that belonged to my late aunt Diana. I spotted it amongst her record collection when I was around 13 and realised straight away that this was not going to sound like records I heard in the Top 40. I put it on and I was spellbound. It was the point at which music truly came alive for me.

...,an LP by Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, bought for me by a friend, he having spotted it in a charity shop. My earlier copy had been stolen years before and I was always going on about it. Thanks, Tone
(And yes, the first thing I did was to check if it had my initials written in biro on the sleeve, inner sleeve and record. It din't. Which is why we are still friends.)
I also have one of Dave Mattacks drumsticks, from a gig Fairport Convention played at the Junction, a small pub in Harborne, Birmingham, probably about 1982 or so. It is now an O'Neills, god help us. It is the most bashed bit of wood I have seen outside of a bonfire.

signed by Andy Partridge. It took him over half an hour.
Plus, the entire Stackridge back cat signed by James Warren. Took him a while too.
I also have a Morrissey set list written in the man's hand.
( Er, am I allowed to mention Moz in these troubled times?? )

...is they aren't anything like as rare as we like to think they are. You have to keep re-drawing the line every time you come across a serious collector. Last night I watched "Desperate Man Blues", a short film about Joe Bussard, a guy who's been collecting blues and old time music for over forty years. He doesn't do record fairs or the internet. He did it door to door through the poor districts of the South. This gives you a taste of real rarity:

I discovered that I liked Cressida's first album when a mate played it to me on a little mono cassette deck. Some weeks later I found a copy of the album in a cardboard box full of albums in a junk shop for 50p, and it was mine, all mine.

No one else I knew had heard of the band, and for years I thought I had the only LP they'd ever done.

Fast forward to University days, and at last I have a room of my own with a stereo system installed. The LP collection is gradually migrated from the parental home to the shared room in a student house, and I jealously guard my albums from the vagaries of drunken parties and stoned afternoons.

One day, I'm playing my treasured Cressida album when a particularly hairy friend (we called him Hedgehog) utters the immortal words, "There's another record by this lot up the road in Catapilla". Catapilla was the excellent local second-hand vinyl emporium.

I'm not convinced that Alan is accurately reflecting reality with this assertion, partly because his daily intake of exotic tobacco is often upwards of the recognised fatal dose. Just to be sure, off I trot up to Catapilla. Bingo! There IS a second Cressida album, it's called "Asylum" and I have an absolutely mint copy in my mitts for £2.50. Result. Even if I won't be able to afford to eat for a week.

I still listen to it from time to time, though a CD reissue has ensured that the vinyl stays in pristine condition.

...both of those albums are now very valuable, and are also very good. Should have been bigger than they were...'To Play Your Little Games' is a gorgeous track that could/should have been a hit single.

Used to collect records but I gave up a few years back for CDs as they were cheaper and generally more reliable! The CD I'm happiest to own is a Dojo copy of Hawkwind's 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' which is now out-of-print and has been for some years. Odd, as the rest of their United Artists albums are still easily available, and it's arguably their best album. Also on a Hawkwind note, I have a copy of some Hawkwind 2-cd anthology signed by Nik Turner.

I stayed in the married quarters of Brunel University while the Ex Mrs Kerr studied clever sums there. One evening Steeleye Span were playing there and to my surprise Michael Chapman supported.
Feeling slightly foolish I took the above album with me and got the great man to sign it. It was a battered old copy with lots of party scratches and beer stains on the cover. It now sits pride of place among some of my more obscure and pristine albums looking like a down and out relative but it's probably the one I'd grab in that hypothetical fire we all talk about!

The late seventies and early eighties (when I started out) were the great period for the above. Especially treasured are:

Purple vinyl copy of Up the Junction by Squeeze (one of the first singles I ever bought)

An American Joy Division picture disc LP with some industrial building as the photo - has their pre-Unknown Pleasures work on it. Bought on a school trip to Boston (Mass not Lincs)

Flexidiscs of 'Pop Art Poem' by The Jam given away free with Smash Hits and the one Joy Division gave away around the time of the 2nd album.

I have the RSO Peter and the Wolf album, narrated by Viv Stanshall and played by Manfred Mann, Brian Eno, Stephane Grapelli, Julie Tippett, Keith Tippett, Chris Spedding and others. It's scratched and the booklet is in pieces, but I've never seen it anywhere else and it's brilliant.

http://www.chrisspedding.com/session/va/pw.htm

That's probably my most treasured vinyl I think. And I have just found it available on CD - oh joy of joys!!

Memory Lane beckons....

Two CD set, promo only, a gift from a grateful record industry. I also got tickets to a Crowdies showcase at The Borderline where Richard Thompson (ker-ching!) signed my copy of the Read About Love CD single and then stepped up and played half the set with them.
My friend Mr Baggers and I occasionally swap a blue vinyl twelve inch single of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out in drunken "You're my besh fren'" moments - it's his turn at the moment.

My sister bought a mono copy of this immediately after it came out and gave it to me (!!) two weeks later after she'd 'gone off' it. Her loss. It's worth aproximately 2p but I could sooner get rid of my leg than sell it

RITCHIE ADAMS - I CAN'T ESCAPE FROM YOU on the Congress Label.
Stone Cold Northern Soul classic. Currently yours on various sites for about 400 quid. Bought it in Chicago in the early 80's for 2 dollars.
It's at my mother's house in a record box because if i have it it will get scratched.
I transfered all my Northern 45's to FLAC and keep forgetting how much some of them are worth.
Despite being skint 99% of the time i never think of selling any of them.
Yes it sounds like "Ain't That Peculiar" so i've included both.
Enjoy

Say no more.