly valuable, weird.

Few years later they were suprisingly valuable, weird.

probably increased in value due to the column in HHC that advises its readers as to whats valuable !
ahem.

Hahahaa...

http://www.discogs.com/release/223969

i had this but i sold it...

a bunch of local minneapolis/st. paul band 7 inches that no one would recognize

i sold this for £20 10 years ago.
fecking arse.
then again, as i bought it for 99p in the week of release i couldn't really complain.
thing is, the shop i bought it from had loads of them in the rack .. and i did contemplate getting the lot as the press was already getting hot and bothered about them even then.

I have a copy of the first Lucifer's Friend's album but the music on the disc is actually the first Neu! album.

Does anyone know how much this would be worth?

I'm sure the rarest things I have are various local rap cds that I've bought directly from the artists or have been given to me.

Probably the only thing I have that's worth more than its original retail price is my Main Source - Breakin' Atoms cd.

my CD copy of Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue is rarer than hen's teeth, but that will change this spring when it gets the full reissue treatment...

I have a decent sized collection of unreleased Detroit techno stuff, CD-r’s, test presses and small white label runs. I would assume not many people care too much about this stuff though but I would like to put a lot of it online at some point.

This collection was once much larger, when I was living in Detroit my apartment got broken into and one crate of records containing that type of stuff as well as small tape runs from Detroit and Ann Arbor art rock/noise bands. Some of whom went on to do bigger things.

It was kind of saddening since some of this stuff was significant to me for personal reasons but I get joy from thinking of the crackhead who is still trying to get rid of unreleased Wolf Eyes or Carl Craig tunes.

I've got a few punk singles rare enough to be compiled on a Killed By Death/Bloodstains etc bootleg, but none of the really stupidly expensive ones.

hmmm nothing too spectacular - an original pressing of one of Johnny Cash's Sun Records albums, a totally fantastic vinyl bootleg of Funkadelic live called "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", original vinyl pressing of Eddie Hazel's "Dames, Games and Guitar Thangs"... I don't really know what's "rare" tbh

I think my answer from a year ago is still true.

Other contenders are all basically things never pressed domestically (in the US) and are as such harder to find here. Almendra II, 2nd Los Jaivas LP, the first two Dead C LPs on Flying Nun, etc. Also mounds of private press records, which are rare but not particularly desirable to most people.

I think my Fuckin Flyin' A-Heads single is up there too. Maybe an Aus Lauter Leib single on Zick Zack.

</dick waving>

Nothing special at all, but like Shakey I do have an original Sun Records Johnny Cash 45.

My copy of E2-E4 is from the 1000 copy first press on Schulze's label.

Some private press release by the New Music Circle in St. Louis with the only known recording of Morton Subotnik's first composition (not really that exiciting.)

I have two sealed copies of the Animal Collective/Black Dice Wastered 12" that I've been meaning to put on eBay for like 3 years.

That New Music Circle LP does have a pretty cool Jocy De Oliveira piece on it, though, and a piece for amplified tam-tam.

probably some Double Leopards tapes, Pedestrian Deposit tapes and Wolf Eyes vinyl

Cop Shoot Cop--"Headkick Facsimilie", on Supernatural Organization, and "Piece Man", spattered with pig's blood, on Vertical(now, THERE was a collector scum label).

Yeah I got that Cop Shoot Cop thing . . . it ain't worth anything, is it?

I like the music OK, but I'll probably be ripping it to digital shortly anyway. After that the 7" would probably be redundant for me anyway.

xpost ro rizzx: yeah, i wonder what my wolf eyes/double leopards collaboration tape is worth. it's actually really good, so i'm gonna hold onto it. other noize tapes soon to be getting the boot via EBay..

