Beat that! Was suckered early on by the 'New David Gray' tag. Still, got £7.50 for it on eBay!

Er, Judi Tzuke's live album.

I'm sorry, I bought it and I did like Halo as a song. And then it all sort of melted into one long mush-fest.

And David Gray's White Ladder. WHAT WAS I THINKING? - well, clearly I wasn't thinking at all. I have absolutely no idea what was driving me that day. Strange whiny voice and no tempo change throughout.

Both now residing at a charity shop near you.

bought on the basis that I had heard them through pill-altered ears at the Gardening club or Heaven and thought them to be the pinnacle of human artistic endeavour; having got them home and slapped them on the old potter's wheel I was sometimes enthralled, more often appalled. I even bought a copy of D:ream's "Things can only get better" on the basis of a brothers in rhythm remix on the second disc of the twin-pack, Christ on a bike!

My brothers were heading off to Our Price in Putney High Street. I gave them the money and asked them to get me The Road To Hell by Chris Rea. Then one day I grew out of it - or up, I'm not sure which.

Look, while I'm feeling confessional, I bought Living Doll by Cliff Richard and the Young Ones. But it was for charidee.

...but the one I really regret is 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' which I find completely unlistenable. Not just the music, but the agonising classroom links between songs. It staggers me that this album is held up as some pinnacle of its genre. If this is the best, I'd hate to hear the worst.

Oh, and all The Flaming Lips ones, as well. I kept buying them in the hope that I'd eventually 'get' what all the fuss was about. It took me three albums to realise there was nothing to 'get'.

at the tender age of 11, I scraped together the remains of my christmas money and an old 10 shilling record token and ventured for the first time into the hushed and daunting interior of our local record shop. Up until then my record "collection" consisted of little more than "Back Home" by the 1970 World Cup squad and 2 Pinky and Perky records. But I knew what I wanted now; Hot Love by T.Rex and Brown Sugar by the Stones.
After overcoming my initial embarrassment of asking for Hot Love in a public place, I rushed home and placed them both carefully on the autochanger of my parents HMV Radiogram. Hot Love was just as good as I knew it was going to be, but Brown Sugar…? No, I wasn't going to waste my record token on this!
I took it back the next day and exchanged it for KnockThree Times by Tony Orlando & Dawn!
Aaah, now that's better!

I queued up at Rushtons Records to buy Mouldy Old Dough.
When they opened at 9. On a Monday morning. Missing school.

I am with Paul on The Flaming Lips - strangely I bought 3 as well - probably the same ones. Personally I blame the reviewers -they dont know what the fuck they are talking about.

Anyway my most embarassing were the Yessongs TRIPLE live album and recently the Joanna Newsom cd - sorry to bring this one up again but I really do feel I must have had TWAT emblazoned across my forehead on the day I got that little number.

I too bought The Soft Bulletin - it realy isn't very good at all. I didn't buy any more of theirs.

I also bought Yessongs (when it came out); it remains one of the finest albums in my reasonably huge collection. I can't believe that anyone who liked Yes would not like the magnificent Yessongs. They may no longer be fashionable but that doesn't make it a bad record.

I did buy Stars by Simply Red, on vinyl, but only for emergencies in case Yessongs failed as a seduction record.

I dont think so.Maybe possibly it is the Rick Wakeman solo bit with all the jokey music hall references. God dont that set the pulses racing??
Yessongs wasnt embarassing when I bought it and I did like Yes as a group but the whole point of this thread is that none of this stuff was embarassing when we bought it or else why would we have done so?

I have to take a stand.
One can't really take a stand against the Lips and the laud Yessongs. Obvoiusly you can, but hey, I'm taking sides!

The Flaming Lips are fantastic.
They've grown over the years and hit their stride with Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi and Mystics.
Live they're at their best, with an explosion of a set. Wayne Coyne must be one of the hardest working and warmest front men ever.
With Do You Realise? is one of the best songs written about love and death ever.
Don't diss the Lips or the rabbits will get you.
Fetch my ladders, I need to get down from my high horse.

I have to take a stand.
One can't really take a stand against the Lips and the laud Yessongs. Obvoiusly you can, but hey, I'm taking sides!

The Flaming Lips are fantastic.
They've grown over the years and hit their stride with Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi and Mystics.
Live they're at their best, with an explosion of a set. Wayne Coyne must be one of the hardest working and warmest front men ever.
Do You Realise? is one of the best songs written about love and death - ever.
Don't diss the Lips or the rabbits will get you.
Fetch my ladders, I need to get down from my high horse.

I bought Spandau Ballet's Gold on a 12". In mitigation it was in a bargain bin, and my girlfriend at the time liked them but I still handed over the cash.
It went to a charity shop.

I hate to admit it, but here goes........."Every Loser Wins" by Nick Berry, formerly of Eastenders, Heartbeat and that strange drama he did about being a lifeguard. Not only is his music crap, but so is his acting, he plays the same character in every role. Guess the old dears like him though. What on the hell was I thinking of? I have even more dodgy buys, which I can't possibly reveal here.

Sadly, I bought James Blunts first album after seeing him on Later.........Less than a week later it was in my 'never play again pile. And I haven't.

At least I don't have any Eurythmics stuff (gufaw, my other half owns a best of).

