Top 5 Albums for Summer Beach, River, or Lake

Summer's coming, you're working on the swimsuit body, the cooler and beer are iced, and you're ready to hit the lake, beach, or river. You're loading the trunk and it hits you: as you plug the I-Pod into your car's auxiliary sound-system port, you realize you forgot to download tunes for the relaxation and sunburn to follow. As you're searching music to fill your summer days with relaxing, work-erasing minutiae, think of these five albums to wash all your summertime cares away.

Bob Marley's Songs of Freedom (Actually a box-set, but you get all the essentials)

What summer is complete without a Three Little Birds and Redemption Song playing a serenade to the water? Bob Marley, Father of Reggae, can never go wrong on vacation. Take the faster songs, like "Stir It Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff" for sand volleyball or cruising docks in the boat. Then once the sun goes down or is just coming up and your tugging off that heavy head feeling from the night before, play "Three Little Birds," "Redemption Song," or "No Woman, No Cry" to cure what's ailing you. Any song you play is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Dave Matthews's Live at Red Rocks

The undisputed King of the Jam Bands, Dave Matthews Bands, takes over where the Grateful Dead left off and Phish tried but didn't quite have that mainstream feel to get them into Dave's position. Live at Red Rocks is arguably the best live-recorded album-EVER. Red Rocks covers all of Dave's Standards, Two-Step, Seek Up, Ants Marching, and Satellite, but does it with an energetic show. The only close second to beat out Red Rocks is Live at Luther College with Tim Reynolds. This album has the perfect pre-party groove and after-party sound.

Donovan Frankenreiter's debut album Donovan Frankenreiter

With a guy brave enough to put his parental given, tongue-twisting moniker like Frankenreiter across his album cover, you've got to expect something spectacular. Frankenreiter delivers on every track. His look and sound is throwback 70s surf and hippy. But he does it with a 21st century twist. "Butterfly" is the ultimate make-out groove and is almost as aphrodisiacal as four pounds of shucked oysters. But even better the lyrics and rhythm are acoustical psychedelic. Donovan will definitely become a staple in your summer listening list.

Grateful Dead's Very Best of the Grateful Dead

Come on! Need I explain? Jerry and the boys are the perfect respite from the boiling summer sun. "The Very Best of the Grateful Dead" has all of the standards-except one oversight: St. Stephen. However, with Uncle John's Band, Ripple, Friend of the Devil, Box of Rain, and Trucking, how can you go wrong. With this gritty, groove laden album in your musical rotation, as Clark Griswold of Vacation tells us, "half the fun is just getting there."

Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairy-tales

Slow, mellow, acoustical guitar grooves, a mellow baritone voice, and heart-stopping lyrics are the highlights of Brushfire. Check out F-Stop, Inaudible Melodies, and Bubbly Toes. Johnson is currently the King of Surf Music and has, with Donovan Frankenreiter, redefined the sounds Jan and Dean started and the Surf Punks changed into slamming rock and punk. Johnson's music inspires active relaxation. Tap your toes and nod your head with the beat. And while you're bopping along, listen to the lyrics: inspiring.