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Festival season is in full swing. Tents are packed; booze is weighing down the boot and wellies dug out from under the stairs.
You can’t fault a festival once you’re in and set up, but nothing kills the ambience quicker than being sat in bumper to bumper traffic, before parking somewhere seemingly in the same vicinity as the festival and ploughing onwards on foot.
Fear ye not! Purple Revolver has put together our Top 10 Festival Road Trip albums to make those long mornings on motorways and A roads pass that little bit quicker.
The time will fly by as you sing along to classics LPs from a spectrum of genres and once wading through mud and dodging dismembered trolleys with blown Pneumatic tyres, you’ll let all the stress wash right over you.
So whether you’re hitting one of the UK’s many fine festivals or travelling further afar for your musical fix make sure your tape deck is fully loaded with our ultimate festival road trip albums.
10. Snoop Dogg – Doggystyle
Snoop played Lovebox and you can catch the Big Dogg at the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans ahead of a UK Arena tour in October.
His debut LP pimp slapped the world across the face with its G-Funk soaked cuts documenting life in Long Beach, CA and is still heralded as one of the all-time great rap albums.
9. Willy Mason – If the Ocean gets Rough
Willy brings his melodic, catchy songs to Greetings from Beacons.
The singer songwriter’s second album brought a more polished sound from the New York native. His personal songs about life, love and growing up still strike a nerve and serve as the perfect background music for travelling across baron landscapes.
8. Chase & Status – No More Idols
The London duo hit Kendal Calling this weekend and will bring their big sound to this year’s USC Festival in Northamptonshire.
Quickly moving on form the underground dance scene, No More Idols sees Chase and Status move into the mainstream. Perfect for a long road trip the album meshes together bucketloads of genres; from grime, dance, indie, rock and hip-hop, to keep listeners entertained from door to tent.
7. Kanye West – College Dropout
Kan-yeezy takes a break from promoting Watch the Throne and headlines this year’s Big Chill at Herefordshire.
The debut album from super producer Kanye let the Chicago native show off his considerable spittin’ game. Rich in soul samples that have become his staple diet, College Dropout was Mr West’s coming out party.
6. Bjork – Homogenic
The Icelander will be playing her one and only outdoor festival at Bestival this summer. Joined onstage by an all female Icelandic choir, this is one not to miss.
Bjork’s third offering is a rather dark affair, focusing on love, faith and paranoia. Homogenic saw the Icelandic singer mature and while it will not have you buzzing on the way to the festivals, it is perfect for the solemn ride home.
5. OFWGKTA – Radical Mixtape
Tyler has been stealing all the headlines, but the whole posse will be performing at Reading Festival. Get familiar with Hodgy, Domo, Mike G, Earl, Frank, Left Brain and all.
The mixtape brings together the members of Odd Future all on one album. The mixtape was available for free download in 2010 and gives us the alternative rap collective in their entirety.
4. Chemical Brothers – Surrender
Don’t call it a comeback. The Chemical Brothers hit up The Big Chill, Creamfields and a host of European festivals.
Their classic third album saw the Brothers move away from purely hip-hop breaks and indulge in a more eclectic use of sampling. Drawing on psychedelic rock and groovy guitars amongst others, Surrender was pure energy start to finish.
3. Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life
The Motown legend will be heading to Texas this summer for the Austin City Limits Festival.
This album marks the point when ‘Little’ Stevie Wonder stood up and became his own man. Fused with funk, soul and pop, Songs In The Key Of Life pushed the boundaries of what Soul music could be and without it we wouldn’t have Prince, George Michael or Elton John.
2. Eminem – Marshall Mathers LP
Slim Shady heads down to Chelmsford and Stafford this August to headline V Festival.
Dre traded in the funky beats of past for a more minimalist approach on Em’s second album. The beats are as raw and powerful as the lyrics that the bleached blonde emcee spits. Covering success, drugs, love, schizophrenia and everything else under the sun, the Marshall Mathers LP elevated the Detroit native to rap superstar.
1. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Former Beach Boy Brian Wilson will be at this years Bestival festival.
While Brian may not perform some of his 60s classics, there is no getting away that the singer/songwriter composed some of the greatest pop songs ever.
In honour of the great man, and indeed the great band, pop in Pet Sounds and sit back to one of the greatest masterpieces of 20th century music.
Innocent and timeless, while at the same time almost dark and sinister, and possibly the result of listening to The Beatles while partaking in hallucinogenic narcotics. The vocal harmonies are sensational and the pop song writing second to none.