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exotica-digest        Sunday, October 11 1998        Volume 02 : Number 225



In This Digest:

Re: (exotica) More Mod !
Re: (exotica) keep watching the canadian jews
(exotica) Werner Muller
Re: (exotica) Lyman up....... -Reply -Reply
(exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers
Re: (exotica) New To The List... Here's Some Recomendations
Re: (exotica) Lyman up....... -Reply -Reply
(exotica) Fantasticain RealAudio @ Swanktown Radio's web site!
Re: (exotica) More Mod !
(exotica) Heard of "Bombay the Hard Way"?
(exotica) Moon Base Alpha - on de air!
(exotica) Spy, Crime, and Misdemeanors
Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers
Re: (exotica) Lyman up....... -Reply -Reply
Re: (exotica) Lyman vs. Denny
Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers
Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers
Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers
Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers
(exotica) Fantastic Voyage
(exotica) Re: keep watching the curbs
(exotica) CD reissues profiled in Real Audio
(exotica) Korla Pandit
(exotica) Korla Pandit Obit

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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 02:30:21 -0700
From: Nat Kone <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) More Mod !

At 08:51 PM 10/9/98 -0500, recliner wrote:
>> To clarify, what I=B9m after is the American adults response to this=
 young
hip trend Late sixties adult wanted desperately to be hip and dig the
younger generation. The television show Laugh-In would be a prime examp=
le
of this.
> I picked up the term =B3mod=B2 because of the common usage of this te=
rm in
the liner notes to many of the albums and related print that I alluded =
to
in my previous mod post. I=B9ve also heard the term =B3The Now Sound=B2=
  or =B3the
In sound=B2 used to describe similar stuff but =B3mod=B3 is a much more=
 fluid
handle.

Well I hate to engage in a semantic debate but...

I'm pretty sure that I'm familiar with the music that you're talking ab=
out
and looking for.  In fact, if I'm right, I'd say that this particular
category of "easy listening" is at the very centre of my lounge tastes.

I think you're talking about music that I used to call "fake rock" even
though some of it was simply "instrumental rock".

I think you're talking about the kind of ersatz rock music that would e=
nd
up in movie soundtracks when the producers wanted to get hip credibilit=
y
but they didn't want to hire composers who actually had a feel for rock
music.  They didn't want "real rock".  They wanted the studio musician'=
s
version of rock music.  And even though many of the composers and music=
ians
were very talented and in retrospect did some pretty interesting stuff,=
 it
seldom "rocked".

I think you're talking about the kind of music that they'd use in a Dra=
gnet
episode when they went to question the friends of the hippies who took =
acid
and thought they could fly.

(You know what the hippies replied when Sergeant Joe Friday told them t=
hat
their friends had all died from dropping acid?  "Oh man, what a bummer"=
.)

Even on Laugh-In where you'd think they should have known better, the r=
ock
music wasn't really rock music.

It was "groovy music".  It was music for people who weren't embarrassed=
 to
use the word "groovy".  It was rock music for guys who dressed like Sam=
my
Davis Jr. with his Nehru suit and love beads.

I hated that stuff at the time.  I love it now.  And I buy way too much=
 of
it.  And I make way too many tapes of it.

And if you want to call it "mod", go ahead.  I just hope you don't mind=
 if
I start calling you Maude.  And maybe I'll call this kind of music,
"Harold", just for symetry's sake.

I don't think there is a good term for all this stuff.  Like I said, so=
me
of it is "instrumental rock".  That's what I'd call the late sixties Sa=
ndy
Nelson records you referred to in your last post.  That's what I'd call=
 the
T-Bones records too.
But some of it rocks more and some of it rocks less.  I'd include the B=
rass
Ring in this "Now Sound" general category - in fact they have a record
called "Now Sound of the Brass Ring" - but I wouldn't call their stuff
"rock" at all. =20
And I would include the Hollyridge Strings too but I wouldn't call thei=
r
stuff "rock" OR "mod".

Between the record collectors and the record marketing people, the term=
s
are really getting thrown around.
A lot of people seem to use the term "LOUNGECORE" for what you're talki=
ng
about and so I started to use it too but that's obviously a new term an=
d it
doesn't really make sense. =20

I used to call it "cheesy covers of rock songs".

But since a fair bit of it is "original", I might be willing to call it
"cheese rock".

