One of Paddy McAloon’s most unapologetically ‘up’ songs, it positively jumps out of the speakers.
De La Soul: ‘Me, Myself And I’
De La’s mash-up of hip-hop, psychedelia, funk and comedy was de rigeur in the summer of 1989. From the classic 3 Feet High And Rising album.
Scritti Politti: ‘Small Talk’
I could have chosen almost anything from Cupid & Psyche ’85, but went with this little miracle of melody and syncopation. Paging Universal Music Group: the whole album could do with a remaster…
XTC: ‘Summer’s Cauldron’
It was a toss-up between this and ‘Season’s Cycle’, but I could have chosen almost anything from the classic summer album Skylarking.
Jaki Graham: ‘Round And Round’
This very George Michael-esque (did he write it, uncredited?) mid-tempo groover takes me straight back to summer 1984.
Level 42: ‘Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)’
The soundtrack to summer 1987.
The Bible: ‘Honey Be Good’
Another fairly recent discovery.
China Crisis: ‘Saint Saviour Square’
This cracker kicked off the Liverpudlians’ fine 1989 album Diary Of A Hollow Horse.
Castanets, Spanish guitars and dodgy dealings down Mexico way in this Peckinpahesque corker from the Freedom album.
Linda Ronstadt: ‘Los Laureles’
More Warner Bros. Americana, this time from Ronstadt’s excellent Mexican-themed Canciones de Mi Padre album.
Wayne Shorter: ‘Condition Red’
A blast of classic sci-fi-fusion from Wayne’s Phantom Navigator album, featuring some ‘sideways’ harmony, incendiary soprano sax, a Big Snare Sound and even a bit of vocal scatting.
Thomas Dolby: ‘Screen Kiss’
A shimmering summer classic from The Flat Earth.
Joni Mitchell: ‘My Secret Place’
This duet with Peter Gabriel kicked off Joni’s underrated Chalk Mark In A Rainstorm album. Takes me straight back to summer ’88.
Mark King: ‘There Is A Dog’
The Level 42 mainman’s breezy tribute to Return To Forever. Musos behold: he played drums, percussion, bass and all the guitars on this. Taken from the classic Influences album.
The Clash: ‘Hitsville UK’
Mick Jones’ breezy, ironic rumination on the rise of indie labels featuring the Blockheads’ Norman Watt-Roy on bass. Taken from the Sandinista! album.
Miles Davis: ‘Catembe’
Takes me straight back to the summer of ’89. The breezy lead-off track from Miles’s last studio album Amandla.
Danny Wilson: ‘Davy’
A classic ‘advice’ song which kicked off the Dundee band’s excellent 1987 debut album.
Damned if I know, but the 1980s seemed to produce an endless trickle of tracks tailor-made for long, hot evenings.
Putting together this summer playlist, I gave myself only two rules: an artist can only appear once, and the choice has to be slightly off the beaten track, so no ‘accepted’ summer classics.
What else does the full selection have in common? Not a lot; there’s pop, funk, fusion, Latin, AOR, Brazilian, hip-hop and psychedelia, but of course they’re all pretty ‘up’ pieces of music.
Some of these songs were heard and bought when they came out, others have become key summer selections in the years since. Here’s a selection:
The Lotus Eaters: ‘The First Picture Of You’
On a very warm summer’s evening five or six years ago, I was in a pub just off Piccadilly Circus when this beguiling track came on – I was smitten, and have been ever since.
Robert Fripp featuring Daryl Hall: ‘North Star’
A rather lovely, rather uncharacteristic ballad from the Wimborne guitar master, prefiguring King Crimson’s ‘Matte Kudasai’.
Elis Regina: ‘Calcanhar de Aquiles’
One of the purest Brazilian voices of all time. This is from her final studio album, 1980’s Elis.
Dukes Of Stratosphear: ‘Bike Ride To The Moon’
Nothing says summer to me like Brit psychedelia. But since I’m not allowed anything by Syd Barrett/The Beatles/Small Faces/Kinks, XTC’s alter-egos will do just fine.
Wendy & Lisa: ‘Honeymoon Express’
Best known as Prince’s chief collaborators between 1984-1986, I never tire of Wendy & Lisa’s sublime vocal harmonies in the chorus.
Roy Ayers: ‘Poo Poo La La’
By the time of 1984’s In The Dark album, Roy didn’t have much to prove and was clearly having some fun in the studio. Contains the line: ‘Poo poo la la means I love you’!
Toninho Horta featuring Joyce: ‘Beijo Partido (Broken Kiss)’
A classic Brazilian ballad, full of gorgeous and mysterious harmonies, from a seriously underrated guitarist/songwriter. Taken from the 1988 album Diamond Land.
It Bites: ‘Once Around The World’
Included mainly for its pastoral, elegant opening section, the Cumbrian four-piece excelled themselves with this astonishing 15-minute melody-fest.
Light Of The World: ‘London Town’
This Brit-funk classic reminds me of all that’s great about summer in my hometown.
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