Rarity Ratings
A rarity rating scheme used in the discography to try and
give an idea of the collectability of each record. The rating
is devised from a number of parameters, including price,
scarcity and general interestingness. It is, of course, just
my opinion and "what you like to collect" is a far more
important criterion.
The rating categories are as follows:
- COMMON
Bootlegs with a rating of "common" are basically not
particularly interesting (maybe because they contain a concert
that has been officially released) or are quite easy to find
(some Italian bootlegs are widely available in normal shops)
- AVERAGE
Bootlegs with a rating of "average" are the basic bootlegs
that are worth looking for. Typically they will be fairly
easy to find in dodgy market-stalls or some record fairs.
Most of the compilation CDs will fall into this category.
- UNCOMMON
Bootlegs with a rating of "uncommon" are starting to become
slightly hard to find.
As a consequence, they will be starting to become pricey,
but nothing excessive
- SCARCE
Bootlegs with a rating of "scarce" are those that
are hard to find and are worth looking for, usually because
they contain something special. Prices can be quite high.
- RARE
Bootlegs with a rating of "rare" are those records that
you only see in other people's collections (or being sold
by specialist dealers). But at least you can
tell people you saw one! Usually expensive.
- MEGARARE
Bootlegs with a rating of "megarare" are those records that
are the jewel in the crown of any collection. You may collect
for years and never see some of these. Unless you are very
lucky, these records will be very expensive, even in only
VG condition
- IMPOSSIBLE
What do you do when something is rarer than "megarare"? Well
Spinal Tap turned their amplifiers up to 11, and I also add an
extra classification. If you need to ask the price of one
these records then you can't afford it. If you are selling then
name your own price.
The bootleg discography breaks down as follows...
- unrated (34 entries)
- common (42 entries)
- average (92 entries)
- uncommon (83 entries)
- scarce (52 entries)
- rare (24 entries)
- megarare (8 entries)
- impossible (3 entries)
Remember, mint and excellent mean there should be barely any
deterioration in condition. Prices should always be adjusted
accordingly for poorer condition records.
A number of other tabulations are available: