Post #176433 by aquarj on Mon, Aug 1, 2005 11:42 PM

Here's another not-really-but-maybe-kinda exotica LP for download.

This record is near and dear to me, as it's the one that made me fall in love with the accordion, and it's also the one that turned me on to the Enoch Light and Command records sound. As with their many "Percussion and ..." records with just about every instrument invented, and the Persuasive Percussion series, the Command records releases had a reliable sparkly clean sound, usually made exotic with bongos and other accent sounds ping-ponging back on forth with super stereo effect. The Command releases frequently have beautiful semi-abstract artwork on the cover too, and usually have full liner notes describing each production and arrangement decision for every track. Command LPs can still be found pretty regularly in the dollar (and less) bins, and I can't recommend them enough.

Charles Magnante is clearly a virtuoso accordionist, and in fact his name shows up on the credit list on many of the other Enoch Light releases, but for this one he's the star. The overall theme on this record is toward the Latin side, not "exotic", but songs like Jungle Drums and Ritual Fire Dance get closer to the border. Magnante has such an easy time going from superfast and energetic melodies like El Cumbanchero, to the casual loping rhythm of Brazilian Nocturne. Anyway, hope some enjoy this as much as I do (posted again for some indeterminate time until I put something new up).

-Randy