music 4 dinner

(long time reader, 1st time poster)

One of my friends has a restaurant and he asked me to pick some nice albums for him to play there. Has to be kind of mellow/easy listening and at the same time inspire conversation or add to a good mood. It's harder than I'd thought so I'm asking for help. Has to be proper albums, because I don't have time/computer to make playlists for him.

Best I've come up with so far is anything by Chet Baker and Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid Soundtrack... Suggestions would be great!

<3

steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeely daaaaaaaaaaaaaaan

http://printmatic.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/CarlaBleyDinnermusic.JPG

well that's a good one :)

any idea for a best steely dan dinner album?

whitest boy alive

(that is a serious answer btw, i have put on that album when we have friends round for dinner)

New Order - Technique
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Neil Young - Harvest
any 70s Stevie Wonder albums

tindersticks

Whitest Boy makes sense, Kings of Convenience is easy as well... maybe to subtle to be proper heard in a restaurant though?

I'll check out Technique 4sho :-)

I've tried listening to Harvest hung over and i'm always surprised at how agressive/loud it gets at times (Man needs a maid, There's a world) so i'm actually more inclined to go with On The Beach, Comes a Time and Harvest Moon... But yeah.

Tindersticks is a good idea, album choice?

I would go for Simple Pleasure, very nice and soulful.

I'm guessing you probably want relatively chilled or gentle tunes, no great shifts in tempo or dynamism, and goodish vibes (or vibes that are easy to mistake as good, in case of Rumours or Harvest!)

Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard

@anagram done :-)
nice cover btw...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/Tindersticks_-_simple_pleasure.jpg

@ Ismael. Yeah, I think I'm trying to go with kinda safe bets. Re bad vibes that sound like good vibes I always think of Dylan's quote on Blood on the Tracks: "A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It's hard for me to relate to that. I mean, it, you know, people enjoying that type of pain, you know?"

@corey: Thx!

... I used to have A Night Out With Verve which is kind of a fun concept compilation...

any 70s Stevie Wonder albums

"Fulfillingness" is a bit gloomy in places

word on carla bley.

maybe some mindflayer? goes fantastic with egg and beans on toast

What country and what region of that country do you live in niels?

I live in Aarhus, Denmark :-)

btw @ jumpskins mindflayer seems like a terrible idea

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_o-aqPcOhPUw/TU63gNyC1NI/AAAAAAAAATQ/90UIVvcNNz4/s1600/Mindflayer%252B_2005.jpg

Urban Outfitters always used to have huge ranges of smooth-lounge-jazz-type music playing (maybe they still do? I'm too old to go in there anymore), which genre I always thought would make quite good dinner music - lively without being invasive. But I never found out what any of those CDs were called.

Really? Every time I've gone in UO they're playing yelpy loud fake-indie.

Was probably nearly a decade ago :-( I associate Herbie Hancock with that stuff, even though I have no idea what he sounds like.

Sorry, that's a terrible recommendation - some records I don't know what they are, and a guy I don't know what he sounds like!

Hehe, yeah that's a weird recommendation :-)

I guess I'm thinking lounge-compilations in general might be a bit too boring or somehow just "lacks nerve".

It would be nice to let the guests and staff have really good entire records to listen to. Let the records set some kind of mood. People might get into new albums or recognize some from their own collections.

all I can think of right now is
Rufus Wainwright - Poses

maybe
King Creosote - Thrawn (it's the new abridged introduction collection)
or
Sloan - A Sides Win: Singles 1992-2005

The Beach Boys - Wild Honey
^should inspire conversations like "how come none of these are on the Beach Boys greatest hits that I heard? (they should be)"

lol, nice conversation topic...

I've never heard Creosote and Sloan but I'll give it a try!

btw where are you from captain?

Georgia, USA
but I'm not gonna suggest any "southern style" music because it's not everyone's cup of tea (including me for most southern bands)