Thanks to the insane generosity of a friend, I have The Germs "Forming" 7" on What? Records. In a burst of spending too much money I also have the first Swell Maps 7" on Rough Trade, and the Hanatarash "2" LP on Alchemy. As a teen my big pricey purchase was the German edition of The Misfits "Earth A.D./Wolfsblood" featuring full color rather than B&W reproduction of the Mad Marc Rude artwork. I have a pressing of Aleister Crowley's wax cylinder recordings that was pressed by Current 93 and released in a limited edition of 418 copies.

But those are still essentially mass produced, if in small amounts. The idea of an "artist's edition" is different. I have some limited edition sound art works that are from smaller editions- I guess the rarest being a Richard Chartier CD that was released in a limited edition of 15. The trouble with the whole premise is that once things are being reproduced it always feels very arbitrary as to how many examples of a thing are going to get made. Scarcity can be undone through digital means rather easily if all you want is the sound; too bad you can't download the Merzbow mercedes as easily as you can download the album.

a photo of sean connery signed by roger moore

I have tons of tapes released in edition of 10-50, but I don't think of them as releases in the sense that they were never intended for mass proliferation and exposure. They're more like mix tapes or something.

I don't think I have any rare records. I once saw the UK Ralf and florian on Vertigo with the embossed cover with the circuits on it that I own going for £20 in a little record stall a guy set-up in my work which probably makes it rarer/more valuable than any of my other records.

I have a disc of some crappy band Michael Stipe was in before R.E.M.

I have a self-released Lenny Bruce record ("Warning: Sale of this album may subject seller to arrest for violation of the endemic obscenity laws; the sole exception being San Francisco, California [where the community standards may be lower].") featuring recorded bits used in one of his obscenity trials. You sent him the money, he sent you the vinyl. Its sales financed his defense, I believe.

if value = rarity then the first riptides 45 on the able label (when they were the numbers) is #1 in my collection

I have probably a dozen CDs that were released in numbered 1000-or-so copy pressings: a couple Animal Collective related ones, a few Charalambides things with handmade covers -- those come immediately to mind.

i've been trying to delve into the baller end of rare lps (collective tools, randy rice, dave bixby) but my bids never make the grade.

i have those two endless boogie records!

For me

Sun Ra And His Astro Infinity Arkestra - Strange Strings http://www.discogs.com/release/612809

Necros test pressing http://www.discogs.com/release/1025434

The Scientists (pink album
http://www.nkvdrecords.com/scientists%20pink%20album.jpg

Einstürzende Neubauten - Für Den Untergang http://www.discogs.com/release/265752

Faith No More - Cassette of their 1st gig w/interview of the band on the flip side. Came in a plastic baggie w/stickers. Never seen this listed on anything anywhere. They played on a bill with a bunch of hardcore bands. That's when they changed their name from Faith No Man too... you guessed it Faith No MORE (true story).

van halen, diver down. CASSETTE, BITCHES!

I have the only existing copy of a mixing desk recording of a show that wasn't allowed to be recorded from the mixing desk. No further comments though. :-X

ian sell me those tapes yo!

I've got the 1st Prolapse LP with the hand-painted cover, I dunno how many of those they made.

Although you can buy it online for 20 quid, so it's probably not that rare.

Some of my mum's folk revival records which I have, ahem, borrowed, are apparently worth something, although were presumably released in reasonable quantities originally.

I have a nice copy of Shirley and Dolly Collins, Anthems in Eden, which is a great record.

But anyway, what are some really RARE records? To ignore the premise of the thread, what goes for big cash?

http://www.popsike.com/php/quicksearch.php?top25=all

And why?

Kudos to Wolfie Mozart for sneaking onto that list

Maybe I should just read this:
Crazy Priced Vinyl On EBAY

a whole stack of crap until you get to the john english III

Don't know how rare they are but Pearl Jam covering the Dead Boys and Cheaptrick doing the Velvet Underground. Both on 7 inch. Also the Jesus Lizard/Nirvana split on CD. Don't know if they're rare or not.

i guess it depends on one's definition of the word 'rare'. there's a couple of thousand copies of the nirvana/jesus lizard disc floating around - it might cost you a decent wedge, but for that amount of money there might be 50 copies available at any given time - expensive via demand, but not rare.

there's records out there that people would pay any price for if they were ever available (hence the value of the aforementioned john english III) - that's real rarity.

which reminds me, if anyone ever tracks down a copy of the early 90s demo cd by melbourne band 'burnside', i would pay $1000 for it

that was me, slip of the tab key

Nirvana/Jesus Lizard single currently going for a fiver in Beanos.

