Home Grown: “My collection means adventure, peace of mind, friendships”

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Because every record collection has a story.

Home Grown is our series profiling you lot and your excellent record collections. Taking our cue from the brilliant submissions to the #VFRecordCollections thread on Instagram, we want to share a little of your hard-earned love for vinyl with the world.

Each week, we’ll be profiling a different collector from around the world and finding out what makes them tick. Want in? Send us a pic of your collection and a few words about your collection to [email protected].


Name: Jon Taylor

Location: Bath, UK

Size of collection: approximately 3000 records

How long have you been collecting for? I have been collecting recorded music since I was 12, so that’ll be 33 years. It started by being given Human League 7″, listening to my Mum and Dad’s soul, blues and beat record collection and discovering the various radio shows and making mix tapes.

Eventually I’d use my pocket money and the pay from my two paper rounds to buy that one LP, or a couple of singles a month, and eventually wages meant digging for real.

Unfortunately, there was a very dark period where I left, sold or lent out 99% of my record collection and set-up. I eventually began collecting music and buying equipment again in the mid-’00s. The rush hasn’t left, the music certainly hasn’t, and the craving for digging is even bigger, if at least more refined nowadays.

What part of your set-up are you most proud of? I would have to say, that at the moment, it is my Pink Triangle – LPT turntable; it’s the first belt drive I have owned since a Sony I got when I was 16. But this will change, I am sure, once the Klipsch Heresy IIIs are purchased. Also, I still enjoy my Pioneer SA-8500 integrated amp, and of course I love my SL-1200s.

Which record(s) are you most proud of? Now that is a tough one. So many. On any given day, I can be prouder of one than the other. I love the fact that I can start a day playing, say, The Meteors – Radioactive Kid and end on D’Angelo – Voodoo, via; The Meditations Singers, Spacemen 3, Throbbing Gristle, WAR, Brass Connection, The Roots, Ras G, Miles Davis – Filles De Kilimanjaro, at full volume, Masters At Work, Ed Motta, Binker and Moses, The Brand New Heavies, Tim Maia, Blaze, Cliff Lothar, Shina Williams, Spiritual Vibes, Honkeyfinger, Kraftwerk, Can and United Future Organisation ….. In short all of them!

What does your record collection mean to you? Adventure, peace of mind, a sense of community, friendships, exploration and always eager excitement.