A bit unusual, as she interprets American hits of the day, including an eight-minute “Beginnings,” “Light My Fire,” and “Here There and Everywhere.” Gets into Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks composed pop zones with “Summer Sweet.” Almost sounds like a Claudine Longet record (not a bad thing).
Lyman changes it up a little by incorporating some pop and folk standards into an exotica template. Also includes a take on “Eden’s Island” by Eden Ahbez.
Real nice wine-sipping music, produced by Creed Taylor. This was Gilberto’s sixth LP, if you count collaborations. Brazilian Hammond master Wanderley died in San Francisco in 1986, age 54.
Another good Lyman exotica record. Eye-catching cover, to say the least.
Gilberto’s fifth solo album only has three songs I like but they’re all delightful bossa nuggets. “Stay” was written by original New Christy Minstrel Gayle Caldwell (famous for Sinatra’s “Cycles,” which also appears on Caldwell’s 1969 LP for A&M); “Oba Oba” is a Luiz Bonfá tune, while the title track was co-written by Pery Ribeiro.
More of a straight easy jazz record than exotica, but still has its moments. Has an earlier catalog number than Taboo, but conventional wisdom says it came later.
Pound for pound, I reckon Lyman’s discography is at least as good as that of his former boss, Martin Denny. Maybe better. He was actually born of Hawaiian heritage on Kauai, and learned to play on toy marimbas. He was the one who added bird calls to Denny’s groundbreaking exotica hit “Quiet Village” (or was it Augie Colón?). Lyman was still playing weekend gigs in Honolulu right into the ’90s. Taboo was his debut LP.
Meditative atmospheres from a pretty underrated label, VHF (home of Pelt and Sunroof). Features Stephen O’Malley of SunnO))), Daniel O'Sullivan of Guapo, and Kristoffer Rygg of Ulver.
Soundtrack to a 1965 Italian crime/comedy soundtrack. Rome-born Trovaioli (1917–2013) was a prolific composer for his native cinema (THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS, BOCACCIO ’70, and THE LIBERTINE stand out). I haven’t seen this film yet; the only actor I recognize is Gabriele Tinti, a.k.a. Mr. Laura Gemser. This is mostly short cues in the vein of Italian crime jazz.
An obscure but appealing Afro-Brazilian style jazz session (only names I recognize are guitarist Joe Pass and pianist Bobby Hutcherson). It even ventures into exotica zones at times. I think I first saw this mentioned on the old Soulstrut forum. Anyway it’s a nice, little record with some cool grooves.
The guy who wrote “The Girl from Ipanema,” “Água de Beber,” “Insensatez,” “Meditation,” and “Desafinado,” and helped create and disseminate a whole new style of music in the late ’50s, combining the heady winebuzz coolness of west coast jazz with a danceable samba rhythm. Tide was his sixth or seventh studio record, if you count the soundtracks, but leave out the collaborations (Getz/Gilberto, Sinatra, etc.). It definitely has more of a glossy, easy listening sound compared to the more pure and authentic sounds of earlier records, but is still enjoyable. The bossa nova craze in the US had mostly died out by this point, but these original Brazilian artists never stopped creating, and you can find great records by many of them well into the ’80s.
Nice music from nice people for nice people. Kerr, born in Memphis in 1927, started as a backup country singer but by ’65 had a successful group of her own and moved to L.A. to expand her sound. I didn’t know she was behind those Living Voices records on RCA. She eventually moved to Switzerland and went gospel. Did you know Mancini’s Peter Gunn theme had lyrics?
Savage Pencil, the nom de plume of English underground cartoonist Edwin Pouncey, compiled this classic collection of biker movie soundtrack highlights, nicely packed in a gatefold sleeve with picture disc vinyl and humorous Albini sleeve notes. Besides a few choice Davie Allen fuzz fests, there’s also incidental studio hack tracks, and the immortal lounge singer theme from “Satan’s Sadists.” FTW…
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.
