"Summer" albums?

[Randy]

Meat Puppets "Up On the Sun"
--even the name says it.

Stereolab "Emperor Tomato Ketchup"
--I was driving through the upper peninsula in Michigan one summer and this album really made the contrasts clear- the U.P. is more cold and snowy than not, but it was a really hot day. All the houses look sort of beaten by the elements and low-tech, but each one had a satellite dish. When I was a kid, any visits to the U.P. meant Hank Williams Sr. and Patsy Cline. Driving through there listening to all the synths and drum machines was really cool.

[gotpop]

Why, the Beach Boys "Endless Summer", of course!

[chris harris]

the first violent femmes record reminds me of being at the lake (sucks being land locked)
the green album from Weezer reminds me of my wedding/honeymoon on the beach.
the first Stephen Malkmus record is a great summer album.
the flaming lips' Clouds Taste Metallic is another great summer record.

[lg]

Stereolab "Emperor Tomato Ketchup"

a good one all year round!

a few of mine:

x: under the big black sun
(dismal summers in LA)

tom verlaine: words from the front
(vacations)

pell mell: flow
(watery, as in 'at the beach')

nuggets, vol. 1
(growing up, i spent a lot of summers in the garage...)

eno: another green world
(always that time of year on a desert island)

george crumb: music for a summer evening
(!)

charles dodge: earth's magnetic field
(what sunlight looks like through closed eyelids)

captain beefheart & the magic band: clear spot
(oh my, oh my!)

[lg]

sorry, one last one, because it was in the car and it's almost summer:

roxy music: country life
(most especially out of the blue and prairie rose. dang what a weird effect on ferry's vocals at the end of prairie rose. probably just his voice, but weird...)

[vvv]

Any Petty.

Any Skynyrd.

Any ZZ Top.

Any Janis.

Hmmm, most Southern rock and a lot of blues!

Also,

Summer Teeth, and

Some Girls.

[Johnny B]

The first three Boston albums. Rocket to Russia by the Ramones. Frank Zappa. Especially Freak Out! by The Mothers of Invention. We used to sit on the porch listening to that in the summer a lot.

[pablotf]

Big Star's "#1 Record"

[mjau]

Paul's Boutique by the Beasties is a killer summer album for me. "Got more hits than Saduharu Oh."

[Skipwave]

This summer it's all about Teddybears song with Iggy Pop:

http://www.teddybearsrock.com/home.php

[tonewoods]

I don't know about the ultimate summer album, but here's my ultimate summer song...

Man, that guitar tone just kills....

[vibesof20hz]

David Gilmore's On an Island is a very summer album for me, but only a summer night. Actually, you have to listen to that album at night to really get into it I think.

[saint360]

My top three:

1) Johnathan Richman's "I, Johnathan"
2) Yo La Tengo's "Fakebook"
3) Violent Femmes' first album

Other albums that say summer to me, whether because of their sound, their lyrics or memories they conjure:

Chris Issac's "The Baja Sessions" (so smooth and laid back; the only CI album I regularly listen to)
Television's Marquee Moon (sounds like a hot sticky night in NYC)
Anything by the Softies (to me this sounds like late night summer dorm room/first apartment music with the windows open and, strangely, a candle burning)
The Clean Anthology (so much fun)
Book of Love's "Book of Love" (I know, I know...)
Anything by Magnetic Fields or the 6ths from the 90's
Superchunk's "Here's Where the Strings Come In" and "Incidental Music 1991-95"
Helen Love's "Radio Hits" (actually anything by her is fantastic, especially in the summer)
Anything by the Ramones
Billy Bragg & Wilco's "Mermaid Avenue"
Anything by the Beach Boys
Yo La Tengo's "I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One" (best on a road trip)
Stereolab's "Emperor Tomato Ketchup" (Not sure why, but I agree with the other post that listed this)
Pavement's "Wowee Zowee" and "Slanted and Enchanted" and "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain"
10,000 Maniacs' "In My Tribe"
The Police's "Zenyatta Mondatta"
Rhino Record's "Rock Instrumental Classics Vol. 4: Soul"
Rhino Record's "The Roots of Funk Vol 1/2"
K.D. Lang's "Invincible Summer"
Pixies' "Doolittle" and "Surfer Rosa"
Anything by M. Ward
The Spinnanes' "Arches and Aisles" (actually, just the first track)
Anything by Camera Obscura
Belle and Sebastian's "Tigermilk"
Van Morrison's "Moondance"
Anything by Bob Marley
Anything by Jimmy Buffet
Sonny Rollins' "Saxophone Colossus"
John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and "My Favorite Things"
Kraftwerk's "The Man Machine"

[teleguy2]

When I first heard The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" I was in my little Honda Civic cruising up the 15 in the hot, hot heat.

That song moved me. I always seem to notice it around this time of the year, so I'm guessing it was a summer released song, and will forever by lodged in my psyche as such.

I dig the sounds on that album as well. I had heard bits and pieces of their previous albums, but Urban Hymns will always hold a special place in my musical heart...

[spectralgrey]

King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown. Well, pretty much any dub for that matter.