Julie Wimmer's Top Ten Summer Albums

Summer is a special time of year, as are all the seasons. But different seasons have different nuances and themes. There are all sorts of seasonal drinks and foods, seasonal sports, seasonal vacations as well as some fun, seasonal music. Below are my top ten albums I enjoy in the summer. Don't worry, I am not asking for your approval or for you even to agree with me. Just search the list to see if one them is one of your favorites too! If not, maybe it will be.

-Number Ten

Bad Girls
Donna Summer
There is nothing like a woman with the season in her name singing fun, risque dance music at your backyard summer party. From "Dim all the Lights" to "Our Love" to "Hot Stuff" this album will make you "sweat to the oldies" while you sip your summer Sangria!

-Number Nine

The Remix
Lady Gaga
Get on that bandwagon and accept our new Madonna. She is actually a very sweet girl who was bullied in school for being different. Her voice is uber powerful, her dance moves fantastically robotic and her songs catching. This album is what it means - her hits remixed. (Of course it includes "The Fame", "Poker Face," and "Paparazzi".

-Number 8

Justified
Justin Timberlake
I am a big fan of his, but mostly because of his acting - he is always funny on SNL and is one of their favorite guests. He was also very good in "The Social Network," just one of the many movies he has had a part in. But his music is also fun and young, sexy and sultry and absolutely fantastic for hot, late nights in the summer

-Number 7

Pure Funk and Pure Funk 2
Various Artists
There's nothing like funk at a summer pool party to get everyone dancing and singing. And for some of us who are old enough to remember the mix tapes we all used to make, these CD's have made that job a heck of a lot easier. With music from Queen, Chaka Khan, Barry White, Kool and the Gang, and Earth Wind and Fire (and yes, that is not all of them), this is a fun way to get that party started.

-Number 6

Very Best of: Don Henley
Don Henley
This is a classic. This is the music you listen to, on the highway to your vacation destination with the windows open and the wind blowing your hair around. "Sunset Grill" and "All She Wants to do is Dance" should be enough to entice, but this album has all your faves.

-Number 5

Cat Stevens Greatest Hits
Cat Stevens
This album is also a classic, but is less party and more romance. This is the cool down to your summer day with friends. This album is for the time alone with your partner after a day of crazy with good friends. A time to wind down, sip some wine (if you are old enough) and enjoy a sunset or each other. Oh baby, it's a wild world!

-Number 4

Moondance
Van Morrison
Also a more romantic, slower paced summer album, this is a great one to slow dance to around the pool lit up with candles, or at a beach party at the end of the night. "Crazy Love" and " And it Stoned Me" will bring back memories.

-Number 3

Monkey Business
The Black Eyed Peas
All I have to say is two things: Fergie and "My Humps." Those two are enough reasons to listen to this album with headphones while you work out at the beach gym or have people over for a dance party.

-Number 2

A Beautiful World
Thicke
This is a fun, funky, sexually charged, sexy album. Robin Thicke (son of Alan Thicke, yup, the Alan Thicke from "Growing Pains), sounds like a more manly Michael Jackson with the sexual charge of Marvin Gaye. R&B to the highest degree.

-Number 1

Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
Need I say more? When I think summer and beach days and kites flying and being cooled off by waves, I think The Beach Boys. If I don't hear "Catch a Wave," "Surfin' Safari" or "Be True to Your School" (just like you would to your girl or guy.....), my summer is not complete!