"South Sea Island Magic" -- tragic!

La Verandah really must vent.

The spousal unit and I last week attended his cousin's middle daughter's housewarming and Hannukah party at which there was a festive exchange of "white elephant" presents.

While dear hubby found himself stuck with a ceramic trio of weiner dogs, I thought myself fortunate to unwrap an untouched-looking vintage record set of Pacific Island music. Something Reader's Digest produced in 1968, "South Sea Island Magic" using THE MAGNIFICENT NEW DYNAGROOVE SOUND.

Having become a fan of such vintage stars as Terorotua and His Tahitians, I must say I was thrilled to receive a trove of new (to me) music. Finally got around to putting the vinyl on my phonograph and...

Oh. Dear. Heaven.

If you could compress Velveeta into a flat, hard disc it would sound like this "music." Reader's Digest was obviously too cheap to get recordings of these lovely old standards done by the people who made them lovely old standards. It hired a bunch of knock-offs insteads.

Four records of "The Islanders" and the "Kalua Beach Boys" and a "Louis Nunley" and various sundry unknown males and their equally unimpressive "orchestras" churning out the blandest most over-orchestrated versions you should never hear.

After giving each record a brief listen on one side, I finally decided that my dental work needed to be spared further grinding. Dyangroove, shynagroove! La Verandah proclaims that it's SCHMALTZ! -- as her in-laws (the older ones who still speak Yiddish) would say -- and the hell with it!

The question now, mesdames and misters -- what shall La Verandah do with the lot? It's far too awful to release into the general population. Does anyone know of one of those quaint shooting ranges where people yell, "Pull!" and something goes flying into the air to be shot into smithereens?

I landed that box set at the flea market this past summer. One dollar. Still haven't listened to more than one disc. Sad.

Oh, and isn't it amazing that both ours are pushing 40 years old and in mint condition?

On 2007-12-17 03:46, pappythesailor wrote:
I landed that box set at the flea market this past summer. One dollar. Still haven't listened to more than one disc. Sad.

Oh, and isn't it amazing that both ours are pushing 40 years old and in mint condition?

Indeed. I suspect this set is the vinyl equivalent of the seasonal mass-produced fruit cake everyone so thoughtfully "regifts" to others.

We really MUST think of a suitable demise for these atrocities....

It's weak, but I've definitely heard worse. There are a couple of highlights, but for the most part it's a dead fish.

[ Edited by: Kenike 2007-12-18 08:45 ]

Hey guys

For what it's worth, as a musician, I hate seeing this. i know everyone swaps music here and there but posting entire records and collections seems wrong - even if it is schmaltz. If it's not released, and you really are going to share it, then maybe PM and nbe more discreet - sharing with one person is still wrong but less wrong than publically making somebody's entire collection of art (even if it's not!) available for consumption to the masses for free.

WAITIKI wasn't hip when somebody on TC offered our music for free download(!) and , well, we all know this argument.... :wink:

happy listening regardless!

On 2007-12-16 23:06, Carmine Verandah wrote:

If you could compress Velveeta into a flat, hard disc it would sound like this "music." Reader's Digest was obviously too cheap to get recordings of these lovely old standards done by the people who made them lovely old standards. It hired a bunch of knock-offs insteads.

Carmine,

As a friend once challenged me (without irony) by asking "What's Wrong with MUZAK" I will paraphrase and ask "What's Wrong with Schmaltz." :)

On a weekly basis I plow through LPs and box sets like these that have been discarded into the record bins of Thrift Store USA, looking for the hidden EZ listening gems amongst the dreck. It's a lonely job, but someone has to do it.

I think there are 5 really good tracks on that box set. And THAT is a pretty good average for Reader's Digest. But I own lots of LPs with one good song on each, so maybe I'm off the deep end with this stuff. Anyway, check out:

Rosemary Squires / Shells
Alfred Apaka / My Hawaiian Souvenirs
Johnny Gibbs, his Orch and Chorus / Quiet Village
Douglas Gamley, His Orch & Chorus / Blue Coral
The Islanders / Hawaiian Village

"Shells" especially I remember as being great. AND If you ever see the Reader's Digest Box Set "Happiness Is..." get that. Amazing Big Band NOW sound stuff from the late 60s and 70s.

I, Z

Everyone has their own taste, and I'm glad you think "South Sea Island" is terrible. You might as well leave all those awful "muzak" pseudo-Hawaiian LPs you run across at thrift stores on the shelf for those of us who LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Granted, I think the earlier Reader's Digest "Hawaiian Paradise" set was MILES ahead of their later "South Sea Island Magic" set. I also enjoy their "Aloha Hawaii" set. They each have their enjoyable moments.

.......and just remember, there are plenty of people out there who think all tiki stuff is just CRAP. Beauty is in the eye oh the beholder, and I'm sorry you don't see the beauty in "South Sea Island Magic", but that's cool.

M'sieur Ho, perhaps you've cross-referencing -- La Verandah only knows how to post snail mail.

Gracias, I,Zombie, for the heads up on select tracks.

Citizen Kaiwaza: Yes, one person's shmaltz is another's kugel so if you'd like to take this creation off La Verandah's hands - just send me your snail mail address; you'd be doing me a mitzvah.

Personally, I am in accord with Le Grand Master Kenike -- there may be some sweet spots on this dead fish, but it's otherwise dreck, dahlings!

Hey Calomine !! Mr. Ho was referring to the post by Kenike that went:-

As fate would have it, I just started ripping this very box set to MP3's, so why not let everyone judge for themselves?

Download disc 1 here

I'll post disc 2 tomorrow and 3 & 4 as soon as I get them ripped.

And Mr. Ho is 100% correct about posting links to commercial albums. I would NEVER do that would I ?

Live vol.1

Dear Ho,
Just wanted to second what Carmine said--I bought the real, live, vinyl box set at a real, live flea market. I didn't download it or post it anywhere for download.

...Oops! Just read basilh's post. Now I understand....

"I can't die until the government finds a safe place to bury my liver."
Phil Harris

[ Edited by: pappythesailor 2007-12-18 18:42 ]

Just to clarify, although I believe "out of print" music should be ok to share, I removed the link I originally posted. As Mr. Ho suggested, it would be more appropriate here if I just offered it privately.

"Shells" is also one of my favorites from the set.

[ Edited by: Kenike 2007-12-18 18:59 ]

Ah. Does "ripping" have some relation to "rip off" then?

I would assume the copyright is long dead on this set, but I don't know of any way to find out for sure.

On 2007-12-18 19:40, Carmine Verandah wrote:
Ah. Does "ripping" have some relation to "rip off" then?

I would assume the copyright is long dead on this set, but I don't know of any way to find out for sure.

Sure sounds like it! Never thought of it that way.

"Ripping" refers to transferring a vinyl record to digital audio, which can be made into a CD, transferred to your iPod, or shared with billions of other computer owners.

The whole copyright thing is a super complicated business, one I'm still trying to understand. It is technically illegal to share or download music without permission, or without paying fees to the RIAA, BMI, etc...a subject that I'm sure has been discussed in detail on another thread, but I'm too lazy to look for it right now.

Anyhow, I decided to go with Mr. Ho's suggestion of not posting a link for the masses to download, but if anyone really wants to subject themselves to this kind of torture, I'd be happy to share with them through a PM.

[ Edited by: kenike 2007-12-19 04:45 ]

On 2007-12-18 07:42, Mr. Ho wrote:
Hey guys

For what it's worth, as a musician, I hate seeing this. i know everyone swaps music here and there but posting entire records and collections seems wrong - even if it is schmaltz. If it's not released, and you really are going to share it, then maybe PM and nbe more discreet - sharing with one person is still wrong but less wrong than publically making somebody's entire collection of art (even if it's not!) available for consumption to the masses for free.

