The Reverse Collector

  Artist: U2 Title: War Label: Island Format: CD Catalog Number: 422-811 148-2 Year of Release: 1983 Country and Year of Edition: US repress UML pressing Sell Price: $3.36 Sell Date: 10/14/26 Condition: VG+/VG+ Discogs Last Sold: 8/28/26 VG+/NM $1.80 Low: $1.50 Median: $2.00 Average: $2.85 High: $7.00 Current low price: $2.22 M/M Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 15 Have/Want: 181/132 Where Sold: Mill Valley, CA Time It Took To Sell: 11 years Where and When Bought:  half.com aughts 75 cents Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A- Sad To See It Go: No U2's breakout album War propelled the band from the alt-rock club ghetto to arenas, stadiums and CONSTANT AOR Rock radio airplay in 1983.  They became so inescapable, I couldn't even buy, let alone listen to War for at least 20 years after it came out.  Even now, the piano intro of "New Years Day" or the marching band drum kick off of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" make my eyes glazed over, irrespective of the quality of the mu...

  Artist: Blondie Title: The Best of Blondie Label: Chrysalis Format: CD Catalog Number: F2 21337 Year of Release: 1981 Country and Year of Edition: Canada  Columbia House Reissue Sell Price: $3.09 Sell Date: 10/14/26 Condition: VG+/VG+ Discogs Last Sold: 8/27/26 NM/NM $4.2 Low: $1.96 Median: $2.85 Average: $3.34 High: $6.39 Current low price: $0.70 (Canada), $4.25 (US) Curren Number on Sale at Discogs: 19 Have/Want: 370/70 Where Sold: Mill  Valley,  CAe  Time It Took To Sell: 3 years Where and When Bought:  Facebook marketplace lot Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A Sad To See It Go: No The Best of Blondie is a generally pleasurable compilation of the first phase of the band.  The original vinyl version had alternate mixes of "Heart of Glass," (combining album and instrumental versions) "In The Flesh" (extra echo) and "Sunday Girl" (French language vocals).  When the CD was issued the original versions were on it although the streaming version restor...

  Artist: Donnie Iris Title: Back On The Streets Label: MCA/Carousel Format: LP Catalog Number: MCA 3272 Year of Release: 1980 Country and Year of Edition: US 1980 Sell Price: $5.79 Sell Date: 10/26/26 Condition: VG+/VG drill cutout in shrink Discogs Last Sold: 10/27/26 VG/VG $4.50 Low: $1.50 Median: $5.39 Average: $7.75 High: $26.00 M/NM 3/2/25 Current low price: $1.20 VG/G+ Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 12 Have/Want: 762/67 Where Sold: Endicott,  NY Time It Took To Sell: 3 years Where and When Bought:  Facebook Marketplace  lot Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B- Sad To See It Go: No Donnie Iris passed at 83 (!) last Monday.  He last played September 28th  and announced his retirement and cancelled all dates due to advanced bladder cancer October 9th.    This triggered the sale of his debut, Back On The Streets with the hit "Ah Leah."  I liked that song in 1980 and liked "Love Is Like A Rock" from the follow-up King Cool even more....

  Artist: Paul McCartney Title: The McCartney Interview Label: Columbia Format: LP Catalog Number: PC 36987 Year of Release: 1980 Country and Year of Edition: US 1980 Sell Price: $6.99 Sell Date: 9/11/26 Condition: VG+/VG Discogs Last Sold: 10/18/26 VG+/VG+ $2.00 Low: $2.00 Median: $3.92 Average: $4.68 High: $10.79 Current low price: $2.59 VG+/VG Curren Number on Sale at Discogs: 74 Have/Want: 1067/40 Where Sold: Villaneuve, D'Ascq, France Time It Took To Sell: 2 years Where and When Bought: Whatnot auction Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B Sad To See It Go: No This May 1980 interview for Musician magazine was issued in December 1980, a week before John Lennon was murdered.  Particularly bizarre timing wise, but Paul had reasserted himself with a number 1 record earlier in the year with the live version of "Coming Up."  This probably got more sales than anticipated with everything Beatles flying out of stores at the wake of news events.  Originally this was a double vi...

