What's The Best Summer Album Ever?


"The Best Summer Album in the World...Ever"
vs.
"Songs For Summer"

What's your soundtrack for Summer? "Summer Lovin'"? The Beach Boys? Jane's Addiction's "Summertime Rolls"? Like any opinion on musical taste, it's just that: an opinion. No one's opinion is best so when someone claims to have made "the best Summer album in the world...ever", I have to take exception. Especially since the best Summer album in the world is an album I put together for Summer Brannin.

Summer was my girlfriend. Her name fit her sunny disposition perfectly. She was kind, hilarious, talented, beautiful, sharp as a tack and everyone knew it. There is never enough time or room to describe how wonderful she is. You can check out Summer's artwork and stories about her at the See Summer Swing Dance website. A couple of years ago, at the age of 21, this amazing young girl was stricken with kidney cancer and was gone six weeks after being diagnosed.

I decided to make a charity record in her memory. The title Songs For Summer was a perfect description and seemed like a good way to get people curious about what was on the record. I was lucky enough to get 15 of Summer's favorite groups to donate songs for the album and a lot of the tunes are definitely "summery". I had already poured my heart into this project for over a year when, one late night, I stood open-mouthed in front of my television. Staring me in the face was a cheesy advertisement for an album claiming to be "The Best Summer Album in the World...Ever" and operators were standing by to take my order. Blasphemy!!!

The claim was only allowable because Songs For Summer hadn't been released yet. Now that the album is out and it's summertime, I feel that the record must be set straight. Since I'm so biased, I've decided to undertake a serious track-by-track scientific analysis to see who's right...

THE FACTS:

"Songs For Summer" (Summer's House of Cookies Records/Oglio Entertainment 2000)
A collection of new, rare and classic tracks by some of today's most creative artists.
vs.
"The Best Summer Album in the World...Ever" (Virgin Records 1997)
A haphazardly thrown together mishmosh of songs you've already heard too many times.

MOTIVATION
Songs For Summer: To celebrate the life of a wonderful girl taken away too soon and benefit the LA charity Free Arts For Abused Children. The artists receive no money or publishing royalties.
The Best Summer Album in the World...Ever: Pure greed.

NUMBER OF SONGS WITH SUMMER IN THE TITLE
SFS: 8
TBSAITWE: 8

COVER ART
SFS: Summer Branninesque sun drawing by Eric Possell.
TBSAITWE: Weird computer generated modern prog-rock lookin' thing.

TRACK BY TRACK

1. "Where's Summer B?" by Ben Folds Five (SFS) vs. "California Girls" by The Beach Boys (TBSAITWE). Summer was a California girl and the Beach Boys are amazing but Mike Love is not and he sings lead on this one. Plus, the Ben Folds 5 song practically invokes Summer's full name. Advantage: SFS.

2. "Song For Her" by Jason Falkner (SFS) vs. "Summer In The City" by the Lovin' Spoonful (TBSAITWE). Jason's the sentimental favorite, having sung this song at Summer's Celebration of Life. Advantage: SFS.

3. "True Dreams of Witchita" (live) by Soul Coughing (SFS) vs. "Groovin'" by The Rascals (TBSAITWE). Almost too close to call but Soul Coughing were nice enough to draw attention to Songs For Summer by breaking up on the day of the album's release. Advantage: SFS.

4. "Indian Summer" by The Jazz Butcher (SFS) vs. "Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran (TBSAITWE). Artist comment: "As for going up against Mister Eddie Cochran, I fear that there's no contest there, sir. Eddie wins hands down every time. Eddie rocks." (Pat Fish aka The Jazz Butcher). Pat was Summer's absolute favorite singer but he's right. Advantage: TBSAITWE.

5. "Brief Candles" by The Posies (SFS) vs. "Echo Beach" by Martha & The Muffins (TBSAITWE). A stunning cover of a classic Zombies song up against a forgettable new wave song. No contest. Advantage: SFS.

6. "Midsummer" by Babacar (SFS) vs. "Walking On Sunshine" by Katrina And The Waves (TBSAITWE). Babacar singer Caroline Crawley's old band, Shelleyan Orphan, sang Summer's absolute favorite summersong, "Summerflies". The other one's just too damn happy. Advantage: SFS.

