Probably “Black Freudiana” (the black-covered German cast recording of Eric Woolfson’s musical–the white-covered one is much more widely available), and also the Aachen version of “Gaudi” (the other one was much more common, though still not exactly common. Both were German imports).
Possibly the original “d’Cuckoo” CD (a local group who did electronic music back in the early 90s). I don’t think too many of those were made either.
Tokyo Disneyland Music Album (LP and cassette) from 1983 featuring attraction and theme park music.
Probably not, if only because several generations of “junkers” have probably been through them in the past six decades.
Valuing 78s is like a peek into Pandora’s box, except to say that most of them between 1925-'40 (you probably won’t find those) are worth a buck or so, and some are priceless.
The rarest record I own is a 1933 78 by Ted Lewis and his Band, of which the magazine 78 Quarterly once estimated that “ten copies or less” existed. 78Q, like 78 collecting itself, was a highly squirrely and insular affair, mostly concerned with country blues issues (the real big-ticket items in the fandom). Lewis’ band was a pop outfit, so they were probably out of their depth, but there really weren’t many records sold in 1933. So who knows.
In any case, it was Ten Thousand Years Ago.
I used to have a few, but some wer eventually re-issued. All ended up being sold when I needed cash.
I had a recording of L’Histoire du Soldat in French conducted by Leopold Stokowski. A few months after I sold it to the store, it was there in with the rest of the classical music. They were asking $140 for the cd. I asked why, and he told me it’s rare and out of print.
Before George Harrison’s cds were reissued, I had most of them on cd.Some of those used to be hard to find. I also have Dreams by Grace Slick. While not out of print, it is hard to find. Amazon is frequently “out of stock”.
Well, technically it was a present for my dad, but I managed to find the LP single released for Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry, a studio recording of “Flaggin’ the Train to Tuscaloosa.” Pretty hard to find.
After that…oh! I’ve got the soundtrack to Explorers in cassette; the soundtrack to The Final Countdown on CD, and an album by Cold Slither. (The last one’s just obscure)
… Oh, hell, I forgot. We have about 20 wax cylinders up with the Edison. Two Violins, Coon Duet (yes, it is what you think it is.) and some others.
It’s since been released on CD. I used to grab any of his albums when they came out. Try finding “Mustard” or “Eddie and the Falcons”, though.
I don’t have anything especially rare. I do have the CD of “Lick My Decals Off, Baby” which was only in print for a few months before the company went out of business. When I was running a music store, one of my employees was the son of the owner of DMP who was able to snag me a few Flim and the BB’s CDs. Still can’t get that first one, though.
I stand corrected, I forgot about that one, and I played in a Maiden cover band for 5 years too! :oIn my defense though, the single wasn’t available in North America or included on the “Killers” album!
Funny though because I had an interview with Bruce Dickinson on tape where he talks about what a big deal recording “Cross-eyed Mary” was!
Today, I found the soundtrack to “Trick or Treat” by Fastaway!
Also, the **Frehley’s Comet ** “Live+1” EP
Thanks for this thead! I’m actually cleaning up my collection after years of my wife nagging me!
I have about four of those plastic milk crates full of 78s, everything from Sinatra, through Jo Stafford, Glenn Miller, Crosby, Elvis, Chuck Berry, and up to Jackie Wilson (“Higher and Higher” on Atlantic). I doubt any of them are really all that rare, though.
A copy of the Mom’s Apple Pie self-titled album with the “vagina cover”. I think the artwork was actually better than the music in that case.
The Beatles’ *Let It Be *in a gatefold sleeve, obviously and older pressing with a red apple(!) on the label; the White Album with the band’s name embossed on the cover, no serial numbers, glossies and poster intact; SPLHCB with the extra page of cutouts/standups, etc. enclosed.
Coloured vinyl? The White, Blue and Red Albums in their respective colours, all released in the early 80s during the height of that craze, and a pic disc copy of SPLHCB from around the same time.
Cassette-wise, in the era just after Elvis’ death, “Elvis: A Canadian Tribute” with a gold-coloured cassette shell, which, apparently was only out for a limited time.