Yeah, thought I was rich too, not that impressive on eBay either :-/

http://search.ebay.com/jesus-lizard-nirvana-cd

I own this Overhang Party CD-R: http://www.discogs.com/release/1035965

An edition of 100 copies.

Rizzzx: did you get my email?
I'm not sure if it sent properly, but I DID send you a list of tapes.
If you didn't get it I can resend it tonight.

I own a Christian Marclay/Burzum collaboration that was pressed in an edition of three. It's a one sided, pressed onto a tablet of salt collected from the Dead Sea. I don't know what it sounds like yet because it is supposed to crumble to dust after one play.

x-post -Yeah, I didn't figure on retiring early.

I had loads of the early sterolab records which I later sold when I got bored of them. Again, I regret. I also had an original of Tigermilk which I sold for £80 thinking that was as high as the value was going to go.

I still have several early Stereolab 7"s and 10"s, and I still have my Electric Honey Tigermilk autographed by all 8 members of the classic line up, man.

Also:
Ride into the Sun - 1-sided Velvet Underground 7", was originally given away with a French magazine I think?
Shimmies in Super-8 - 2x7" on Duophonic
Far Out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman - white vinyl 12", 500 released. "Limited release on white vinyl in a clear plastic cover with Japanese writing. Not identified as FSOL on the label. No label or play speed, or side ID is given, and all tracks are mixed together. Supposedly released and deleted the same day."
Carter USM - Fat as Fuck t-shirt, 101 made.

Ian, could you resend it to jheheemskerk AT home DOT nl

cheers

I bought some records off Kool Herc after he switched over to Serrato. Unfortunately I was a little starstruck and didn't inspect them until I got home. Some of the 12"s were scratched to the point of being unplayable and had to be thrown out. But I did keep two Incredible Bongo Band "Apache" 45s, they're probably worth like $6 together, but priceless to me, as they literally birthed hip hop.

Probably the Ippu-Do box set. It's not THAT rare, but only a limited number were printed and it sold out in about a month. I'm sure I have something more rare, but this sticks out because I cherish the music so much.

Some of the kind folks at Social Registry gave me a garbage bin destined pressing error entitled Gang Gang Gang Dance.

i've got this Tyrants In Therapy 12" that has a lil writeup on the discogs page. a few hours after i posted one of their songs to my site, they added me to myspace. pretty funny. so i wrote the guy if this was true and all he said was "yes, it's very rare"
http://www.discogs.com/release/523025

zorlac, Dec 28, 2005
This is a very rare record from the 80's The new wave band Tyrants In Therapy released this record in 1984. This record specifically, 3 People Nude Below The Waste 12", is a very rare and historical release. The release features a groovy electro clash new wave track crossed over with scratches and drum machine work from the legendary Knights Of The Turntables. This crossover (electroclash, new wave with cuts) alone was a rare occurance in 1984.
Mike aka Tyrant Mike has direct ties with the famous Los Angeles based label JDC Records (early electro label). I personally called JDC, as a record dealer, and was informed that there were only a few of these 12"s in existance. Mike, the lead singer, owned all 3 of them. This was rare in the mid '80's and is very rare today.
I personally believe that someday this 12" will finally be recognised as one of the first for this type of crossover.
The only other new wave record that I can compaire this release to is Visage-Frequency 7. Though Visage's Frequency 7 is without scratches it is also a rare crossover very similar in electro style.

Pocahaunted's "Out of a Common Bowl" 3 inch CD. i have #2 of 32 made.

