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exotica-digest         Monday, August 10 1998         Volume 02 : Number 185



In This Digest:

(exotica) Remove
Re: (exotica) I love The Drake
(exotica) Hi There! / Question List
Re: (exotica) I love The Drake + Weekend finds
(exotica) Re: Easy Tempo series, volume 7, Danger: Diabolik theme
(exotica) CD Database Programs
(exotica) Question List
(exotica) Arthur Lyman's "Love for Sale"
(exotica) Also Known As
(exotica) more tv
Re: (exotica) Also Known As
Re: (exotica) Collection Database
Re: (exotica) Re: Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim's 1969 LP on Reprise
Re: (exotica) Re: Easy Tempo series, volume 7, Danger: Diabolik theme
Re: (exotica) Collection Database]
(exotica) Collection Database, Question List, A Funny Thought For The Day etc etc etc
(exotica) As You Remember Them
Re: (exotica) More on Thrifts
(exotica) Exotica FAQ version 1.2
RE: (exotica) Collection Database
Re: (exotica) Question List
Re: (exotica) As You Remember Them
Re:  Re: (exotica) As You Remember Them
(exotica) [Fwd: tv-tip]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 18:31:23 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Remove

Remove


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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 01:22:34 -0400
From: Ross Orr <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) I love The Drake

>Canaan records also has what is billed as the first Moog-Ssynthesized
>worship album... Geez I wish I could remember the name....

That would be _Ralph Carmichael Presents the Electric Symphony (The Moog
Synthesizer)_, featuring Fred Warman programming and Clark Gassman playing
the moog.

My copy is on Light Records, "a division of Lexicon Music, Waco Texas."

The songs are mostly Carmichael originals, not overtly gospel-ish--mostly
innocuous pop-rock. I found side one pretty lacking in oomph, but side two
brings up the rhythm section a bit and wraps up with a rousing Moog
"Hallelujah Chorus."

You're right, the liner notes are pretty interesting: "It's just possible
that the transistorized ears of the younger generation will find the
electical dynamics of the Moog very pleasing. . . "

Phweeeeet Zeeeeeeerrrrppp,

 --Ross

|| Ross "Mambo Frenzy" Orr  <[e-mail]>
|| Ann Arbor, Michigan USA




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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 05:22:43 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Hi There! / Question List

Howdy y'all!
I've been sorta lurking on the digest for a while, but i finally got my own
account.

1. Are you a musician? Explain...
yes. i have a band-Tipsy-that some of you may have heard. I also played in a
lot of
 weird noise/electronic groups, and played trombone in high school.

2. Space-age/exotic LP/CD that turned you on to this?
actually, it was probably movies that did it; Japanese monsters & James Bond,
also a lot of west coast "cool" jazz (stan getz, dave brubeck). I liked Cal
Tjader & Henry Mancini way before i got into rock music and beyond.

3. This list could help you more by...
remaining its beautiful self.

4. Other exotica/things you collect
movie paraphenalia/videos, old trash paperbacks &men's magazines

5. Unrelated music genres/acts you like
old reggae, 60s asian pop, 40s-70s r&b, fake (and real) psychedelia, Harry
Partch, vintage hillbilly stuff,indian soundtracks, krautrock, experimental/
electronic/ old-school industrial, selected punk & postpunk weirdness, some
really painful 70s pop, i could go on forever...

6. What are you just dying to tell us?
Mingo 2000 is my very favorite current"exotica" group
also, I just heard a muzak version of boston's"more than a feeling" while i
was eating indonesian food

7. Initials you prefer, CD or LP?  And why do you?  Is it a sound quality
consideration?  The aesthetics of LP art?  The supposed clarity of CDs?
Tell us more!
LP, of course. Less convenient, but a much better fetish-object. Besides,
Alvin Cash and the Registers isn't available on cd.
Actually, i like singles best- 45 or 78.

8. Own a fez?  If so, what color, texture and tassel color? Describe it or
other lounge-wear of which you are proud?
no fez. i have been acquiring a lot of tropical shirts.

9. Shaken or stirred?
draft

10. I clean my LPs with ...
old t-shirts.

11. My home page URL is:
pretty embarassing right now.

12. I have a Licence To ...
create music any way i see fit, PAL.


have fun!
     dave gardner



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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 14:30:31 +0100
From: "Charles Moseley" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) I love The Drake + Weekend finds

>Canaan records also has what is billed as the first Moog-Ssynthesized
>worship album... Geez I wish I could remember the name....

I have a wierd one called Caldara - A Moog Mass.

This is moody, eery and frankly very depressing hyms and psalms through a
vocoder with wierd moogy effects and droning medieval-type sounds. I
haven't listened to the whole LP yet (in fact I haven't listened to one
whole track yet) for fear of committing suicide.

On a lighter note I got Timothy Leary's Tune In Turn On Drop Out soundtrack
this weekend - fantastic, equally wierd sitar and spacey, unearthly voices
galore - top!

Also Pierre Henry's Machine Dance LP - typical Pierre but without any
dancable tunes, just stupid noises

And John Schroeder's 'You Make Me So Very Happy' LP - Dodgy cover and title
but tight funky tunes all over. This LP has Ray Davies playing trumpet and
is funky as hell. I think one track - Headband was on the Sound Spectrum LP





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------------------------------

Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 19:44:46 +0200
From: Johan Dada Vis <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Re: Easy Tempo series, volume 7, Danger: Diabolik theme

Br. Cleve" wrote:

>What a year from the Italians. The comps, the soundtracks, the Danger:
>Diabolik theme

    sorry if i missed something, but is this track on Easy Tempo 7?

        Johan


        [e-mail]


        | )    / \    | )    / \    | )    / \    | )    / \





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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 13:36:14 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) CD Database Programs

Well I found the site but I have not attempted and installation yet.  Here is
the site:

http://www.bfmsoft.com/

This program connects you to some database(s) that have the information on
just about every CD out there (or so they claim).

Is anybody familiar with this program?

Also, have any AOL members out there upgraded to AOL 4.0?  What do you think?

Robert


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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 98 15:45:27 -0400
From: Elisabeth Vincentelli <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Question List

Hello-

I'm Elisabeth; I'm French and I live in New York. I've been on the list
for a couple of months.

1. Are you a musician? Explain...
I'm not a musician, but I often write about music for various magazines.

2. Space-age/exotic LP/CD that turned you on to this?
I can't remember anything in particular, but I've always had a fondness
for soundtracks. Also growing up in France meant that "rock" was not the
dominant music/aesthetic. Still, even there I was often considered a
freak for my unabashed love of Jacques Demy movies (back when he was
still considered cheesy) and the likes of France Gall and Michel
Polnareff.

3. This list could help you more by...
It works nicely as it is. It's easy enough to ignore the stuff that
doesn't interest me, like endless discussions of how to clean things.

4. Other exotica/things you collect
I'm not a collector of anything in particular.

5. Unrelated music genres/acts you like
Post-punk records (e.g. Rough Trade in 1979-1981), garage old and new
(looking forward to the Nuggets reissue on Rhino in September), vintage
disco, and classic Broadway shows (Rodgers & Hart, Gershwin, Porter,
Sondheim, etc.)

6. What are you just dying to tell us?
Because a scaffold collapsed at the new Conde Nast building here in NY, I
couldn't use my excellent tickets for the revival of Cabaret playing next
door. It's just so easy to hate Conde Nast.

7. Initials you prefer, CD or LP?  And why do you?  Is it a sound quality
consideration?  The aesthetics of LP art?  The supposed clarity of CDs?
Tell us more!
I'd have to say CD for purely practical (storage, not having to flip them
every 25 minutes) reasons. I do miss LP art though.

8. Own a fez?  If so, what color, texture and tassel color? Describe it or
other lounge-wear of which you are proud?
Any music movement that requires its fans to wear a certain type of
clothing is silly to me. (On the other hand I love it when bands dress up
for shows. Combustible Edison looked fabulous yesterday at the Bowery
Ballroom.)

