P@V: Summer Albums

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I don't know what the weather's like where you are, but NYC is fucking beeyootyful. What are your five (give or take) favorite summer albums? I'm partial to..

Belle & Sebastian - Boy With the Arab Strap
Minutemen - Double Nickels in the Dime
Breeders - Last Splash
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Television - Marquee Moon
XTC - Skylarking

..but that's just me.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 03:58 (twenty years ago)

er, Double Nickels on the Dime, obv.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 04:03 (twenty years ago)

Skylarking always seemed really good for Spring IMO.
I like Getz/Gilberto, VU s/t, Innervsions, Moon Safari and Headhunters. Those sound like good summer listens for me I suppose.

― jmeister (jmeister), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 04:07 (twenty years ago)

Arular will be a good summer album in the future, this summer it will be a bit played out for me though.

― jmeister (jmeister), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 04:10 (twenty years ago)

Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun
obv

― sibsi (sibsi), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 11:44 (twenty years ago)

Skylarking by XTC is indeed a must, but like someone else mentioned, I usually equate it with the early blossoming of spring (especially due to "Season Cycle" and "Ballet for a Rainy Day"). God, that's a great fucking record.

Others...
The Good Earth by the Feelies
The Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk
The Head on the Door by the Cure (for some reason, this reminds me of the last days of my freshman year of college, just before we broke for Summer vacation).
Ragin' Full On by fIREHOSE
Substance by New Order (yeah, a compilation, I know)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

I remember working an an art gallery (as a gallery sitter) in the very early 90's. They had no air conditioner in the place and no fan. I remember playing Blood by This Mortal Coil at high volumes....trying to convince myself that it was somehow "cooling" the place down. I now cannot hear that record without thinking of that gallery (55 Mercer Street).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

MBV's Loveless was always a summer album for me.
Same with Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted and CRCR.
Fleetwood Mac is a spring AND summer record, especially
all the coked-up Lindsey tracks.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

Sublime 40 Oz. to Freedom
Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory
Charles Mingus Cumbia Jazz Fusion
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman Shady Grove
Cee-Lo Cee-Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

Honestly, I had to think for a minute to come up with the others, but that Sublime record, it just IS summer to me, and all that comes in summer: fun, passion, regret, weariness, sweat, sunshine, etc.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

La Casa Azul - el sondido efervescente de

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

The Cars - The Cars
Brassy - Got It Made
Anything by Basement Jaxx, but especially Remedy.
Betty Boo - Boomania

― Nick H (Nick H), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

Yesterday was the first day I let myself listen to Skylarking this spring!

― W i l l (common_person), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

hey poortheatre - i listened to arab strap and sung tongs today, too!

also:
john fahey - the voice of the turtle
ted leo - the tyranny of distance
big star - radio city

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

Beck-Mellow Gold
James Taylor-Mud Slide Slim
Led Zeppelin III
Bob Marley-Survival
Black Sabbath-Master of Reality

― 57 7th (calstars), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

bands in place of albums:

Yo La Tengo
Saint Etienne
Phoenix
Small Faces
Of Montreal

― bill neil (inabillity), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

While I absolutely love "The Good Earth", that record, to me, has a distinct autumnal feel to it.

― kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

MBV - Loveless
Swervedriver - Raise
The Sea And Cake - The Fawn
De La Soul - Buhloone Mindstate
Heroic Doses - Heroic Doses

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

MBV's Loveless was always a summer album for me.
Same with Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted and CRCR.

[...]
-- Brooker Buckingham

Agreed. Dusk at Cubist Castle keeps climbing my mental favorites list as the weather gets nicer too. See also: Up in Flames, There's Nothing Wrong With Love.

― sleep (sleep), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Sade - Love Deluxe good during warm twilights
Elliot Smith - XO sunshine with haze
U Roy - Super Boss rootsy, lovely
ACDC - Dirty Deeds just plain rocks
Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash reminds me of last summer

― p.j. (Henry), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

I'ma try and sneak Digable Planets - Blowout Comb - past you guys as my VIth summer shat.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

And maybe Coltrane's Giant Steps too bitches.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted
Pavement, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Live 1975/85
Swervedriver, Mezcal Head (like Alex in NYC, this album reminds me of the last days of my freshman year of college...i distinctly remember playing "Never Lose that Feeling" as I packed up my shit waiting for my dad to drive me back home to Cleveland from South Bend)

― PB, Wednesday, 20 April 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

HEART OF THE CONGOS
neil young 'rust never sleeps'
bardo pond 'dilate'
the byrds 'turn! turn! turn!'
love 'forever changes'

― Ian John50n (orion), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

So what is potentially this summer's album, if Kish Kash was last summer's?

