Exotic Percussion - Stanley Black And His Orchestra

Exotic Percussion
Stanley Black And His Orchestra
London SP 44004
1961

Available on a combo CD with Intimate Percussion, so I won't be posting a sample.

This is but one of the many great Phase 4 Stereo percussion LPs to collect. I read one rather harsh review of this album on Amazon. The reviewer was comparing this Black work with what he consider Black's better "small group and piano". Fortunately for me I don't have any of those records so, I guess, I can enjoy this album for what it is, a somewhat late entry into the exotica market, but one that covers all my exotica favorites. The music is kept fresh by blending early 60s light pop flourishes into the "Denny" inspired sound.

The engineering is excellent.

Why pick these treasures apart? Enjoy them all!

The Persuasive Trombone Of Urbie Green - Volume 2

The Poor Soul

The Persuasive Trombone Of Urbie Green
Volume 2
Command Records RS 838 SD
1962

Another great jacket design by Charles E. Murphy who created the look for early 60s Command covers which the competition copied on many occasions (or tried to).

This is a good album for swing lovers. And of course, you get that big beefy 60s Command sound.

From what I can tell, a combo CD import featuring Volumes 1 and 2 was announced in 2008, but never materialized. Seldom are Command releases to be found on any format other than vinyl.

The Soulful Stings

Within You Without You

Groovin' With The Soulful Strings
Arranged And Conducted By Richard Evans
Cadet Records LPS 796
1967

Wow! This album was a fun find! The music is sort of like jazz meets easy listening meets light funky 60s pop.

Group members include: Sol A. Bobrov and David Chausow - Violin, Arthur Ahlman and Harold Kupper - Viola, Karl B. Fruh, Emil Mittermann and Theodore Ratzer - Cello, Charles Stepney - Organ and Vibes, Lenard Druss and Vernice Green - Sax and Flute, Ronald Steel and Philip Upchurch - Guitar, Cleveland Eaton and Louis Satterfield - Bass, Philip R. Thomas - Bongos and Conga and Morris Jennings, Jr. - Drums.

There is a hard to find Japanese CD import floating around out there.

Inner Light

Another Exposure
The Soulful Strings
Arranged And Conducted By Richard Evans
Cadet Records LPS 805
1968

Great follow up album featuring a number of 60s light pop/jazz flavored covers and the odd-man-out psych sample above.

Nostalgic Swing Mood - The Knightsbridge Singing Strings

Cherokee

Nostalgic Swing Mood
The Knightsbridge Singing Strings
Purist SP-4
1964

This is one (number 4) of 10 "Knightsbridge" albums released by Purist according to Billboard. "The songs are all standards performed in a tempo to suit the mood theme of the particular album. All the albums are available in stereo.

There is no info to be found on Knightbridge and little on Purist Records, other that a few briefs in Billboard. The company head was Elliot Wexler. Purist was distributed by Wayne Record Corporation. One humorous brief in billboard states that Wexler received a fan letter from two dentists whose secretary had heard KS programmed on American Airlines and was so impressed that she suggested its use in their dental office as background music.

There you go... cool music to pull teeth by!

Cover illustration by Milton Glaser.

Viva Bossa Nova! - Laurindo Almeida And The Bossa Nova All Stars

Viva Bossa Nova!

Laurindo Almeida And The Bossa Nova All Stars
Capitol Records T 1759
1962

Terrific early 60s light/jazz pop Bossa Nova album!

Group member include: Howard Roberts and Al Viola – second guitar. Shelly Manne, Milt Holland and Chico Guerrero - percussion. Jimmy Rowles - electric organ, Bob Cooper - tenor sax, Don Fageruist - trumpet and Justin Gordon - flute.

Super tight work by Almeida who was invited to the United States in 1947 by Stan Kenton. He played for Kenton's band during the height of it's success in the 1940s. He won Grammy Awards for his work in 1959, 61 and 65.

There are a few Japan import CDs floating around out there (in stereo).

Martin Denny - Spanish Village

Martin Denny
Spanish Village
Liberty LST-7409
1965

Light and fun Latin lounge entry from Denny featuring some nice Spanish guitar work.

Not available on CD or by purchase/download. I sometimes post a single sample if the artist is a bit more obscure. But I refrain from doing that with someone as popular as Denny in my effort to be cool about ownership of material.

