Martin Denny - "Misirlou" (1961)

Hello Friends,

Some genius decided to take Martin Denny's version of "Misirlou" and set it to a scene from Fritz Lang's 1959 adventure film, The Indian Tomb.  It's diabolically sexy and borderline unbelievable!  Take that Tarantino...

By the way, the brunette hottie performing the snake dance is Debra Paget who also appeared in Cecil B. Demille's The Ten Commandments & Elvis Presley's film debut, Love Me Tender.  Give this girl an Oscar!

Hawaiian Holiday with Johnny Pineapple

Johnny Pineapple & His Orchestra - "Hawaiian Holiday" (1965) - Pickwick

Aloha Friends,

No one gets a party started quite like Johnny Pineapple.  Actually, before we got this LP we never heard of the guy, but boy are we impressed!  This guy is like the Duke Ellington of Luau Music!

From what we can delineate ascertain, Johnny Pineapple was born David Haonohi on the isle of Hawaii.  He became an expert steel guitar player which eventually landed him gigs at New York's Stork Club and the Polynesian Room of Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel.

Now we have dozens of generic-sounding Hawaiian Holiday-type LPs.  All are fun, to an extent, but most are not very good or very memorable.  This one is different. Expert arrangements that are big on atmosphere and big on ethereal-sounding steel guitar, with subtle flourishes of acoustic guitar, percussion and Ellington-style pianos gently wading in the background.  Check out "The Pretty Mermaid of the Southeastern Sea"...

or the sublime, "Paradise Isle".

This album is the soundtrack to a perfect Hawaiian Sunset: after a long day of luau's, scuba diving and drinking out of pineapples, you pass out on the beach with the salty ocean air kissing your sun-drenched skin and hear the gentle and soothing notes of Johnny Pineapple's band. 

Plus check out those pearly white smiles on the album cover!  Johnny Pineapple must have a heck of a dental plan, kids!

Thanks for the record Marilyn!

RATING: 4.5 Pretty Mermaids of the Southeastern Seas out of 5

Havana in Hi-Fi

Richard Hayman and his Orchestra - "Havana in Hi-Fi" (1957) - Mercury Records

Hello Friends,

This record was a great thrift store find and we're enjoying the hell out of it while we suck down some mojitos and wait for the summer sun to set.

We were first introduced to bespectacled bandleader Richard Hayman on his record, Voodoo (1959).  (Review here.)  This LP, like that one, has a very soundtracky quality to it.  The heavily orchestrated arrangements are at times classical, at times jazzy, with hints of exotica and a healthy dose of spaghetti western.  (As Tiki T. points out the opening number, "Rhapsodero" would not sound out of place in a Quentin Tarantino movie!)     

The liner notes on the back of the record describe in great detail the recording process and instruments used!  In the 50's, the term "High Fidelity" was used by record labels to help market their products by promising a fuller, more authentic sound.  (Eventually, the term "Hi Fi" became pretty generic and was mostly used to replace "phonograph" or "record player.")  So if you care you can read about the "authentic"-sounding oboe on "Caminito", what kind of RCA microphones were used on the violas, or how the track "Love and the World Loves With You" is a real "treat for tweeter fans", you can! 

Plus, we love the cover!  We're always suckers for a bongos and a brunette with nice gams!

RATING: 4 Tropical Merengues out of 5

Soft Lights and Sweet Music

Stanley Black and his Orchestra - "Soft Lights and Sweet Music" (1958) - Richmond High Fidelity

Hello Friends,

An imprint of London Records, the Richmond High Fidelity record label was a budget label that re-released mono and stereo LP's in the U.S. from 1958 to 1963 and sold for $1.98.  What a bargain!

British bandleader & conductor, Stanley Black delivers some swinging, late night instrumental lounge music on this 1958 LP.  Lush and softly exotic, its the perfect soundtrack to a balmy spring night at the old tiki bar.

The highlights here include a trio of Cole Porter songs, "Just One of Those Things", "Begin the Beguine" and "Why Can't You Behave?"; the Rodgers & Hart ballad, "My Heart Stood Still"; the Exotica staple "Bali Ha'i"; the South-of-the-Border lounge of "Adios" & "Estrellita"; and the jumpy "Alice Blue Gown"-- which would sound right at home in a Woody Allen movie.