If you can make it catch on and suddenly everyone starts using the word
"MOD"  when referring to Sandy Nelson, Brass Ring, Living Guitars,
Hollyridge Strings, Howard Roberts, Gabor Szabo, Mariachi Brass, The Mo=
og
Machine, Bud Shank, The Electronic Concepts Orchestra, Frank Chacksfiel=
d,
Xavier Cugat (doing "Bang Bang")  Werner Muller (doing "Light my fire")
Roger Williams, Roberto Delgado (doing "I'm your Venus"), Pete Fountain
(doing "In the year 2525"), Dick Contino doing "I know a place",  Lenny
Dee, Sergio Mendes, Hugo Montenegro, Al Caiola OR Sir Julian doing "Gre=
en
Tambourine"...

if you can accomplish that then I'll follow the crowd and start calling=
 it
"MOD" too but until then, I'll think of the early Who records and shirt=
s
with big black squares and circles on them... and not much else when I =
hear
that word.

Yes it's true that "The Mod Squad" didn't do anything that we associate
with Mods and for that reason, I might go along with you if you wanted =
to
call this music "Mod Squad Music" but just because the producers of tha=
t
show had no idea what mod meant, there's no reason for us to continue w=
ith
his mistakes.

If we don't learn from our mistakes, it truly would be a bummer man.

Nat






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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 02:33:36 -0700
From: Nat Kone <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) keep watching the canadian jews

I  wrote:
>(If there had been a semi-famous musician who was both Jewish and Canadian,
>he would have been a God to me.

Lou Smith wrote:

>Lorne Green

I don't think I knew Lorne Green was Jewish and I can't believe my parents
let that one get by them.  They always pointed out the Jews to me and for
instance, they pointed out "Little Joe" to me so why would they have
forgotten "Pa"?

In any case, I was trying to think of Canadian Jews with hip music
credibility and although Mr Green did make records, they weren't the kind I
bought at the time.

>Paul Shaffer

Number one, I don't think of him as a recording artist and two, I was
referring to the sixties when Paul was still probably living in Thunder
Bay... and wondering if a Canadian Jew could make it in rock n roll.

>Moe Kauffman

That's KOFFMAN and yeah, that does sort of meet my criteria.  Actually Moe
and his family grew up around the corner from us and my brother was friends
with his kids, both of whom were musicians as teenagers.
I guess "Swinging Shepherd Blues" was an actual international hit and if
Moe had ever challenged Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull - and Herbie Mann to a
flute-off, I guess I would have had to take Moe's side... but otherwise
when I was a teenager I didn't really consider a jazz musician as being
anything like a rock musician.

>Leonard Cohen

Well of course, Leonard IS my hero and I've tried to emulate him in many
many ways.  I guess maybe his earliest record might have come out in the
sixties but again, I was referring to the sixties and to the time in my
life when I was most chauvinistic about Jews and Canadians.
I still have a soft spot for Canadian Jews like Lorne Michaels or Allan
Blye - in case that rings a bell for anyone - but I was referring
specifically to the period of my young life when I was constantly drawing
myself into these battles of the bands.

Who's a better drummer?  John Bonham or Aynsley Dunbar?

>Geddy Lee

Again, Geddy isn't that much older than me and by the time Rush came out, I
was more "reasonable" and I wasn't about to like something I hated just
because it was a Canadian Jew out front screaming his lungs out.
The other thing about Geddy is that by the time he was on the scene, I had
assumed that Jews had stopped changing their names.  Is Weinryb really that
bad a name for a rock singer?

>William Shatner

Is he Jewish?  Damn.  If you're right about that one, then my parents
really let me down on that one.

But the point is...
I wasn't looking for famous Canadian Jews.  If I was, I could have added
Lou Jacobi and Arthur Hiller to the list.

I was looking for famous Canadian Jewish rock musicians of the sixties.

For instance, there was a rumour going around when I was a kid that Lee
Oskar, the harp player in War, was actually one Oscar Levin, a Toronto Jew.

He kind of looked Jewish.  I believed it.  And so that helped me become an
even bigger fan of War.

Hands up all those who find this topic annoying!

Nat





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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 02:51:38 -0700
From: Nat Kone <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Werner Muller

I don't know how much good Werner Muller I've ever heard but in general I
think I've avoided his records.
But today I picked up "The Latin Splendor of Werner Muller".  Maybe I
picked it up because it was on Phase Four or because the cover is a bit
different for a Phase four record or because he does "Light my fire" or
just because I've been buying way too many records for no good reason
lately and I just couldn't stop myself.

