Exotica You'll Like A Lot-ica!

I'm tempted to qualify the Exotica label (for the sake of this post) by adding "Latin." As in, "Latin Exotica." Or "Latin-American Exotica." Or Cuban-Island-Afro-Samba-Pop Exotica, or something. Exotica does seem to have two fairly distinct branches--what I call the bird-call/volcano-god type (just made that up) vs. the type related to tangos, sambas, rumbas, and whatever-a's.

And it probably has plenty of in-between examples. In fact, we know it does. Andre Kostelanetz and Percy Faith produced a number of sides that are sort of like Martin Denny or Les Baxter, but not quite, just as Baxter and Denny made their share of "pop" sides.

What does this have to do with today's playlist, you ask? Not much. Just pointing out that there are two distinct types of Exotica, at least in theory. And that, no matter how much one quibbles over which strand is the correct strand, the label is routinely used for both. And I've always wanted to type "no matter how much one quibbles." I feel so sophisticated.

I know that Exotica allegedly started with Les Baxter's 1952 release Ritual of the Savage. But how to explain Carmen Cavallaro's voodoo version of Deep Night from 1951, which sounds not unlike similar sides from the late 1940s recorded by Barclay Allen with and without Freddy Martin? And are we to assume that Ferrante and Teicher's 1952 Caravan and/or Rosa Linda's spaced-out version of Tabu (1953) were copies of Baxter? Or how about F&T's Blue Moon, which I didn't get ripped in time for this post? It has every enchanted-island cliche known to humanity. Well, a lot of them, anyway.

What are we to make of Mitch Miller's 1952 Cuban Nightingale (which I misspelled "Nightengale" on the MP3) , which sounds like Baxter minus most of the subtlety?

And we've got Exotica-sounding stuff all the way back to the 1920s. Earlier examples are out there, I'm sure, seeing as how Classical Exotica had been around since the late 1800s, at least--Cui's Orientale, Satie's Three Gymnopedies, Debussy's Arabesques, and so on.

Am I suggesting it didn't all start with Baxter? Maybe.

And the Tommy Dorsey recording is exhibited as proof that Esquivel-style choral shenanigans predate the era of Esquivel. All I want to know is this: are the singers saying "Bling," "Pling," or "Plink"? And did Esquivel hear this record?

You've read the intro. Now hear the music: Exotica You'll Like a Lot-ica!

PLAYLIST
Coubacaban--Andre Kostelanetz, 1937.
Tico-Tico--Percy Faith, 1945.
Baia--Percy Faith, 1945.
Deep Night--Samba--Carmen Cavallaro, 1951.
Brazil--Morton Gould, 1946.
Negra Consentida--Percy Faith, 1945.
El Choclo--International Novelty Orch., Nat Shilkret, 1928.
Caravan--Ferrante & Teicher, 1952.
At the Cross Roads--Harry Roy, 1943.
Amor--Percy Faith, 1944.
Cuban Nightingale--Mitch Miller Horns, Chorus, 1952.
Cumana--Percy Faith, 1949.
Jungle Drums--Morton Gould, 1950.
Kamasutra--Buddy De Franco, 1953.
La Bamba de Vera Cruz--MGM Orch., 1948.
Kashmiri Song--Andre Kostelanetz, 1954.
Misirlou--Freddy Martin Orch., Barclay Allen (piano), Stuart Wade, 1948.
The Moon of Manakoora--Andre Kostelanetz, 1954.
Tabu--Rosa Linda, 1953.
La Paloma--Columbia Concert Orch., 1926.
Tamboo--Francisco Cavez (Quintet?), c. 1953.
Siboney--Jesse Crawford, 1931.
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World--Tommy Dorsey, 1953.




Lee

Criswell for Attorney General!

"TORTURE! TORTURE! IT PLEASURES ME!!"

Hear Criswell. (Photo, file from The Criswell Home Page.)

Tommy Sez...

A message from Mike from Twink

When I received this email from Mike Langlie (shown eating a Playtime disc), my first response was, "Twink, the toy piano band?"

Turns out to be just as interesting as it sounds. Plus, there are sound-collage samples, one of which I listened to and liked very much. And I'm not a big sound collage fan. Mike's note:

Hi! Mike here from Twink, the toy piano band. There's a new version of the theme from Rosemary's Baby at the bottom of my website's Music page. It's a Halloween special and will only be up until early November so listen while you can!

http://twink.net/music.html

Be sure to check it out. I had a Playtime disc I was going to toss out, but that would be like wasting good food....


Lee

Perry, pumpkins, patio, lost poses

Earlier today, the cats were posting perfectly (okay, purrfectly) on the patio, as if having a meeting. They not only looked posed, they looked purposeful. What were they up to? What were they planning? More importantly, did they intend to keep the pose long enough for me to run upstairs, get my camera, run back downstairs and out the back door, and shoot?

