Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes is the 1977 album that gave Jimmy Buffett his signature song and sent half the world searching for a lost shaker of salt.

Produced by Norbert Putnam, it found Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band perfecting the breezy blend of country, folk and Caribbean lilt that would turn a Key West troubadour into a lifestyle all his own. Underneath the sunshine, though, there's a real songwriter at work, wry, wistful and sharp-eyed about the lives of drifters and dreamers.

"Margaritaville" is the obvious draw, a song so easygoing that it's easy to miss the self-deprecating sting in its tail. The title track is a gentle meditation on restlessness and growing older, carried on a swaying, unhurried groove. "Biloxi" drifts by on a soft Gulf Coast breeze, and "Banana Republics" paints a vivid portrait of expatriates chasing escape somewhere south of the border.

It's laid-back but never lazy, the work of an artist who knew exactly what he was building, and the Coral Reefer Band's playing is loose, warm and quietly expert.

Few albums have launched an entire culture of beach bars and Parrotheads, and fewer still hold up this well once the needle drops and the sun starts to set.