9. Shaken or stirred?
Blended.

10. I clean my LPs with ...
non-static thingies, I forget what they're called.

11. My home page URL is:
Don't have one.

12. I have a licence to ...
Say anything I want for the next 4 years because France is soccer World
Champion until 2002.


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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 09 Aug 1998 16:28:14 -0400
From: Kerry Byrnes <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Arthur Lyman's "Love for Sale"

Perhaps not quite a thrift store find but came across a sealed copy in
PERFECT condition of Arthur Lyman's "Love for Sale" LP (First American
Records Piccadilly PIC 3543) from 1980 w/

1. Love Song from "Mutiny on the Bounty"
2. I Wish You Love
3. Love for Sale
4. Pagan Love Song
5. Love
6. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
7. Love Dance
8. Secret Love
9. To You My Love
10. Sentimental Journey
11. When I Fall In Love
12. It's So Right To Love

$15 including 1st class postage insured w/in the U.S. ($25 airmail
registered outside the U.S.) to first offer.

Please confirm by private e-mail:  <[e-mail]>


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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 09 Aug 1998 14:52:35 +0000
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (exotica) Also Known As

Now, this doesn't surprise me (otherwise I wouldn't have checked in the
first place): on independent budget labels, groups are often named
differently on different albums.

In the process of putting together hour 91 of The Mr. Smooth Show, "They
All Played El Choclo," I came across two occurances of this phenomena.  Let
the buyer beware!

The 101 Strings is also The Cinema Sound Stage Orchestra.  I discovered
this by playing El Choclo from "101 Strings Play Fire And Romance of South
America", Somerset SF 22200.  Because The Cinema Sound Stage Orchestra is
also on the Somerset label, I was suspicious and played its version of El
Choclo  simultaneously with the 101 Strings version.  The album "Award
Hits", Somerset SF 34200  is identical in all respects.

Did you also know that The Charles Camaron Orchestra is also The Mexicali
Brass?  I did the same thing comparing the Orchestra's recording "Spanish
Rhapsody", Custom CS 1084 with
the Brass's "Whipped Cream", Crown CST 471.

Now, how did I think to know to compare these two performances on two
different labels?  The fact that both labels have the same address was not
discovered until later.  No, I just looked at the covers and noted certain
stylist simularities.

I have often thought that these indie budget labels did a couple of hours
of recordings
sometime in the early 60's and kept reshuffling the cuts and changing the
name of the performers for new LP releases for the next decade!

Anyone found any more less obvious performer name changes?

By the way, because of this, I am short by 6 minutes (or so) in my
programming.  Anyone
with suggestions for recordings of El Choclo I might be able to find?  I
don't have as many as I would like already (otherwise I might have have
left out both of these performances).


      /-
     / '\
    / ___> ; ;  ;    _   ;__
   /    \  [ | /"-  / () |  )
  <}-___/_/(_|/  \_(__/\/|  (_______
          ___<
          -_/
Byron Caloz
Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth, Sol, Milky Way
http://www.hubris.net/zolac
The Mr. Smooth site: http://www.hubris.net/zolac/smooth


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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 19:54:15 -0400
From: "m.ace" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) more tv

Tangential exotica on US tv this week (eastern daylight times)...

"Jazz On A Summer's Day" (1959) The time machine boards here. Documentary on
the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Performers include Thelonious Monk (too brief,
but he does have his bamboo-frame shades on), Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan,
Anita O'Day, Sonny Stitt, Louis Armstrong (driving teenagers into a
head-banging frenzy), many more. I forget the performers' names, but there's
also a snippet of a combo in an attic room doing a rather exotic piece
featuring a gong and such. Audience footage is great for people watching. Bravo
- - Tuesday - 4:30pm.

"Reptilicus" (1961) The Danish monster-puppet movie that includes a leisurely
visit to the Tivoli amusement park (discussed here recently). AMC - Thursday -
6:30pm.

"The Killers" (1946) No exit film noir starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner,
Edmond O'Brien, Albert Dekker. Score by Miklos Rozsa. AMC - late Friday/early
Saturday - 2:00am.

"The Avengers: The Journey Back" (new) A documentary about the original TV
series. It might be 2 hours long. I have no idea if it'll be any good. Patrick
Macnee hosts or narrates. Obviously synced to the new movie. Has anyone seen
that yet? A&E - Saturday - 9:00pm.

"Criss Cross" (1949) Burt Lancaster gets used and abused in another bleak film
noir; with Yvonne De Carlo and Dan Duryea. Has some nice location footage of (I
guess) LA. Also a couple of cool Latin-jazz tunes in the nightclub scenes. Esy
Morales is the name that sticks in my head as the performer, but that may be
wrong. Body of the score by Miklos Rozsa. AMC - late Sunday/early Monday (Aug.
16/17) - 3:15am.

m.ace  [e-mail]
OOK   http://www.voicenet.com/~ecam/


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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 17:40:21 -0700
From: "Larson/Thomas" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Also Known As

>  Anyone
> with suggestions for recordings of El Choclo I might be able to find?  I
> don't have as many as I would like already (otherwise I might have have
> left out both of these performances).

Earl Bostic's dance-themed recordings include both "El Choclo Bossa Nova"
and (I think) "El Choclo Cha Cha."

Jerry


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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 07 Aug 1998 23:47:01 -0400
From: Mark Benton Reed <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Collection Database

Nat Kone wrote:

> At 09:49 AM 07/08/98 -0400, [e-mail] wrote:
> >
> >>>Hey, by the way: My records are currently in NO PARTICULAR ORDER.
>
> I've got a friend who has all of his ten thousand or so albums in
> alphabetical order regardless of genre.  I found that especially strange
> but apparently there are others like that.

My 600 or so albums are in alphabetical order by record label.  I tried doing it
alphabetically by artist, but I had so many soundtracks and compilations I got
confused....Yeah, I know I'm weird...or am I exotic???

Mark Reed
Phenix City AL
[e-mail]

The difference between a lunatic and an eccentric is the size of the bank
account.




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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 13:25:16 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Re: Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim's 1969 LP on Reprise

>>>>Recently re-released 20-bit remastered.  It looks like Reprise is slowly
doing this with Frank's catalogue.<<<<


Reprise remastered all of the Frank catalogue in 20-bit back in 1995...and was
released in the 20 cd box set. I have this 20 cd set, and must say the
remastering sounds like Frank is in my room--along with Billy May! It's
wonderful!

Jayson


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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 16:55:15 -0400
From: "Br. Cleve" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Re: Easy Tempo series, volume 7, Danger: Diabolik theme

At 7:44 PM +0200 8/8/98, Johan Dada Vis wrote:
>Br. Cleve" wrote:
>
>>What a year from the Italians. The comps, the soundtracks, the Danger:
>>Diabolik theme
>
>    sorry if i missed something, but is this track on Easy Tempo 7?

No, it's on the Irma release "Arriva La Bomba" [Douce 811]. The song is
called "Deep Down", performed by Christy.

br cleve




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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 11:02:37 +0100
From: Peter Hipwell <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Collection Database]

> From: Mark Benton Reed <[e-mail]>
>
> My 600 or so albums are in alphabetical order by record label.  I
> tried doing it alphabetically by artist, but I had so many
> soundtracks and compilations I got confused....Yeah, I know I'm
> weird...or am I exotic???

I do exactly the same, although I classify soundtracks, jazz,
spoken/comedy and compilations into genres. The rest is ordered by
label. Sometimes this is a problem if the artist appears on multiple
labels, but it's really handy for locating those records where you
know the look of the cover, but can't actually remember the name of
the artist. Plus you get to group together records with similar
spines, which obviously makes me very happy. And, of course, there's a
separate category for records on labels I only have one or two
examples of. And another category of miscellaneous exceptions.

Maybe we're just both weird.

- -- Pete.



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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 11:13:42 +0100
From: "Charles Moseley" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Collection Database, Question List, A Funny Thought For The Day etc etc etc

But what did you get at the weekend? LPs? CDs? Good? Bad? Funky? Mushy?
Cheap? Expensive? Lost gem? Pile of horse manure? At the charity shop? At
the record fair? In good condition? Or knackered? Who's playing? Who's
singing? What does it compare to? Why did you buy it? Why are we going to
want to hear about it?

Charlie





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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 05:02:27 PDT
From: "Ben Waugh" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) As You Remember Them

I found a booklet, put out by Time-Life in 1972 entitled: As You
Remember Them: The Men and Their Music. It is a history of 60's pop
music:interviews with Dmitri Tiomkin, Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Lalo
Schifrin, Mancini, Bacharach, etc.; discusses instruments used by pop
recorders, electronic, exotic and conventional and describes the
recording process from the studio to the factories where the lps are
pressed. Lots of photos, too, including one of a fat, quasi-bald Baxter
(with what's of his do hanging over his collar in the back - 20 years
before Billy Rae Cyrus established the unbecoming "BRC"). The writer
describes Baxter as a "short pudgey man." Imagine my shock: no wonder
the woman was seated on the Around the World With album. On which Baxter
appears neither short nor fat nor bald. Hm. The booklet probably came in
a boxed lp collection which I did not find.

Also, in one of the interviews, Mancini speaks of having worked with the
Moog synthesizer. Is anyone aware of a HM recording that features it?

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com


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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 10:26:20 -0400
From: Peter Ledebur <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) More on Thrifts

"Br. Cleve" <[e-mail]> writes:

>p.s. on a slightly related note, I just heard that Emerson College
>(Boston, MA) today threw their entire vinyl record collection
>(around 40 years worth of records) into a dumpster, as part of their
>effort to 'modernize' their radio station [WERS-FM, the studio of
>which is being rebuilt].
>#!^$@*&!!!!!!!!!!

I passed this information along to the WZBC (also Boston) mailing list and got this response from one of our tech guys:

>Actually, As someone who's been working on the new Emerson
>studios, I don't think they're throwing the vinyl out.   They're saving
>stuff they actually use and are putting the rest of it in storage.   A
>lot of stuff has been loaded into their digital storage system (no
>skipping!)


Peter
- ----
Music for Better Living
Wed. 6-7pm -- WZBC 90.3 fm Newton/Boston
http://members.aol.com/Hifibliss/mfbl.htm




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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 11:08:14 -0400
From: Ross Orr <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Exotica FAQ version 1.2

Hey all--

I think I've managed to incorporate all the suggstions sent to me so far
into this latest version of the FAQ. . . while trying to prevent it from
ballooning totally out of control of course.

Anyway, take a good look (most of the changes are small), and get back to
me with any more suggestions. I think this might be the last time I will
post the ENTIRE thing, so I won't drive you all crazy with this. . . Next,
I'll be looking for a good home for this thing (hint hint). . .

Thanks for all the help,

- --Ross



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Exotica Mailing List FAQ  [Third Draft] 10 August 1998



Q: What is "Exotica"?

A: A musical genre, named for the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same
title. Most narrowly defined, it refers to lounge jazz augmented with
polynesian, asian and latin instruments and "tropical" themes. The exotica
style was pioneered by composer Les Baxter, and popularized by such artists
as Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Gene Rains.

In the context of this mailing list, it is used as a term of convenience to
cover many genres of 50s, 60s, and early 70s music--most might fall under
the general umbrella of "space age pop instrumentals." These include
percussion, Cha-cha, soundtracks, "Now Sound," Bossa Nova, Moog, and a
thousand other subcategories according to the taste of each individual.
(I use "exotica" in the remainder of this FAQ to cover all these
possibilities.)



Q: Is it correct to call this music "lounge"?

A: Well, as a description of the *music* (as opposed to "the scene") there
are some objections to the word--but you might as well get used to it: It's
the term most used by the outside world to refer to exotica (e.g. in
labelling bins in the music store).

However "lounge" might be interpreted as including some legitimate jazz,
torch singers, etc.--all of which are a little more mainstream than the
interests of list members. Also, the connotation of subdued, low-energy
music clearly doesn't apply to the more dynamic sound of a performer like
Esquivel.



Q: Well, what is the correct term?

A: There is no answer to this, although people have variously suggested
Space Age Bachelor-Pad; Easy; Cocktail; Hi-Fi; Space Age Pop; Cheesy
Listening; Dynamica; etc.



Q: If someone were just beginning to hunt for exotica records, what would
be a few good things to look out for?