And yes, I even have a few 8-tracks even though I hated that format, including a quadrophonic version of John Lennon’s Walls and Bridges in a purple tape shell, played maybe twice (I didn’t have a quadrophonic stereo and the mix sounded “funny”).
Don’t know how rare it is, but it’s certainly the most expensive CD in my collection to buy new: Guitar and Son by Pete Haycock
One of my favorite trivia items: B.S. Pully, best known as “Big Jule” from “Guys and Dolls,” was the father of Steve Lerman, who was one of Rodney King’s attorneys.
While the item itself is way cool, what’s the story behind the gift??
(PS - As a HUGE Tull collector, I’m jealous…)
If I’m out listening to live music and I like the band, I’ll pick up one of their CD’s as a token of appreciation as much as anything else, so I’ve got a bunch of CD’s from various local and regional bands. I’m not sure if those really count.
Other than that, the only thing I have that might be considered rare may be my copy of the soundtrack of the video game Tempest 2000. IIRC it was only released as a pack-in with the Atari Jaguar CD drive peripheral.
Don’t know what it’d be worth to a retailer, but I’ve been offered up to $100 for it by everyone who sees it on my shelf.
It was back around 1983. I had a want-list ad in Goldmine for Tull rarities. Glenn Cornick saw the ad and out of the blue just sent me a package. Needless to say, I was floored.
You suck. 
I bet you have the “Aeroplane” 45 by “Jethro Toe”, too.
I think maybe two of the more interesting rarities I have rattling around the house are 4-track (7-1/2-inches-per-second) “cassettes” (they’re about four times the size of what soon thereafter became the standard cassette) of the Beatles’ Revolver and the Stones’ Aftermath (both 1966).
Not that I’ve ever been able to play them, nor probably ever will.
(It’s too bad, really. I’ve heard people say that some of the songs are rather good. Kidding!)
Nitpick: That had to be mid-to-late '70s, 'cause I got these (well, the translucent blue Blue Album, anyway) in 1978.
Maybe they took a few years to spread to Canada.
I have a number of rare and obscure Beatles’ singles and LPs floating around*; there’s apparently some valuable bits of vinyl among my Kinks’ things, too. For example, I have Dave Davies’ eponymous EP, which he signed for me (I believe this EP is considered one of the rarest British EPs in general); mint-condition copies of their first and second British singles which are difficult to find (‘You Really Got Me’ was their third single); a nice New Zealand pressing of Village Green which Ray and Dave also signed for me. I’ve got a shedload of 1960s Kinks’ singles picture sleeves from around the world. Come to think of it, I have a lot of weird and strange Kinks’ stuff, if packing it up and hauling it around my last house-move was any indication.
Probably the only rare CD I have is a Dave Clark 5 one called The History of the Dave Clark 5 which I bought new off the peg for $10, but I’ve seen go for crazy prices, although it may be back down to something reasonable again (Dave Clark is notorious for not allowing DC5 stuff out on CD).
My partner has a couple of KLF CDs which are pretty neat, but getting harder to find.
*This doesn’t count among records/CDs/etc, but I have Let it Be on video tape, received as a birthday present back in 1981. It’s very difficult to find this in any media – the laser-disc is the closest to the original cinema release; the cheap DVD versions floating around on ebay and Amazon are struck off bootlegs and from what I understand edited (taped off an edited television broadcast.) At the moment I’m 4,000 miles away from my library and collection, so my apologies for any inaccuracies.
Lol, that sounds faintly blasphemous - what exactly is on there? Rock guitar renditions of his preludes and fugues?
I wrote a string quartet which we had recorded at a recital. There are probably about 10 copies of that in the world. Does it have to be commercially released to count, though?
I also got a copy of a large choral work by Christos Hatzis. They were recording it at the Ottawa chamber music festival two years back for a radio broadcast. I wrote to him asking when they were going to release it on CD, to which he said it would get a one and done CBC radio broadcast, and then simply be an archival copy. But he burnt me a copy of it anyway, so it’s another case of “I’m probably one of 10 people that owns it, but it was never commercially released” type thing.
Oh, and since I’m a classical nerd, I feel this thread deserves a “Score” category as well. I have an orchestral Score of Jon Leifs’ Organ concerto, and am probably the only person in North America that has one.
