There are record collectors, and then there's Rutherford Chang. He has built up a collection of more than 1,000 vinyls - all of them the same long-playing record, the famous White Album by the British most famous pop group, the Beatles.

On Aug. 15, Chang, an artist living in New York, arrives in Britain to exhibit his collection, choosing the birthplace of the Beatles, Liverpool, as the place to give his unusual collection its British debut.

He will be creating a "pop up" record store in the loading bay at Liverpool's award-winning art venue, FACT, coinciding with the start of Liverpool's International Music Festival and International Beatles' Week. The only difference with a traditional record store is Chang's will stock just one choice.

So why would a collector set out on a mission in life to collect as many copies as possible of the same record?

Chang said: "I've been collecting 'White Albums' for eight years. When I bought my second copy, I saw the minute ways it differed from the first, and realized that every copy has become unique. I knew then that it would be interesting to have as many copies as possible. When I started I wasn't sure how far the collection would go. I currently have 1,018 copies."

"Do I have an upper target when to stop? The numbered copies run to over 3 million, so I have a long way to go," he added.

"Many people collect records, but few people collect the same record. Some people think I'm crazy for collecting so many copies of the same album, but others see that the absurd focus accentuates many aspects of collector culture."

It will also be Chang's first visit to Liverpool. He will be in the city during the annual International Beatles Festival, an event attracting followers from across the world of the 1960s group, recognized as changing the music scene in the western world.

"If people ask how I feel about the White Album being displayed in the home city of the Beatles, I'd say I'm looking forward to it, especially to picking up more copies of the White Album from home of the Beatles to add to my growing collection," Chang said.

Visitors to his pop-up store in Liverpool will be able to listen to any copy of the album.

A spokesman for the Liverpool International Music Festival said: "The totally white design has provided a blank canvas for the coffee stains, doodles, mould and rips that have accumulated on the albums since its release in 1968, making every copy now unique."

Chang, born in the United States with his family originating from China, says he was attracted to the album more as a cultural phenomenon, and doesn't have a favorite track on the album.

Beatles fans on their "pilgrimages" to Liverpool usually take in the various sights linked to the groups, their childhood homes, schools, dance halls. Chang says when he's in Liverpool he will go "wherever there are White Albums."

He plans to stay in Liverpool from Aug. 15 until his exhibition ends on Sept. 14, hoping his collection of White Albums will have grown by then.

The White Album -- officially called 'The Beatles' -- was issued in 1968 and was just a plain white cover, with no illustrations, just the word 'the Beatles' gently embossed, along with an issue number printed on the first 3 million of the many millions sold worldwide over almost half a century. An original pressing of the album with serial number 0000005 sold in 2008 for 19,201 pounds (32,222 U.S. dollars).

The plainness of the cover was in stark contrast to the group's previous long player, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bank, which features a zany, colorful cover.

Some Beatles' commentators say the color-free White Album cover was seen as an antidote for the previous cover. The White Album was not well received by music critics, but it was later to be hailed as one of the Beatles' best works and is now celebrated as one of the greatest music albums of all time.

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