  Artist: Romeo Void Title: Instincts Label: Columbia/415 Records Format: LP Catalog Number: BFC 39155 Year of Release: 1984 Country and Year of Edition: US 1984 with inner sleeve Sell Price: $7.99 Sell Date:  9/18/26 Condition: VG/VG Discogs Last Sold: 10/19/26  VG+/VG+ $5.00 Low: $2.99 Median: $5.25 Average: $5.78 High: $10.00 Current low price: $5.56 VG+/VG+ Curren Number on Sale at Discogs: 24 Have/Want: 587/81 Where Sold: Reidsville, NC Time It Took To Sell: 2 years Where and When Bought: Whatnot auction Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B Sad To See It Go: No Sax laden herky jerky new wavers fronted by Deborah Iyall were some years into their career when Instincts came out in 1984.  The radio hit (and video) came to mind right away: "A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)."  That is one of those songs I forgot about until I saw the title.  Even after over 40 years, it still went through my head on sight. The song that really broke this band was before th...

  Artist: Dire Straits Title: Brothers In Arms Label: Warner Bros. Format: CD Catalog Number: W2 25264 Year of Release: 1985 Country and Year of Edition: US Columbia House edition Sell Price: $4.07 Sell Date:  10/14/26 Condition: VG+/VG+  Discogs Last Sold: 10/18/26 VG+/VG+ $1.99 Low: $0.99 Median: $2.48 Average: $2.82 High: $7.20 Current low price: $1.99 VG/G+ Curren Number on Sale at Discogs: 8 Have/Want: 257/335 Where Sold: Mill Valley, CA Time It Took To Sell: 3 years Where and When Bought: Facebook CD lot Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B- Sad To See It Go: No With the 40th anniversary come and gone, I guess it is finally time to assess Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms.  This was a band I liked in the first half of the 80's.  Heck, Communique was played relentlessly by my parents in the early part of the 80's. British but Dylanesque, what was not to love for all eternity.  Well, a synth bank and overexposure changed all that.  The opening three tracks ...

  Artist: Kate Bush Title:  The Whole Story Label: EMI-America Format: CD Catalog Number: CDP 546414 Year of Release: 1986 Country and Year of Edition: US Columbia House edition Sell Price: $4.07 Sell Date:  10/14/26 Condition: VG+/VG+  Discogs Last Sold: 9/15/26 VG+/VG+ $5.00 Low: $0.99 Median: $3.99 Average: $3.74 High: $10.00 Current low price: $5.00 VG+/VG+ Curren Number on Sale at Discogs: 3 Have/Want: 132/51 Where Sold: Mill Valley, CA Time It Took To Sell: 3 years Where and When Bought: Facebook CD lot Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A Sad To See It Go: No The 1986 compilation from Kate Bush, The Whole Story, of course is no longer the whole story.  She did move on to Columbia and had her biggest selling album, The Sensual World, right after this.  However, her biggest hit remains "Running Up That Hill" from Hounds of Love included here.  The new exclusive here was the vocal redo of " Wuthering Heights " to kick off the album. For an overview of th...

  Artist: Steely Dan Title:  A Decade of Steely Dan Label: MCA Format: CD Catalog Number: MCAD-5570 Year of Release: 1985 Country and Year of Edition: US remaster Sell Price: $3.79 Sell Date:  10/14/26 Condition: VG+/VG+ Discogs Last Sold: 9/15/26 VG+/VG+ $1.40 Low: $0.94 Median: $1.97 Average: $2.29 High: $5.19 Current low price: $1.25 VG/VG+ Curren Number on Sale at Discogs: 21 Have/Want: 502/31 Where Sold: Mill Valley, CA Time It Took To Sell: 3 years Where and When Bought: Facebook marketplace lot Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A Sad To See It Go: No When I first saw this compilation in a dozen CD order, I thought this was a low priority title to write about with about 30 titles backlogged.  Not only had I written about several pieces of the main catalog of the Dan, but those efforts were fairly recent. This CD was compiled in 1985, the dawn of the repackaged for CD era, where single discs where maxed out with 70 minutes of music and sold for $15.98 list price....

Artist: Rush Title: Chronicles Label: Mercury Format: 2xCD Catalog Number: 838 936-2 Year of Release: 1990 Country and Year of Edition: US  1990 Sell Price: $6.64 Sell Date: 9/19/26 Condition: VG+/VG+  Discogs Last Sold: 8/18/26 G/VG $3.00 Low: $1.00 Median: $4.78 Average: $5.03 High:$14.00 Current low price: $3.97 (UK), $8.00 (US) Curren Number on Sale at Discogs: 7 Have/Want: 261/28 Where Sold: Wood Cross, UT Time It Took To Sell: 3 years Where and When Bought:  Facebook marketplace lot Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A Sad To See It Go: No Rush were such an album band when I bought their records that I never really acknowledged their CD-era compilation Chronicles, despite it selling it's million copies (double platinum US due to two discs).  I stopped at Power Windows 5 years before this came out and never replaced Rush vinyl on CD in the 80's.   As far as compilations go, this is a pretty good sampler of their key tracks up through 1990.   Helpfu...