But the point is, this is a really good record.  And I don't know why I've
been ignoring Werner up to now.

I have two theories.  Theory number one:  I've actually bought a bunch of
Werner's records over the years and most of them were so mediocre that I
sort of put him in my "ignore" file and just started automatically passing
up his records.  And it became so automatic that I no longer remember
making the decision in the first place.

Theory two: And since I've been involved in recent postings about famous
Canadian Jews, I feel I should be honest about this...
Maybe I'm prejudiced against guys named Werner... unless they're also named
Herzog. Or unless I have a good reason to ignore my prejudice.
Yeah my Dad did buy a BMW in the late sixties but he had to ignore his own
prejudices and concentrate on the fine engineering.

It's not that I'm anti-German (of course not, who would suggest such a
thing) but it might be true that if I look at a record and I think to
myself "I wonder if that record swings.  I wonder if that record has a hot
Latin groove", it might be true that a name like Werner Muller might make
me think the answer is "NO".
If I was looking for military marches or music that doesn't take any
prisoners and I was browsing through the bins and came across the name
Werner, I think I might stop and examine it.

Anyway, I'm not saying that's why I ignored Werner in the past but only
that if you too have been ignoring Werner, maybe you should keep ignoring
him or maybe if you see this particular record, you should buy it.
He does a great version of "Perfidia".

Okay, I await the list of groovy Germans.  Besides Peter Thomas, okay?

Nat



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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 04:19:33 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) Lyman up....... -Reply -Reply

Ashley wrote:

A side by side comparison of nearly every version that both artists did will
quite clearly show Denny's band on top. Denny's true genius is shown in his
arrangments which almost single-handedly created "exotica." Sure you had an
exotic sound prior to him with Baxter's compositions but the idea of
recreating that sound with a small combo and throwing in ethnic
instrumentation and jungle effects raise Denny as the originator of the
"exotica" sound surely set Denny as Lyman among the very best of the several
followers of Denny's exotica style.

Clearly the only hope Lyman has of winning this head-butting battle is to
compare the tunes he did which Denny DID NOT do, namely his originals, which
when compared to Denny's hold up quite well and may even be better.
The best of Lyman's originals are compiled onto one CD titled Music of Hawaii
and it shows that while Lyman did not pen a great number of tunes in
comparison with his recorded output (neither did Denny) what he did create was
a wholly unique version of Exotica that was sensitive to Hawaiian music and
was subtle and sophisticated (like the West Coast jazz he aspired to make)


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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 10:54:28 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but what about a list of "modern"
lounge-exotic-noirish composers?  I see names like Orange Symphonette and
L'Atome listed as newer in this genre but have never heard of them.

Some of my favorites are Combustible Edison, Tipsy, Dimitri From Paris,
Cocktails, Angelo Badalamenti, Portishead, Ben Vaughn, Julee Cruise, United
Future Organization, Richard Bone's "Electropica".

Any recommendations?

Chris


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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 11:00:45 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) New To The List... Here's Some Recomendations

In a message dated 10/9/98 8:56:07 AM EST, [e-mail] writes:

<< Peppino Di Capri - "Pops By Peppino" - "American and Italian hits by
Italy's
 no. 1 vocalist."  Well, yeah, right... not exactly... This kid looks like a
 young Peter Sellers with Esquivel horn rims and warbels his way through
Quando
 and many more Italian-American favorites in a style all his own.  BTW, it
says
 in the notes that he "...owns a luxurious American car, receives 300 letters
a
 day, and is constructing a new villa for his holidays."  Gods speed lil'
 Peppino... >>


During the mid-60's Peppino di Capri was in fact one of Italy's top vocalists
(I should know, as a very young kid I heard his singles played incessantly on
jukeboxes in Italy during many vacations).

Some of his stuff is remarkable for their over the top silly arrangements of
trying to ape an American "twist" sound while the Italian in the boy in him,
despite his attempts, always manages to seep through. My favorite songs are
those where he sings  the middle verses or the whole song in quite
embarrasingly wonderful phonetic English!

Do try to search out the American albums (I believe they were on Everest) as
they were humorously vain attempts to try to (very unsuccessfully) break they
guy into America.