7. "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel (SFS) vs. "In The Summertime" by Shaggy (TBSAITWE). NMH was Summer's last favorite band. If it was Shaggy from Scooby Doo, it'd be a different story. Advantage: SFS.

8. "All Along The Frying Pan" (live) by Squirrel Nut Zippers (SFS) vs. "Give It Up" by KC & The Sunshine Band (TBSAITWE). Artist comment: "Well, I love AND know KC!! He lives right down the road in Durham, NC (and spends time in Florida and California) and was the first concert I ever saw. I think in this case, out of love and respect, KC wins... But our song is definately rarer." (Ken Moser, Squirrel Nut Zippers) Ken's nice but we know better. Advantage: SFS.

9. "Funky Cold Medina" by The Frank & Walters (SFS) vs. "Summer Holiday" by Cliff Richard And The Shadows (TBSAITWE). Two UK artists who never made it big in the United States. Would Cliff Richard even know who Tone Loc is?! Do you even know who Cliff Richard is?! You've never heard of the Frank & Walters either but you should. Advantage: SFS.

10. "Summer" by Beasley (SFS) vs. "Summer" by Bobby Goldsboro (TBSAITWE). What are the odds of two songs called "Summer" going up against each other?! I don't know but only one of them was written about Summer Brannin. Advantage: SFS.

11. "The Summer You Let Your Hair Grow Out" (live) by Pansy Division (SFS) vs. "Beach Baby" by First Class (TBSAITWE). Artist comment: "Pansy Division's bittersweet, smart song about a same-sex crush at a summer retail job can't hold a candle to the astonishing musico-intellectual rush of First Class' 'Beach Baby'. As a treatise about the intersection of sexuality, economics and class (hence the band's name) at a California beach, 'Beach Baby' is unparalled. When the singer intones 'Beach baby Beach baby/There on the sand,' it conjures up images of objectification (the seer vs. the seen) and a Marxist critique of work vs. leisure time. The song was a subject of fierce debate amongst members of the Frankfurt school (even Adorno, that hater of popular music, thought it was 'catchy') which raged loud and long until 'Baywatch' finally came on." (Pansy Division singer Jon Ginoli) How can you argue with that?! Advantage: TBSAITWE.

12. "Summer of Love" by The B-52's (SFS) vs. "Takin' It To The Streets" by The Doobie Brothers (TBSAITWE). The B's versus the Doo-B's? Advantage: SFS.

13. "After The Beach" by Sandycoates vs. "Shine" by Aswad (TBSAITWE). You've probably never heard Sandycoates but "After The Beach" is one of the prettiest songs ever written. Plus, Summer wasn't crazy about modern reggae. Advantage: SFS.

14. "Rhyme For The Summertime" (original demo) by G Love (SFS) vs. "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)" by Billy Ocean (TBSAITWE). G's funky and all that but who's suaver than Billy O, yo? NO ONE. Advantage: TBSAITWE.

15. "That Summer Feeling" by Jonathan Richman (SFS) vs. "Summertime" by D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (TBSAITWE). Too close to call but look for an upcoming segment on "That Summer Feeling" and Songs For Summer on a new VH1 show called Sound Affects. Actually, Jonathan was better in Something About Mary than Will Smith has been in any movie. Advantage: SFS.

16. (supasecret hidden bonus track) (SFS) vs. "Wipeout" by The Fat Boys/The Beach Boys (TBSAITWE). Two of the vocalists on these tracks (Summer Brannin and Darren "The Human Beat Box" Robinson) are currently doing duets at a small club up in heaven but Summer's taller and prettier. Advantage: SFS.

CONCLUSION
Songs For Summer is the best Summer album in the world, ever. It wins by a score of 13 to 3 but NEITHER album has "Summer of '69" OR "Cruel Summer". Oh well. No one's perfect. Well, almost no one...

PS: BEWARE OF THIS ALBUM!
Though it is inexpensive, small print warns that some tracks were re-recorded by SOME of the original artists. What this means is that you have just spent four whole dollars to hear karaoke sounding versions that were recorded by SOME of the original members of the Bay City Rollers, the Drifters and the Foundations. The Beach Boys sing a strange version of "Surfin' USA" that names different cities than the original. Still, I believe that actually is THE John Travolta singing TWO songs that have little or nothing to do with Summer. Very strange.