A: Though such a list is bound to be incomplete and disputable, here are
some suggestions:

  * Ur-exotica LPs from Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, etc.

  * Juan Garcia Esquivel LPs (rare today)

  * Glossy albums (often gatefold) on "Hi-Fi" labels like Command,
    Phase Four, Mercury "Perfect Presence," Time, UA "Wall-to-Wall Sound"
    Audio Fidelity, Directional Sound, etc.

  * Albums with "Percussion" in the title (also "Ping Pong," "Drums")

  * Pop interpretations of Cha-Cha, Mambo, Bossa Nova and Samba

  * RCA's "Stereo Action" Series (thick, white, die-cut covers)

  * Early Ferrante and Teicher (with prepared piano)

  * The Three Suns, especially from 1959-62

  * Electric organ virtuosos (Lenny Dee, Dick Hyman, etc.)

  * Pop instrumentals featuring harpsichord, sitar, harp or bagpipes

  * Inappropriate rock cover versions ("Light My Fire" on pipe organ, etc.)

  * Hawaiian music as performed by non-Hawaiians

  * "Programmatic" jazz (Raymond Scott; Spy and Crime soundtracks, etc.)

  * Albums showcasing Moog synthesizer

  * "Now Sound" albums (Brass Ring, "Living" Guitars/etc.)

  *  Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, and their imitators

  * Albums with "discotheque" or "au go-go" in the title

Caveat Emptor: In each of these categories there will be many copy-cat
records from budget labels. Their quality is usually dubious (though in a
few cases they can be delightfully bizarre).



Q: Many people still regard this music as "obviously awful." Do exotica
fans REALLY enjoy this music or is it all some ironic put-on?

A: Fans of exotica are well aware that these genres have been reviled as
"easy listening" or "plastic" by the rock generation; for some collectors,
a perverse kitsch appeal was the starting point. However most would say
that the more time you spend with this music, the more your appreciation
grows for its energy, inventiveness, and musicianship, and for the
creativity of the arrangements--despite the somewhat misguided concepts
that may have been explored.

Also, the original intent to create "commercial" music for a particular
market can no longer be regarded as something sinister--by now it must be
seen as a fascinating anthropological window into the spirit of an earlier
time.



Q: Are there some good books & magazines on the subject of Exotica?

A: The books mentioned most often on the exotica list are volumes 1 & 2 of
_Incredibly Strange Music_, by V. Vale and Andrea Juno (RE/search), and
_Elevator Music_, by Joseph Lanza (Picador).

The "Vik's Lounge" website has an excellent exotica reading list, with
cover photos and capsule summaries, at:

http://www.chaoskitty.com/t_chaos/reading.html

General works about music with some exotica content:

  Conductors and Composers of Popular Orchestral Music,
     Reuben and Naomi Musiker (Greenwood)
  The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Donald Clarke, ed. (Viking)
  Top Pop Albums 1955-1996, Joel Whitburn (Record Research)
  The Record Label Guide for Domestic LPs, Joe Lindsay (Biodisc)
  TV's Biggest Hits, Jon Burlingame (Schirmer)
  Goldmine's Celebrity Vocals, Ron Lofman (Krause)
  Goldmine's Comedy Record Price Guide, Ronald L. Smith (Krause)
  ASCAP Biographical Dictionary (Bowker)
  Hawaiian Music and Musicians: An Illustrated History,
     George Kanahele, ed. (University Press of Hawaii)
  The Exotic in Western Music, Jonathan Bellman, ed. (Northeastern)
  The Recording Angel: Explorations in Phonography, Evan Eisenberg
     (McGraw-Hill)
  Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry,
     Clinton Heylin (?)
  Schwann Long Playing Record Catalog (annual, back issues from
     relevant years)

LP Cover collections:

  Album Covers From The Vinyl Junkyard (Booth-Clibborn Editions)
  The Album Cover Art of Soundtracks, Frank Jastfelder &
     Stefan Kassel (Little,Brown)

On electronic music:

  Electronic and Computer Music, Peter Manning (Oxford)
  Vintage Synthesizers, Mark Vail (GPI/Miller Freeman)
  A Guide to Electronic Music, Paul Griffiths (Thames & Hudson)
  Electronic and Experimental Music, Thomas Holmes (Scribners)
  The International Electronic Music Catalog, Hugh Davies (MIT Press)
  Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music,
     Joel Chadabe (Prentice Hall)

Music "scenes" and generational identity:

  Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige (Routledge; Methuen)
  13th Gen, Neil Howe and Bill Strauss (Vintage-Random House)
  Club Cultures, Sarah Thornton (Wesleyan UP/UP of New England)

On retro style:

  Hi-fi's & Hi-balls: The Golden Age of the American Bachelor,
     Steven Guarnaccia and Bob Sloan (Chronicle)
  Populuxe, Thomas Hine (Knopf)
  Contemporary, Lesley Jackson (Phaidon)

Cocktail Culture:

  The Cocktail: The Influence of Spirits on the American Psyche,
     Joseph Lanza (St. Martin's)
  Beachbum Berry's Grog Log, Jeff Berry & Annene Kaye
     (SLG Publishing)


Exotica-related zines (some may no longer be active):

  Cannot Become Obsolete
  Cool & Strange Music!
  Exotica/Etc.
  Thrift Score
  Tiki News
  Easy Listener
  Mystery Date
  Organs and Bongos



Q: Are there any good websites covering Exotica and Lounge?

A: Yes!

Hands down, the best one-stop information site about exotica performers and
composers is Brad Bigelow's "Space Age Pop Standards":

http://home.earthlink.net/~spaceagepop/index.htm

A master jumping-off point for dozens of other lounge-related sites can be
found via King Kini's "Club Velvet," at:

http://www.tamboo.com/loungelinks.html

Johan Dada Vis' "Linquarium" at:

http://bewoner.dma.be/Dada/

and via Vik's Lounge, at:

http://www.chaoskitty.com/t_chaos/viklink.html



Q: Is it bad or good when your previously-obscure little hobby becomes a
genuine, media-approved "scene"?

A: Well, you may be annoyed when a bunch of shallow people start crashing
your party, knowing next to nothing about the music and just wanting to be
part of a fad. But their numbers do tend to get the attention of record
company executives--with the happy result that some impossible-to-find
material (like Esquivel LPs) gets re-released on CD.

As of 1998 we are experiencing the flip side of this trend, as the media
stampede is now headed towards "swing" (another media label which blurs
together several genres). While there are points of overlap with exotica,
this has generally been interpreted as the waning of "Lounge." The downside
has been an abrupt dropoff in exotica re-releases. But there's some
speculation that finding vintage exotica on vinyl may be getting
(infinitesimally) easier, as some collectors move on to other genres.



Q: Are the Capitol "Ultra Lounge" CDs any good?

A: The series is entertainingly packaged and aggressively promoted, and
generally helped improve the visibility of "Lounge." However the repertoire
came entirely from the vaults of Capitol (and its affiliates), so some of
the real titans of exotica were left out (e.g. Esquivel, Enoch Light); and
some of what got included was fairly generic. Nonetheless, a few of the CDs
(e.g. "Bachelor Pad Royale") are considered essential.

Some have objected to the way the UL series became the 800-Pound Gorilla of
Lounge, sucking up all the consumer dollars which might otherwise have
supported re-releases of classic individual exotica LPs.



Q: Is it possible to find good records in thrift stores, or are those LPs
all just destroyed Barbara Streisand albums? (Corollary: Is it worth paying
"dealer prices" for LPs I want, or am I getting ripped off?)

A: Two different exotica fans, both behaving with complete economic
rationality, can arrive at very different answers to this one.

Thrifting makes sense for people with free time, moderate incomes, who
might go thrifting anyway for other reasons, and who live in areas with
good thrifting demographics. This might mean rural or shrinking industrial
areas where young hipsters tend to move away, but where a stable, older
middle class still lives.

Busy professionals who live in trendier urban areas will probably find
thrifting a waste of time. For them, the service provided by dealers in
locating and culling LPs is generally worth the premium charged.