Ashley


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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 11:08:00 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) Lyman up....... -Reply -Reply

In a message dated 10/10/98 3:21:23 AM EST, [e-mail] writes:

<< Clearly the only hope Lyman has of winning this head-butting battle is to
 compare the tunes he did which Denny DID NOT do, namely his originals, which
 when compared to Denny's hold up quite well and may even be better.
 The best of Lyman's originals are compiled onto one CD titled Music of Hawaii
 and it shows that while Lyman did not pen a great number of tunes in
 comparison with his recorded output (neither did Denny) what he did create
was
 a wholly unique version of Exotica that was sensitive to Hawaiian music and
 was subtle and sophisticated (like the West Coast jazz he aspired to make)
  >>


I think this is an excellent well thought out statement. Let's appreciate both
Denny and Lyman for what they are and not get into these better-than-matches
which only and unfairly cause the dispargement to one or the other. Sometimes
you want a mai tai and sometimes you want a zombie - in the end both get you
where you want to go!

Ashley


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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 14:03:27 +0200
From: Johan Dada Vis <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Fantasticain RealAudio @ Swanktown Radio's web site!

thanx to Gregg Wolfe (who's gonna air one of my "Fantastica" shows, yahee!)
Fantastica#12 can now be heard in RealAudio at Swanktown Radio's web site
on:

http://www.visi.com/~gwolfe/swanktown/

please visit and listen if you can.

the playlist is at <http://bewoner.dma.be/Dada/radioq/12.htm>

thanx for this little bit of ego-tripping ;-)

        Johan


        [e-mail]


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








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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 98 12:14:12 -0500
From: recliner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) More Mod !

>I think you're talking about the kind of ersatz rock music that would end
>up in movie soundtracks when the producers wanted to get hip credibility
>but they didn't want to hire composers who actually had a feel for rock
>music.  They didn't want "real rock".  They wanted the studio musician's
>version of rock music.  And even though many of the composers and =
musicians
>were very talented and in retrospect did some pretty interesting stuff, it
>seldom "rocked".

Exactly, and because it didn=B9t =B3rock=B2 it has this wierd uptight =
swing to it that I can really relate to. I=B9d hate to find myself =
listening to something that rocks, even the rock I like lacks the =
ability to rock.

>I think you're talking about the kind of music that they'd use in a =
Dragnet
>episode when they went to question the friends of the hippies who took =
acid
>and thought they could fly.
>
>(You know what the hippies replied when Sergeant Joe Friday told them that
>their friends had all died from dropping acid?  "Oh man, what a bummer".)
>
>Even on Laugh-In where you'd think they should have known better, the rock
>music wasn't really rock music.
>
>It was "groovy music".  It was music for people who weren't embarrassed to
>use the word "groovy".  It was rock music for guys who dressed like Sammy
>Davis Jr. with his Nehru suit and love beads.

Nat hits the nail on the head! Excellent examples of what I=B9ve been =
calling Mod.These and other points you bring up point out the fact =
that it was a genre born out of cluelessness. This in itself gives =
cause for the use of the term mod, as it was, at the time, =
mis-appropriated from the Brits.

It=B9s interesting that we of the 90=B9s are so fashion and trend =
conscious that we look back on styles of the past and think =B3what =
were they thinking=B2. Perhaps our tendency to =B3go retro=B3 stems =
from our insecurity and lack of identity to forge our own particular =
style.
Of course I=B9m overemphasising this in order to make a point but, it =
does seem that we lack the strong belief in our own point in time =
that we can make the *mistake* of coming up with an identifying =
style. (Unless you count baggy jeans.)

>A lot of people seem to use the term "LOUNGECORE" for what you're talking
>about and so I started to use it too but that's obviously a new term and =
it
>doesn't really make sense.

I always thought that Loungecore refers to conteporary producers of =
=8Clounge=B9 and, therefore, has no bearing on mod.

>Yes it's true that "The Mod Squad" didn't do anything that we associate
>with Mods and for that reason, I might go along with you if you wanted to
>call this music "Mod Squad Music" but just because the producers of that
>show had no idea what mod meant, there's no reason for us to continue with
>his mistakes.

There=B9s a difference between learning from ones mistakes and having =
a *mistake* reveal a hidden truth. Some of the biggest scientific =
revelations came about from mistakes.

Frank

>And if you want to call it "mod", go ahead.  I just hope you don't mind if
>I start calling you Maude.  And maybe I'll call this kind of music,
>"Harold", just for symetry's sake.