WAITIKI wasn't hip when somebody on TC offered our music for free download(!) and , well, we all know this argument.... :wink:

happy listening regardless!

Can I offer a counterpoint here ?

Being that alot of us here dig the vintage stuff, some of that obscure stuff is just simply not available. Alot of the artists are dead and gone, or simply impossible to find, the labels never paid the artists anyway, and there is alot of great music that will never be heard.

Example : Xtabay's World - I'm sure alot of you have been to this blog. Alot of great Exotica records posted up there. Stuff that's not on CD and never will be. Obscure records from defunct labels. Anyone a Gene Rains fan ? Is his stuff even available on CD ? What about Alex Keack "Surfer's Paradise" ?

I found an amazing piece of inspiration there by Don Ralke called "Savage and Sensuous Bongos" - I know....Don WHO? - no label in their right mind would re-issue this because about 5 of us would buy it, but it's AMAZING. I downloaded it. I seriously doubt that anyone involved with this record is thinking "Man, I gotta get my royalties for this record", if they're even alive.

These are records you'll find on eBay or at a yard sale if you REALLY luck out. Otherwise, you can't just go to iTunes and download it or buy iit on CD. I know, 50 years from now, when I'm dead and gone, I hope people find my music and share it, because it means that the music has some kind of longevity. As long as I'm alive, I want to get paid for it, but after I'm gone, what good will it do me ?

As long as no one is pressing it and SELLING it, I don't see the harm in sharing something cool and unavailable on the buying market.

So, as much as I agree with the downloading issue with CURRENT music, all those glorious, obscure, way out of print records that need to be rediscovered are better served being shared than never beaing heard at all.

Well, that's My $.02

amen to that --i happen to have tracked down a lot of obscure stuff on vinyl and let me tell ya, its pretty hard to lug that console stereo around in the CAR where I need to be SOOTHED the most...so YEAH I am eternally grateful to Kono & Xtabay for blogging that vinyl because they care enough to propigate the exotica tunes onto the modern listening devices..it would be sweet to get royalties to the artists surviving families but the contractual legwork on that would be daunting at its best and more than likely ANYONE involved in the business transactions
are DUST IN THE WIND by now...sadly.

On 2007-12-19 07:29, tikiyaki wrote:

I found an amazing piece of inspiration there by Don Ralke called "Savage and Sensuous Bongos" - I know....Don WHO? - no label in their right mind would re-issue this because about 5 of us would buy it, but it's AMAZING. I downloaded it. I seriously doubt that anyone involved with this record is thinking "Man, I gotta get my royalties for this record", if they're even alive.

Tikiyaki,

Actually Harkit Records did -- with Darrel Brogdon of the Retro Cocktail Hour doing the liner notes. It also includes cuts from Ralke's Bongo Madness. http://www.harkitrecords.com

That said, I agree with you. If a record is long out of print, I see no harm in offering it on a sharity blog. However, if it's in print or recently re-released (like Ralke's "Savage and Sensuous Bongos"), it shouldn't be made free to anyone who wants it. Yes musicians like yourself and Waitiki deserve their dough; and it burns up a lot of us here at TC when we see some chump offering up someone else's new music for free download. Likewise, small record labels like Harkit, that bust their hump to bring back such a classic also deserve their dough. And the best sharity blogs will take down an LP if it's pointed out to them that the LP is still in circulation or was re-released. I just checked Xtabay and it's not there now -- so maybe that's why.

Probably like a lot of folks here, when I see something available on a Sharity site that looks like an old LP out of print, I do at least a minimum search on Amazon (or just google it) to see if it's still out there. If nothing comes up, I'll download it. It's probably not a perfect system, but it works for me.

I,Z

[ Edited by: I, Zombie 2007-12-19 08:09 ]

On 2007-12-18 19:40, Carmine Verandah wrote:
I would assume the copyright is long dead on this set, but I don't know of any way to find out for sure.

From http://www.pdinfo.com/copyrt.htm

If this collection was registered with the US Copyright Office - and you have to assume it was - then the copyright lasts 95 years from the date copyright was secured.