One misconception is that the condition of thrift store records is
uniformly bad; in fact the condition is extremely variable, ranging from
unplayable to near mint. And at prices of $1 per LP or lower, it becomes
possible to take chances on unknown albums or to accept disks in poorer
condition, just to learn more about different artists.



Q: What is the best way to clean really dirty old records?

A: The purist, or someone with many records to deal with, should
investigate the various wet/vacuum record cleaners from Nitty Gritty, VPI,
or The Audio Advisor. Although the cost of these machines seems high, users
are uniformly positive about them.

A description of "archivally correct" record cleaning can be found at:

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/st-laurent/care.html

However, people on a budget or with more casual needs usually do fine
washing records in the kitchen sink with dish soap and a clean sponge. Tap
water in many areas can leave behind a "crunchy" mineral residue when it
evaporates, so give a final rinse in distilled water--or at least be
vigilant in shaking and blotting away any water droplets clinging to the
disk.



Q: Is it wrong to buy bootlegs?

A: Virtually all agree they would prefer to see a legitimate release, where
the original artists receive credit and royalties if possible. In some
cases the existence of bootlegs can undermine the market for such
legitimate releases. However some feel there is a gray area, where
rights-holders have thrown up impossible obstacles to a legitimate release,
or where the intent is mainly to make hard-to-find music available, rather
than as a mercenary venture.

Whatever your ethical views are, the rapid spread of digital reproduction
technology is certain to make the issue even more confused in coming years.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[ Please send any additions, corrections, comments, suggested changes in
language, etc. to Ross "Mambo Frenzy" Orr at <[e-mail]> .]

 --Ross

||   The Macintosh Witch Doctor:   Ross Orr <[e-mail]>  [phone]
||
||   " . . . it has been said that the Macintosh is the worst possible kind of
||   computer, except for all those other kinds that have been tried from
||   time to time. . . . "             [with apologies to Winston Churchill]




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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 11:05:21 -0400
From: "Rajnai, Charles, NPG  NNAD" <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: (exotica) Collection Database

> I know a couple of people who not only keep the records in alphabetical
> order but within each individual artist's collection, the records are in
> order of release.  Makes sense I guess.
>
>
>
    Yep, that's me.  Strictly alphabetical, then chronological.

    surfing the chaos,
    Charlieman


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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 11:07:17 -0500
From: Lou Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Question List

At 03:45 PM 8/9/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
>Hello-
>
>I'm Elisabeth; I'm French and I live in New York. I've been on the list
>for a couple of months.

>3. This list could help you more by...
>It works nicely as it is. It's easy enough to ignore the stuff that
>doesn't interest me, like endless discussions of how to clean things.

Darn, and I was gonna ask if it's easier to clean Lps in a bidet than in the
kitchen sink.


Welcome to NY and to the E-list, Elisabeth!

- -Lou




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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 11:17:02 -0400
From: "Br. Cleve" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) As You Remember Them

At 5:02 AM -0700 8/10/98, Ben Waugh wrote:

>Also, in one of the interviews, Mancini speaks of having worked with the
>Moog synthesizer. Is anyone aware of a HM recording that features it?

His "Mystery Movie Theme" on the '72 album "Big Screen, Little Screen" was,
I believe, the first appearance of a synth on a Mancini record, although I
always thought that was an ARP.

br cleve




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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 11:18:21 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re:  Re: (exotica) As You Remember Them

Also Henry Mancini uses a clavinte-sounding instrument that could be a synth
(?) in the soundtrack to "10" in the song with the female chorus chant "Get it
on Get it on Get it on Baby"


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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 11:40:39 +0200
From: "Marco 'Kallie' Kalnenek" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) [Fwd: tv-tip]

Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 09 Aug 1998 22:51:58 +0200
From: Marco 'Kallie' Kalnenek <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: weirdomusic
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01C-WXS-32  (Win95; I)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Leuke Muziekjes <[e-mail]>
Subject: tv-tip
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hallo luitjes,

Maandagavond, Nederland 3, 19:20u
Documentaire over "Muziek & James Bond", over de rol van muziek in de
James Bond-films. Veel John Barry neem ik aan.

Marco K.



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------------------------------

End of exotica-digest V2 #185
*****************************