RATING: 4.5 Trips to the Moon on Gossamer Wings out of 5   

Romantica!

Martin Denny - "Romantica" (1961) - Liberty

Hello Friends,

Tonight on the turntable?  How about the lush and exotic sounds of Martin Denny?  I'll drink to that!

Actually we picked up this gem in a used bin during Record Store Day.  Another great Martin Denny album cover featuring the incomparable "face of Exotica", Miss Sandy Warner and those inviting eyes!

As the liner notes state, "Denny has chosen twelve selections that are ideal for a dream voyage on an ocean of serene romance" and folks we couldn't have said it better ourselves!  

Pianos and vibraphones square off with exotic percussion sounds and lush string arrangements.  

Songs include: "And This Is My Beloved", "Romance", "My Reverie", "Magic is the Moonlight", "A Fine Romance", "Tenderly" and Denny's own compositions, "Love At Sight", "Aloha, I Love You" & "Blue Paradise".

RATING: 4 La Pampas Y La Punas out of 5 

Yma Sumac

Yma Sumac - "Miracles" (1972) - London Records

Hello Friends,

Our favorite Peruvian princess with a five octave vocal range is on the Vinyl in the Valley turntable tonight!

Yma Sumac is one of the legends of the 50's Exotica movement.  Contrary to popular belief, "Yma Sumac" was NOT born "Amy Camus" in Brooklyn, NY.  From what we can tell, however, she was born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo in Callao, Peru in 1922 and she may or may not have been a distant descendant of the last Incan emperor, Atahualpa.   

In any event, Yma Sumac's voice was unlike any other and she had a string of albums in the 50's that are essentials in the Exotica pantheon.  Albums like "Voice of the Xtabay" (1950), "Flahooley" (1951), "Legend of the Sun Virgin" (1952), "Mambo!" (1954) and "Fuego del Ande" (1959) helped defined the genre and sounded unlike anything else at the time-- or ever since!  From her baritone growls to her higher-than-normal soprano trills, she's really needs to be heard to be believed!

Miracles is Sumac's foray into rock & roll music.  Produced and arranged by none other than Les Baxter, the results are definitely weird and cheesey-- but in the best possible way.  Sumac's music of the 1950's was unlike anything anyone heard before-- give her an utempo, rock & roll backing band and that statement doubles in meaning!     

There's a very proggy feel to this record.  Her voice sounding more like something coming out of Rick Wakeman's early synthesizer rather than a South American woman's vocal chords! In fact, with all its strange and other-worldly sounds, lyrics and experimental (sometimes outlandish) arrangements, you can make the argument that Exotica was to lounge music as Prog Rock was to rock & roll.   

Thanks to Danny & Ross for this record!

RATING: 4.5 Descendants of Atahualpa out of 5

8 Days of Xmas: The Three Suns - "A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas" (1959)

The Three Suns - "A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas" (1959) - RCA Victor

Hello Friends,

Fill that collins glass to the tippy top and grab some tinsel because we're Ding Dong Dandy'ing 'til the wee hours with The Three Suns.  From the awesome cover art to the music contained in the grooves, this is an outstanding Christmas LP.  Perfect for a festive and space age tiki party on the moon!

In addition to the usual organ, accordion & guitar interplay, the Suns also employ some swinging drums, some bells, chimes, an oboe and two (count 'em) tubas!

First Lady Mamie Eisenhower: The Early Years
(Gil Elvren)

Every track is awesome and it sounds like no other Christmas LP we've ever heard!  Plus, check out that cover!  Looks like some holiday cheer is about to spread!  

FUN FACTS: Hey kids, did you know that The Three Suns were the favorite band of First Lady Mamie Eisenhower!  

RATING: 5 Ding Dong Dandys out of 5

Other Worlds, Other Sounds

Esquivel & his Orchestra - "Other Worlds Other Sounds" (1958) - RCA Victor

Hello Friends,

Tonight we're coming to you from the Space Age Bachelor Pad.

