Top 10 Rarest Records Atlas Records Sold In September

In September, we sold an outstanding selection of rare and collectable vinyl records. Among the highlights were a coveted and complete first pressing of Pink Floyd’s The Wall and The Beatles' self-titled album, commonly known as The White Album. We also featured unique finds like Nirvana’s The Story of Simon Simopath, Joy Division’s haunting Closer, and Led Zeppelin's iconic fourth Untitled album.

Join us as we explore the top 10 rarest records we sold last month, starting at number 10...

The most desirable versions of this Pink Floyd first pressing come with a postcard and original black shrink-wrap. Unfortunately, this copy of ours had neither, but that doesn't stop it from being a fairly rare item. First presses of Wish You Were Here usually come with an inner sleeve with three angle cut corners, and second presses have four curved corners. This is always the first thing we look for when we have a copy of this album in our hands!

A beast of a release! This numbered reissue box set was released in 2021 and contains an incredible 24 LPs, CDs and DVDs, not to mention the tour laminates, lanyard, lithos, guitar picks, lyric folder and 120-page hardcover book containing never-before-seen photos and stories. The set is numbered out of 52,000 and contains a lifetime worth of material - probably the longest Discogs page we've ever scrolled through.

A classic Vertigo swirl first press, this release came with a Vertigo swirl centre label as well as an original Vertigo inner sleeve. Released in 1971, this album is a progressive rock classic, with the final track totalling 16 minutes and featuring a 24-piece orchestral arrangement. 

Another 1971 release... This is an early issue of Led Zeppelin's fourth album, "Untitled." Known amongst collectors as 'Version 5' referring to it being the fifth known version of the original orange and plum label editions, with there apparently being nine variations in total. This comes down to several specific features on the label, including... 

• 'Marketed by Polydor Records Limited' at 6 o'clock.
•  'Under license from Atlantic Recording Corpn.' in white area under 'Atlantic' on left side.
• 'Led Zeppelin' is printed above spindle hole.

This KLF album doesn't have many defining features like most we'll feature in this blog post. It was released in 1991 and is the only standard UK vinyl release of this album. Hence, availability is limited and it's in high demand! The two other UK versions of this album (on vinyl) are a white label and a test pressing, both of which are even more difficult to track down than this one. This original UK version also differs from the US version, in that the first side features sampled crowd noise to make the tracks sound like a mini concert.

Identified in a similar way to Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, this 1980 Joy Division album has an inner sleeve with rounded corners. Other early issue variants had features like square corners, red opaque vinyl (when held up to a light) and rough or smooth inner and outer sleeves. 145,091 copies were pressed up to mid-1981, at which point the pressing styles changed more significantly and the pressings become less desirable to modern collectors. 

With its rarity largely owing to its impeccable condition - and the presence of the original 7" single and sleeve - this album by The Stranglers was an exciting find. It was even complete with its original shrink-wrap, featuring a green hype sticker promoting the 7" single that came with it. The first 10,000 records came with the single.

A fun story to tell at dinner parties, this is the debut album of the British psychedelic rock band, Nirvana. It was released in 1967 on Island Records and was one we'd been waiting to see for quite some time. We've written a blog post about the two Nirvana bands, and while the British band weren't quite so well known outside psychedelic rock circles, their records are rather rare having been pressed in smaller quantities and growing in popularity partly due to their interactions with the US Nirvana.

Coming with its original shrink-wrap and title sticker, this first press of The Wall was quite the rarity! It was also graded Excellent - record, sleeve and inner. First pressings of this album are reasonably easy to come by, but not in this condition with the original sticker and shrink-wrap. It's always quite remarkable when a copy of The Wall comes to us with the original sticker, as it adheres to the sleeve, but doesn't stick properly so can go missing incredibly easily. It's a good sign of a very careful collector!

Of course, could this post end with anyone other than The Beatles? This copy of the white album is one of the lowest numbered we've ever seen, complete with four prints, poster and black inner sleeves. The album was immediately dubbed "The White Album" after its release in 1968, due to its plain white sleeve designed by Richard Hamilton, often identified as the founder of pop art. According to Hamilton, Paul McCartney requested that the design be as starker contrast to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club as possible... Well we certainly think that was achieved!