I would be *devastated* if you called me Maude.


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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 12:38:57 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (exotica) Heard of "Bombay the Hard Way"?

Saw an interesting ad in the new issue of Spin, one for a soundtrack called
"Bombay the Hard Way: Guns, Cars and Sitars." From the illustrations (grainy
screen captures), it looks like music from really terrible Bombay crime films.

It comes to us from Motel Records, who brought us the domestic release of
"Vampyros Lesbos."

So has anyone heard "Bombay" yet? It looks weird, but is it any *good*?

- --Rod


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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 22:12:08 +0100
From: "Robbie Baldock" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Moon Base Alpha - on de air!

Just to let you know that Moon Base Alpha (formerly Space Safari)
is taking to the airwaves again for a run of four shows.  So, if you're
in the Edinburgh (UK) area, tune in!

Moon Base Alpha
Sundays 11 Oct, 18 Oct, 25 Oct and 1 Nov, 11:30am - 1pm
Fresh Air FM, 105.4 FM
Broadcasting to the City of Edinburgh


DJ Bongo Boy


- ----------------------------------------------------------
** ** ** * Spaced Out - the Enoch Light Website * ** ** **
** ** ** * http://www.rcb.easynet.co.uk/light/  * ** ** **
- ----------------------------------------------------------


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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 19:12:46 -0400
From: Ross Orr <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Spy, Crime, and Misdemeanors

(ouch)

Among the booty from Toledo were a few crime/spy LPs of note:

_Music for a Private Eye: Swinging Themes of Famous TV Whodunnits_ Ralph
Martiere and his Marlboro Men (Mercury). Seemed promising, with the liner
notes crediting "Skippy" Martin and Pete Rugolo with the arrangements.
Well, you really can't kill "Peter Gunn" no matter what you do, but this
strayed a bit too far into Big Band jazz for my tastes. But maybe somebody
out there would enjoy doing the lindy hop to the Perry Mason theme. . .

_Come Spy With Me_ Hugo Montenegro (RCA, 1966). Yes Yes Yes!!! This one
rocks--maybe the best thing I've found in months! Hugo tears into TV-spy
and James Bond theme songs, with all the mod brass and funky guitar you
could ask for. But the highlight is some TOTALLY f*cked up Hammond playing,
with all kinds of weird effects. It's like Hugo was singlehandedly
straining to invent the Moog 2 years early, and almost getting there.

_Impact_ Buddy Morrow Orchestra (RCA, 1959). I really loved all the crime
TV themes on _Double Impact_, the sequel to this (especially the bizarre
"Hawaiian Eye" theme), so I was excited to find a copy. Tons of that low,
insistent brass that just screams "drama" . . . I loved the sultry "Richard
Diamond" theme. . . and "Sea Hunt" gets turned into something more suitable
for a strip clup. . . but somehow, this LP didn't quite live up to the
other one. A little too ponderous in places--I kept thinking of "Victory At
Sea," which is not a good sign.

Yours criminologically,

 --Ross

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




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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 19:26:17 -0400
From: "telstar" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers

Chris wrote:

> Some of my favorites are Combustible Edison, Tipsy, Dimitri From Paris,
> Cocktails, Angelo Badalamenti, Portishead, Ben Vaughn, Julee Cruise,
United
> Future Organization, Richard Bone's "Electropica".

and asked:

> Any recommendations?


You might want to check out the jazzy trip hop sounds of Amon Tobin's
"Permutation" and Funki Porcini's "Love, Pussycats & Carwrecks" [both
released by Ninja Tune]. The latter release features a tune called "Venus"
which could be mistaken for an outtake from the Twin Peaks soundtrack.

For that noir/spy sound, I would recommend "Coffee Table Music - sounds &
soundtracks mixed by Grantby".

Happy record buying!

Allan

++++Unusual Music+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Mondo Bongos" Wednesdays 9 - 11 am on CFRU 93.3 fm in Guelph, Ontario,
Canada
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Unusual Music++++




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

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 20:14:52 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) Lyman up....... -Reply -Reply

I agree with the following whole-heartedly.  And you can take that to the
freaking bank!

