March comes with a lot of reasons to celebrate, from Mardi Gras to St. Patrick’s Day, but this year, everyone’s favourite day of March is the 20th, the first day of spring. After an especially cold and snowy winter, you can get ready for sunnier days with this collection of albums to start your spring right.
“Ram” – Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney (1971)
This album is a testament to the pure rock musicianship of the early 1970s. The music itself puts Paul and Linda’s relationship on display as their synergy and mutual understanding bleeds through each song to create a very unique, comfortable feeling.
You’ll feel things as you listen, but not so much that you’ll want to turn it off. It’s a very cozy listening experience.
“Flower Boy” – Tyler, The Creator (2017)
Tyler, The Creator focuses this album on self-reflection. Sometimes the best driving force for personal development is your very own car, and “Flower Boy” places the listener right in Tyler’s passenger seat. Produced by Tyler himself and with a collection of features including Frank Ocean, Steve Lacy and Kali Uchis, the experience is guaranteed to take you through a variety of genres and emotions.
“Alligator Bites Never Heal” – Doechii (2024)
Enter spring the right way with Grammy award winner and TikTok star Doechii. As her first mixtape under a major label, “Alligator Bites Never Heal” guides the listener through an analysis of Doechii’s struggles on her journey to stardom. While some of the singles were first released as a part of her “Swamp Sessions” series, they work together as a cohesive and groovy whole.
“Songs In The Key Of Life” – Stevie Wonder (1976)
Widely regarded as one of the best albums ever made, “Songs In The Key Of Life” will make you groove, sing and ask, “Is that Gangsta’s Paradise?” After almost quitting music to move to Ghana and work with children with disabilities, Wonder took two years to make this album. When he finished, he released a masterpiece to the world full of positive vibes and social commentary. This album is an essential piece of any record collector’s collection as well as any spring playlist.
“SEYCHELLES” – Masayoshi Takanaka (1976)
As jazz fusion was being reimagined across the water, this debut album from Masayoshi Takanaka became an example of what changing your perspective can do. Takanaka redefines how we listen to jazz music and essentially helps create Japan’s jazz-rock-fusion scene by making jazz universally enjoyable. With a tropical feel, this music is designed to be moved to and forces you to at least tap your toes.
“Strange Satisfaction” – Woody and Jeremy (2020)
To summarize this album in a few words: Total and utter groove. If you want to boogie down like your grandma probably did, this is the album for you. Woody and Jeremy paint their magnum opus with a bass guitar and a collection of friends. Every chord, every note and every strange addition to their melodies fits effortlessly in the puzzle of “Strange Satisfaction”.
There isn’t one note in this album that you can’t dance to.
“Giant Steps” – John Coltrane (1960)
John Coltrane is a supreme jazz icon. “Giant Steps” is a window into a time where pushing the boundaries of jazz happened in fleeting moments. Coltrane’s improvisational skills are so strong, it was described by jazz critic Ira Gitler as “sheets of sound.” Listeners can easily get lost in the intense power of Coltrane’s tenor saxophone lines. The album encapsulates the vibe of sitting outside on a warm spring night, listening to the sounds of the neighbourhood and watching the stars go by.
Contributed Photo/Doechii on YouTube
