Top Rarities
On this page I have compiled a list of what I feel are the ‘Top Ten Rarest We are Scientists Items’. I will update this as new releases and promo items come to the surface. However it’s just my opinions from experience so obviously you may feel differently, and if you do why not leave a comment telling me what you think. I’m seen this work successfully on other collector boards so thought it might be fun to try here.
Overall Top 10 Rare Items:
Number 10 – The Wolf’s Hour EP
Whilst still one of the four old We Are Scientists things to get, this is the newest and most frequently occurring for sale. I’ve seen over 5 for sale in the past few months, much more than the others. Nonetheless a great CD to own.
Price approx. £25 (although i’ve seen it range from £10 to £40!)
Number 9 – Inaction EP
Again one of the four old We Are Scientists releases, whilst this is harder to get than Wolf’s Hour, it still comes up for sale much more frequently than Bitchin or Safety, Fun and Learning. I was unsure whether to put this higher or not but settled for this place as if you’re patient (and have the cash) it’s not the hardest to get.
Price approx. £35
Number 8 – Brain Thrust Mastery Named and Numbered Promo CD
Although one of the most recent items on this list, this promo CD has only appeared on ebay a handful of times since the album’s release. Each CD is individually named and numbered which may make people hesitant to sell this, but also makes it a very interesting promo. I know myself and another collector have 2 copies of this item as each is different. The CD is encoded to stop leaking of the album.
Price approx. £10 (But I got both of mine for £5 Buy It Nows)
Number 7 – Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt Promo DVDR
A Promo DVDR for the Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt Video; a simple printed on CDR which I received in a push out CD case, whether it was sent in that or not is unknown. I haven’t seen another of these for sale and DVDR promos are produced in smaller quantities but it is very likely there are a few others floating around.
Price approx. £10
Number 6 – We Are Scientists/Art Brut Split EP
This is a favourite item of mine, produced on a co-headlining tour, originally planned as a 7″ Vinyl but a miscommunication lead to a CD instead. As the covers weren’t finished in time the band used a stamp on card CD envelopes, as such most covers are worn away, or very smudged as in the case of mine. I’ve only seen 1 for sale on ebay, but it’s likely I missed others as many must have been sold at shows.
Price approx. £20
Number 5 – Bitchin EP
The second release by the band, this is the rarest of the 3 EPs and rarely comes up for sale. Still an item I need to get, I don’t have much to base the price on, only that it was sold for at a shop a few days before I visited..
Price approx. £40
Number 4 – After Hours Japan Promo CDR
Again another recent release but I felt this was worthy of a high spot. Japanese promo items are usually a lot tougher to find and purchase due to much stricter legal conditions and monitoring. However with growing sites like ebay, many more are for sale lately, but in the past they were almost impossible to get hold of as the sellers could face fines or even be arrested if it was a high profile release. I’ve seen two of this item for sale and I purchased both as Japanese Promos are my favourite CDs of all. Both times I got mine for cheap prices through Buy It Nows and bad listing but otherwise I feel the price would have been substantially higher.
Price Approx. £25.
Number 3 – Safety, Fun and Learning (In That Order)
Why number 3 I hear you ask, well it was very tough of where to put this, originally I thought number 2, but as I realized it has been sold to a lot of people (who obviously don’t wish to part with it) it could still be considered ‘easier’ to obtain that the number 2 item. This CD is the first independent release by the band, a full length album of amazing tracks. Sold through their website and at shows it is very rarely for sale, and the last one on ebay was in April 2008. This is the top of my list of items i’d love to own so i’m just anxiously waiting the day the next appears on ebay..
Price approx. £75 (but I know one went for £150 when a music shop held it for auction.)