Therefore:

"If any music or lyrics are still under copyright protection

• you CANNOT reproduce the music or lyrics
• you CANNOT distribute the music or lyrics either for free, for no profit, or for profit
• you CANNOT perform the music or lyrics in public
• you CANNOT play a recording of the music or lyrics in public--even if you own the CD
• you CANNOT make a derivative work or arrangement for public use in any form"

Btw, there are two Reader's Digest Hawaiian boxed sets. A few decent tunes. Mostly though, these sets were meant to be put on the turntable, stacked, as background music for your luau.

Look at the LPs. You don't have record one with sides 1 and 2. Side 2 is on record 2. The back of record one has side 5. You are meant to put the stack on, play through it, turn the whole stack over and play that. Hours of music for your party.

In that light, the music is good. A little mood music. If you want to really enjoy these records, put it on while you do something else and don't actually listen.

.... If you want to really enjoy these records, put it on while you do something else and don't actually listen.

My wife has a lot of music like this. It sounds great if she puts it on and I go mow the lawn.

There are many treasures to find asmongst these box sets. Reader's Digest, the Longines Symphonette, Time Life, RCA Victor, are among the ones I have found. These often have music not found elsewhere. They are usually dirt cheap and in good condition.

Someone mentioned the "Happiness Is.." set. THAT is an all time favorite. The version of "Somebody to Love" is killer!

-Jack

On 2007-12-19 07:44, I, Zombie wrote:

On 2007-12-19 07:29, tikiyaki wrote:

I found an amazing piece of inspiration there by Don Ralke called "Savage and Sensuous Bongos" - I know....Don WHO? - no label in their right mind would re-issue this because about 5 of us would buy it, but it's AMAZING. I downloaded it. I seriously doubt that anyone involved with this record is thinking "Man, I gotta get my royalties for this record", if they're even alive.

Tikiyaki,

Actually Harkit Records did -- with Darrel Brogdon of the Retro Cocktail Hour doing the liner notes. It also includes cuts from Ralke's Bongo Madness. http://www.harkitrecords.com

That said, I agree with you. If a record is long out of print, I see no harm in offering it on a sharity blog. However, if it's in print or recently re-released (like Ralke's "Savage and Sensuous Bongos"), it shouldn't be made free to anyone who wants it. Yes musicians like yourself and Waitiki deserve their dough; and it burns up a lot of us here at TC when we see some chump offering up someone else's new music for free download. Likewise, small record labels like Harkit, that bust their hump to bring back such a classic also deserve their dough. And the best sharity blogs will take down an LP if it's pointed out to them that the LP is still in circulation or was re-released. I just checked Xtabay and it's not there now -- so maybe that's why.

Probably like a lot of folks here, when I see something available on a Sharity site that looks like an old LP out of print, I do at least a minimum search on Amazon (or just google it) to see if it's still out there. If nothing comes up, I'll download it. It's probably not a perfect system, but it works for me.

I,Z

[ Edited by: I, Zombie 2007-12-19 08:09 ]

Wow, I didn't know. Perhaps I should have checked. Do you know if this was copied from vinyl, or was it mastered to CD from the master tape ?

I like having the liner notes and info on stuff. I'll have to check this out.

My wife has a lot of music like this. It sounds great if she puts it on and I go mow the lawn.

Let me get this straight. Your wife puts on mood music and you head for the lawn?

Does this ever happen while the postman or milkman are making deliveries? :wink:

On 2007-12-19 09:33, tabuzak wrote:

Let me get this straight. Your wife puts on mood music and you head for the lawn?

Does this ever happen while the postman or milkman are making deliveries? :wink:

No, you misunderstand! It's not mood music, it's her music. Seeing her crappy CD collection almost prevented me from asking her on a second date. I like all music UNTIL 1988. She likes everything that's come along since.

