In honor of the upcoming Record Store Day 2013, I decided to make a list of 20 records I think everyone should own on vinyl. Take this Record Store Day to build a nice foundation for your record collection. I picked this list based on pretty arbitrary criteria, including what critics generally think are great, what I think is great, what I think particularly sounds good on analog-warm vinyl, and what you won’t have to pay $100 for or scour for (e.g. no hard-to-find ’90s vinyl or things out of print). I also left it to one album per artist. These aren't in any particular order. Send any omissions to this list to idontcare@makeyourownlist.com. Or just leave a comment!

 

The Beatles – Revolver

In my mind, The White Album is the greatest Beatles album, but you can’t beat the utterly perfect one-disc punch of Revolver. It should go without saying that every Beatles album is essential and is worth owning on vinyl yadda yadda, but if you have to start somewhere, do it here. Their catalog was recently reissued on vinyl in stereo mix, so you should have no trouble finding them if you’re just starting out — and you should have no trouble finding quality replacements, if your old Beatles LPs are worn out.

Record producer and musician Roger Greenawalt is going to play 50 Beatles songs in condensed format on the ukulele at Los Globos in Silver Lake Thursday night as part of a benefit for J/P Haitian Relief Organization.

The April 11 concert will be a smaller, three-hour version of the project by Greenawalt, who has worked in the past with such artists as Iggy Pop, Rufus Wainwright and Nellie McKay. Greenawalt will be joined by guests as a backing band and as vocalists, including members of Queens of the Stone Age, Circle Jerks and more.

Greenawalt’s complete Beatles on Ukulele show is a New York City and SXSW institution, as he performs 185 Beatles songs in 24 hours. Find out more about Greenawalt’s performances here. Find out more about Sean Penn’s J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which is dedicated to saving lives and bringing sustainable programs to the Haitian people, here.

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Born on this day: March 18, 1941 - R&B vocal legend Wilson Pickett (born in Prattville, AL.) Happy Birthday to "The Wicked Pickett" on what would have been his 72nd Birthday.

Born on this day: March 18, 1963 - Singer/actress and former Miss America Vanessa Williams (born Vanessa Lynn Williams in Tarrytown, NY). Happy 50th Birthday, Vanessa!!

On this day in music history: March 18, 1967 - "Penny Lane" by The Beatles hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week. Written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon-McCartney), it is the 13th US number one single for the "Fab Four." The single is one of the first two songs (along with "Strawberry Fields Forever") to emerge from the sessions that will yield the band's landmark Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is titled after a district near the Liverpool City Centre where Lennon had once lived as an art student. The idea for the song will come to McCartney in a dream. Recording sessions for the song will begin on December 29, 1966, with the final overdubs being recorded on January 17, 1967. Trumpet player David Mason will be hired to play the songs' signature piccolo trumpet solo after McCartney hears him playing the instrument during a television performance of Bach's 2nd Brandenburg Concerto. For both the US and UK releases of the single, it will come packaged with a picture sleeve that features a portrait of the band on the front with childhood photos of each member on the back. Released on February 13, 1967, it will enter the Hot 100 at #85 on February 25th, zooming to the top three weeks later. Surprisingly, the single will peak at #2 on the UK singles chart when it is held off the top by Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me." "Penny Lane" is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. After the singles' release, it will be included on the US version of Magical Mystery Tour in late 1967.
 

To read more Behind The Grooves, go to http://behindthegrooves.tumblr.com.

Born on this day: February 25, 1943 - The Beatles' lead guitarist, humanitarian, and philanthropist George Harrison (born at 12 Arnold Grove, Wavertree, Liverpool, UK). Happy Birthday to this rock music icon on what would have been his 70th Birthday. We love and miss you, George.

 

The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (LOVE Version)

 

On this day in music history: February 25, 1963 - Vee Jay Records in Chicago, IL will release "Please Please Me" by The Beatles in the US. Issued with the catalog number VJ 498, it is their first American release. It will be licensed to the label after EMI Records owned Capitol Records refuses to release it, telling producer George Martin and manager Brian Epstein that the band "won't mean anything over here." The record will fare no better on Vee Jay initially, which is such a low priority that the initial pressings of the 45 misspell their name as "The Beattles." The original release of the single will sell just over 7,300 copies, mostly in the Chicago area where it receives airplay on WLS. Today those copies sell for over $3,500 in near mint condition.

 

When you think about it nearly every pop song is about love in some form or another. Most songs on the topic are either about celebrating being in love or alternately mourning falling out of love and wanting to get back there. Of the literally millions of songs on love I think John Lennon wrote and recorded some of the most touching and poignant ones - two of which I have included here on this Valentine's Day. Above is "Oh My Love" with Lennon on piano and George Harrison joining him on guitar. The song was written by John Lennon with Yoko Ono and first appeared in 1971 on Lennon's album Imagine on which George Harrison contributed to several songs in addition to this one. "Oh My Love" can also be found on Wonsaponatime: Selections from Lennon Anthology 

Then below is the simple but powerful Lennon song "Love" (with lyrics in the video) that was first released on the 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. As anyone who has that album knows the piano part at the beginning (and end) is really quiet but builds in volume. So you will notice that the version below is the later remix of the song with the sound levels more equalized on these two parts. The posthumous version of "Love" below appeared a dozen years after the initial release on the 1982 compilation The John Lennon Collection, and later appeared on such other collections as the John Lennon Anthology box set.