CDs you're glad you bought at the time, 'cos you never saw them again...

It would have to be one of my all time favourites.

Jerry Doucette: Mama Let Him Play (only ever available on this one release, except for vinyl).

Not even on ebay, ever.

 

Not one that I necessarily bought, but.....

Working at a record store in my early college years, I was opening up the store one morning when the UPS guy came with a package, a single promo of the Replacements live "Inconcerated", which was released to support the Achin' To Be single. I, being the caring and loving record store clerk, made sure to find that puppy a safer home than the mean ol' record store playstack. Inconcerated wasn't issued in any other form, as far as I am aware.

 

Gram Parsons CD Sleepless Nights. It was a Japanese import that I found at a record convention back in the late 80s. The sticker has A&M Records 25th Anniversary and Japanese writing under that. It was going for $39.99 at the time and I don't recall ever seeing it available as a domestic release. Glad I got it. Now I want someone to come along and tell me it's been readily available all along for $9.99.

 

Sleepless Nights was never available as a US domestic CD as far as I know.

 

I have this on vinyl and remember seeing the CD a few times as an import at Tower, but only for awhile. I have a UK Edsel FBB CD release called Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Loud, Loud Music that has some of the same material on it.

-Craig

 

I got a few CD Japanese releases from Thoughtscape that I never saw released else:

American Flyer - American Flyer
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - To Bonnie From Delaney
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Jukes Live At The Bottom Line
Mother Earth - Bring Me Home

A couple I could kick myself for not getting:
Libby Titus - Libby Titus
Bram Tchaikovsky - Strange Man Changed Man

-Craig

 

All DCC's, Mofi's on Gold and vinyl! The Who's Live At Leeds with the LP cover... Geezer Butler's Geezer with the limited artwork release.

 

The original Green Jello CD and DCC's Elvis 24 Karat Hits! CD.

 

Almost every Verve Japan CD. They use to be in stock for just one precious moment in time. The one I didn't get was "Ella At Juan-Les-Pins" - I thought "why buy the expensive japanese pressing, it'll soon be available as a domestic release". Big mistake! I was wrong, wrong, wrong not to get it. Needless to say, I never saw this one again.

Arne

 

First Stereo release of Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, with a different take of From a Buick 6, Dylan's Renoldo and Clara promo 4 track disk, Jessie Colin Young's Soul of a City Boy, a mono only disk not available for many years after its initial release, then its reissue, which also was never to be seen again. (I hear he has a private CD issue available by mail).

 

James Taylor - Live in Rio - this is a legit CBS release sadly I passed up the LP.

The Who - Shakin' all Over - an awesome sounding Gold Strandard bootleg of the famous never released Fillmore live album

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland - UK version with the Nudes cover, not for the sound but for the collectability.

 

Sly Stone's Fresh first run with all alternate mixes. Woohoo!

...and about that same time at that same store I passed on a Japanese CD of Ray Charles 8006 (AKA Hallelujah I Love Her So ). Grrr.

the other Wes

 

Worked at a radio station and snactched up the promo CD "What About Me" by MOVING PICTURES that has NEVER been commercially released anywhere I have seen other than on vinyl.

 

The Who (Pete Townshend) - The Tommy Demos. Just found that last summer, too. Can't believe nobody else snagged it in all those years (it's a 1991 boot).

A few other boots too...I managed to get an *original* copy of Live At Leeds Complete. I think I'm even happier now than when I got it originally, as now I know how rare these things are...

 

Most Japanese mini-LP sleeve editions; they are really deleted fast, and hard to find afterwards.

Come to think of it, many DCCs and MoFi's too.

Since I kinda lived under the "Moscow Rules" for at least twenty years, I tend to turn squirrel on these things... better overstock than sorry

 

In January 2000, I started saving for a VPI HW-19 Mk III turntable. I started selling some stuff on E-bay to help raise funds. So I started getting a good idea what some of my stuff was going for (CD's, DVD's, etc.). One day I walked into J&R Music World and was browsing the "audiophile" CD bins and saw multiple copies of MFSL "Who's Next" and several other titles. They were selling for $30 each. I decided to buy several of them, keep one of each and sell the rest off on E-bay (naughty me). I ended up at least making a bit more than twice my money back.

Another helpful "fund-raising" opportunity was at the two Discorama stores. They sold "gold" CD's for $17.99 of 2 for $35. I picked up a lot of MFSL's there and then (naughty again) kept one for myself and flogged the rest off. They had a lot of UD-1's. One of my "buyers" complained to me that he thought I sold him a re-sealed "Madman..." and I explained it was released before the MFSL UD-II insert was used.

Most of my funds were raised by selling of some DVD's and VHS tapes. I sadly (but still feel I made the right choice) sold my Criterion Collection "400 Blows" (got it for $9.99 w/Real.com "insane" coupons and sales/sold it for $115/copied the fantastic commentary to DAT), "A Hard Days Night" VHS ($92), The Traveling Wilbury's 1 & 2 CD's/with long boxes (I used to keep those/$100/I made CD-r back-ups), etc.

I'm not into selling anymore but at that time it helped pay some bills and eventually get a VPI.

Todd

 

Tom Robinson/Sector 27. Several years ago, I got a legit import loaded with bonus tracks. It apparently went OOP very fast. Even Robinson's own website will only sell you a CD-r at this point.

Led Zeppelin--3-CD promo-only box set. A publisher's promo, released 2001. Numbered limited edition of 3000. Jewel-box sized cardboard package, striking b&w graphics. All tracks remastered.

 

Oh lordy...I only got into CD collecting around 1995, so I missed the first wave of this sort of thing, but I've had a few good finds:

a) Beyond the Wildwood: A Tribute to Syd Barrett. I kept seeing it in Second Coming (a recently-closed record store in NYC) for something like $2...my third time through I finally plunked down the cash and bought it. I like it, but was unaware at the time how freakin' RARE that thing is.

b) Merry Go Round. It's the album from Emitt Rhodes' group. Finally managed to track it down on its Japanese CD incarnation (for those who can't find it, the "Rhodes Less Traveled" bootleg sources a lot of its tracks from that CD, and is essentially a replacement).

c) Some of my random permutations of Beefheart's "Safe as Milk" I've managed to never see again (one on Pair records, and one double), but I doubt that they're rare at all (FWIW, I have more CD versions of Safe as Milk than any other album).

d) I've never seen a real-CD version of Arrive Without Aging (Beatles boot that, for ages, had a monopoly on a few Barrett tracks) but for the one I bought...my first Beatles bootleg ever, and a good choice!

I'm sure there're more...I've had occasional good luck.

-D

 

I found Al Stewart's Year of The Cat on Mo-Fi back in the summer of '87 in a discount bin at the local mall of all places!
This one was hard to locate even then. Being unemployed at the time, I coughed up the $13.99 for the disc, went a little bit hungry the rest of the week, But I could now call it mine!

 

Sorry, American Flyer and Spirit Of A Woman

 

I found the second CD by Primitive Radio Gods, titled Mellotron On!, or Sire Records, in a pawn shop. It was never released, and I've never seen it listed on ebay or elsewhere. Parts of it later surfaced on their independent release, White Hot Peach, but I liked Mellotron On! better overall.

 

I found the Moving Pictures cd in Canada, with the song "What about me". That was a few years ago, I don't know if it's still in print.