― Nick H (Nick H), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

Rated not in terms of lasting aesthetic merit or the summeryness of the content, but rather the degree to which each selection permeated its respective summer:

1. 1993: (tie) A Storm in Heaven by Verve; Souvlaki by Slowdive
2. 1999: The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips
3. 1994: first three Oasis singles: Supersonic, Shakermaker & Live Forever
4. 1995: A Northern Soul by Verve
5. 2002: Since I Left You by The Avalanches

With the exception of the last one, I don't think it is a coincidence that all of these came from a stretch in my life when I smoked a lot of pot and generally had a lot more free time than I do currently.

― Yngwie AlmsteenMay (sgertz), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

Beach Boys - Today!
Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic
Ramones - Rocket to Russia
Beatles - Help!
Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

I impulsively picked up Meat Puppet's Up on the Sun this morning, and i've been listening to it all day. holy shit-- why didn't i hear this sooner? i think this will probably be my "summer soundtrack," although my gf bought me 69 Love Songs before she left town, so that could be good... i'll also be homeless for the next six days until i can move into my next apt., so this is both a great summer and homeless album.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 15 May 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

Happy Mondays - Pills, Thrills And Belly Aches

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Sunday, 15 May 2005 23:32 (twenty years ago)

Rio - Duran Duran
Abbey Road - Beatles
On the Corner - Miles Davis
Decade - Neil Young
Endless Summer - The Beach Boys

I could also have picked since I left you, mellow gold, marque moon and last splash as well

― josh w (jbweb), Monday, 16 May 2005 00:28 (twenty years ago)

brunettes 'mars loves venus'
bmx bandits 'theme park'
edwin moses 's/t'
stereo total 'jukebox alarm'
mercury rev 'see you on the other side'

― keith m (keithmcl), Monday, 16 May 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

sonic youth - experimental jet set, trash, no star
blue cheer - vincebus eruptum
13th floor elevators - easter everywhere
neu! - 1
stereolab - emperor tomato ketchup

― fauxhemian (fauxhemian), Monday, 16 May 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

eleven months pass...

revive, since paris is in bloom. new additions:

rolling stones - beggar's banquet
joanna newsom - milk-eyed mender
animal collective - feels
keith hudson - pick a dub (esp. "depth charge" holy shit)
augustus pablo - king tubby meets rockers uptown

and i'll second easter everywhere, esp. "it's all over now, baby blue." rue the day (today) i found out it was a cob dylan cover.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 24 April 2006 12:27 (nineteen years ago)

and pink floyd, "lucifer sam" over and over again until you die.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 24 April 2006 12:28 (nineteen years ago)

fourteen years pass...

My perennial summer albums are a mix of some obvious choices and a couple that are less so:

Arthur Russell - World of Echo
REM - Automatic for the People
Ennio Morricone - Eviva! Morricone
Fennesz - Endless Summer
The Pearlfishers - Across the Milky Way
Cravo & Canela - Preço De Cada Um

All these records vividly evoke different landscapes that are inaccessible to a Manhattanite, so I guess that's what I'm looking for in a summer album.
There may be other similarities- the distorted cello and no drums in World of Echo and Sweetness Follows is the sound of summer to me, and jumping off a rope swing into a rural swimming hole is a dream I'll probably only ever get to experience through this music.
With Eviva! Morricone it's rolling countryside.
The Pearlfishers one is kinda edgeless and pretty corny, but verdant af.

― Deflatormouse, Friday, 5 June 2020 05:10 (five years ago)

A few of these are quite mournful as well, which I suppose is helpful when you're stranded in a big city with no drivers' license, surrounded by water you can't swim in.

― Deflatormouse, Friday, 5 June 2020 05:14 (five years ago)

Oriol – Night & Day

The High Llamas – Snowbug

― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Friday, 5 June 2020 11:16 (five years ago)

John Talabot - Fin
Exile On Main Street
Ptaki - Przelot
Gucci Mane - Burrprint 2 HD
Stevie Nicks - Belladonna

― brimstead, Friday, 5 June 2020 18:06 (five years ago)

belladonna more of a summers evening album, if you will

― brimstead, Friday, 5 June 2020 18:08 (five years ago)

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