Top Summer Albums: A Liz List (with bonus road trip edition)

Just for fun, I set a small challenge with myself to come up with a list of my top 5 all-time summer albums. Coming as no surprise (for someone who spent more time listening to her parents' music collections than she did watching television), this proved to be incredibly difficult. In short, I failed, struggling greatly to have a list under ten. This lead to me 1 - allowing myself a list longer than 5 (permitting 10 as the ultimate cap), and 2 - creating a bonus "road trip" edition list.

So, without further aideu, the lists, each selection with a little note as to why it made the rank + a mention of my favorite song:

Top Summer Albums - general

1. The Police - Ghost in the Machine 

   This is one of a few albums that defined the summers of my childhood (starting at around age 7-8, to be precise). Summer afternoons with the living room windows open or car windows down, listening to "Spirits in the Material World" - ultimate bliss.

   My standout track: "Spirits in the Material World" (obviously) (Open in Spotify)

   
   

2. Lorde - Melodrama

   I think I got about two tracks into this album that June Tuesday of 2017 before I had to hit pause and take a moment to acknowledge how much I instantly, with every fiber of my being, loved this album. I was in Charleston for a friend's wedding and this arrived as a perfectly packaged gift for my ears for those three days. It started as the soundtrack to that one weekend, but soon became entwined with my summers from there on out - and, in time, one of the defining albums of my mid- to late twenties.

   My standout track: The Louvre (Open in Spotify)

   
   

3. RAC - Strangers

   This one I labeled an "instant summer classic" the first time I heard it, even though it was spring. The tracks just screamed "summer." I was somewhere in New York City on a long afternoon wander and I had to force myself to change over to the next new release after the second listen-through. What a treat it was & still is.

   My standout track: Tourist (Open in Spotify)

   
   

4. J. Balvin & Bad Bunny - Oasis

   Another instant summer classic that, though enjoyed at various points during the year, I give almost immediate airplay to after the summer solstice - to, you know, properly welcome the season.

   My standout track: Como Un Bebé (Open in Spotify)

   
   

5. Beyoncé - Summer Renaissance

Summer. Beyoncé. Disco. Need more be said? A genuis release of the Queen's, bringing over an hour of end-to-end dance-disco to the masses in full force. The name aside, this album is not only one I will forever associate with the general season of summer, but with all of the different feelings & emotions the summer months can bring, perhaps intensified that summer with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Happiness, sadness, love, loss, freedom & repression; elation & devastation, pleasure & despair. I felt it all, with Beyoncé dancing me through it, leading me to feel - most overall - at the end of summer, a little reborn.

My standout track: Church Girl (Open in Spotify)

Bonus 6 & 7: 

6. HAIM -  I quit

Making for a third "instant summer classic" on this list - unlike the others, this one breathes summer nostalgia from start to finish. Not only do the lyrics of a few tracks nod to the three sisters' summers of the past, and the album having an overall 90s girl-rock sound that suits the season so well.

My standout track: Take Me Back (Open in Spotify)

7. ASTROPICAL - ASTROPICAL

I love a good supergroup from any genre, but I have a particular affection for those in the urban-Latin space. NPR Alt.Latino's Isabelle Gomez called it a "euphoric exploration of South America's coastal sounds," and I couldn't agree more. Instant summer bliss, from start to finish.

My standout track: Calentita (Aries) (Open in Spotify)

Top Summer Albums - road trip edition

The below is a short list of some of my favorite albums for summertime cruisin' - windows down or up, highway or coastal miles, these 5 (ahem, 7) will get you through even the longest of road trips:

1. Paul Simon - Graceland 

2. Pretenders - Learning to Crawl

3. Bruce Springstreen - Born in the USA

4. Lil Wayne & 2 Chains - Welcome 2 Collegrove

5. Police - Reggatta de blanc 

   
   

Bonus 6 & 7: 

6. The English Beat - Special Beat Service

7. Maggie Rogers - Surrender