If you are new to Denny, catch up on who he was by reading his wiki page. His later work seems less recognized, but I find the music every bit as enjoyable as his ground breaking early stuff.

Brass Impact - Warren Kime

Prelude To A Kiss

Brass Impact
The Brass Choir Conducted By Warren Kime
Command Records RS 910 SD
1967

I shy away from brass albums for the most part, but decided to take a chance on this album because it was released on Command.

I'm glad I grabbed this record! This is killer 60s brass. Apparently this is the first of three "Impact" albums by Kime released on Command. The engineering is outstanding.

Spaceagepop features a nice article on the Kime and this series of recordings. This volume isn't to be found on CD (Impact 2 can be found on CD/purchase download).

Million Seller Hits - 101 Strings - Simon And Garfunkel

The Boxer

101 Strings
Play Million Seller Hits Of Today
Written By Simon And Garfunkel
The Sound Of Magnificence
Alshire S-5156
1969

Here is one of those fun 101 Strings you run across from time to time. This one isn't available like many 101s are on CD.

Fortunately Monty Kelly (house arranger) was on the job. He added enough 60s pop instrumental flourishes to keep the tunes from falling into pure string-based easy listening.

The Boxer is actually way weird compared to the rest of the album. I did not overlay that guitar riff! That crunchy guitar is actually in the song!

Scheherazade - Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Scheherazade
Rimsky-Korsakov
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by William Steinberg
Capitol P8305
1956

If it wasn't for great cheese cake album jackets like this I would never listen to... classical music. Scheherazade seems to be the one piece of music that inspires some fab cover art.

Spicy stuff for 1956. Sex sells...

Strings Aflame - Esquivel And His Orchestra

Esquivel And His Orchestra
Strings Aflame
RCA Victor LSP-1988
1959

This album is available on a combo CD (with New Sounds In Stereo) and possibly by purchase/download, although it is hard to tell, the art is different on the titles I searched for.

Love the cover that is "aflame". I sometimes shy away from "strings" albums because they can be "easy listening dull" if you know what I'm saying... But Esquivel is a good bet and boy, this is a great album. Sure it's easy listening/light pop, but it is very inventive stuff. And Esquivel uses more than just strings! There are all sorts of percussion, a touch of accordion and harpsichord, some vocal touches and, of course, Esquivel's piano.

The engineering is top shelf. RCA made good use of stereo. I would have to say I would rather listen to the stereo version over the mono.

Esquivel does a great cover of Misirlou on this album.

Never a dull moment! Terrific!

Valley Of The Dolls Featuring The Young Lovers

A Man And A Woman

Valley Of The Dolls
Featuring The Young Lovers
Design Records DLP 286
1968

Love the lurid cover! Much of the music on this obscure album is 60s lounge style jazz. A few songs, especially the title track, Valley Of The Dolls, must have been added from other sources to fill out the album because the style is completely different than the lounge thing. The band isn't super tight, but in a case like this, that just adds to the fun.

I don't know who "The Young Lovers" are. That sounds like the name for a vocal group. But this LP is strictly instrumental. Apparently The Young Lovers also did a cover of songs from the movie Barbarella for Design. That record sports a fabulous cover!

Curiously some of the copy on the front cover is repeated in French.

Korla Pandit At The Pipe Organ

Korla Pandit At The Pipe Organ
Fantasy 3286
1960

Signed: Best Wishes To Jay - Korla Pandit Nov 12, 1978

I've read on the web that there is speculation over who is the Godfather of "Exotica", Pandit or Martin Denny? I don't know if that matters. I think "exotica" just happened and you have to define the term which is also up for debate. 

To me it seems that many people working at the time were taking cues from folk music and Denny did what he did and got lucky. Pandit created his "India Mystic" persona, apparently to help him get work because it was easier to land gigs as an India than an AfroAmerican. He would have naturally developed his style of blending domestic music with folk music in an effort to support his character. Both artists seem to have developed independently and happened to be in the right place at the right time to reap rewards of their efforts.  The public was looking for, "exotic destinations" and folks like Pandit and Denny filled a need.

What I don't know is who can be credited with playing the organ in the percussive style that, for the most part, I've only heard Pandit play?

See this page for my Pandit album cover collection.

Paradise - Arthur Lyman

Paradise
Arthur Lyman
GNP Crescendo 606
1964

As with most, if not all Lyman albums, you can purchase/download this one.

Released on the heels of of Lyman At The Crescendo and followed up with Cast Your Fate To The Wind (a reissue of At The Crescendo). These two albums are pure Lyman exotica. This album features covers of many exotica favorites including Poincianna, Shangri-La, Pearly Shells, Baubles Bangles and Beads and Song Of India. Lyman charted with his single Love For Sale in 1963, so he was surfing a crest of success during this period with his brand of exotica.

Excellent stuff.

Lyman '66 - Arthur Lyman

Lyman '66
HIFI Records Life Series L-1031
1965

We continue Lyman In The Attic Day... here in the attic... as I work through a few more Lyman albums which appeared on top of my stack-o-wax.

This album is available, as I think most Lyman albums are, for purchase/download.

This is a "softer" Lyman, compared to the 7 or 8 other Lyman albums I've listened to/bloggerd. Jazzy and soft. Nice.  And you will find some bird calls in The (Jungle) Cat, a track from side two.

This is one of the albums recorded in the Aluminum Dome on the grounds of The Hilton Hawaiian Village. The sound is amazing.

The Now Sounds Of Today

Just Lovers by Joe S. Johnson/John Muir

Crying Time Again by Dennis Bohne/John Muir

The Now Sounds Of Today
Columbine Records
CRH-266

The Atomic Attic dusts off another song-poem album for you enjoyment.

A song-poem was created by companies such as Columbine who ran want ads in the back of magazines for poems. The ads promised to turn the poems into songs suggesting that the author could "make it" in the music business. "Making it" of course required that you pay the company to turn your poem into a song.

Poems were seldom edited and there was very little if any time for the cover artists, in this instance Kay Weaver and one of the industries more well known names John Muir, to practice a tune. So the results are usually, well... check out the samples above.

Calcutta - Larry Walker And His Orchestra

Algiers

Caravan

Calcutta
Larry Walker And His Orchestra
Pirouette Records FM 83

Obscure budget release featuring a band that sounds very much like The Three Suns. Check out the fun version of Caravan. But there is another song, the last track on side 1 that sounds "Calcutta-ish" (even though Algiers is no where near Calcutta... I'm just saying...) and not at all like the rest of the record.  I'm assuming that Pirouette probably inserted the track to help fill out the record. There are three tracks on this album that sound like filler.

This is an odd but fun space age record from the late 50s.

The Shadow Of Your Smile - Arthur Lyman

The Shadow Of Your Smile
Arthur Lyman
HI FI Records Life Series L 1033
1966

This one is available on CD, as all Lyman LPs maybe. So sorry, I will not be posting a sample

It's Arthur Lyman day up here in The Atomic Attic!
One of my favorite tunes on this LP is a cover of Yesterday (Beatles 1965). This album seems to have a touch more of a 60s lounge jazz feel to it. The first track on the B side, Marobi, is typical great Lyman exotica.  There is also a curious rocking cover of Hang On Sloopy found on the B side that sounds as though the group just decided to jam to fill out the record.

The Exotic Sounds Of Arthur Lyman At The Crescendo

The Exotic Sounds Of Arthur Lyman At The Crescendo
GNP Crescendo Records GNP 605
1963

Here's a Lyman album that was apparently released on CD in 2002 and can be had purchase/download if you look hard enough.

Stunning exotica album from Lyman (I have yet to blog one that isn't).

The Crescendo was a club located on Sunset Strip in Hollywood. I didn't have any luck finding an exterior or decent interior photo of the club. However, it appears only top notch acts appeared there and the place was frequented by the rich and famous.

Cast Your Fate To The Wind

The Exotic Sounds Of Arthur Lyman

GNP Crescendo 607

1965

This is the 1965 reissue of Crescendo. The label flipped sides on this release (side 1 became side 2).

Love For Sale - Arthur Lyman

Love For Sale
Arthur Lyman
HI FI Records Life Series
L1009
1963

I'm working my way through a number of Lyman albums I picked up a while ago. I've blogged about seven of Lyman's albums to date. Of course, as far as I know, most if not all Lyman's albums can be had on CD or by purchase/download.

So far, I have yet to be even remotely let down by a Lyman project. I have to say, when I looked at this cover, I wondered what the deal was. Lyman's portrait under a the title "Love For Sale" just seems odd for some reason. I wondered if is this album was going to be "light" or easy listening/romantic.

