Pistols And Quarrymen Top Costly Record List

The Sex Pistols and The Quarrymen - who evolved into The Beatles - have dominated a list of the world's most expensive records.

The three groups take up nine places in a Top 10 list of the most expensive recordings, which is compiled every two years by Record Collector magazine.

Queen are the only act to break up their stranglehold of the list of vinyl and acetate records with a rare version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

The Quarrymen, featuring John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John "Duff" Lowe and Colin Hanlon, hold the top spot with a unique acetate copy of their demo That'll Be The Day/In Spite Of All The Danger.

The 1958 recording is valued at £200,000, while at number two is a 1981 reproduction of the single - on seven-inch and 10-inch vinyl - which goes for a more modest £10,000.

Ordinary vinyl records are quickly formed from lumps of plastic by a mass-production moulding process. Acetate discs are created by using a recording lathe to cut a sound-modulated groove into the surface of a special lacquer-coated blank disc.

They are made for special purposes, are almost never for sale to the general public and are often prized for their rarity.

The magazine placed the Pistols' God Save The Queen/No Feelings at number three with a rare acetate version fetching roughly £10,000.

Originally released in 1977, the tracks were pressed to help manager Malcolm McLaren secure a new deal for the group after they were axed by EMI.

Another version of the same record, when the group were briefly on A&M Records, is valued at £8,000. Although 20,000 copies were made, most were destroyed, making it a collector's item.

The punk idols are also at number five with the acetate copy of Anarchy In The UK, with No Fun on the B-side, costing around £7,000. Only three copies are known to exist.

The magazine's full list covers 200 records, with the price of UK heavy metal acts on the increase. Iron Maiden were 189 on the list with a rare brown vinyl 12-inch version of Twilight Zone going for £800.

Record Collector magazine's top 10 highest prices are:

1 (1) The Quarrymen - That'll Be The Day/In Spite Of All The Danger (1958, acetate) £200,000

2 (2) The Quarrymen - That'll Be The Day/In Spite Of All The Danger (1981, 7" 45rpm and 10" 78rpm replicas of 1958 acetate in reproduction die-cut Parlophone sleeve) £10,000

3 (5) Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen/No Feelings (1977, acetate) £10,000

4 (3) Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen/No Feelings (1977, A&M AMS 7284) £8,000

5 (6) Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK/No Fun (1977, acetate) £7,000

6 (4) The Beatles - The Beatles (1968, Apple PMC/PCS 7067/8) £7,000

7 (11) The Beatles - Please Please Me (1963, Parlophone PCS 3042) £5,000

8 (7) Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody/I'm In Love With My Car (1978, EMI 2375) £5,000

9 (21) The Beatles - Love Me Do/PS I Love You (1962, Parlophone 45-R 4949) £5,000

10 (8) Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK (1976, acetate) £5,000