Obscure CD Recommendations?

Greetings! I'm new here and this is my first post. Before I posted, I used the search page to see if there had been a discussion on this topic before, but all I could come up with was a fascinating thread in which members posted long lists of their LPs--I learned about a lot of great music this way, but unfortunately for me, most of the LPs are not yet available on CD, and I don't have a turntable right now that works. I've got a growing collection of exotica CDs which include all the usual suspects--Denny, Baxter, Lyman, Mondo Exotica, Mancini's exotica offering, Sumac, Drasnin, and so forth. After spending much time on Amazon, I've run out of ideas, thus my questions to you are this: What obscure CDs can you recommend? Do you have any prized CDs you'd like to share with us? Or do you know of some CDs which have an exotic appeal that others here may not have heard of, or thought of? My suggestion to you are Nelson Riddle's Sea of Drreams and Love Tide on a two-fer by Capitol Records. Kind of "easy listening" exotica but lovely nonetheless. Cheers, Jeff

Tough crowd! I thought someone would be eager to make suggestions. For my part, I have one more, a Time Life CD called Instrumental Favorites: Exotic Moods. It appears to be rather uncommon; Amazon doesn't even have it in their database.

Here are some that made it to CD - not sure if they're all in print:

Tito Puente - Tambo - a full-on exotica album.
Cal Tjader/Lalo Schifrin - Several Shades of Jade - paired with "Breeze from the East" which is hit or miss.
Dominic Frontiere - Pagan Festival - paired with one of his (excellent) non-exotica albums
Elizabeth Waldo - Forget the name of the CD, but it compiles tracks from her two GNP albums.

There must be others that I can't think of now.

On 2010-06-20 10:42, OnyaBirri wrote:
Tito Puente - Tambo - a full-on exotica album.
Cal Tjader/Lalo Schifrin - Several Shades of Jade - paired with "Breeze from the East" which is hit or miss.
Dominic Frontiere - Pagan Festival - paired with one of his (excellent) non-exotica albums
Elizabeth Waldo - Forget the name of the CD, but it compiles tracks from her two GNP albums.

Many thanks for your response! I've got the Waldo, which I discovered whilst researching Yma Sumac, and the Frontiere is on its way from Amazon. The other two I have never heard of and I have put them on my Amazon wish list. It's albums like Tambó and Several Shades of Jade that are difficult to identify, because they are done by artists whose genre isn't ordinarily exotica.

In the meantime I'm thinking about buying a record player. The Crosleys seem like a piece of junk, but I have discovered that Califone still makes them.

I would add :

The Markko Polo Adventurers
Robert Drasnin : Voodoo I and Voodoo II
Sven Kirsten's sound of tiki compilation

And lots of new bands too, such as Skip Heller, Waitiki, Don Tiki, Tikyaki, Martini Kings...

Try taking a look at my blog! I just started discussing my own findings of Dark & Obscure Lounge/Exotica finds!

On 2010-06-20 11:33, carlosrossi wrote:
Try taking a look at my blog! I just started discussing my own findings of Dark & Obscure Lounge/Exotica finds!

I sure will! I just glanced at it and saw your post about the Tiki Ti--I'm definitely going there next time I'm in L.A.!

On 2010-06-20 11:32, virani wrote:
I would add :

The Markko Polo Adventurers
Robert Drasnin : Voodoo I and Voodoo II
Sven Kirsten's sound of tiki compilation

And lots of new bands too, such as Skip Heller, Waitiki, Don Tiki, Tikyaki, Martini Kings...

I haven't heard any of the new bands...I really ought to check them out! By habit, my mind is always delving backwards through time. You've got to love '50s and early '60s recording standards, with "Living Stereo" and all that.

The Tiki Ti is my clubhouse, I'm there all the time and I love living less than a mile from it! I'll be making more posts on my blog this week and doing a new podcast as well!

"Obscure CD Recommendations" might almost be an oxymoron since obviously any Exotica/Hapa Haole/Lounge released in the 1950's-1960's is a reissue in CD format.

On 2010-06-20 13:38, JOHN-O wrote:
"Obscure CD Recommendations" might almost be an oxymoron since obviously any Exotica/Hapa Haole/Lounge released in the 1950's-1960's is a reissue in CD format.

