What are your rarest CD's?

You're darned right it does!

 

I have a bunch of those: three Robert Cray titles, three Dire Straits titles, three Moody Blues titles, and one Randy Newman. I'm glad i still have a working laserdisc player because i don't think that the new crop of universal players (SACD/DVD-A) will play CD-Vs.

 

Elvis Blue Suede Box
Elvis-The Legend--1st CD box set anywhere world-wide.
Bowie 8 Gold Disc box set (BMG Record Club exclusive, like the Blue Suede Box)
Beatles 3" UK CD-single Box Set
Rolling Stones-original UK Hot Rocks; Pink UK box set w/ pink covered Rarities disc (same one packed with the leather Flashpoint-which I also have); original US Atlantic Still Life & Rewind
Beatles First on Polydor (original cover)
MFSL Woodstock (HR disc version)
Michael Jackson-The Bad mixes (promo only); Off The Wall (Michael's face on cover version)
Bruce Springsteen-Born In The USA-red print label version (souvenir of the very first US pressed CD release-these were the 1st US discs ever pressed); Nebraska-original Japan pressed version (different, stereo, mix)
Recalled version of Biograph
Hundreds of others I'm too lazy to list.

 

I have lots of Mofis and DCCs. I'm sure I have a bunch of stuff that's oop. I don't know if any of it is valuable. I have a Blind Faith cd with the alternate cover and bonus tracks that I got about 15 years ago - again, no idea if it's valuable.

 

Yeah! I've got that one, too. "Zanz" was rumored to refer to Saul Zaentz (sp?) of Fantasy Records, correct? Wasn't the song a thinly-veiled reference to Fogerty's displeasure with his business dealings with Zaentz?

 

Hmm...i wonder if i should try to talk my almost-deaf ex-wife out of those. She got 'em in the divorce settlement.

I could probably get her the new ABKCO Hybrid SACDs and she'd be happy with that...

 

A few favorite OOP titles buried in the archives:

Pacific Ocean Blue--Dennis Wilson (Caribou/CBS)
All the Good Ones Are Taken--Ian Hunter (CBS UK)
Strange Man, Changed Man--Bram Tchaikovsky (Radar Japan)
Never Kick a Sleeping Dog--Mitch Ryder (Line)

That Ryder CD is his 1983 comeback LP, produced by Mellencamp, with his cover of Prince's "When U Were Mine."

 

Not so thinly, apparently, since Zaentz set his lawyers in motion pretty quickly. I recall reading that only two or three thousand copies of the Zanz version were pressed on CD before Zaentz forced Fogerty & Co. to substitute "Vanz."

 

I got one.

Got one of these, too.

 

a 3" CD single
Dancing in the Dark
b/w
Pink Cadillac

I did a quick check of ebay and Springsteen discographies and can't find this item, which I've had since 1984 or so... is it rare?

 

Well... a CD only has value of you intend to sell it, so this isn't worth a penny!

I've got both the CD single and the 10" vinyl.

 

I count myself luck to have been in radio for a year or two or three!



EDIT

Just checked on eBay and these two can be had for £25 the pair!

 

I have the 2 CD Rolling Stones "Flashpoint & Collectibles." I understand that only 40000 copies were made worldwide. The Collectibles CD has some interesting material, such as the eight minute "Miss You" and the b sides to their "Steel Wheels" singles.

Also by the Stones, I have the CBS versions of "Made In The Shade", "Sucking In The Seventies" and "Rewind", all of which have been out of print for years.

I've got several out-of-print Beatle related CDs, such as "Wonderwall Music", "Electronic Music", the Fireman CDs and the original EMI release of "Band On The Run". This version, which omitted "Helen Wheels", was quickly replaced by a version with the missing song.

 

Thanks for the info, that's good news Do you have the 3 Cee Dee Readers Digest "Jim Croce" Mastered by STEVE?...Included is a wonderful version of "Maybe Tomorrow" with just Jim and his guitar! A great set indeed

 

It is so rare, it doesn't even exist!

On the 3" CD singles, they paired Cover Me with Pink Cadillac, not Dancing in the Dark.

 

Great thread. It's hard for me to answer because with eBay, it seems like things turn up all the time. Nevertheless, here are some of my first pressings or other early CDs I consider to be "rare".

