(Editor's note: For the last year or so, Eric Luecking has become Soul Sides' most prolific contributor. It was only right that he get to drop some thoughts on the summer season. --O.W.)
What defines a summer song? Is it a regal horn arrangement? Is it a love song? Is it an ode to life? In short, it can be all these things. In the Midwest, we love barbecues, pool parties, cruising the strip, hooking up, and house parties just as much as anyone. While many of my choices are more recent selections, they fit the recipe perfectly for what makes a great summer music soundtrack.
Chicago: Street Player
From Chicago 13 (Chicago, 1979)
One of the premiere '70s bands (who also extended their run into '80s radio mainstays as well), they explored multiple sounds and textures. On “Street Player,” panned by some critics as having too much disco influence, the horns are ablaze. While it has a disco bass riff, it also has an incredible latin drum breakdown before going into a guitar solo. Personally I love the track as it makes me want to conga through downtown or ride on a parade float with a brass band marching behind with confetti shooting into the air.
People Under The Stairs: Blowin Wax
From Question In The Form Of An Answers (Om, 2000)
Few groups ooze a summer sound like the west coast's People Under The Stairs. Every album you know you're going to get a soundtrack to your barbecue. “Blowin Wax” has a Pete Rock feel to it with its snappy drums and funky sax on the chorus. All you need to do is stop by your local butcher's to pick up the ribs, and PUTS will take care of the rest. Don't have guests to your barbecue? That's okay, just blast this song on high and the neighbors will show up. Getting your annoying and so-tanned-her-skin-looks-like-leather septagenarian gossip queen to leave the barbecue once you got the party poppin' will take something more than what this post can encompass. Sorry. (Maybe you can tell her the neighbors next door are playing bingo.)
Naughty By Nature: Clap Yo Hands
From Poverty's Paradise (Tommy Boy, 1995)
The true summer hip hop kings, however, are NBN. In the '90s and early '00s, they came up with the anthems that defined your summer “Clap Yo Hands” was overshadowed by its other album counterparts in “Craziest” and “Feel Me Flow,” but easily holds its own. (Note: The b-side “Hang Out & Hustle is really nice, too.) Kay Gee laced a nice beat underneath (that bass can snap your neck) the seriously underrated Treach and Vinnie who both spit with serious flow. A Rakim sample in the hook never hurts either. The main thing that really propelled their summer anthem success was simple, but catchy hooks, something 50 Cent took note of a nearly a decade later. It also didn't hurt that Treach's cadence was/is unfucwitable. During the couple of summers where NBN didn't have a single out, in the '90s spring just went straight into fall. Mother Nature thought, “What's the use?”
Koop: Summer Sun
From Waltz For Koop (Jazzanova/Compost, 2002)
Swedish jazz never sounded so nice. Poppy enough to sound like it could be the backdrop for an Old Navy commercial but with enough chops not to sound cheesy, this song is to lay back in the hammock on a sunny day and watch the clouds by overhead while listening to the birds chirp. Yukimi Nagano's vocals have a dreamy and optimistic tone to them that marry perfectly with the arrangement. It's impossible to not be overcome with happiness while listening to this song. Go ahead and try; I dare you.
Donald Byrd: Think Twice
From Stepping Into Tomorrow (Blue Note, 1974)
I'm not going to front – I didn't pick up this album until after I heard Dilla's BBE Beat Generation CD in 2001, but it instantly became one of my favorite jazz albums. I remember reading that Dilla had hoped to remake this entire album but settled for just updating “Think Twice.” Part jazz, part funk, and even part disco, the Mizell brothers played on and produced this fine musical specimen of cross-pollinated bliss.
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