"Zoo-wee!" is the word that comes to mind when listening to this classic lounge LP!   

Mexican-born pianist and bandleader, Juan Garcia Esquivel, burst on to the scene in the late 1950's with instrumental cocktail music that was a generation ahead of its time! Known as "The King of Space Age Pop", Esquivel embraced the then-relatively-new Stereophonic recording techniques and really let loose in the recording studio.  He would arrange and deconstruct familiar standards; infuse the most modern of studio techniques; blend in his jazz, latin and classical influences and send them off in a sonic spaceship.  The finished product is melodic, percussive, whimsical and unlike anything else you've ever heard! 

 

Vocal choruses are used throughout the album as musical Exclamation points adding just the right amount of "Pop!" or "Zoo-Zoo"-ing.  Instrumental glissandos became his trademark.  Instruments-- like an organ, harp or steel guitar-- would bend notes up several pitches in a smooth, fell swoop!  Like traveling through space & time at the speed of light! 

From the red-dressed hottie dancing seductively against an alien backdrop on the cover (one of our ALL TIME FAVORITES, btw) to the whimsical and alien-sounding notes within its grooves, this album is a classic.   Each of its twelve songs are stand-out examples of pure musical genius!  Muy Bueno, Senor Esquivel, MUY BUENO! 

RATING: 5 Space Age Bachelor Pads out of 5

The Bax is Back

Les Baxter and His Orchestra & Chorus - "Kaleidoscope" (1955) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

We've got some early Les Baxter ("The Bax") on the turntable tonight!  The sublime twelve instrumental tracks on Kaleidoscope pre-dates the really groundbreaking Exotica stuff that would comprise Baxter's LP's of the late 50's/early 60's. 

But like a morning mist on a Tahitian beach, beneath the melodies of these 12 tracks you can hear faint whispers of more exotic instruments, jungle rhythms, wordless choruses and other-worldly sonic experiments! 

Kind of hate the shitty LP cover, though. Looks like a Christmas decoration my grandmother threw out!

RATING: 3.5 Aprils in Portugal out of 5

Comin' in the Back Door

¡ Ay Caramba !

The Baja Marimba Band - "Baja Marimba Band" (1964) - A&M Records

Hola Friends,

We're going down tonight-- South of the Border-style-- with the debut album by the legendary Baja Marimba Band!

Led by marimba player extraordinaire, Julius Wechter, and produced/arranged by one Mr. Herb Alpert, The Baja Marimba Band was formed in part to cash in on the fiesta-style music started by the likes of the Tijuana Brass and Sergio Mendes in the early 1960's.  Their whimsical, laid-back lounge style has its roots in latin jazz and Exotica.  (In fact, Wechter, a talented percussionist, cut his teeth playing with Martin Denny in the 50's.)  

The songs are percussion-heavy (lots of bongos, vibes and marimbas, obviously), with flamenco guitar, the occasional brassy burst and spaghetti western-type wordless choruses thrown in for good measure!  The song selections range from melodic and atmospheric ("Maria Elena", "Charade", "Samba de Orpheu" "December's Child") to downright zany ("Up Cherry Street" & "Acapulco 1922")!  

"Comin' in the Back Door" would be the group's first and highest-charting single.

And don't let the fake mustaches and sombreros fool you, this band was about as Mexican as a Burrito Bowl from Taco Bell!

RATING: 4 Frito Banditos out of 5

Voodoo Child

Richard Hayman and His Orchestra - "Voodoo!" (1959) - Mercury Records

Hello Friends,

The natives are restless on Vinyl in the Valley tonight!   I'm busy playing records and mixing up some cocktails while Tiki T. is busy poking needles into some voodoo doll she made!  Man, I hope these chest pains are just indigestion!  

Aptly titled, "Voodoo", this album is weird and scary like a good tiki album should be.  The rhythms are tribal and spell-binding.  The moods are exotic and dense.  This reaks of atmosphere! Perfect for your next Halloween party!

As the liner notes state: "Here is the fearsome fire and the brewing pot.  Here are the frightening shadows... You're not alone any longer.  The room is shaken with the frantic dances of the hungans-- so-called priests of voodoo... the cauldron boils and froths.  The walls echo to the cries and wails of the believers.  That's voodoo!"