Of course...I was just fishing for ideas. What I meant was CD releases that are "off the beaten path", that one may not know about or have thought of, like the Time Life compilation I mentioned above, which isn't even listed in Amazon (while many LPs are, even), or the Elisabeth Waldo, which one might not have thought of and which is available on CD.

Ethel Azama's "Exotic Dreams" was reissued earlier this year in the UK on a two-fer with the mono version of Tak Shindo's "Mganga!". Unfortunately mastered from vinyl, like many of the UK exotica reissues.

On 2010-06-21 02:29, Quiet Village Idiot wrote:
Ethel Azama's "Exotic Dreams" was reissued earlier this year in the UK on a two-fer with the mono version of Tak Shindo's "Mganga!". Unfortunately mastered from vinyl, like many of the UK exotica reissues.

I just got it and am thrilled. I don't mind that it's mastered from LPs, I sort of like the sound of it, with the faint clicks and so forth--it's like listening to an LP. When it comes to this sort of wonderful music, I suppose I'll take what I can get, though.

I just found out that Stanley Black's Decca Phase 4 album "Exotic Percussion" is out on CD. It is paired with one of his more garden variety, small combo latin sessions. But it is worth getting for "Exotic Percussion."

On 2010-06-21 02:29, Quiet Village Idiot wrote:
Ethel Azama's "Exotic Dreams" was reissued earlier this year in the UK on a two-fer with the mono version of Tak Shindo's "Mganga!". Unfortunately mastered from vinyl, like many of the UK exotica reissues.

So what if it's mastered from vinyl? It sounds great! At least there are record companies out there still reissuing exotica music on actual, honest-to-goodness, commercially manufactured CDs. WITH full color artwork and, more often than not, liner notes. Sure you could make the argument that anyone with access to an LP copy of the album could hypothetically make their own CD, but as anyone who's tried to transfer vinyl LPs to either CD or MP3s cleanly knows, it's typically a long and frustrating process with varying results. Why not let someone else do the hard work for you? Of course it would be nice if such CDs were mastered from the original tapes, but like I alluded to before, it's nice to have what we have at all!

I agree that there are some things mastered from vinyl that sound great. It's not always easy sorting out the good from the bad, though, when you're dealing with snippets of lo-fi samples on the internet. That is why it's good to get opinions from people who have actually heard the CD.

My suggestion to you are Nelson Riddle's Sea of Drreams and Love Tide on a two-fer by Capitol Records. Kind of "easy listening" exotica but lovely nonetheless. Cheers, Jeff

I agree! Great disc! It reminds me a lot of the Jackie Gleason Orchestra recordings. Not really Exotica, but great "mood music". It's perfect if you throw it into a multi disc changer along with other Exotica/Hawaiian music and hit the random button.

Here's some of my suggestions for things you can get on CD or MP3. They are all excellent!

The Versatile Henry Mancini
Kapu - Milt Raskin
Savage & Sensuous Bongos - Don Ralke
Tropical Fantasy - Michael Magne (included on CD release of Orienta by Markko Polo Adventurers)
Passions - Bas Sheva
Jazz Heat Bongo Beat - Buddy Collette

On 2010-07-07 10:35, Quince_at_Dannys wrote:
Here's some of my suggestions for things you can get on CD...
Tropical Fantasy - Michael Magne (included on CD release of Orienta by Markko Polo Adventurers)

Wow...I didn't realize there was a CD release with both Orienta and Tropical Fantasy. Many thanks!

Well, I stumbled upon this CD while doing a search on Amazon.com and ordered it yesterday: http://www.dutchexotica.nl/index.htm

If you click on the link to "music" at the top of the home page you can hear some samples. I'm really looking forward to getting it.

I love the cover art, too -- a great takeoff on the classic Martin Denny "Exotica" LP cover design.

July 13 Additional Comment --

I just remembered these two CDs: Incredibly Strange Music, Volumes 1 and 2. See here: http://www.amazon.com/Re-Search-Incredibly-Strange-Music/dp/B000000HX9/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279037226&sr=1-1

and here: http://www.amazon.com/Vol-2-Incredibly-Strange-Music-Incredibly/dp/B000001PAF/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279037226&sr=1-2

Not all of the selections would necessarily be classified as exotica, and the people who produced the CDs weren't too careful about the sound quality, but they are well worth listening to and owning.

[ Edited by: Dr. Zarkov 2010-07-13 09:13 ]