HERC's love for the original track from 1972 knows no end. From the opening note to the fadeout just over three minutes later, "Summer Breeze" is packed with more Summer memories for HERC than a dozen photo albums. When the otherwise awful remix collection What Is Hip? Remix Project Volume One was released, a few tracks stood out for HERC. One of them was the tstupid-named Tsuper Tsunami remix of "Summer Breeze" done by Philip Steir and Ramin Sakurai. These guys stretched out the song another minute by letting the intro slow burn a little longer and added a dubstep worthy bass drop several times throughout the song all the while keeping the original melody and shimmery summery vibe intact.
The Isley Brothers made the Summer Song list with "That Lady" back at #70. (Remember, HERC isn't ranking the songs - he's just presenting them in the order he draws them out of the hat.) The Isley's fuzzy, sultry version of "Summer Breeze" ups the romantic loverman quotient exponentially. Dig it.
HERC barely recognized "Summer Breeze" when it was played over the opening credits of 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer, as it had been slowed down to a glacial crawl by Type O Negative when they covered it in 1993. It was still somehow Summer-ish, though more haunting and longing. The raw, bare-throated vocals added a tinge of remorse cause not all Summer memories are good ones.
Type O Negative on a 'Best Of Summer' list?? Gotta' be a first in the history of mankind!
ReplyDeleteSince you went there, though, I'd also submit Danzig's ferocious "Dirty Black Summer" for consideration... A Summer favorite of mine, not to mention one of the cheeriest Hard Rock/Heavy Metal songs you'll ever hear! :)