Boredoms "Vision Creation Newsun" 2cd box and "Super AE" limited edt. in the yellow plastic packaging.

oh, and a bunnybrains 3cd live thing. i think there were only 200 or so made.

I have 5 perfect condition original Velvet Underground & Nicos at my house and about 12-13 peeled banana copies in storage. Whenever I feel gloomy or just down in the dumps, I take one of the pristine ones and peel the banana off. It really brightens up your day.

Boredoms "Vision Creation Newsun" 2cd box and "Super AE" limited edt. in the yellow plastic packaging.

over 10,000 of each in existence...

i have copies of the first two 12" of this labels output : http://www.ds93.com/ds93.html

93 copies of each release are being printed up, and no more.
so thats pretty rare i'd say.
oh, and both are brilliant of course.

I have a golden amber wax encaustic cast impression of La Monte Young's nutsack. It is sustained from the elements by resealable Japanese polybags (in triplicate).

apparently the record i posted about above isn't very rare if i just saw a copy of it in a store. oh well.

but was it $2,500?

Was just reminded of this thread, and to contribute... I have the original pressing of James Blackshaw's album Sunshrine on Digitalis, his first non-CDR release. Limited pressing of 30 copies; I have #18.

im not a collector but i do have prince buster 'gangsters' orignal on 45

Annie - The Greatest Hit - Telle 7"

well I sold the NWW CD from upthread but now I have a Tranko CD in an edition of 50.

I suppose my copy of the first Mirror record is still the rarest since it has a unique painting on the cover, but there were 100 copies.

I used to have mayhems dawn of the black hearts on cd...pretty much thought i was elite or something until i realized it was a mass re-release or something that like everyones grandpa had

Well, I finally got ahold of a cassette tape (the only format it came in) copy of Octofetus by The Mucus Membranes, which I never thought I'd manage to do. Noise rock opera about a guy with 8 personalities, and it's wonderfully awful (or vice versa). Completely unknown to the internets, as far as I know.

tranko cd owners unite

My most prized music possession, an Alden Penner 7" from juuuuust after the Unicorns broke up, limited to 100. And absolutely amazing.

i have that alden penner record -- it's great.

i don't know if it's rare, but i've never seen another copy around: i have the single that the guys from Animal Collective put out when they were in an earlier band called Auto Mine.

I have a couple of "art editions" of records that were only released in editions of 20-25.

later this year I am getting a cd-r from christina carter (of charalambides) that is an edition of 1...

I was just thinking of those C Carter subscription CDRs the other day!

I have the first couple of Foetus singles on his Self Immolation label, plus the "Ache" LP with crudely mimeographed copies of the manually-typed press releases that were finding their way into the NME at the time.

The singles are borderline unlistenable, and the packaging is pretty ugly, but they're the sort of thing that ought to be worth a lot to somebody in theory, though I've watched someone else fail to sell them on eBay several times.

Roger (the funk band on head heritage) recorded and released a second album.
no copies made the shops, and it all fell through.
so the copy up in the archive is a rather rare.
not cd-r, not promo. proper pressed up/artwork edition.
having said that, suspect nobody but me knows of them, meaning its rare but unwanted.

i just remembered i have a promo of the unreleased sukpatch album on grand royal, which i've never even seen mentioned anywhere

lucky it remained unreleased because it's rubbish

ahh sukpatch.
i take it then jim you never got the album they released on moshi moshi ?
(2 albums released on supposedly "cool" labels - wtf !?)
not totally rubbish, but not totally worth hunting down.

i do have that, it's not half bad.. i like most of their catalogue, but the unreleased album is an embarrassment

I have the Sunn O))) Live White CD + 3" CD, released on the Archive label. First pressing of 200 copies. Mine is stamped #006.

