Rare Album Misprints/mispressings

[lemonstar]

I have wondered for years what happened to an album that I bought as a teenager. It was a factory pressing error - quite a big one - it was King Crimson album on one side and Status Quo on the other side!

I was about 16 at the time and I simply took the record back to the store and got it exchanged. I had no idea at the time it might be worth something - as a oddity or rarity. I've not thought about it until today and wondered if it was a figment of my imagination - it seems so strange - I wondered if there were many of these pressing errors - I have no idea how many might exist. I just had a quick search and and found one copy currently on ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ultra-rare-King-Crimson-mis-pressed-In-the-Court-of-the-Crimson-King/303559103381?hash=item46ad885395:g:ftwAAOSwS7xesGNU
 

What a dunce - I wished I had kept it now.

I haven't looked any further so I might find out there were quite a few copies.
I think I'll message the seller and ask them how they came across it.

Anyone else have anything rare? I have a Pistols bootleg, a lot of punk era singles and a pristine copy of the Giles, Giles & Fripp album - I've only played it once. I wished I hadn't sold my PIL metal box - I needed a train ticket once to see my girlfriend (now wife) and sold a good number of punk-ish albums - Clash, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, SLF, Dead Kennedys, Banshees, etc
 

Edited May 11, 2020 by lemonstar

[NickD]

I do have a bunch of pic discs in my Mum's loft, I must get to go through them one of these days. I know some were reasonably rare.

When I was very young I bought Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, gatefold, that had side one on both sides of disc one... Like a fool it went back to Woolies!

[jacko]

I have pressings of Who are You (the who) and Van Halen where the tracks aren't in the same order as the sleeve listing or any listings for said albums on the internet.  In both cases the tracks have been shunted down one so what should have been the last track is actually the first. 

[Skybone]

I recall being 10 or 11, and buying a copy of Rush's Hemispheres from WH Smith's.

Excitedly, I got it home, put it on Side 1, and heard the songs from Side 2. Fair enough. Turn the LP over, put on Side 2...

I wanted to hear the full album, so the following week, I took it back to WH Smiths & got a replacement. Fast forward 20-odd years later, the Hemispheres mis-print was worth a fortune. Should have kept it, but I wanted the album (which I still have).

[Simon.]

I remember getting Metallica's Black album on vinyl, and while the recording was fine, the center label was misprinted on side two, so it went back and I swapped it for the CD version.

Also had another one around the same time. Gate-fold double album, where sides 3 and 4 were both printed as side 3. I think it might have been Exit Stage Left. It was the first Rush album I bought, after being blown away by a track on the Fluff Freeman rock show, and the song I desperately wanted to hear again was (or should have been) on side 4... That one went back too. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Simon.

[hooky_lowdown]

I used to design record sleeves, so have a bit of an insight of what happens behind the scenes, so to speak.

Record exec's, band management and other management can't help themselves but get involved, so if the band or record exec's choose a track list, it's not unusual if someone comes along at the last minute to change things, everything from cover image, track order, even small print, nothing is off limit to last minute change, so this is where a lot of errors occur. If something is changed and someone in another part of the process isn't informed then you'll get these anomalies.

[lurksalot]

I had the first led zep album with a velvet underground label on one side , I swapped it with a mate who I think still has it .

 

[Roger2611]

I still have my 7" Stiff Little Fingers "Alternative Ulster" I remember rushing back from the record shop ready to blast the neighbours only to find it had the B side label on both sides of the disk, my heart sank! I was glad to discover that although the labels were wrong the record was indeed correct so the neighbours got a blast of both sides of the record....they didn't appreciate it....philistines!

[BassTractor]

Disregarding the Lim.Ed. stuff that deliberately was released in 250 copies and similar,
I think my claim to fame is in an Elvis Presley misprint that contained the music to an AC/DC live bootleg.

At the CD factory, this misprint was found out about, and the whole batch was thrown in the For Destruction bin.
However, one of the workers there regularly grabbed stuff from that bin, and took it home to share with his brother, who's a friend of mine...
So now I own an ultra rare item that one of the most famous Elvis collectors stated he'd never even heard of.

Also, it's the best CD to play when grandma visits:
"I've got some Elvis, grandmother. You wanna hear it?"

 

[Bobthedog]

I have an Anita O'Day CD which says on the spine Atita O'Day. Not worth anything but I still smile when I read it.

[BassTractor]

Oh, and a friend and neighbour of mine had a "Zoolook" misprint with the wrong music. She hated the album, but refused to believe me when I told her it has the wrong music.

Last time, she said:  "it's digital, so can't be wrong".



Yes, me too.
 

[lemonstar]

The seller pulled the item for some unknown reason - they were asking £200 and it didn't attract any bidders. I did message them asking about the origin of the item but didn't get a reply - maybe my question triggered the decision to pull the item - maybe it was acquired in suspicious circumstances. I also bought and returned the album to Woolies.

Edited May 11, 2020 by lemonstar

[Dankology]

My girlfriend's dad passed all his LPs onto us a few years ago. He seemed to have a few odd European pressings of Beatles stuff, presumably picked up on holidays so I never thought much of the odd looking Led Zep I with the wrong coloured sleeve until I looked it up:

https://www.discogs.com/Led-Zeppelin-Led-Zeppelin/release/1218217

I think it's the rarer variant due to some combination of publishing credits and matrix numbers. He had no idea and had bought it from record shop in Moston of all places at the time of release. It actually cleaned up quite nicely but the cover has seen too many parties to claim the really big money.