There's a very soundtrack-y feel to this record.  Its almost as if Hayman was scoring a 1950's travel documentary about Haitian sugar plantations after dark!  One "song"-- "Incantation"-- with its exaggerated shaman incantations, actually makes you feel like some of the bodies buried in the backyard have started stirring!  

Great Googly Moogly!  

RATING: 4.5 so-called priests of voodoo out of 5

Witchy Woman

Nelson Riddle & his Orchestra - "Witchcraft!" (1965) - Pickwick 

Hello friends,

October's here and we're celebrating Halloween all month long here on Vinyl in the Valley!

Best known for his soundtracks and famous arrangements for the likes of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt, et al, Nelson Riddle actually had a pretty successful recording career himself!

The highlights on this LP are his lush and jazzy instrumental versions of the title track, "It's So Nice to Have A Man Around the House", "You Fascinate Me So", "Darn That Dream", "Blue Safari" and especially, "Playboy's Theme".

The instrumentation is big in spots and sublime in others.  The devil's in the details like the vibraphone in "Darn That Dream", for instance, or the background guitar on "Blue Safari".  

And check out this little minx on the LP's cover... nothing says dim the lights, light some candles and fire up the old Ouijia Board like a sexy brunette, a black cat, and a cigarette-smoking skull!

"Nice pussy"

RATING: 4.5 cigarette-smoking skulls out of 5

Finger Pickin' Good

Les Baxter's "Wild Guitars" (1959) - Capitol Records

Ole Friends,

Tonight we're listening to another fun entry in the Les Baxter Capitol Records library.

Tiki tunes with a Latin and Flamenco flair featuring a trio of classical guitarists-- Nestor Amaral, Joe Carioca and Pepe Gamboa.  Andres Segovia this ain't!

From the opening frenzy of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance", these tracks contains Baxter's exotic percussion and choral accompaniments accented by the sounds of rhythmic six strings.  The standard, "My Buddy" is disguised as a feverish samba. The songs "Mandolino", "Cubana Mulatta" and "Cabayo" are Baxter originals and sound like something you might hear upon entering some South American cantina in the late 1950's.

The album closes with some excellent finger-picking on the speedy "Tico Tico"-- a song composed by Brazilian composer, Zequinha de Abreu in 1917 and made famous not only for its numerous versions but for the fact the Grateful Dead would often play in during their tuning jams between songs.  I'll take the Les Baxter version any day!

RATING: 4 Brazilian Slave Songs out of 5 

The Heart of Darkness

Les Baxter - "Les Baxter's African Jazz" (1959) - Capitol Records

Jambo Friends,

We're in store for a sonic tiki trip to the dark continent tonight and there's no better tour guide than Les Baxter.  So brush up on your swahili, put on your safari hats and let's go!

To quote the liner notes from this fantastic LP, "Africa still echoes with the primitive beat.  But the continent is no longer dark.  For ancient Africa has collided with the twentieth century and the result is a flamboyant explosion."  Hmm.

The titles to some of these songs is worth the price of admission alone: "Congo Train", "Elephant Trail", "Banana Boy", "Mombasa After Midnight", "Walkin' Watusi", "Ostrich Hunt", "Cairo Bazaar", "Jungalero" & "Balinese Bongos".  Between the cover art and these song titles, how could you see this record in 1959 and NOT buy it???

The album is all instrumental with all selections composed by Baxter.  There's some jazzy trombone and tenor sax playing, but what stands out are the exotic percussion sounds and sound effects, punctuated by manic bongos, floating vibraphones and tiptoeing marimbas.  (Not to mention some cool-sounding pre-surf rock guitar work on "Cairo Bazaar"!)

There's pretty much nothing not to love about this album... "a thrilling adventure in exotic sound!"

RATING: 4.5 Shrunken Heads out of 5

Forbidden Island

Martin Denny - "Forbidden Island" (1958) - Liberty Records

Hello friends and welcome to the Forbidden Island!

