Record Store Day

Yesterday was normally the day for my New Music Friday post. I skipped it so I could take part in Record Store Day.

Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2008 and held on one Saturday every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". A number of records are pressed specifically for Record Store Day, with a list of releases for each country, and are only distributed to shops participating in the event.

Sit back and pour yourself something while you read this one - It's about great music and an ode to the record store.

This year, I headed over to Union Market where Byrdland Records resides. I was looking for one album in particular. Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo by Aimee Mann. The 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking album is a deluxe double LP package with liner notes from Aimee Mann and five additional tracks: four songs written for Bachelor No. 2 that ended up on the Magnolia Soundtrack and a re-recorded version of “Wise Up”.

Mann's liner notes are worth the price of the album alone, but it's so great to dig into the tunes that I have loved for 20 years.

Some back story on this album. When Mann wrote the record, she was on a label, when she released it, she was not. Record execs didn't hear a single (the song "Nothing Is Good Enough" was written in response). The second part of the album title is in reference to singer-songwriters being a dying breed (on the release date of the album, NSYNC's album No Strings Attached was number one).

Mann worked with amazing musicians that added so much to her brilliant songwriting, including Michael Penn (her husband), Jon Brion, Benmont Tench, Juliana Hatfield and so many more).

20 years later, it's still a gorgeous album full of smart lyrics and perfect accompanying music.

In the same visit yesterday, I came across Just Dropped in to See What Condition My Rendition Was In by the late Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (the album title is a play on the song "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)"). This album compiles some of their most popular and some never-before-heard renditions of classics. From a spot-on rendition of "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" (Stevie Wonder) to their own interpretation of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done For Me Lately?"

Jones voice soars over the tight, hot sound of the Dap Kings. It's a great reminder of what we had with Jones before her untimely death. It's an album I'll cherish forever.

Now, let's talk about record shops. Browsing around Byrdland brought me back to weekends in high school when I'd head down the Rockville Pike to a hole in the wall in a strip mall. The store was Yesterday & Today (Y&T) and inside was magic.

Started in 1977 by Skip Groff, the store became involved with many of the Washington DC punk/alternative groups, including producing many of the early Dischord bands, including Minor Threat / SOA / Teen Idles, as well as local favorites The Slickee Boys. Both Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye worked at Y&T.

Whenever I'd walk into the store, I heard something new and Groff was like the greatest professor ever. Skip would play the records you were interested in (or should have been interested in) and inevitably have a story to tell about the band that was playing. It's where I first heard The Smiths, The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Yesterday & Today helped shaped my music taste and the store was the best education I could have had at the time.

So, on this Small Business Saturday night, I hope you were able to frequent some local spots and maybe one or two of you hit a record store. Because they're out there, and they need our love.