Of course not. They're cats, and cats religiously refuse to maintain poses. By the time I got back with my Kodak, only one cat had stuck around. The rest were... who knows where? Whatever they had been planning was in the bag. So much for the feline pose of the century.

They just did it to annoy me. In fact, they accomplished much more than that--I recall that I screamed in despair. The ghost of Edgar Allen Poe popped up for a moment, clapping and yelling "Bravo!" I said, "Hey, you're the ghost of'---," but he had vanished. Another priceless shot, lost.

Minutes later, Perry returned to the scene and I got this nice digital image. I call it "Perry, Pumpkins," on the theory that artless titles sound arty.

And I took a photo of the Halloween display by our back porch bell. Bev was the decorator. She's not into the super-tacky stuff I like--she buys respectable collectibles, mostly. Well, with exceptions.

The kitty pose of the century, lost forever. I'll bet their little meeting consisted of "Let's stay in this pose until he runs to get his camera." I'll bet that was the entire point. Devious little monsters. But cute.

We love them and feed them, and they drive us nuts in return. And then they yawn.


Lee

Floyd Cramer, Bernard Herrmann

The cover to my Decca label Vertigo soundtrack, as issued by Mercury in 1958.

Floyd Cramer and Bernard Herrmann--is that a Halloween mini-slaylist, or what? Yes, it is.

My thanks to Andrew Tonkin and Mark Kadlec for sending me a swap-meet find--a Floyd Cramer MP3, Satan's Doll, from 1963. What an MP3 was doing for sale at a swap meet, I'll never know. Converting it from its clunky 1963 format to something uploadable took a lot of work, but it was worth it.

Seriously, nice side. Found in vinyl, 45 rpm form. Bernard Herrmann's music for Alfred Hitchock's Vertigo is, like the movie itself, the opposite of nice. In fact, there's a nasty, depressing edge to the music, but because the composer is Bernard Herrmann, the experience is almost uplifting. Only Chopin wrote more uplifting depressing music. You may hear touches of Wagner in Bernard's score, if we take "touches" to mean "massive amounts." A little Holst, too. No Chopin, though.

The Vertigo soundtrack was a thrift score of several years ago ("thrift-score and several years ago...") that I eventually traded in at Colleen's Collectables, but not before ripping (and declicking) several tracks. My memory told me the label was Decca, and so--needing track info for the first band--I recently searched Google for "Vertigo" and "Decca," convinced that my copy had been on Decca. All I found, though, was a 1958 soundtrack on Mercury.

No way--my LP was on Decca. I was sure of it. I must have had a super-rare edition. However, my personal records show that the LP was, indeed, on Mercury. My memory was wrong.

Pretty exciting account, no? No, I guess not. However, it has the virtue of being true. Boring But True! would be a great name for a radio series.

To the mini-slaylist: Floyd Cramer, Vertigo.

MINI-SLAYLIST

1. Satan's Doll--Floyd Cramer, 1963.
2. Vertigo Prelude; Rooftop (Herrmann)--from 1958 Vertigo soundtrack.
3. The Nightmare; Dawn (Herrmann)--from 1958 Vertigo soundtrack.


Lee

Sunday morning gospel--The New Life Gospel Singers

The New Life Gospel Singers, circa 1976, featuring a menu of gospel songs popular at the time. And with none other than Hillary (lower r.h. corner) singing alto and pretending to be someone named Brenda. I have another LP which offers three more photos of Brenda/Hillary. Of the three other photos--first one, no resemblance. Second, some. Third, a lot.

Conclusion: We can be about 60 percent sure that this is Brenda. I mean, Hillary.

How would I describe the music of The New Life Gospel Singers of Sidney, Ohio? Fun, lively, and sincere, with some very pleasant vocal harmony. Somehow, it seems wrong to get this much enjoyment for 99 cents, but, as always, I'm not complaining.

"The New Life Gospel Singers have been on the Glory Road for Christ since 1971. We have yet to experience any other work that is more rewarding than serving God," writes the group in the liner notes to the other LP. I'd quote from the notes to this one, but they tell us much less about the artists. And, needless to say, neither set of notes explains what Hillary is doing in Sidney, Ohio under an assumed name. Not that we'd expect them to....

Click here to reach MP3 folder: The New Life Gospel Singers--While I'm Here.

TRACKLIST

1. While I'm Here
2. Jesus Opened Up the Way
3. Unfinished Task
4. Welcome Home My Child
5. Speak to Me
6. Yet I Believe
7. Harbor in the Time of a Storm
8. Home Where I Belong
9. Through It All
10. Lighthouse



Lee