Why is it forbidden?  We're not sure exactly!  Perhaps its an island full of blood-thirsty headhunters?  Or, perhaps its inhabitants are giant, prehistoric beasts?  If we're lucky it is an exotic isle populated by sexy brunettes, dressed in sarongs, who tempt us with fancy rum drinks, a cool island breeze and the distant sounds of some out-of-this-world tiki music!

Whatever the reason, Forbidden Island is a classic of the Exotica genre.   Its Martin Denny's third album and it is a fantastic trip through the dark jungles, sandy beaches and swinging hotel lounges of the South Pacific!

While taking a break as house band at Don The Beachcomber's Bora Bora Lounge in the heart of Waikiki, Denny's quartet came up with a dozen atmospheric & hypnotic tracks including 5 originals ("Cobra", "Exotica", "Goony Birds", "Primitiva" and the title track) and some excellent covers ("Port Au Prince", "Bali Hai" & "March of the Siamese Children").  As far as instruments go there's a lot of string bass and piano, but there's also bongos, marimbas, celestes, xylophones, vibes and of course the highly exotic bird calling and special effects of percussionist, August Colon.  

What an album!  From start to finish each of these 3 minute masterpieces is a luau for your ears!   

And yes, that's Exotica girl, Miss Sandy Warner once again gracing a fantastic album cover!

RATING: 5 Mai Tai's out of 5  

Poking the Starfish

Les Baxter's Jewels of the Sea

As the LP Cover says, "Titillating Orchestrations for Listening and Loving"... well I for one AM titillated after these deep sea adventures of Mr. Baxter's.

The music here is lush and very cinematic.  Its like a soundtrack for a movie that doesn't exist! 

Jewels of the Sea stars Steve McQueen as "Decker" and Ernest Borgnine as his bumbling sidekick, "Spence".  Its the tale of two lovelorn sailors on leave on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu.  One night, after breaking up a fight at the local cantina, these two meet a beautiful woman wading in the water.  As they approach her, a thick, mysterious fog rolls in and when it clears, the woman is gone.  Thinking her drowned, Decker dives in tries to save her and he too is pulled down by the tide.  What he sees next, he can't believe!  Is he hallucinating from a blow to the head that he received in the bar fight? Or, is the woman a mermaid who tells him that the military's presence is disturbing their otherwise tranquil underwater kingdom?            

Sounds like something I'd get in line for! 

Also, I'm not sure if the girl on the cover is a mermaid or just a regular girl who can still look sexy while holding her breath?  Though I guess it really doesn't matter!

RATING: 3.5 sea monkeys out of a possible 5  

Get Lei'd!

Martin Denny - Hawaii Goes A Go-Go

Lounge music was largely on its way out by the late 1960's.  This 1966 LP was an attempt to cross-over to a more youthful audience and keep the party going!

In an effort to stay contemporary, Martin Denny does away with his fuller, more orchestral sound in favor of a lighter, discotech atmosphere.  In lieu of wild bird calls and exotic-sounding instruments, there's saccharine piano, hand claps, upbeat tempos and some real tinny-sounding electric guitar. 

Even the LP's cover art--  featuring a smart-looking blond with a confident gaze (and her finest go-go slacks!)-- pales in comparison to the surreal and forbidden women and landscapes from the exotica albums of a decade earlier. Like this one.

Overall, its not terrible... just seems like its trying a little too hard to stay relevant. 

RATING: 3 pairs of checkered hipster slacks out of a possible 5.

 

Ssssh... its Quiet Village

What a horribly-named album.  This village is not quiet at all!  Its full of ocean sounds, angry Hawaiians, exotic-sounding birds, sci-fi sounding organs and weird, spacey percussion.  Its like a tiki drink for your ears!


Great album cover too... wish my porch looked like that!


That's one Miss Sandy Warner gracing the cover.  Known as "The Exotica Girl", this saucy brunette with the "bedroom eyes" appeared on a bunch of album covers for Martin Denny in the 50's & 60's.  Not too shabby!  


I wonder if she held up with age... I couldn't find a recent photo.   Back in the day though, I certainly wouldn't kick her off my bamboo porch.  [winks and nudges guy next to me]