The Beach Boys: I Went To Sleep

Here are some summer songs to chronicle the warm night on my back deck as I contemplate blogging, creating, and living under the bright sun.

Grandaddy: Summer Here Kids

Grandaddy’s take on summer is an understandable bristling against the commercialism of the boardwalks and beach spots, compelling us to stay at home and listen to our favorite records. OK, I can see that, to a point, but I do want to get out there with like-minded celebrators. While I’m home, though, it’s not a bad idea to put on some records…

Pedro The Lion: Indian Summer

Moving gently from the cyncial starting point, we begin with Pedro The Lion’s nod to “ultra-violet rays” spreading over a bleak, commercial suburbia bloated with “corporate cum.” The announcement that “it will never rain again” is classic indie-rock sardonicism. Well, whatever, I can’t really deny the truthfulness herein. But I’m still in search of some light-hearted fun…

Belle & Sebastian: I Know Where The Summer Goes

Stuart Murdoch takes us into lighter territory, if not altogether fun, but he helps us reconcile the humid, laconic wistfulness with the unspoken hopes of triumph. “The boy came from nowhere to steal the hearts from lassies in the lavvies of the club tonight.” What could be a more satisfying Cinderella story than that?

Throwing Muses: Summer St.

Let me state right off that, as usual, I’m not entirely sure what Kristin Hersh is on about here, but the feeling is right. In the haze of summer, the body is lonesome, and yet not. This, I think, is a song of solitary, gentle hope. I will take the exhortation to “drink to the sun” literally.

Animal Collective: Summertime Clothes

Ah, this is getting closer. Sweat everywhere. Mosquitos too, probably. And then the call of a summer girl. “I want to walk around with you.” Yes, let’s.

The Beach Boys: All Summer Long

Could I have ended this post with any other song? Absolutely not. It starts and ends with Brian Wilson’s majestic celebration.

We lost an hour this weekend, but it felt like ten hours. The big black bear was lumbering, lolling out on the mountaintop this weekend, and found time for a catnap, but none for this blog. So, in the interest of quick content, I throw all journalistic integrity (good thing I’m not a journalist) out the window right now as I recycle myself. This little blurb comes from Facebook, so it may be a repeat for some of you. It’s the inevitable top ten. More reliable even than the backlash that follows them is the perpetuity of the simple “top ten” list. Grumble if you must, but I thought they worked rather well in “High Fidelity,” and after all, many of us do order our lives this way, at least subconsciously. So, here are the top ten albums that influenced me as a fan and musician, and along with each choice is an mp3. Please enjoy, and, oh yes, please do share your top ten.

TEN
Pink Floyd The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Simply nuts. The only (semi-)coherent body of work we ever got out of Syd Barrett, and it’s a kaleidoscope of strange characters and bicycle parts. It’s the sheer invention that gets me.
Pink Floyd: Bike (mono version)

NINE
Deerhoof The Runners Four
There have been so many solid albums of the recent ‘Aughts, but this is the only one that I can say without hesitation is a GIANT, and I suspect will remain so for years to come. Again, it’s sheer invention.
Deerhoof: Running Thoughts

EIGHT
Bob Dylan Oh Mercy
I could have easily put Desire, Street Legal, Blonde On Blonde, or 5-6 others on this list, but I chose this reawakening from the ’80s, mainly for its post-Gospel soul searching and reverberation.
Bob Dylan: Ring Them Bells

SEVEN
American Music Club Mercury
Almost single-handedly put me on the wrong track mentally for 15 years, and convinced me that it was all too beautiful for words. Now that’s powerful stuff. Drugs schmugs.
American Music Club: I’ve Been A Mess

SIX
Neil Young Tonight’s the Night
One of the most harrowing and foggiest tributes to departed friends ever put to tape. This is what it sounds like when a caring man tries to stop caring.
Neil Young: Mellow My Mind

FIVE
The Innocence Mission Birds Of My Neighborhood
The most beautiful album I own, and the purest, most humble music it is possible for humans to make. The kind of music that gives me chills even after the 100th listen.
The Innocence Mission: The Lakes Of Canada

FOUR
Tindersticks Tindersticks (second album)
The persona that Stuart Staples brings to this exquisite music — ragged, classy, world-weary, wise in hindsight — soak through the listener’s experiences like scotch through ice.
Tindersticks: Tiny Tears

THREE
My Bloody Valentine Loveless
The aural equivalent to a painting with thick oils that look slightly different at different angles and in different light. The bent sound thrills me every time. “11″ isn’t loud enough for this album.
My Bloody Valentine: Soon

TWO
The Beach Boys SMiLE
This is hands-down the finest and most evocative body of music to come out of the collective pyschedelic dream of 1966. Tells the story of America in visual puns, and ventures into an elemental side-trip like a koan.
The Beach Boys: Cabin Essence

ONE
The La’s The La’s
The official version is good, but when you take the best bits and bobs from the various junked sessions, you’ve really got something. Urgent, desperate, wild-eyed, celebratory, despairing, and bad-ass. All extremes in life are here, like an apocalypse.
The La’s: Son Of A Gun (album version)

Brian: He's been in his mind so long...

“I’ve been in this town so long that back in the city I’ve been taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long time…”
These words, written by Van Dyke Parks, the syllabic slave of mastermind Brian Wilson, kick off my second favorite song of all time, “Heroes And Villains.” Like the Big Black Bear (who you will hear more about as time goes by), the song’s protagonist is missing in action, at least in the eyes of the general public. Meanwhile, on a more private sidestage, it’s a full-on shootout. The singer finds his mojo, loses it, has a family, comes back, retires, sleeps. You can do all of this in America, and people have been doing it for years. Here then, is my own personal mix of the classic pop tune, loosely inspired by the recent (circa 2004 and on) arrangement by Brian Wilson’s band. If you like what you hear, you can’t go wrong purchasing Brian’s album SMiLE or the Good Vibrations box set from the Beach Boys. Enjoy.

The Beach Boys: Heroes And Villains (Catbirdman Mix)