Any record collectors here besides me?

What rare discs do you have, or what rare discs have you seen for sale and what are they worth?

Here are some of my highlights

Beatles - Yesterday and Today USA LP (Butcher Cover) 5,000 pounds

Beatles - Please Please Me UK LP (Gold Label) 4,000 pounds

Pee Wee; Shuck and Huey - Beside Myself (45rpm) 400 pounds

Rubber Bucket - We're All Living In One Place (45rpm) 50 pounds

Elvis Presley - Golden Story LP (Far East Issue) 100 pounds

I can`t even list my rare record collection, but I must say that is an admirable list.

The first ones that spring to mind which I adore are my "Arnold Corns " record (Bowie), "The Banned " Little Girl, hand printed before coming a UK number 2 on Harvest, "Bowie", again, 1st album on cd, soon deleted, "The Damned" Stretcher Case, a rare freebie,"The Who", Substitute, (misspressing)....

Gosh, I dunno, if anyone sold all my vinyl for what it`s valued at (which I do not want), I could buy another house.

Oohhh! (Prince "Black Album" withdrawn) Some silly sod sent it to me at the time before they scrapped it.

BOWIE - I have the single that made me pick up on him, rave about him in my column and become his first champion (to enormous gratitude - AT THE TIME) - I Can't Help Thinking About Me on Pye.

Well there you go, I have that one too. I also have "Li`l liza Jane" by him on Decca. (Davey Jones? I believe)

There is an advantage to not throwing anything out that you think of value.
I have all the early Bolan albums on Regal Zonaphone too. (in Mono)

I'm sure Jonathan King has a lot of valuable records and music memrobila from his days in the biz. He probably has a collection worth more than most of us make in a lifetime.

Let me ask you JK, as you knew The Beatles and met them quite a number of times over the years. Do you have any interesting artifacts related to them? (I know you have a couple on Hendrix).

I have an acetate of Hello Goodbye with a message on it in chinagraph saying JK what do you think? signed by John.

I've got lots of rare punk records (UK and US), almost every Stiff single (including all the different formats, vinyl colours, picture sleeves, PR- & DJ-Copies etc. up to BUY 200), the Wedding Album from John & Yoko (second pressing only).

Probably not worth much, but very rare (only 50 copies pressed) is a (signed by all of them) Eddie & The Hot Rats Album (with demos, outtakes etc.) which I won at the Marquee Club in August 1977 (what a month ...).

And I've got a DECCA factory copy of the first (and only) english album by (the first german rock star) Udo Lindenberg, which was never commercially released.

The most valuable piece in my collection is a Joy Division set list (4/3/1979, Marquee, support to The Cure), hand-written by Ian Curtis on the back of a synthesizer manual.

I worked with Udo`s guitarist on a tour.
Udo himself has tremendous translational qualities, a very funny guy, I must check his stuff out today, I loved "Germans!"

I`m very proud of my first generation Stiff pressing of "New Rose " by the Damned. I did start listing my vinyl for insurance and value once, but I got bored!
One of the most surprising rareties that I have is "Down the Dustpipe" by Quo.
I think my rarity for the future has to be the "Thurston Revival" single from last year. An award winning sleeve and one of only ten copies of that version. ( I played it once and made a Wav file of it)

re punk D Jones, I bet you still have an original Buzzcocks "Spiral Scratch" also!

I have a hand written letter from Jimi Hendrix thanking me for playing him The Leaves and Hey Joe and telling him he should cover it.

I had John Otway sign his "unofficial and yet official" in the end, "Green Green Grass of Home". Oddly enough, he did not seem that pleased to see it!
The best way to store any written communication from artistes is in the record sleeves.
Any collector going through my collection would be amazed how many hand written notes from bands etc accompany the old releases. In the days before computers I would write to anyone who I could find an address for and with no back button , of course, I could often sound more savage than I meant to in print!

I have one letter from a rather big act (I won`t name them)agreeing with me and apologising for a lacklustre performance which I had criticised (oops!) which accompanies my copy of their first album.


I so wish that I had some Elvis 78s though.

Mart wrote:
re punk D Jones, I bet you still have an original Buzzcocks "Spiral Scratch"

I don't know why, but I never had the original or an early re-issue. My version is from the 80s, the label is still New Hormones, but the record & the picture sleeve were manufactured by Virgin.

I tell you what I did play the other day, that is both obscure and rare, a record by the Desperate Bicycles, "Smokescreen".
I quite fancy doing that one again (I won`t say properly, hmm yeah I will!) Not the best bass playing I have heard on a record ever!

Another track I love from that period is Sean Tyla doing "Suicide Jockey". I don`t think it was released here, my copy is a French import. The late seventies were such exciting times for me with vinyl, one had to hunt everything down.
Apparently my Ramones records are worth a mint. I managed to get both first two albums with the removed tracks and picture covers on all the early singles. (Blitzkrieg Bop can retail at around

Actually there were several John's Children singles. "Desdemona" with Marc Bolan on it is the best. "Smashed Blocked" is definitely the worst.
I have them too.
I also have a picture label 45 of "Jeepster" that Marc Bolan gave me and signed...only 500 were printed.

"Desdemona" in sleeve, goes for about

I have a 7" single by Tan called "Stay". I only knew about it because the song was written by someone I had contact with. I've not met anyone else who's heard of it. The record shop had to order it special, although it was on general release.

Also, several years ago I heard Gary Davies play a song on Radio One called "The night we flew out the window" by The Fantastic Something. I searched high and low for that record until several years later, having given up, I walked into a junk shop and found their LP by chance for 40p.

I doubt if either of these are worth anything, but they are indeed rare.

A good place to go for record collectors or for info about rare records is 'Beano's' in Croydon - widely acknowledged as the best 2nd hand record store in Europe. And no, it's nothing to do with me

Does anyone else recall The Wurzels - "Morning Glory"? It was a bit different to their usual stuff, and a very good song. I still have my copy.

Well Beano, how ironic it is that EMI are now going to be probably the shops neighbours!

Seriously though, I will drop in on my next visit, I found an unbelievable collectors shop in Paris. So well catalogued , it was almost heaven.