The Don Ralke CD released on Harkit Records came from the original Master tapes and sounds INCREDIBLE!!! It even includes bonus tracks from Don Ralke's "Bongo Madness" album.

They even re-arranged the tracks so it flows a lot better too!!

This is highly recommended Exotica!!!!!! :)

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

[ Edited by: Jeff Central 2007-12-19 11:26 ]

Jeff you would like Grand pa Jones sings
Martin Denny.:)

Ah, thank you, Kenike, for the enlightenment. "Rip off" was a slang noun AND verb for theft back in La Verandah's college days, ahem.

And Scottes, merci beaucoup for the copyrights link. Although the info does rather beg the question, "Who actually holds the copyrights for these standards?" Some of 'em are quite venerable.

hi everyone

for what its worth, check out BMI and ASCAP to search for the publisher and songwriter (not always the same person) of the albums in question. registering at the library of congress for copyright is a good idea however, this is not required to obtain copyright. the main reason is that it establishes very clear legal evidence of your status against a work in case there was ever a legal issue around the issue of who the copyright owner is. basically, it's reinforcement.

it's an interesting topic and I am enjoying watching folks discuss it :wink:

"If any music or lyrics are still under copyright protection

* you CANNOT reproduce the music or lyrics  

* you CANNOT distribute the music or lyrics either for free, for no profit, or for profit  

* you CANNOT perform the music or lyrics in public  

* you CANNOT play a recording of the music or lyrics in public--even if you own the CD  

* you CANNOT make a derivative work or arrangement for public use in any form"

With this exception, you pay the appropriate fee to the appropriate collection agency..

There is a LOT of information and an enlightening discussion going on here :-
http://www.taropatch.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5044

Steelies do it without fretting !

[ Edited by: basilh 2007-12-19 16:42 ]

Ripping, rip-off...? To me any vinyl record that is currently not commercially available in digital form is just fair game for sharing. If I were the artist and was really concerned, I would re-release it myself or just be flattered that people are listening to my art. Like others have said, much of this stuff is simply not available.

I probably wouldn't have had the chance to hear Paul Page if it wasn't for Kono's blog(why no updates by the way?). I downloaded it and then went on a mad search to find the vinyl. Paul Page or his estate didn't make a dime off the lps I paid a chunk of change for so what's the difference. As soon as anyone releases an official CD release, I will be the first in line to buy it.

Posting up a whole CD that is currently available is of course wrong. Posting up a few tracks should be seen as promotional. I have discovered many bands on Limewire that I would have never bought had I not had the chance to really listen to a few tracks. I just love all types of music and sharing helps me explore it all.

Let me get this straight. Your wife puts on mood music and you head for the lawn?

Does this ever happen while the postman or milkman are making deliveries? :wink:

If THEY hear the music it's then a public performance or a performance of some kind !!

On 2007-12-19 16:19, Mr. Ho wrote:
it's an interesting topic and I am enjoying watching folks discuss it :wink:

And to think it's all because of a Reader's Digest Box Set from 1970. You don't know how much that tickles my heart strings!

Happy Holidays everyone!

I,Z

http://www.jetsetplanet.com

I love art and I wish I could get it for free as much as possible, but if I get it for free, how is the artist going to eat? I think art should be made for a million reasons except money, but, why doctors charge for their knowledge? Why lawyers do too? Why is it O.K. for everyone to make money except for artists? In a non capitalistic world, it would be awesome that culture would be free, but it is not the case.
Some of this music is unavailable, granted, then get some that is available, support your living artists or they will be unavailable soon too. And if nobody is currently making the music you want to hear, do it yourself. Art is sacrifice. Nothing is for free. If all this fails, go to thrift stores and explore, hunt for hidden gems that are available. Some people think they are too smart to pay for what they want, it is easier to just click "Download". I think it is O.K. to share music if it is in a QUID PRO QUO way, a trade, where there is some kind of feedback, like when we where kids... I lend you a record, you lend me one. Things that are for free are not fully appreciated... Some things are better left obscure and unavailable.
There's my two pesos.