No fear... Sure, there are lots of song titles with the word "love" in them. But this is pure exotica Lyman to the bone. The music is inventive, moody or mood setting and very cool.

The bongo effort on a track titled, simply, Love is totally smoking and must be Lyman's vision of hot sweaty love...

Good stuff and no need to get all weird over the cover.  Oh, and I wanted to say... I bet Lyman had the best collection of Hawaiian shirt ever!

The Trembling Of A Leaf - Ray Hartley

The Trembling Of A Leaf

Ray Hartley

The Trembling Of A Leaf

With David Terry And His Orchestra

RCA Victory LPM-1659

1958

I found an online mention of Hartley doing a benefit in Australia (his home country) in 2008. He would have been 79 years old.

This may Hartley's only album, or the only Hartley album I can find doing a search. A nice effort that seems to fit nicely with other period contemporary easy listening. Hartley has a nice light touch.

The cover photo was a set up on the beach of Long Island's Colony Club.

Hear How To Touch Type

Hear How To Touch Type
For Beginners or Refresher Course
Brother

It's fun to listen and learn...

Ah... OK...

They do not explain key commands.

I'm KIDDING!!!

They Laughed When I Sat Down - Billy Rowland

Love, Your Spell Is Everywhere

They Laughed When I Sat Down
Billy Rowland And His Thumbtack Piano
RCA Victor LSP-1872
1959

Light bachelor pad fare. The album seems to me to be a little uneven with its blend of lounge, honky tonk and dixieland.

Group members include: Bob Haggart - bass, Terry Snyder - drums, Al Caiola - guitar, Al Klink - sax and Bobby Byrne - Trombone.

I did managed to discover that "Thumbtack" piano refers to actual thumbtacks Rowland applied to piano hammers. A sound that you hear on his "honky tonk" work.

Music For A Privare Eye - Ralph Marterie

Ralph Marterie And His Marlboro Men
Music For A Private Eye
Swinging Themes of Famous TV Whodunits.
Mercury Records SR 60109
1959

Light bachelor pad big band swing take on "private eye" themes.

Tracks are available purchase/download, but you don't get this great cover!

I Could Have Danced All Night - Les Baxter

Quite Village

Les Baxter
I Could Have Danced All Night
Pickwick PC 3048

It's Les Baxter day up here in The Atomic Attic. Or is it?

In my effort to find the rarest and greatest bargain basement records EVER... I bring you a Les Baxter album that is only part Baxter. Yes, who would have thunk that anyone would do an easy listening cover album of Baxter's work? Not me. But here it is. Only when you look at the small type on the back cover do you realize that the tunes are performed by someone else. Additionally... if you didn't already know better... when you glance at the record label you'll note that Quite Village is the only song Baxter actually wrote. The heck you say!  No, really... there is only one actual Baxter tune on this album and that song isn't performer by Baxter.

Fabulous!

Original Quite Village - Les Baxter

Les Baxter's Original Quite Village
Capitol Records ST 8-1846
1963

From the November 23, 1963 Billboard Special Merit Picks listing: Les Baxter's exotic collection of songs provides an excellent escape vehicle for the listener. The sounds and atmosphere of the South Seas, the Near East and an illusionary Shangri La are captured by strings, percussion and soft brass. Attractive gal on cover should help at point of purchase.

It appears that many of the tunes on this LP are available for purchase by download. A number or all of the tracks appear to have added to this collection from earlier projects. I think this record is a compilation album Capitol put out just after Baxter left to focus on film scores (in 1962 according to spaceagepop.com).

Anyway, the tracks are assembled here in such a way to make for a great listen! Recommended!

Jewel Of The Sea - Les Baxter

Jewel Of The Sea
Les Baxter
Capitol Records T 1537 (monophonic)
1961

Available by digital download.

Wonderful cover with music that takes you down into the depths looking for the "jewel".

Great stuff. Baxter produces the "exotica" sound or "mood" with instruments sans sound effects (which I'm also a big fan of).

The song "Jewels Of The Sea" was composed originally by Les Baxter as "Katia's Theme" for the American International picture, Black Sunday. This is interesting, at least to me, because Black Sunday is a well thought of Italian horror film by Mario Bava. Apparently Baxter scored the movie for the U.S. release. I now need to go find a copy of that film!