Probably just self-pressed stuff by friends bands I guess. And if you're into noise stuff you wind up with all kinds of super limited cassettes and great things. I had a Simply Saucer tour-only disc (#7 of 100 iirc) that I sold thinking I could get more than the $10 I payed for it on E-Bay, which ended up selling for exactly $10.

And my copy of Sticky Fingers is some bizarre Russian or eastern European pressing? Until I downloaded the album about a year ago I had no idea what half the song titles were.

There are other things I'm not thinking of, but most of my collection is about 8,000 miles away at the moment.

I don't think in all my music hoarding I've ever thought in terms of collectibility/rarity.

Just discovered, almost a year after the fact--a co-worker gave me a whole bunch of albums her father-in-law was getting rid of--that one of them seems to be valuable: Fifty Foot Hose's Cauldron. The only reason I kept it (most of them were junked before I even took them home) was because it was sealed--I've never heard of them, and only found out who they were when I was looking through the pile for something to play tonight. Her father-in-law was a country fan, so it makes sense that it was never opened. The $1.97 price tag is still on it.

Irrational, in that I sense it's weird and I probably won't have any use for it, but I'll open it and give it a listen.

No copies of Propeller? Shocking!

I just sent the person who gave it to me a Facebook message...praying she doesn't ask for it back. (I don't think she will.)

I do have a US stock copy of "Who loves the sun/Oh sweet nothin'" Velvet Underground

I have a cassette by Lack that had a limited release of nineteen copies

Maybe Lynndale's Burning, the Husker Du First Avenue '85 "12.

apparently a tough one to find according to thirdav site

I've got Nina Nastasia - Dogs on Socialist. It's a CD, but it has sold on discogs for way more than 95% of any of my actual records that have value.

No copies of Propeller? Shocking!

no propeller, but I've got original pressings of gbv's sandbox lp (first gbv thing i ever owned, randomly pulled out of a bin at pier platters in hoboken along with the grand hour 7-inch the day after i saw my first show) and forever since breakfast ep (bought at a wfmu record fair while standing about 10 feet from robert pollard. i was too sheepish to ask him to sign it because he had already signed a 7-inch i had found 20 mins earlier).

my most prized vinyl, though, is dwight yoakam's guitars cadillacs etc. etc. ep on oak records. prized because it's rare but also, more important, it was such a formative record for me. one of my main gateways to a lifelong love of country.

Cool story, FCC--should have got that ep signed by the man!

sold my copy of propeller during one of many broke phases. cover was a collage featuring a botero odalisque w/ a gun pointed at her butt (or crotch or whatever you know). back was the usual propeller back w/ crayon coloring etc. bought it at schoolkids records in durham, NC. fall of '92 i guess? also bought sandbox the same day, orig copies of which were still floating around. not as good, but i miss it just the same.

No copies of Propeller? Shocking!

no propeller, but I've got original pressings of gbv's sandbox lp (first gbv thing i ever owned, randomly pulled out of a bin at pier platters in hoboken along with the grand hour 7-inch the day after i saw my first show) and forever since breakfast ep (bought at a wfmu record fair while standing about 10 feet from robert pollard. i was too sheepish to ask him to sign it because he had already signed a 7-inch i had found 20 mins earlier).

my most prized vinyl, though, is dwight yoakam's guitars cadillacs etc. etc. ep on oak records. prized because it's rare but also, more important, it was such a formative record for me. one of my main gateways to a lifelong love of country.

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, August 14, 2014 10:02 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is cool... I really wish pier platters was still here in Hoboken. I moved to town when it was already gone.

what is the rarest possession you actually release?

should have got that ep signed by the man!

i know! and, yeah, i really miss pier platters too.

Going through some 7"s this weekend, I saw that my wife has a Jawbox/Jawbreaker double 7", with one blank side per record hand-decorated by the bands. There are only 100 of those out there, and my research tells me they usually sell for $200-$300. She got it from Vintage Vinyl for $10. So that record has officially supplanted the Dolly Mixture Demonstration Tapes double CD for our rarest.

er...double LP