eBay: Rare Exotica Lp's Fetching Top Dollar - Tiki Marketplace

STCB Sabu The Coconut Boy Tiki Socialite Carson, California Joined: Aug 20, 2002 Posts: 2813	STCB Sabu The Coconut Boy Posted posted on Tue, Feb 28, 2006 3:56 PM On 2006-02-28 12:33, Tiki Lee's wrote: Hey Sabu! I saw that Tiki Gardens LP skyrocket on eBay and was floored. What the heck is on that album that is so cool that someone would pay almost $500 bucks for it? Or do ya think it's just braggin' rights to own the vinyl? Man, it's gettin' so you have to be a friggin' Doctor or Lawyer to be able to own the good stuff anymore! I missed the CD and have never seen or heard of one being available since. Is it any good? Or is it just a curiosity in a historical sense? Later! Hi Lee! Good to hear from you again. The lp was disappointing to many who expected a full-blown exotica album. As a momento Florida roadside kitsch from the 1960s though, it's top-notch. The first side of the album is kind of like a narrated tour of Tiki Gardens with stops at the Mynah-Bird cage, the monkeys, the parrots, the waterfall, etc. There is a torch-lighting ceremony where Ernie Shreeve plays Hawaiian standards on the Wurlitzer organ. Through it all, Trader Frank narrates with his folksy, southern, very un-exotic twang. Kitschy stuff. The highlight for me, is on side two. Organist Ernie Shreeve has composed an original Exotica theme, entitled "Tiki Gardens Polynesian Fantasy". It's really very good. It melds well with other Exotica standards, yet has it's own unique, haunting melody that sticks in your head. Several variations are played on Wurlitzer and piano, with various sound-effects on each version - Raucous Peacocks, Monkeys & other birds, Waves & Seagulls, Waterfalls, and Volcanoes & Bubbling Lava. Maybe not the highly-polished studio version of an exotica song you might hear on a Martin Denny album, but great nonetheless. I think the people paying so much on eBay are buying the lp for it's rarity factor and the bragging rights on owning the vinyl. Even in 2002, someone paid $335 for a copy on eBay. Really, I don't think that many people have actually heard the album. I cringe a bit to dredge up this old thread, but it proves that we Tiki Centralites occasionally have our battles with each other. We did in 2002 and we probably will again. Here is the divisive thread that introduced us all to the Tiki Gardens lp: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1015&forum=5 Which spawned this generous-spirited thread that eventually got a CD-version of the lp into the hands of everyone on TC who wanted a copy at the time: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1267&forum=5 Sabu

On 2006-02-28 12:33, Tiki Lee's wrote:
Hey Sabu!

I saw that Tiki Gardens LP skyrocket on eBay and was floored. What the heck is on that album that is so cool that someone would pay almost $500 bucks for it? Or do ya think it's just braggin' rights to own the vinyl? Man, it's gettin' so you have to be a friggin' Doctor or Lawyer to be able to own the good stuff anymore!

I missed the CD and have never seen or heard of one being available since. Is it any good? Or is it just a curiosity in a historical sense?

Later!

Hi Lee! Good to hear from you again.

The lp was disappointing to many who expected a full-blown exotica album. As a momento Florida roadside kitsch from the 1960s though, it's top-notch. The first side of the album is kind of like a narrated tour of Tiki Gardens with stops at the Mynah-Bird cage, the monkeys, the parrots, the waterfall, etc. There is a torch-lighting ceremony where Ernie Shreeve plays Hawaiian standards on the Wurlitzer organ. Through it all, Trader Frank narrates with his folksy, southern, very un-exotic twang. Kitschy stuff.

The highlight for me, is on side two. Organist Ernie Shreeve has composed an original Exotica theme, entitled "Tiki Gardens Polynesian Fantasy". It's really very good. It melds well with other Exotica standards, yet has it's own unique, haunting melody that sticks in your head. Several variations are played on Wurlitzer and piano, with various sound-effects on each version - Raucous Peacocks, Monkeys & other birds, Waves & Seagulls, Waterfalls, and Volcanoes & Bubbling Lava. Maybe not the highly-polished studio version of an exotica song you might hear on a Martin Denny album, but great nonetheless.

I think the people paying so much on eBay are buying the lp for it's rarity factor and the bragging rights on owning the vinyl. Even in 2002, someone paid $335 for a copy on eBay. Really, I don't think that many people have actually heard the album.

I cringe a bit to dredge up this old thread, but it proves that we Tiki Centralites occasionally have our battles with each other. We did in 2002 and we probably will again.

Here is the divisive thread that introduced us all to the Tiki Gardens lp:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1015&forum=5

Which spawned this generous-spirited thread that eventually got a CD-version of the lp into the hands of everyone on TC who wanted a copy at the time:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1267&forum=5

Sabu

Post #217993 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Tue, Feb 28, 2006 3:56 PM