In a message dated 98-10-10 04:21:23 EDT, Otto wrote:

<< Subj:     Re: (exotica) Lyman up....... -Reply -Reply
 Date:    98-10-10 04:21:23 EDT
 From:    [e-mail]
 Sender:    [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail]


 Ashley wrote:

 A side by side comparison of nearly every version that both artists did will
 quite clearly show Denny's band on top. Denny's true genius is shown in his
 arrangments which almost single-handedly created "exotica." Sure you had an
 exotic sound prior to him with Baxter's compositions but the idea of
 recreating that sound with a small combo and throwing in ethnic
 instrumentation and jungle effects raise Denny as the originator of the
 "exotica" sound surely set Denny as Lyman among the very best of the several
 followers of Denny's exotica style.

 Clearly the only hope Lyman has of winning this head-butting battle is to
 compare the tunes he did which Denny DID NOT do, namely his originals, which
 when compared to Denny's hold up quite well and may even be better.
 The best of Lyman's originals are compiled onto one CD titled Music of Hawaii
 and it shows that while Lyman did not pen a great number of tunes in
 comparison with his recorded output (neither did Denny) what he did create
was
 a wholly unique version of Exotica that was sensitive to Hawaiian music and
 was subtle and sophisticated (like the West Coast jazz he aspired to make)

  >>


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Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 21:28:17 -0700
From: Nat Kone <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Lyman vs. Denny

At 04:19 AM 10/10/98 EDT, [e-mail] wrote:

.> what he - LYMAN - did create was
>a wholly unique version of Exotica that was sensitive to Hawaiian music and
>was subtle and sophisticated (like the West Coast jazz he aspired to make)

I guess that was it.  And one man's "subtle and sophisiticated" is another
man's "boring".  I've never been able to figure it out but I've been
disappointed with almost every Lyman record I've bought while I always like
the Denny ones more than I thought I would.
To me, it's obvious that they're comparable.  It's obvious that they have a
similar sound.  It makes sense that Lyman was in Denny's band.
But as far as who's better, more interesting, entertaining etc etc, it's no
contest for me.  Denny wins hands down.
And maybe now I know why.
I came to this music as a longtime jazz fan.
If Lyman was aspiring to some idea he had of West coast jazz, that could
explain a lot of things.
I respect a musician trying to bring other influences into his music -
trying to create a hybrid - but if what Lyman was trying to do was combine
Martin Denny-style music with "cool" West coast lounge jazz, I'd say that
at least for my ears, he failed.
I have "Leis of Jazz" and many other Lyman records.  It's kind of
interesting to hear an "exotica" musician trying to make a "real jazz"
record and I like having the record as an example of the kind of thing that
musicians were doing in those days.... but in the end, it's not a "jazz"
record.  It's a curiosity.

It seems to me that the difference between Denny and Lyman is that as much
as Denny might have aspired to some idea of musical "legitimacy", he was a
showman - a showoff even - who was constantly trying to throw in stuff to
make the music more interesting, more curious, more "exotic".  He had a lot
of silly ideas and I doubt I would have liked it at the time, but now I
just find it fun.  I can hear the jazz influences in Denny's music but it
never occurs to me that he was trying to pretend that his music was jazz
and so the distance it falls from jazz is a non-issue to me.
Lyman on the other hand, apparently aspired to sophistication, musical
legitimacy etc... while at the same time wanting to keep some of the fan
base he had had with Denny.
He tried to have it both ways and in the end I think he failed both ways.
Like I said, I have his records and they contain occasional pleasures.  I
think I could probably make a good 45 minute side of decent Lyman from the
seven LP's of his I have.
But in the end, for me Lyman is just Denny-lite.  Denny with most of the
fun and eccentricity taken out.  Denny with the percussion made "subtler".
He tried to make "exotica" legitimate, he tried to make Denny's music more
"sophisticated" and in the end, while it was inevitable that someone would
try to do that, I think it was inevitable too that they would fail.
For me anyway.

Nat




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Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 22:30:03 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers

>>>Any recommendations?<<<

I just discovered a great new band called The Aluminum Group, whose album
"Plano" is on the Minty Fresh label.

It's currently one of the listening selections at Borders, the shelf card for
which describes it as a cross between Burt Bacharach, Stereolab and the Pet
Shop Boys. (I can't hear the latter, which is a good thing, as I don't like
vocals delivered in a high-pitch whine.)

Overall, it's a great, '60s-pop-lite album that would appeal to many on this
list. Check it out.

- --Rod


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Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 20:24:03 -0700
From: "Larson/Thomas" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers

> Any recommendations?

