'90s Summer

Looking back at the broad global picture, the '90s was a relatively peaceful, chilled-out decade — the Cold War had ended and the War on Terror was yet to start — so it comes as no surprise that summer-defining sounds were drawn from the serenely rippling pools of trance and euphoria: German DJs Kid Paul and Cosmic Baby — a.k.a. Energy 52 — saluted the famous Ibiza sunset bar (and captured a little slice of summer forever) on 1993's "Cafe del Mar." Also in '93, Holly Cole took Johnny Nash's mellow masterwork "I Can See Clearly Now" into the jazz lounge, while (in '91) Tom Cochrane delivered his top-down, asphalt-crunchin' classic "Life Is a Highway." Wet Wet Wet and Take That capture than '90s summer-love vibe, in Next Steps.

You felt it in your fingers, you felt it in your toes . . . and once Wet Wet Wet's cover of the Troggs' "Love Is All Around" arrived in the spring of '94, piggy-backed on the soundtrack to Four Weddings and a Funeral, it stuck around for the whole of the summer. Dodgy gave us "Staying Out for the Summer" and reflected the bright and breezy side of Britpop; Pizzaman had us all "Trippin On Sunshine"; Take That frolicked lustily on a beach in Acapulco in the video for "Pray"; and Rozalla produced a dance anthem in 1991 — "Everybody's Free" — that kept us moving though the rest of the decade's summer months. Prepare to give in to the rhythm of a '90s summer night, in Deep Cuts.

Summer tends to bring out gym-bunnies flashing deep tans . . . but pale white men can represent the season too, as Ben Folds proved, fronting his Five, with 1996's "Where's Summer B?" Likewise Suggs, with his homage to the great summertime escape, "Off On Holiday." The Sundays jangled prettily through "Summertime" in 1992, led by Harriet Wheeler; Haddaway made "What Is Love" a summer staple in '93; and Vancouver's D-Cru ended the decade with the smooth R&B groove "Show Me." Oh yes, '90s summertime clubbers had plenty to shake a leg to . . . from Corona's irresistible hit "The Rhythm of the Night" to the funky acid-jazz of the Brand New Heavies ("Midnight At the Oasis").

Every decade of summers has its fair share of good times, but when it comes to the '90s, nostalgia supplies us with a feeling of endless hedonism . . . as reflected in this sometimes scorching, sometimes chilled collection of seasonal Essentials. T. Spoon ("Sex On the Beach") and Mousse T. vs. Hot 'n' Juicy ("Horny") confirmed that we were all naughty by nature; Sash! ("Encore Une Fois") helped define the sound of the Balearic superclubs, where anything could happen (and usually did); Lou Bega — with his "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…)" — and Whigfield ("Saturday Night") filled the airwaves with cheeky, throwaway fun. And the best thing? It all sounds as fresh today as it did back then, so dial up a sizzling '90s summer, pronto.