Great Summer Records #3

The Beach Boys - Breakaway
Yes 'Wouldn't It be Nice'. Yes 'California Girls'. But this typically optimistic and gorgeous effort is often overlooked when the band are discussed. To be listened to whilst sat on the edge of a pool with feet in the water and a bottle of something cold in the hand.

"And I can breakaway to the better life
Where the shackles never hold me down
I'm gonna make a way for each happy day
As my life turns around"



And, as a bonus, the band live on The David Frost Show:

Great Summer Records #2

The Divine Comedy - Love What You Do
Neil Hannon has adopted a Jarvis Cocker-esque position on the fringes of popular culture, occasionally dipping his toes in, but generally happy out of the direct glare and making his own kind of music. Although the output has not always been to my taste, this offering, although perhaps not classically a ''summer record'' in terms of subject manner, shimmers gloriously around the chorus, releasing sunshine as it goes.

Great Summer Records #1

The Thrills - Big Sur
Gravel-voiced Irish LA-wanabees The Thrills' appeal seemed to wane very quickly but the first album was at the time a very refreshing, retro throwback to, dare I say it, a (probably mythologised) 'more innocent age'. I could have picked four or five records from 'So Much For The City', but purely for the lovely haze present through the video, it's this one.