SEATTLE, WA (Top40 Charts) Amazon announced the release of Songs of Summer, a collection of more than 30 original recordings available exclusively for streaming on Prime
Music and purchase on Amazon in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan. New renditions of popular summer songs include
Brandi Carlile singing her version of The
Beach Boys classic, "God Only Knows," Beats
Antique covering the famed song, "
Cruel Summer" originally from Bananarama, and
Passenger putting his spin on Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay." Newly-written songs can be heard from artists like Baio of Vampire Weekend, Kate Voegele,
Sublime with Rome, and more.
"Prime members have loved listening to the original music we've released, from Amazon Acoustics to Indie for the Holidays, and we're thrilled to continue to offer new, interesting music and more ways to discover great artists with today's debut of Songs of Summer," stated Steve Boom, VP of
Digital Music for Amazon. "It is an eclectic mix of songs from different eras and genres, perfect for summertime listening, and we can't wait for customers and Prime members to enjoy."
"The idea for "Summer Dream" was to write a song about summer, without directly referring to it. When I was a kid, summer seemed to last forever; it felt almost endless, and that's where the chorus came from-this feeling of summer endlessly meandering along while the verses of the song are all images associated with that feeling: stones in a creek, music in the sunshine, road trips, a lazy dream," stated Zach Gill of ALO. "Amazon gave us the creative freedom to make this song something really special for listeners-a summer dream, warm, wistful and winding with music."
""
God Only Knows" is quite possibly the best song ever written. The
Beach Boys will always sound like summer to me, no matter what time of year it is. Mike McCready's guitar playing really brings out the sun for me," stated Brandi Carlile.
"Recording a summer song for Amazon gave us the opportunity to think outside the box. We have an affinity for chill 70's music and Seals & Crofts' "Summer Breeze" came to mind-we wanted to fit what we liked about the song into a more mysterious and haunting landscape, so we replaced a lot of the soft-rock instrumentation with baritone guitars and washed out tremolo, plus we threw a trumpet in for good measure," stated Escondido. "We're grateful to Amazon for having us be a part of the Songs of Summer playlist and hope everyone enjoys listening."
"We are so excited to work with Amazon for an exclusive release of our new song "
Secrets"- we've been wanting to share it with you all," stated Rome. "We hope you enjoy!"
Throughout the summer, Amazon will also debut official and live performance videos with featured artists on Songs of Summer like Oh Pep!, Kate Voegele, Escondido, Fort Frances, and more. The full track listing for Songs of Summer can be found below. More information, including how to listen, can be found at www.amazon.com/songsofsummer.
Newly-written songs:
ALO-"Summer
Dream (We Got The Time)"
Baio (of Vampire Weekend)-"Don't Fight Fate"
Benji Hughes-"Summersong"
Blitzen Trapper-"
Summer Rain"
Dirty Heads-"
So Long"
Kate Voegele-"Must Be Summertime"
Kris Orlowski-"
Indian Summer"
Ryan Bingham-"Kindred Mountain High"
Ryan Miller (of Guster)-"June Summer Moon"
Stephen Kellogg-"I Will Be Crazy For You"
Sublime with Rome-"
Secrets"
The Kin-"
Weekend"
Newly-recorded songs:
Aoife O'Donovan-"Red & White & Blue & Gold (Acoustic)"
Beats Antique-"
Cruel Summer"
Big Jesus-"The Last Day of Summer"
Brandi Carlile-"
God Only Knows"
Christian Lopez Band-"Dancing in the Moonlight"
Eric Hutchinson-"
Don't Worry Be Happy"
Escondido-"Summer Breeze"
Fort Frances-"Summer in the City"
Globelamp-"California Sun"
Laura Gibson-"Sunny Afternoon"
LOLO-"The Boys of Summer"
Matt Nathanson-"Gold in the Summertime (Acoustic)"
Michael Franti & Spearhead-"Summertime Is In Our Hands (Acoustic)"
Oh Pep!-"The Swimming Song"
Passenger-"(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay"
Rob Grote (of The Districts)-"Nightswimming"
The Secret Sisters-"Sealed with a Kiss"
Surfer Blood-"A Summer Song"
Teddy Thompson and
Kelly Jones-"Walking on Sunshine"
The Bright Light Social Hour-"Sun King"
The Mountain Goats-"
Summer"
The Staves - "Photobooth"
The Strumbellas-"Summer of '69"
The Wild Reeds-"Surfer Girl"