For lounge, "Cocktails with Joey" by Joey Altruda.  Does anybody else like
that CD?

For exotica, try Elizabeth Waldo

Jerry


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Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 23:46:09 -0400
From: "m.ace" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers

> I just discovered a great new band called The Aluminum Group, whose album
> "Plano" is on the Minty Fresh label.

The Easy Listener website has one of their tunes in RealAudio. It's a framed
site, so if the first link doesn't work, try the second one.

http://www.easylistener.com/Recordings/index.html

http://www.easylistener.com/Recordings/top.html

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


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Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 20:50:39 -0700
From: "Steve Sando" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Modern Lounge-Noir-Exotic Composers

>> Any recommendations?
>
>For lounge, "Cocktails with Joey" by Joey Altruda.  Does anybody else like
>that CD?


My review is here:
http://www.mrlucky.com/html/reviews_11.html



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Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 00:05:08 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (exotica) Fantastic Voyage

spotted this post in a soundtrack newsgroup:

******************************************************************************
************
"The genuinely modernistic and exciting score to one of the landmark films of
the 1960s is now available from Film Score Monthly for $19.95 plus s&h.

Leonard Rosenman's now-classic score to "Fantastic Voyage" is presented in
its entirety in full stereo.  The CD is handsomely produced, with an
excellent booklet and color photographs.  There are comments in the booklet
from Rosenman about the score as well as a breakdown of the cues.

This FSM Silver Age Classics series gets better and better -- and best of
all, these guys are actually saving film music that might have perished
forever without these preservation efforts.  Check out
www.filmscoremonthly.com for more information.

This has been an unpaid promo of the FSM series from a very grateful film
music fan who most definitely wants FSM to be able to do more first-time-ever
soundtrack releases."
******************************************************************************
**************
every response was positive and the soundtrack group tends to be a fussy
bunch.


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Date: Sun, 11 Oct 98 01:03:32 -0000
From: "Michael D. Toth" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Re: keep watching the curbs

>Would you be willing to privately inform me of the exact location of the
>store or stores you hit.  I've been meaning to take a trip to Cleveland for
>a couple of years now ever since my friend there told me that he thought no
>one in Cleveland was buying this stuff.

Oh, there's NOTHING to be found in northeast Ohio. Stay home and don't
waste your time! >;-) heh heh heh...

Actually, while I've scarfed up a lot of great stuff by attacking Ohio
with a vengeance the past few years, Cleveland itself hasn't been all
that good to me. Assorted Ohio flea markets have proved the most
successful. Your chances might be better here than some other areas of
the country, but there's probably *somebody* EVERYWHERE looking for this
stuff.

Michael David Toth
[e-mail]




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Date: Sun, 11 Oct 98 01:25:18 -0000
From: "Michael D. Toth" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) CD reissues profiled in Real Audio

Hey, Exotica listers:

If anyone's interested, earlier this week I prerecorded an installment of
"Zombo's Mondo Record Party" that gives an overview of several of the
nifty single-artist compilations/whole album reissues out there. ZMRP is
a 2-hour radio show on Akron WAPS 91.3 FM where I'm a fairly frequent
guest DJ alongside Zombo (who didn't turn up in this show until about the
last 20 minutes).

WAPS has a Real Audio feed if you're interested in getting a taste of a
lot of the wild stuff out there reissued by Scamp (Shadows, Martin Denny,
John Barry, 101 Strings Astro Sounds, etc.), Ryko/Hi-Fi (Arthur Lyman),
Varese (Enoch Light, prepared F&T, Cugie, etc.), Bar-None (Esquivel), and
a bunch of other stuff (Atillo Mineo, Mark Wirtz, Joe Meek, Perrey &
Kingsley, etc.).

Zombo's show airs regularly Sundays from 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM Eastern
(right after the "Polka Explosion" and "D.I.Y." shows), and the Reissue
Showcase edition airs this Sunday 10/11. You can get to WAPS's Web site
and Real Audio feed at:

http://www.wapsfm.com

FYI, if all goes well and schedules work out, I should be on Zombo's show
live on 10/25 with Tiki legend Otto Von Stroheim. He'll be here in town
from San Francisco for the once-in-a-lifetime event with Combustible
Edison at the Kahiki in Columbus on the 24th. (BTW, we're getting a good
handful of out-of-staters driving/flying in -- what's YOUR excuse? ;-D )

Michael David Toth
[e-mail]




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Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 03:00:29 -0700
From: "Carl Russo" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Korla Pandit

Who has more info?

