1. The Beatles – Abbey Road

Price: $18.98 at urbanoutfitters.com
This album is a must-have for every Beatles fan… it’s the last one ever recorded (though not the last one released) and features some of what I think are their best songs: Come Together, Something, and Here Comes the Sun.

2. Bon Iver – for Emma, Forever Ago

Price: $14.98 at urbanoutfitters.com
This isn’t a very long album, but it’s intense and gorgeous and is ideal for listening to in the summer months, when you long for a “bon hiver” (good winter) or in the winter, when you’re in love with the cold and snow.

3. The Strokes – is This It

Price: $19.98 at urbanoutfitters.com
This is the Strokes’ debut album, and it’s so much fun to listen to. I never get tired of it. It’s heavily influenced by other bands (especially the Rolling Stones and The Stooges) but it’s still so original, and so rollicking, it’s well worth owning on vinyl. I even like the cover art.

4. The Postal Service – Give up

Price: $15.98 at urbanoutfitters.com
This is what buying an album (as opposed to a CD) is all about: the cover art and the lyric booklet. Both are stellar, and of course, the music itself is amazing. I love the guest appearances by Jenny Lewis and Jen Wood, and I actually even really like the order of the songs… it sounds like a strange thing to notice, but it’s true.

5. Legend: the Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers

Price: $19.98 at urbanoutfitters.com
This magnificent album is an absolute must-have for any music lover, any genre. Yes, it’s the best=selling reggae album of all time, but it’s more than that. It’s a tribute to a musical genius, an era, a way of life… plus the songs are marvelous, rich, unique, classic. And hearing it on vinyl is like nothing else.

6. Michael Jackson - Thriller

Price: $23.98 at urbanoutfitters.com
Remember when Michael Jackson was a heart-throb, before he was weird and kind of creepy? Celebrate your old pre-ten crush with this album, which includes the same tracks as the original early 1980’s release, and then some: remixes by some of your new faves, like Fergie, will.i.am, and Kanye West.

7. Miles Davis – Bitches Brew

Price: $28.98 at urbanoutfitters.com
This may be my favorite album of all time, and though I have it on CD, I really prefer to hear it on vinyl. It’s revolutionary, perhaps the first ever fusion of jazz and rock and just about everything else. Miles Davis (and all of the other musicians on the album) are at their best. They sound extraordinary, not overly produced. Truly timeless!

8. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Price: $22.98 at urbanoutfitters.com
This album was remastered and is presented here almost exactly the same as the original release in 1963. Each track is a folk masterpiece, gritty and gorgeous and lush and spare, all at once. There are at least six classic tracks, but they’re all marvelous and engaging. Even if you’re not a fan of the genre, this is still a must-have.

Give any of these albums a listen on vinyl, then compare them to the digital or CD version, and see what you think - vinyl is better, no? Which of these albums (or CDs) do you own? Which songs do you like best, and why? Which other albums do you own, and how do they sound?