I find record collecting fascinating, so naturally I'm wondering: what's the rarest Coldplay recording of them all? I have heard there is a White Shadows promo out there but I've never seen one.

Hmmmm.... maybe the Safety EP? Only 500 copies of that were ever made if I recall.

Oh that's right. That's probably it.

This one might be more obscure and rare (though less collectible). eBay seller claims only 300 copies made of it

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COLDPLAY-What-If-ULTRA-MEGA-RARE-Belgium-CD-single-ONLY-300-copies-made-/330778541168?pt=UK_CDsDVDs_CDs_CDs_GL&hash=item4d03effc70

Ode To Deodorant promo cassette, but that wasn't officially released so I guess that doesn't count : )

Ode To Deodorant promo cassette, but that wasn't officially released so I guess that doesn't count : )

Are there any copies out there though?

Are there any copies out there though?

 

There must be, as someone who owned one leaked it in 2006. Not sure how many exist though.

There are CD's and demo cassettes of it, but I don't know how many.

 

March 22, 2010 - submitted by Evelien, Belgium

 

Q. Dear Oracle,

I was wondering the other day: was Ode to Deodorant ever burnt on a cd and given away or something? I know they made a cassette and sent it to a radio station for a competition, but a cassette seems very 'old school', even for those days.

( + saw one pass on ebay several months ago and I was wondering if it was a genuine copy).

 

Thanks in advance !

 

 

The Oracle replies:

 

Well the master copy of the track was certainly burned onto a cd. Cassettes were still circulating in the demo world but they were on their way out. It was more to send to Radio Stations to play although there was an Xfm competition they entered too. (The Safety EP -on cd- had been sent to Steve Lamacq at Radio 1 earlier than this though).

If the copy you saw was the same one that I also saw it was indeed an original.

Aside from Safety and Ode, the What If promo CDs are super rare, and all the vinyl acetates are very hard to find. The Speed of Sounds were numbered out of 20, I think...or maybe it was 10.

Aside from Safety and Ode, the What If promo CDs are super rare, and all the vinyl acetates are very hard to find. The Speed of Sounds were numbered out of 20, I think...or maybe it was 10.

 

Wait, seriously? I have two Speed of Sound singles. Interesting!

What about the Mince Spies EP? How limited was that?

^ 1000 copies

Wait, seriously? I have two Speed of Sound singles. Interesting!

She meant the acetate vinyls for Speed of Sound, not the cd or regular 10" version, which are not really hard to find

^ 1000 copies

and I've got 1/500th of them :lol:

^ You or you and Jen?

me I've got two, but I can't remember where I got one of them from! the other was courtesy of coldplay.com

Lucky you!

I wouldn't bother if you decided to give me one of those two, Ian :rolleyes: :lol:

The rarest Coldplay release is Christmas Lights (100 copies) which I happen to be a proud owner of. :)

The rarest Coldplay release is Christmas Lights (100 copies) which I happen to be a proud owner of. :)

 

:surprised: I never realised there was a physical release of CL! How on earth did you get your hands on that?

:surprised: I never realised there was a physical release of CL! How on earth did you get your hands on that?

 

CL was released to 100 people in a contest when the single first came out and I bought one of them from http://www.discogs.com/. :) There's one on there now actually.

Do you mean the pop up version or just the acetate promo?

probably Mylo Xyloto right

Do you mean the pop up version or just the acetate promo?

 

Oh I forgot about the pop up! There's 50 copies of that (I think) and 100 of the acetate promo which is what I have. It's cool though because there's a sticker on the back that talks about how the band will be reentering the studio to work on their upcoming, as of yet untitled fifth album. What if you had a U2 promo that said the same thing and it turned out to be The Joshua Tree? :D

I've only seen one of the pop-ups once on ebay, it was sold for a bit more than 300£, so still less than the Safety EP, you would imagine it would be taken for more since there are less copies around, but the collector market's prices are weird :P