According to my grandmother, exotic organist/TV personality Korla Pandit
passed away in Petaluma, California.  She knew about this because Pandit
recently came to live in the convalescent home where my GREAT grandma
resides.  Evidently he gave a few piano recitals for the old folks.  They
say he played beautifully, but without his turban.

C. "Ratso" Russo
[e-mail]
http://russo.onza.net/gmsarchive1.html








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Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 13:15:46 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (exotica) Korla Pandit Obit

ratso rites:

<< Who has more info?

 According to my grandmother, exotic organist/TV personality Korla Pandit
 passed away in Petaluma, California.  She knew about this because Pandit
 recently came to live in the convalescent home where my GREAT grandma
 resides.  Evidently he gave a few piano recitals for the old folks.  They
 say he played beautifully, but without his turban. >>

I did a search on this, and I'm afraid it is true.  :(

here is the SF Examiner article I clipped from their site:

Korla Pandit, keyboardist and star of early TV
Marianne Costantinou
OF THE EXAMINER STAFF =A0Oct. 5, 1998
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Korla Pandit, the turbaned organist-pianist whose mystical music and
unblinking brown eyes hypnotized California viewers in the early days of
television, died Thursday. He was 76, and lived for many years in Santa Ro=
sa.

Mr. Pandit received accolades from the critics and fan mail from the ladie=
s
for his TV performances and concerts in the 1950s.

He was so popular in the Bay Area - where he appeared regularly on TV vari=
ety
shows and even had his own program on KGO-TV in 1957 - that in one poll,
viewers named him their favorite TV personality most worthy of national
recognition.

A native of New Delhi, Mr. Pandit's unique musical sound - a precursor to =
New
Age music, said his son, Shari Pandit - seemed especially exotic when he
appeared on stage in his trademark turban adorned with two jewels, a diamo=
nd
and a smoky topaz.

Often, Mr. Pandit would play both of his favorite instruments - a Hammond
organ and a Steinway grand piano - simultaneously, working the piano with =
his
right hand and the organ on his left.

"They modeled Liberace after him," said his son.

Although talented on the piano, Mr. Pandit first received recognition as a=
n
expert on what was then a new instrument, an electric organ. He claimed to
have sat down and mastered the instrument within three days so he could ta=
ke a
Chicago radio station's job offer as an organist.

A child prodigy, Mr. Pandit showed an ear for music as a toddler. His moth=
er
was a singer and recognized his talent, but his father, a member of the ru=
ling
Brahman class, had the means to send him to London and the United States f=
or
private tutoring.

After attending the University of Chicago, Mr. Pandit landed radio jobs an=
d
eventually moved to Hollywood, where he worked as an organist on several e=
arly
TV shows, including "Teen and Twenty Time" and, in 1948, "Chandu the
Magician."

Mr. Pandit soon was appearing as the featured performer on numerous hit ra=
dio
and TV shows, including Kay Kyser's, Rudy Vallee's and Art Baker's. He als=
o
became a star for two years of his own "Adventures in Music" program on KT=
LA
in Los Angeles.

During his heyday, Mr. Pandit was also in demand at several major concert
halls. He was also a recording artist. He has 13 albums produced by Fantas=
y
Records, said his son.

Changing musical tastes made Mr. Pandit's brand of showmanship less of a d=
raw
in the ensuing years. He moved his family to Vancouver, B.C., occasionally
returning to the United States to give concerts.

But the recital halls got smaller. In 1978, Mr. Pandit was advertised as t=
he
Sunday performer at Pizza & Pipes restaurant in Serramonte, where he playe=
d a
giant Wurlitzer.

Yet, even in his later years, Mr. Pandit was not forgotten. He had cameo p=
arts
in Richard Pryor's 1977 comedy "Which Way Is Up?" and in Tim Burton's 1994
film "Ed Wood."

If Mr. Pandit ever regretted not becoming a megastar, he never expressed t=
hat
disappointment to his two sons, who also became musicians.

"He didn't give a damn about being the next Liberace," said his son, Shari=
.
"He loved to play for people. To him, that was all that mattered."

Mr. Pandit is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Beryl Pandit, an=
d
his two sons, Shari and Koram.

Funeral arrangements are still being made.



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End of exotica-digest V2 #225
*****************************