[LeftyJ]

I have a SUPERrare misprint of a demo CD by... my own band 😆

We had recorded two demo tracks for a promo CD to send to bookers and venues, and when we got the finished product there was a children's rap song on it. We sent the CD's back, but I kept two for sh*ts and giggles. 

But alas, we never quite got famous, so it will never be a wanted collector's item 😩

[joeystrange]

14 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

I used to design record sleeves, so have a bit of an insight of what happens behind the scenes, so to speak.

Record exec's, band management and other management can't help themselves but get involved, so if the band or record exec's choose a track list, it's not unusual if someone comes along at the last minute to change things, everything from cover image, track order, even small print, nothing is off limit to last minute change, so this is where a lot of errors occur. If something is changed and someone in another part of the process isn't informed then you'll get these anomalies.

I used to work at a record label. One of the releases whilst I was there had completely different running orders on the CD and vinyl (same songs, completely different order) because the band insisted on one order and the label insisted on another.

There was also an album that, when it got repressed on CD, somehow had 2 seconds of a different song from a different band in the middle of one of the tracks. I think some of those exist in the wild.

[Bassfinger]

Early Jethro Tull singles were mistakenly printed as Jethro Toe.  Worth a few quid to the Tullinati these days.

[Maude]

When I first got into New Order in the eighties, the second album of theirs I bought was substance. I hadn't heard most of the songs and, being New Order, a lot of the titles had little to do with the lyrics. 

I had it on cassette and it confused the hell out of me trying to work out what track was what as the listing on the cover was all wrong. Not worth anything as they were all like it. 

[sPiKi]

As a teenager I was a big Iron Maiden fan and loyally trooped down to my local music shop to pick up a copy of the just released 'Powerslave' album.

Once I got there I saw they had a picture disc version of the album which I just couldn't resist.

After I trekked home and put the album carefully on the deck I was mesmerised by all this new Maiden material and listened to it the whole way through it one sitting.

However, when it came to the song 'Powerslave' itself, about two thirds of the way through, the song speed up. Bruce was singing 'Tell me why I had to be a powerslave' in a chipmunk voice! For years I thought that was all part of the epic feel to the song. My mates hated Maiden and I didn't know anyone else who had a copy I could check against to see if this was intended. 

The disc is now on the wall of fame in our practice room.

Edited May 12, 2020 by sPiKi

[Mariaf]

I have a misprinted cd of Pink Floyd's Division Bell. It has Wish You Were Here on it instead. Bought not long after it was released but no social media back then. We phoned EMI to tell them we thought they had a 'dodgy batch' but they said it couldn't happen lol. Anyone else come across this on this cd? 

[Lozz196]

On 11/05/2020 at 18:02, Roger2611 said:

I still have my 7" Stiff Little Fingers "Alternative Ulster" I remember rushing back from the record shop ready to blast the neighbours only to find it had the B side label on both sides of the disk, my heart sank! I was glad to discover that although the labels were wrong the record was indeed correct so the neighbours got a blast of both sides of the record....they didn't appreciate it....philistines!

My CD of Tinderbox by SLF has the wrong track-listing on it, was apparently issued for a radio station. It’s a great CD irrespective.

[davepb24]

Many years back I bought OMD's "Red Frame White Light" on 7"; played the b-side first when I got it home and thought it didn't sound much like OMD - put the a-side on, it was "Echo Beach". Like a pillock I took it back next day...

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

 

I also had that power slave pic disc with the speed problem . 

I had a hawkwind silver machine / Beatles tell me why pic disc single (;tell me why?can't remember exact name of song ) 

Anti nowhere league first album with the labels wrong way around

Anthrax Indians 12"  on both side A&B 

 

[Rich]

At one time, I had an ex-jukebox 7" single of Do Nothing by The Specials ('featuring Jerry Dammers and the Ice Rink String Sounds'), the label of which had Rs in place of all the Ns. It was "Do Rothirg by The Specials (featurirg Jerry Dammers ard the Ice Rirk Strirg Sourds)". Don't know what happened to it. Probably not worth a lot but it was quite funny. 

[LeftyJ]

I have a (SUPER!)rare one of my own 

When my band had an EP pressed for demo purposes, we received 500 beautifully printed slipcases and printed CD's that looked exactly like we wanted them to. But when we played one in the car on our way home from the CD company, it didn't contain our music but a Dutch childrens' rap song about poverty and wealth distribution ("I am rich but theeeeey're not, I have a laptop but theeeeey don't" and so on). We returned nearly all of them, but I kept two. The other band members returned theirs, but I thought it was pretty funny to have a good laugh about later. 

Two! How's that for rarity? 

Edited January 25, 2021 by LeftyJ

[BigRedX]

On 11/05/2020 at 15:04, lemonstar said:

Anyone else have anything rare? I have a Pistols bootleg, a lot of punk era singles and a pristine copy of the Giles, Giles & Fripp album - I've only played it once. I wished I hadn't sold my PIL metal box - I needed a train ticket once to see my girlfriend (now wife) and sold a good number of punk-ish albums - Clash, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, SLF, Dead Kennedys, Banshees, etc

The original version of Metal Box isn't worth that much, last time I looked you could get a decent quality copy for under £100 on Discogs (which is a far more accurate indicator of an album's worth than eBay).

Most of my rare stuff is rare because it wasn't very popular,  not very copies were sold and consequently it's not worth much. However I did have a look at the values of the DIY cassettes I have from the early 80s, some of which are now supposedly worth several hundred pounds. Not bad for an investment of a blank C60 cassette and a stamped addressed envelope!