John Denver's Rocky Mountain High album in 72 was a big hit though not exactly his finest album with it's heavy reliance on cover tunes. Season Suite: Summer is the highlight of the albums's repetitive second half; full of nature segments, or basically a bunch of songs called suites and named after the seasons. By far the freshest is the summer suite with it's bouncy energy. The only other lively track on the ballad and orchestration heavy album is Prisoners; with it's frenetic folk work reminding me of Stephen Stills, and it's inspirational lyrics about a working life's hardships and yearning for home. A lot of this album, including it's big hit and opening title track; Rocky Mountain High, is about returning home or at least longing for it.
While Prisoners is a good track, I prefer Season Suite: Summer for my blog post as its is a rousing number with a slight disco shuffle to it's main hook complete with big piano chords dominating the beat. Denver's rootsy voice sings with a lullaby lilt before the spirited, multi-tracked harmonies kick off the honky tonk chorus and heavy acoustic chords end each chorus with a funky turnaround in tandem with the main piano parts.
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