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Cooking is not only about preparing food while following a recipe! Personally, I have always seen cooking as a means of expression, and preparing food for our loved ones is also a way of saying “I love you”.
I have always thought that cooking, as an art form, has a lot in common with music. In cooking, as in music, you need rhythm and feeling.
To cook well, you have to take your time and I would even say that you have to appreciate the time of preparation as much as the time of tasting.
So it is quite natural that I have prepared a small selection of my favorite musicians that I listen to while I cook.
Of course, everyone has their own tastes and preferences.
Plug in and let yourself be carried away!
1 Ultimate Santana – Carlos Santana
It was impossible to start this ranking with any other artist than Carlos. This legendary artist does not need an introduction.
Santana is the kind of musician that we could recognize at the first note. In his music, there is all that I also like in cooking. The warmth, the generosity, the feeling, and the associations of influences are always in good taste.
Imagine yourself on a sunny Sunday, you have invited some friends to eat. You know that you have a lot of things to cook and you know that you are going to have a good time with your friends.
As you are putting on your apron, sharpening your knives, and getting out your pots and pans; plug in your stereo and put on “Oye como Va”.
If you don’t move your head to the rhythm of the music and do a few dance steps when you hear it, I will personally pay you back for the time you spent reading this article.
2 Angela Sings Queen – Angela
Since we started with a King of Guitar, it was only natural that the next place was for Queen.
So this album is not exactly an album of the band but an album of acoustic covers by Angela.
At Kitchencookwarereviews.com we are big fans of Queen and I can only recommend A Night at the Opera, Queen II, Innuendo, or one of their many best beats.
I chose this album of covers because I think that Angela manages to reinterpret the songs of the group by putting forward the beauty of the melodies with an acoustic feeling and especially she manages to do that without wanting to exaggerate her way of singing.
One does not count the interpreters anymore who lent themselves to the exercise and who end up doing too much.
So yes! Queen’s songs are often flamboyant and difficult to perform. Here Angela manages to give us back all the melody we love so much with her soft voice and a minimalist accompaniment while avoiding the crime of lèse-majesté.
It’s all about love: put on “Love of my life” and cook with all that love.
3 Sweep Me Away – Fredrika Stahl
In third place, I encourage you to continue gently with Fredrika Stahl. Sweep me Away carries its name well because this album proposes a true journey within the company of this singer.
There is everything here to let yourself be carried with delicate arrangements, violins, and elegant choirs that underline effective melodies.
I like to cook while listening to this album because there are always surprising passages and small originalities which renew my interest. Fredrika Stahl’s jazzy voice takes us in a different direction and we are surprised by a catchy chorus.
We let ourselves be taken by the hand for a pleasant trip, often soft, with many varied influences and sometimes surprising. Isn’t it also what we like in cooking?
So wouldn’t you be tempted by a little digression in the Bossa Nova style with Song Of July?
4 Bossa N’Roses – Various Artists
Since we’re talking about Bossa nova, let’s stay there for one more album. So, what is this album?
An album of bossa nova (lounge-type)! Yes
An album of Gun’s N Roses covers! Also
How is it possible?
In fact, it is an album of covers of the greatest hits of the Gun’s N Roses Group but adapted in a Bossa Nova way. So at KitchenCookwareReviews.com, we love Gun’s and we love Rock in all its forms.
We also like when the guitars are cranked to 11. That being said, I tend to prefer cooking with calmer music that encourages introspection and reflection.
So the Bossa N Roses Album is a good compromise to find the anthems of the famous band while having the groove of a relaxed evening.
This album is a bit like enjoying a glass of vintage champagne on the roof of a 4-star hotel on a summer night, wearing leather pants, a jacket with patches, a Ramones T-shirt, and Snake Skin Cowboy boots.
So ready to go to Paradise City?
5 Are you Gonna Go My Way – Lenny Kravitz
“I tend to prefer cooking with calmer music that encourages introspection and reflection” Yes, I said that 10 lines above but there are exceptions…
Sometimes when you receive a lot of people or when you start a preparation that requires time; you have to get in form; you have to motivate yourself.
