Ciao Signore Silvester, and thank you so, so much for being the next Cab off the Record Collection Dilemmas Rank… The premise is deceptively simple – Ten bands, thirty albums… and for reasons that haven’t been made clear you can only keep one from each band definitively, trade one for another from the band’s canon, and sell the third. Here are the bands and the albums – tell us which you’ll keep, trade or sell and the reasoning behind your decision…

First up is Black Sabbath, and the albums you have to decide on are Heaven and Hell, Born Again and Headless Cross. Keep, trade or sell? “Keep Born Again ‘cause it is a very dark and evil album. Trade Headless Cross with another from the Ozzy era, and sell Heaven and Hell because even if it is a wonderful album, in all these years it has made me a little tired”…

At last some love for Born Again! Next up is Rush, and the albums we’d like you to consider are Caress of Steel, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire. “I’d keep Caress of Steel ‘cause it it the first Rush album I ever bought. Then you can trade Hold Your Fire with 2112. And sell Power Windows ‘cause I don’t know that album”.

Fair enough. It’s my least fave of the three so no skin off my nose! I’d like you to have a think about Iron Maiden now, and specifically the albums Killers, Powerslave and Virtual XI… “You can keep Killers because I have good memories of that period, but trade Powerslave with The Number of the Beast. And then sell Virtual XI ‘cause I don’t like it”.

It looks like we’re going to be flooding the second hand market with copies of Virtual XI… What about Metallica? What are your thoughts on Kill ‘Em All, Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets? “Keep Master of Puppets, because it’s one of the few Metallica albums that I like… Trade Kill ’Em All with the Black Album, and sell Ride the Lightning because, even if it is a great record, it is not one of my favourite types of listening material”.

As good a reason as any to offload and album! I have to say I find this the toughest of all the sets of three to make a decision on! I think you might have a few opinions on our next artist… Alice Cooper‘s the name, and Trash, Special Forces and Goes To Hell are in the firing line. “Keep Trash, ‘cause it is a masterpiece! Trade Goes to Hell with Welcome to my Nightmare and then sell Special Forces, because it is certainly not one of Alice’s most successful records”.

It isn’t, but I’m hoping someone in this series will recognise the grandeur of Prettiest Cop On The Block and refrain from flogging the album… Moving on, let’s consider Judas Priest, and Sad Wings of Destiny, Ram It Down and Nostradamus… “Keep Sad Wings of Destiny; because, even if it’s not their best record, it’s a very dark and interesting work. Trade Ram it Down with British Steel and sell Nostradamus because I’ve never had the chance to listen to it”.

The general consensus seems to be that you haven’t missed much. A lightly less metal trio albums for your deliberation next. What will you do with Queen‘s II, The Game and Innuendo? “Keep Innuendo, ‘cause it is a great record with beautiful songs. Trade The Game with A Night at the Opera, and then sell Queen II because it doesn’t intrigue me very much”.

Me either! One of my favourite bands now –UFO. And the albums I’d like you to consider are Force It, No Place To Run, and Sharks. “Keep Force it, which is a masterpiece that I really love… trade No Place to Run with Strangers in the Night, and you can sell Sharks because it is not exactly bad but could be described as quite mediocre”.

And we have no place for the mediocre in this piece! The penultimate band awaiting dissection is Thin Lizzy; what will you do with Jailbreak, Chinatown and Thunder and Lightning? “Keep Jailbreak -it’s the only Thin Lizzy record that I actually have! Trade Thunder and Lightning with Johnny the Fox and then sell Chinatown, although there are a couple of songs on that albumthat I really like”.

Another difficult trio to separate, I think. Well, we’ve reached the end. The last trio of albums to ponder over is from Queensrÿche; Rage For Order, Hear in the Now Frontier and The Verdict. For the final time: Keep, trade or sell? “Keep Rage for Order because it was produced by my friend Neil Kernon, who also produced the Death SS album Panic. Trade Hear in the Now Frontier with Operation:Mindcrime and sell The Verdict ‘cause I’ve never heard it!”

Ah, Neil Kernon – he produced Michael Bolton‘s Everybody’s Crazy, so he’ll always get a pass from me! Thanks again for taking part!

Death SS are currently in the midst of a reissue programme that will see all their albums available in picture disc format – find out more HERE and HERE