Now I loved their first album but the second one stank. Not to worry, I thought, I'll have a bash at the third. Dear God. As for the fourth...I was in HMV when it was playing. Two songs down, this isn't bad. A bit of a return to form. Go on, I'll take the plunge. Got it home. Only decent two songs on the bloody record. All goodwill gone now.

Cant agree with anyone saying Eels are embarassing - one of the best US artists of recent years. A unique talent with a great catalogue of songs that is truly undervalued. His last album Blinking Lights and other revelations was a classic of our time.

Climbing up to the moon is mine. All of the albums are great though and cant wait for the rarities album in January and the tour in February.

I want to like them. Anyone who enjoys a gig so much he refuses to get off the stage even when the house lights are up & everyone is desperate for the last bus home can't be bad. Subsequent albums disappointed me so much though that I vowed that was the end of the brief flirtation. Perhaps I should revisit & revise.

Wayne Coyne cannot sing. Sometimes Flaming Lips music is atrocious. But sometimes it is fantastic. My Top Tip for the Flaming lips is - go to one of their gigs. Have the absolute time of your life and then listen to the albums whenever you want to recapture a sliver of how much fun you had. Seriously - they are incredible live. I saw them in Vicar Street in Dublin earlier this year and within 30 seconds the crowd was in the palm of Mr. Coyne's hand. That's no exagerration and was incredible to experience.

As for the Eels - can be hit and miss but I count myself as a fan. Blinking Lights is one of my favourite albums of the last couple of year, especially cd 1. It politely slaps me on the face every time I listen to it and reminds me of how stunning it is.

As for embarrasing buys...well...damn, I really am going to admit to this...

Five Star!! I can't remember the name of the album, honest, and I did give it away soon after buying it.

I know, I'm barred.

I've bought hundreds of terrible records..'Jazz' sticks in my mind as it was bought for me Xmas 78 by a girlfriend, obviously as the result of an awful leather trouser related misunderstanding. It was all over by Boxing Day.

Bowies deeply dreary Never Let Me Down is one I still regret 20 years on. - Paid £12 for it at the time and one the first few CD's I owned. There's no a howlers or stinkers on it - it's just a vacuum and the songs are so thin they're almost transparent.

....Tiffany's debut album.....I'll get me coat.
In my defence I was just a lad, a musically challenged lad, but just a lad.

her version of 'I Think We're Alone Now' is utterly fabulous.

I remember buying a Renaissance album in the late '70's on the basis of really liking their 'Northern Lights' single. I can't remember the album title or any of the actual music; I just remember absolutely loathing it. That said, even though I haven't heard it for the best part of 30 years, I can still remember 'Northern Lights' and wouldn't mind hearing it again...

PS - I've just had a look on Amazon to jog my memory - 99% sure I bought 'Novella'. To quote from a 5-star review (am I allowed to do this?): -

> In "Novella", Renaissance perfected a sound that was neither fish nor fowl, with the driving insistence of rock but a texture that might be described as folk, light jazz, or even the dreaded "art song".

- which I mention because it probably explains why I loathed it. Possibly an influence on Ms. Newsom? (Sorry.)

I remember buying about 3 of their albums including I think songs of Sheherazade which was a concept album based on 1001 nights. I recall them being very serious but having a very melodic piano player. Thinking back through the admittedly hazy mists of time I would liken their music to the Guillemots in some ways but obviously with a female singer. I heard Northern Lights again recently so they are obviously still in someones thoughts.

Back in late 1969 my best pal Gary and I were in the NAAFI, on the RAF base where we lived. We came across a Grateful Dead album with an amazing cover (probably Aoxomoxoa) so we pooled our resources and purchased this unknown find.
When we played it back at home, we could not believe how awful it was - definately not music for thirteen year olds, as we were at the time.
Gaz then had a brainwave - he fetched his mum's bread knife and made a three inch incision across the grooves.
Back we went to the NAAFI and showed the lady at the record corner our damaged goods. She then checked the stockroom and came back and said apologetically that that was the only copy in stock, and would we like to choose something else.
As the selection available was pretty thin (bit like Woolies in 2007) we hurriedly picked up Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival who we had heard of, and made our escape.

...I decided it would be an idea to pop down myself to pick up a copy of The Hour of Bewilderbeest by Badly Drawn Boy the week it won the Mercury. I decided I didn't really like it other than one song (Disillusion) so I took it back. ...Bewilderbeest isn't a great album but it's far superior to the one I exchanged it for, which was...

Significant Other by Limp Bizkit.

My head is now suitably hanging in shame.

Just back from a pleasant weekend with a friend in Blackburn, watching his beloved Rovers comfortably beat Newcastle 3-1.

Last song over the tannoy before kick-off? Europe; The Final Countdown.

Nurse, the screens!

...but i truly regret buying Regular Urban Survivors by Terrorvision. I had most of my music collection stolen several years ago but they left the Terrorvision well alone. I threw it out and pretended it was stolen anyway.

In late 1984 I slogged away in my first proper job for what seemed weeks to enable the purchase of Welcome to the Pleasuredome by Frankie goes to Hollywood. Not the standard version, oh no. The full double album picture disc. I still have it. I keep it in the vain hope that one day it might be worth, say a quid. Then the regret will hopefully start to recede. I am sorry.