Number 2 – With Love And Squalor Unapproved CDR
As I said I was unsure whether this should be the 3rd or 2nd rarest item, whilst number 3 is probably much more desirable to more people, I feel this to a collector is an amazing piece to own. I have only seen the one I purchased for sale, and I’m not sure whether it’s a one off CD or likely a handful at the most. Taken from the recording studios where the band recorded their first Major record label release, it’s an unapproved CDR featuring all the mastered tracks for With Love And Squalor but in a different track order. To me this is such a great piece and one of the jewels of my collection. As I said I’ve the only one i’ve seen for sale, this type of Cd is noramlly kept by the band to listen to or at the recording studios/mastering and editing facilities so it’s not often these come up for sale, especially for a ’smaller’ band like We are Scientists.
Price – I’m unsure what to put for the price of this, I obtained it at an astonishingly cheap price but don’t feel I would part for this for any money. But if another like this did come up, based on the few WaS collectors i’ve seen on ebay I’d expect for it to sell for approx £50+
Number 1 – Safety, Fun and Learning (In that Order) Sampler
Of all the items I’ve heard about, this is basically the Holy Grail for a We Are Scientists Collection! I’ve never seen or heard of one for sale, the closest was someone selling copies years ago. Apparently the band handed this out at the end of another gig or something and it contains 4 tracks, apparently
- Creeper
- Bomb (Inside The bomb?)
- Star L23
- A commentary featuring Chris playing a fake interviewing character.
The commentary track was posted online but has since disappeared (if anyone has this, sharing it would be amazing). An article posted from the band, featured this quote from Keith about their first interview:
“I also just remembered that the first time we were interviewed on the radio was at our college radio station, KSPC in Claremont, CA. We played a couple of songs and broadcast a pre-recorded skit that featured Chris playing a character named Serge, a French journalist whose accent and colloquialisms proved impenetrable for me. So stupid. I wish I had a recording of it.”
This may or may not be the same interview, or indeed probably a similar piece as Keith says he has no recording of this and the band may have retained a copy of their giveaway demo CD.
As this CD has never been for sale, I’m not sure what the value would be. One person posted saying they had it on the nebulizemymind forum a few years ago but nothing has been heard since. It is likely there are few of these still around as often free handout CD’s are thrown away and I don’t realistically ever expect to own one but I still keep hoping one appears on ebay.
Price – Impossible to say, I know if one ever came up i’d be willing to pay several hundred for it.
Also there are other demo CDs that could be in 1st place with this, including the 1414 Santa Fe Demo CD, which a few tracks were anonymously leaked from, including ‘Phasers Out!’, ‘Fight A G-Man’, ‘The Trickster’ and ‘Dissect An Alien’. Apparently the demo features other tracks including instrumentals and is a very limited press, if not only between the band members. again this has never appeared on ebay as far as i’m aware and is impossible to put a price on. Again I would be putting a bid of several hundred on if it ever did appear. Other demo CDs have been made but there is little or no information on these. And in an interview Keith spoke of the first band’s he played in during his youth and about the cassette EPs they recorded:
“In college, my best friend/dorm roommate Joe and I started a band called Avi’s Worst Nightmare. We never played a show, we just recorded very strange songs on my Tascam 4-track. We made three cassette EPs over the course of our freshman year, none of which are still in my possession, but, in my memory, they were brilliant, and really, REALLY fucked up. One of them was called “Amphibious Pal,” and was essentially a jingle for commercially-sold pet frogs. Oh, I forgot: Joe and I had a similar project in high school called the Barcaloungers, which was the two of us writing songs and anonymously delivering the recordings to a girl named Lynn. The provenance of these cassettes was a long-standing source of mystery and torment for her. Then, she became my girlfriend.”
Unfortunately it would be a surprise if these cassettes were still in existence but they would be an amazing discovery and again priceless.
Other Notable Mentions:
Maybe in the future I will extend this list to the top 20 as more items hopefully come up for sale. Other items that didn’t quite make it but are still worth a mention include the Cash Cow vinyl, the 3 track Promos I have for Nobody Move and The Great Escape, the After Hours CD + DVD promo to name a few.
