Reader Jason Schofield’s love affair with vinyl began with a chance encounter with AC/DC. Nowadays, he owns 2,300-plus records, across all kinds of genres…
What was the first record that you bought?
“AC/DC’s Back In Black. I was 13 years old at the time. I heard the song Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution on my mum’s car radio. I saved up some cash and went down to my local record shop, and made my first vinyl purchase not long after that. It was Iron Maiden’s single Run To The Hills.”
Which artists and genres are you most interested in?
“For the most part, I’ve been into rock, prog-rock and indie music, but as I’ve got older and my record decks have got better, my musical taste has become a lot more widespread! Among my favourite artists are David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Oasis and Soundgarden.”
How many records do you have?
“Roughly, I’ve got about 2,300-ish, plus singles. My collection is categorised into different types of music.”
What’s the most valuable record in your collection?
“It’s probably Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon, an original first press with solid-blue triangle posters and stickers in great condition. I’ve also got a lot of other pricey stuff, including a lot of
90s albums, which are rare as they didn’t press a lot of vinyl in the 90s because everybody was turning to
the dark side – well, CDs!”
What’s the Holy Grail record that you’d most like to own?
“I’ve been very lucky and managed to obtain many of my Holy Grails over the years, but the one I’m after now is David Bowie’s album Space Oddity, on the rare Philips label in mint condition from 1969. I’m sure one day it will turn up somewhere… they always do!”
What’s your listening setup?
“My system consists of a Linn LP12, Tiger Paw Khan, Ekos tonearm with a Dynavector XX2 cartridge, Lingo power supply with Linto phono and Exposure 17 preamp, and two Exposure 18 power amps, powering a pair of Linn Kan speakers. It’s all sat on my Mana Acoustics soundframe and tables.”
To be in with a chance of seeing your record collection in Long Live Vinyl, email your details and a picture to gary.walker@anthem-publishing.com