That’s why the song “Are you Gonna go My Way” is really the kick-off song par excellence but that’s not all! In this album, there’s nothing to throw away because it’s good from the beginning to the end.
Unstoppable guitar riffs, smooth and sensual ballads, and groove. There is everything you could want in this album and even a little more.
This album is like a cooking pot so everyone should have one at home.
So what I really want to know is
Are you gonna go my way?
6 Don’t Explain – Beth Hart, Joe Bonamassa
This album is also well named. When one of the greatest blues singers of her generation and one of the greatest blues guitarists of his generation decided to sit down together for an album, no further explanation is needed.
100% pure blues concentrate.
It is when a sauce is powerful and warm like Beth Hart’s voice, and when the associations of flavors are precise and effective like Joe Bonamassa’s guitar that the cooking is good.
Enchanting and deep, it is typically the kind of album that is impossible to get tired of.
So let yourself be tempted by a little chocolate?
7 Camino de Fuego – Eskorzo
Caliente you said Caliente? Then I have to warn you in advance. With this album, you’re going to set fire to your kitchen because it will wake you up and not only a little…
It has a high energy content. If we transformed an energy drink into an album, it is sure that the result would be Camino de Fuego.
Between the ska rhythm, the horns, and the choruses that you will inevitably repeat even if you don’t speak a word of Spanish, this is an album that will give you a boost.
If you have a chili con carne to make for 50 people and only one hour to prepare it, then this is the album for you.
So are you ready to take the Camino de Fuego?
8 Chronicles – Creedence Clearwater Revival
So yeah, Creedence Clearwater Revival isn’t exactly the most current band but…but…but…
The thing about their discography is that it’s harder to find songs that aren’t interplanetary hits than the other way around.
It’s typically the kind of band that if you think you don’t know them, from the first music you’ll say “ah but yes of course!
Creedence!!! It is condensed good vibrations. Iconic choruses, guitar solos that will make you travel.
I love to cook while listening to Creedence because I put on the music and I let myself be transported.
Cooking with Creedance is like driving down an empty highway in a Chrysler on a summer afternoon with the window up and your hair blowing.
So is Creedance Clearwater going to put a spell on you?
9 Feels Like Home – NorahJones
Ahhh Norah ♥♥♥!!!
If more things in this world could be as sweet, refined, and beautiful as Norah Jones’ music; the world would definitely be a better place.
I think the person who coined the term “feel good” must have been listening to Norah Jones when writing the definition.
This album “Feels like home”. Cooking is not just about putting ingredients together in a specific order. When you cook, the state of mind in which you do it counts a lot.
There is nothing worse than cooking without love or desire. Even if you make a simple pasta dish, do it with envy because it is also a way of telling yourself how much you love yourself.
Put on that album just loud enough, sit in the kitchen and let the music bring out the best in you.
I suggest you let yourself be rocked by the irresistible Carnival Town
10 Blue Roses – Blue Roses
Blue Roses are probably the least known artist on this list and yet it is, in my opinion, definitely an album that deserves to be known.
Although less sunny than some of the other albums proposed in this list, rather than a journey, Blue Roses proposes a poetic and intimate stroll.
Footsteps in the snow, the sound of nature in winter. The music on this album makes time stand still, allowing you to find yourself.
Blue Roses is a bit my “go to” in any case. When I want to feel good…when I’m in a good mood…when I’m sad…when I want to be calm…when it’s sunny outside…when the weather is bad and of course when I want to cook.
It’s kind of like having a friend talking to me while I’m cooking.
So does a walk along the English coast appeal to you?
Conclusion:
Did you make any discoveries? Are there any artists you already love on this list?
If so, don’t hesitate to share your comments because we are also curious to know what you listen to while cooking. Keep in mind that cooking and music are also about sharing.
Music photo created by ArthurHidden – www.freepik.com
Concert crowd photo created by bedneyimages – www.freepik.com