Skip Martin's Swinging With Prince Igor

Skip Martin's Adaptations For Symphony And Jazz Band
Swinging With Prince Igor And Tannhauser
Somerset SF-16000
1959

This record was a big project for D. L. Miller and Somerset. From the fab cover to the jazz band and orchestra no expense was spared to make what I would consider to be a concept record.

The recording is an interesting blend of classical, jazz and swing. Side one is a continuous track.

The record is available for purchase as a double CD along with Scheerajazz (Somerset P-9700).

Martin was also responsible for several great "percussion" albums on Somerset (Perspectives In Percussion Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Grand Bahama Holiday - Fred Callender's Calypsonians

Pe Pi Ta Corazon

Grand Bahama Holiday
Grand Bahama Hotel
Recorded On The Scene At The Jack Tar
Fred Callender's Calypsonians
Carib LP-2024

This album looks like another "island" lounge recording. Which it is. But the quality of this act is heads and tails above most Caribbean lounge records I've found.

While the group members are natives of the Caribbean this album is mostly Latin, including Samba, Cha Cha, Rhumba, Merengue and Bossa Nova.

The group consists of Fred Callender on bass, Edner Guignard (pianist and arranger), Frank "Bud" Munnings, drummer and Foxy Dean on congo drums and maracas.

Great fun!

The War Of The Worlds - Invasion From Mars

The War Of The Worlds
Invasion From Mars
Audio Rarities LPA 2355

This is a condensed one record version of the original Orson Wells 1938 broadcast that appears to have been marketed to schools to "aid Drama Students".

This is an obscure pressing. I bought it for the fabulous cover art. The pressing itself sounds like it was recorded from another record. I'm not sure, but the quality is lacking.

Rock-On '74

Earache My Eye

Rock-On '74
Dimensional Sound
T.E.J. Records TEJ-200

What could be better than finding a covers album by a group not listed on the cover? Wait a second... there are nothing but song titles and the name of the record label to be found on the cover. Back to the question... What could be better? Discovering that there is not one, but two records inside the flimsy jacket! As if more could be better.

This is another effort to trick unwary record buyers into thinking that they were purchasing the original song. Come to think of it... wasn't it K-Tell that actually used "...by the original artists..." as a way to market compilation albums? There were so many of these records being sold in hardware stores and your local grocery stores that people may have caught on at some point.

I love these albums because the results of trying to cover pop hits, note for note, are so unpredictable and frequently entertaining.

And who were the Dimension Sound and why would T.E.J. even bother to mention them on the label? I noted in another silly blog post found here that the studio group is credited for the tracks laid down on a disco covers album, with a barely recognizable atomic bomb blast graphic on the cover, for a label called Goldendisc.

Exotic Love - Martin Denny

 The Love Of Love

Exotic Love
Martin Denny
Liberty LST-7585
1968

I'm not Denny historian, but I love exotica and have many Denny albums in my collection. I also love Denny's later work. These later albums do not get the same attention as his earlier albums. This album almost seems obscure.

As far as I can tell you have to find a copy of this album to enjoy any track found on it. Voodoo Love is on this album but this version is not the version (sans bird calls) that is available for purchase by download. Denny must have recorded the tune again for this album(?) or the "remastered" version has bird calls added. I have no idea.

One curious thing about my copy is that the record is fixed with a "side 2" label (the same label) on both sides of the record.

Stockhausen

Stockhausen
Candide CE 31022

I'm no expert on electronica or Karlheinz Stockhausen. But I found this album and can't find another image of the cover online. So I post it for reference.

There are two pieces on the LP. They are titled Kontakte and Refrain (both recorded in 1968).

I believe I found Refrain as a 99¢ download on Amazon. Kontakte seems to be available on CD.

The music is somewhat minimalist, if I may allow myself an uneducated opinion. And, like many electronica works that appeal to me... the audio trip the recording takes you on is one that is moody and a touch sci-fi.

Rhythm And Blues Hits Of '64

Walkin' The Dog

Rhythm And Blues Hits Of '64
Ripple Blast Singers And Band
Power S 9001

I'm not sure what to make of this Atomic Attic find. Even though the title suggests the record was released in 1964, dates found in the copy on the back of the jacket indicates a release date as late as 1968. The copy also suggests follow up releases covering the "hits" of '66, '67 and '68

There are lots of online search returns on Ripple Blast Singers, but I could find no hard bio information. The cover band may have released as many as four albums(?).