* ABBA Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits Vol. 2 West German Atlantic target CDs
* Devo Freedom of Choice West German target CD
* The Doors L.A. Woman target CD pressed in the US
* Eagles Best of Eagles West German target CD
* John Fogerty Centerfield West German target CD with "Zanz Kant Danz"
* INXS The Swing target CD pressed in the US
* Kraftwerk Computer World West German target CD
* Madonna Like a Virgin Japanese target CD released in Japan (with OBI strip)
* Queen Greatest Hits, News of the World, and The Game West German Elektra target CDs
* The Rolling Stones Still Life West German target CD
* Carly Simon The Best of Carly Simon West German target CD
* James Taylor Sweet Baby James West German target CD
* WEA West German target compilation CDs: More Adventures in Modern Sounds, Hot and New (released in 1984), and Hot and New '85
* Several Japanese CBS/Sony CDs with 35DP or 35-8P catalog numbers, including Billy Joel The Stranger (catalog number 35DP-2)
* Several Japanese CBS/Sony pressings released in Europe
* Several Japanese CBS/Sony pressings released in the US, including Billy Joel 52nd Street (with code number DIDP-50001)
* David Bowie Stage West German RCA CDs
* David Bowie Ziggy Stardust West German RCA CD
* The Beatles Abbey Road Japanese black-triangle EMI CD (with OBI strip)
* Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" West German Vertigo CD singles (one dated 1985 on cover and another dated 1986 on cover)
* Falco FALCO West German TELDEC CD (1984 compilation CD with all songs sung in German; includes "Der Kommissar")
* Bruce Hornsby and the Range The Way It Is original Japanese CD (with original cover artwork and original catalog number of PCD1-8058)
* The Beach Boys Pet Sounds original Japanese EMI pressing (Greenline 2800 version with bonus tracks, sealed with OBI strip)
* Elvis Presley Elvis' Golden Records Japanese RCA "fake stereo" disc (catalog number PCD11707)
* Steely Dan Aja Japanese CD pressed at the CBS/Sony plant (the Hoffman version?)
* Steely Dan Katy Lied Japanese CD with "MCAD 37043 S1E:1" matrix code (the Hoffman version)?
* Several West German compilation CDs (various record labels, including Philips and Polydor)
* CBS Japanese promo sampler CD CBS Records Compact Disc Demonstration
* The Who Who's Next Japanese MCA CD made from Hoffman master

I also have some MFSL and DCC gold CDs, but I don't consider them to be as rare as the West German and Japanese first pressings listed above.

 

Now my memory is going too! OK, but is it rare? I remember at the time (and, I gather, until 1998's Tracks) it was not otherwise available on CD.

 

Toshiba "Abbey Road"
"Remember When" (probably the rarest SH disc I own)

 

I have a few 45s of "That Thing You Do", but I was never able to find one of the Promo copies (Blockbuster had them, just not the one near me) with the cool Playtone Label. I really wanted one of those for my jukebox.

 

1. Split Enz: Conflicting Emotions. US CD version of this 1983 album on A&M. I bought it for $7.99 in 1987 when I was first getting into Crowded House and the music of the Finn brothers. I have 'never' seen another copy of this ever after perusing used CD stores for years. I'm guessing it was one of the earliest US CD releases, probably released in 1983 when the album was first released. This album is and has only been available as an import from Australia/New Zealand.

2. The Beatles: Ultra Rare Trax volume 1. Original pressing on the Swinging Pig with hot orange insert.

3. The Beatles: Ultra Rare Trax volume 2. Original pressing on the Swinging Pig label with bright green insert. I picked up both volumes of these from separate dealers for $50 each around 1988 when I was a college freshman.

4. These probably aren't so rare, but I don't know anyone else who has them-----Star Wars soundtrack: 2 disc version on Polydor like the original 1977 album.

The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack. Single disc version on Polydor. This is a single disc version of the original double album. Many cuts are missing and the sequencing is bizarre. The disc leads off with The Imperial March and the Star Wars Theme (which should start the disc) is track 4 or 5.

Return of The Jedi soundtrack. Single disc version on Polydor identical to the original album/cassette version.

 

Sorry, just thought of one more that my buddies always liked to borrow.

Lindsay Buckingham: Words and Music. Promo CD used to promote Buckingham's solo CD 'Out of the Cradle.' This career retrospective features a song from the Buckingham/Nicks album, some selections from Fleetwood Mac, and Buckingham's other solo singles. BUT.....the selling point for me was that rarest of all rare tracks.....HOLIDAY ROAD--theme from National Lampoon's Vacation.
All songs have brief spoken word comments indexed as separate tracks explaining the history of each song. An Excellent Promo.

 

I have these also... I paid $45 each for them when I found them. Best $90 bucks I had ever spent at the time. Though my wife at the time freaked when I told her I spent $90 on two cds!!

 

Wow! The *exact* same thing happened to me...including the freakout by the wife! I think i got mine back in 1988. I couldn't get over how good they sounded. Heck, they *still* sound good.

 

Anybody else here spring for the limited edition version of "S+V" - it was restricted to 350 (I think) copies in a wooden box with a certificate signed by Bowie...

 

Beatles US 3" CDs in original longboxes. I have all of them still sealed. This is not a box set, but a whole set of individual 3" CDs. The rarest one being Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane because the disc and box listed SFF as the A side, which caused it to be pulled from the market. I think this whole set might be rarer than the EMI singles box set.