Has anyone any idea why this 5 cd boxset is going for in excess of £400 on amazon and there isnt even a copy on ebay!!

I'd hazard a guess and say that there are not many left. There is only one on discogs for sale but at least it's only $76.

Some of these 'original album series' sets are the only time or one of few that some albums get reissued. The Cockney Rebel set clearly won't sell for £400 but the Mott The Hoople set will cost about £30+ not least because it also contains the two post-Ian Hunter 'Mott'albums which have only ever been reissued once on CD (in German grey market I think 15 years ago). The Psychedelic Furs is another example. If you look just key in 'original album series' on Amazon you'll get a whole variety and legacy of the series and asking prices that veer wildly between expensive and dirt cheap.:slightly_smiling_face:

You'll find the same with EMI's '5 albums' set series that have the same format. Thge Buzzcocks set was issued in Australia two years before the UK and either version is now hard to find. Even odder. EMI issued a '5 album' set of the Supergrass albums but only in Australia.

So although these convenient little box sets are always very affordable when they originally come out, some of them can become very scarce very quickly whilst others linger for years.

PM