Wax of the Week #27...Aline Mendonça Luz: Aline (1979)

Years ago I started getting into music from Brazil. Just a little at first. Mostly it was because I liked a lot of the ersatz bossa nova heard on many easy listening records from the ’60s, and eventually was slowly drawn to the siren call of the real stuff. Later I figured out I needed the positive vibes and joie de vivre (or alegria de viver) of Brazilian music to counter the natural negative tendencies of my personality. Luz (1946–2003) was an activist against the military regime running her country at the time. Apparently this jazzy LP (her debut after an aborted career at RCA) was one of the first independent albums from a Brazilian artist.

Wax of the Week #26...Alex Keack: Surfers Paradise (1963)

It's a tough slog going through old budget label LPs in search of something you'd want to hear twice, but it's worth it to discover little gems like this. Keack was a member of the vocal group The Islanders, but on here he plays some pleasant exotica, and not the slapped-together surf music one might expect. Budget labels have provided years of exploration for tenacious diggers. I remember well into the early ’80s these types of records were sold mainly in pharmacies and discount stores like Woolworth’s, for non-collector civilians who vaguely desired some music but rarely ventured into record stores. I used to pick up King’s Road exploito cover albums of hits of the day at Fay’s Drugs on upper 2nd Ave. in Lansingburgh. Crown pressed released of albums from 1957 to about 1972, a few of them quite enjoyable and many pretty curious or even strange. A few of the older blues LPs they pressed featured raw demos from the likes of B.B. King and Elmore James and aren’t easy pulls.

Wax of the Week #25...The Alan Lorber Orchestra: The Lotus Palace (1969)

The term "psychedelic" may be a cheap, grossly overused term in eBay descriptions, but to me it's not a genre onto itself. Most often when people refer to music as "psych" it's short-hand for psychedelic rock, mostly from the ’60s. In reality it's a template that can be affixed to various genres: rock, rap, jazz, even classical music. Here's an interesting novelty: a psychedelic easy listening record. Lorber was (is?) a producer/arranger who came up working on Gene Pitney and Leiber/Stoller records, and helped birth the Lovin' Spoonful/Mamas & Papas forerunner The Mugwumps. On this record he busts out the sitars (played by Vinnie Bell) and tablas, inspired by a commercial for a bank he wrote the music for and presumably the Beatles, and creates a healthy chunk of cash-in kitsch.

Wax of the Week #24...Al Hirt: The Horn Meets "the Hornet" (1966)

A better one, featuring some spy/suspense themes, including the Green Hornet theme used in the first Kill Bill.

Wax of the Week #23...Al Hirt: Latin in the Horn (1966)

Hirt (1922–1999) was a burly New Orleans trumpeter who got respect from even Miles Davis. Not a great record by any means but sports a few minor attractions.

Wax of the Week #22...Al Caiola: Blockbuster • Movie/TV Themes (1972)

 

Usually pick up any of these easy listening LPs that are basically compilations of movie themes, especially if they contain suspense or espionage titles. Some good ones on this, which doesn’t turn up as much as some others.

Wax of the Week #21...Al Caiola: Let the Sunshine In (1969)

At the end of the day, I probably have more easy listening records than anything else. Several reasons: they're cheap (still), tons of them came out, and most have at least a song or two worth hearing if you're into this crap. I started picking them up back in the ’90s, as they reminded me of the stuff I'd heard playing over department store P.A.s as a kid. Also, I got a kick out of the "now sound" records, where square old man orchestras would cover the hip rock songs of the day in a desperate attempt to be with it, often accidentally creating in the process records that in the rearview are surprisingly pleasurable and still modern-sounding. Jersey-born guitarist Caiola wasn't anywhere near the top tier of easy listening (we'll hear stuff like Enoch Light's Spaced Out and various John Gregory platters later), but some of his records contain songs that make for pleasant, passive listening. This one features some entertaining spy jazz and bossa-laden tunes.