Jackie Gleason - Rebound

Jackie Gleason Presents

Rebound
Capitol SW1075
1959

Gleason credits himself with the cover painting. According to the back cover, this is his 14th album.

This album is another fine understated effort that only Gleason seems to be able to pull off. The music drifts through both sides creating a very soothing atmosphere that is easy to get lost in.

Few other artists I listen to manage to create and sustain a mood like Gleason.

101 Strings - A Bridal Bouquet

A Bridal Bouquet
101 Strings
Somerset SF-6400
1958

Great early 101 Strings cover of whacky little bride, who, several days after the wedding murdered her husband with a butcher knife.

Oh, come on... that never happened... but she does look a little whacky and tense. Anything could happen.

The Disadvantages Of You - The Brass Ring

California Dreaming

The Disadvantages Of You
The Brass Ring
Phil Bodner
Dunhill D-50017
1967

One of Enoch Light's stable of musicians, Phil Bodner created a mid to late 60s sound known The Now Sound. California Dreaming is an example of that light swing.

I bought this album for the fun cover. The music is great light 60s fare.

Lionel Hampton BIG Band

Lionel Hampton
Big Band
Cleff Records MG C-670
1955

Great space age cover on this vintage Hampton album. And the music is a blend, big band heavy on the bachelor pad vibe. I remember, as a kid, seeing Hampton playing on talk shows. I think he appeared frequently on shows such as The Merv Griffin Show.

This album was re-released as part of a two record set on Verve in 1982.

I found the clip below recorded in 1953. This is very groovy stuff.

Taboo - Exotic Rhythms Of The Jungle

Facii

Exotic Rhythms Of The Jungle
Taboo
Chief Walatghi and his Afro-Drummers
Silver Seal UT-139

Wonderful sexy cover on this album don't you think? I can't find a release date, but I'd say mid to late 50s.

This is the first time I've see this record cover, but not the first time I've heard this record. So here's another vinyl mystery. The exact same record was released by Promenade Records (see my post of that album here). I couldn't find a release date for that LP either. But the back cover indicates that the record is a "Cawands's Group" project. The song titles are probably correct on that release. That scant information seems plausible as to who the "real" artist is. The song titles are different on this release and appear to be contrived when compared to the lyrics.

I suggested in my first post that the music is folk dressed up in an exotica cover. I suspect this is a re-released of material. The song titles being different (made up) on this LP suggests that maybe Silver Seal "lifted" this material and wanted to avoid advertising that they actually repurposed someone else's recording.

Who knows. But Chielf Walatghi And His Afro-Drummers may be from somewhere deep in the heart of darkest fantasy land!

Johnny Duffy - An Excursion In Hi-Fi

Moon Of Manakoora

Johnny Duffy
At The Magnificent Theater Pipe Organ
An Excursion In Hi Fi
Liberty SL 9003
1957

Interesting Liberty project. As I've said before, I have yet to run across a Liberty label record that I don't find interesting. I'm a big Korla Pandit fan, but generally I just don't get into organ LPs.

The 4th track on the A side of this album finally serves up a nice exotica tune. The jacket is as interesting as a few of the tracks. The cover is nice visually, the back cover is simply black with no information. When you open the gate fold you are met with not only that spread of copy and photos, but also four additional pages glued to the spine.

The insert is the story of the organ used for this recording.  Another organist of note (and actor best remembered for his role as George Wilson on CBS's TV series Dennis The Menance), Joseph Kerns had his house built around an organ that was purchased from Warner Brothers Studio in 1955. The insert features photos of the space age exterior and interior design with other photos of the organ works. I can't find any mention online of the house, if it still exists or what happened to it and the organ.

The album isn't the most consistent offering, thematically, but there are a few atmospheric tunes and, of course, you get the great collectible jacket.

Cinemagic Sounds - Richard Hayman

Theme From The Killing Of Sister George

Cinemagic Sounds
Switched-On Movie Music
Richard Hayman And His Orchestra
Command ABC 941S

Terrific space age music from Hayman. There are plenty of 60s gems on this LP.

The album comes from the period after Enoch Light sold his Command label to ABC. ABC didn't understand cover design or how Light used the gate fold. Jacket real estate is wasted here. But the engineering is still very good.

This album falls towards the end of Hayman's discography found on Space Age Pop.

Tom Tom Club - You Sexy Thing

Tom Tom Club
You Sexy Thing
Sire - Reprise 0-40600
1992

Curious Tom Tom Club 12 inch record which I can find no other example of online.

This appears to be a legitimate release. Sire and Reprise logos are found on the jacket and label. The featured song, You Sexy Thing, I believe is found on the 1991 release Dark Sneak Of Love Action. According to Wikipedia, during this time Frantz and Tina were into "techno" and did the remix for the before mentioned project. I do not have that CD so I can't compare songs.

The remix is attributed to "Marc Kinchen for MCT".

The LP finishes up with an "extended album version" of "Who Wants An Ugly Girl?" (also from "Dark Sneak Of Love Action"). Both this LP and "Love Action" were produced by M. Roule & B. Martin.

All I can think of is that this was some sort of side project for Frantz and Weymouth (or with their consent). Apparently there are relatively few copies floating around out there.

Lenny Dee - Hi-Dee-Fi

Hi-Dee-Fi
Lenny Dee
Organ Solos With A Beat
Decca Records DL 8406
1957

On of the many great graphic and whacky cover illustrations gracing Lenny Dee's album jackets. This appears to be his 5th album release. Dee received a nice release blurb ("...sparkles as usual...") in the Feburary 2, 1957 issue of Billboard.

Typical Dee percussive style augmented with touches of space age vibe. Stormy Weather is a nice track, available as download from Amazon.

Pac-Man Fever

Pac-Man Fever
Buckner & Garcia
Columbia/CBS
1982

OK... this is the LP release of a popular novelty recording which featured songs about classic arcade games and uses sound effects from that game to help sell the tune. Apparently, the album was completely re-recorded for a 1999 and 2002 release.

The story (from Wikipedia) is that Buckner and Garcia could not obtain rights at that time from Sony and were forced to recreate a lot of the sound effects which disappointed many fans who then began a search for the original vinyl.

I found a copy in a junk store.

Korla Pandit - The Grand Moghul Suite - Part 1

The Grand Moghul Suite
Part 1
Korla Pandit
India Records
Korla Pandit Productions 1001
1971

Another terrific autographed Pandit album cover with a number of great exotica tracks on the inside.