The Rarest Martin Denny Record Ever Pressed? ...And Other Exotica Tidbits From The Kahuna Collection

Folks, I got a call from a record collecting friend of mine the other day that he was headed my way and had some scarcer exotica in tow. I, of course, said "The bar and the guest room are yours, my liege, just bring the records"... It took us two days to reach an agreement on these, but- among such other rarities as Robert Drasnin's "Voodoo", Arthur Lyman's "Leis of Jazz", and Les Baxter's "Jungle Jazz"...there was this curious Martin Denny record, a pressing of "Martin Denny's The Exotic Sounds Of Hawaii", c.1965, on red vinyl and on a strange Japanese offshoot of Liberty called Ever Clean records..The back cover notes are all in Japanese character writing. I have never, ever seen this Denny record before, period (Although I've never seen Al and Shelley's stash)...This has got to be one of the toughest exotica pressings out there...I was enthralled to get this record. But it gets even better...Arthur Lyman's "At The Port Of Los Angeles"... a 1967 Arthur Lyman special presentation record for the Western Cotton Shipper's Association, featuring some of Lyman's classics. I put a few shots of some of the rest of my collection in there just for silliness :)

very cool, basement!

i have pretty much every Denny release including the singles and that's the first i've seen of your japanese pressing.

good score!

Danke!

Great find BK, I've never seen that. I picked up an odd Japanese album a while back. It had cover art of two Kids in traditional Japanese clothes. the only English on the whole album read "The Akuma Hawaiians". I bought it and it is the kick ass uke album. I think they like Exotica/Hawaiian in Japan. Now I have to look thru the old import bins.
Mahalo,
Al

That's funny...I at one time had a lot of Korean stuff when I collected "nobody records", I.E. wanna-be Steves and Edyies, wanna-be Wayne Newtons, and various other unknown lounge lizards (wizards?). I had a fake lounge act at one time called Al Romay, and another named Manny Mantuso.

my fav-o-rite ones are the vietnam/thai mid to late 60s go-go records....they rock! i can just see the frothed-mouthed GI's flicking dollars at the Southeast/Asian answers to Nancy Sinatra in the Saigon nite spots.

i have a few Arthur Lyman japan-imports and some Les Baxter.

is the material different from his domestic releases?

sounds like you got da one that was printed in Japan. I have to ask Mr D. about that one again. Great looking collection my man.

i am an insane collector...knowing that makes it easier to NOT start up new collections...when i FIRST started to collect vinyl i told myself ONLY 78's (like R Crumb)...i made my first retro fitted record purchase on the island of Kauai...Andy Iona's 78 set...when i got home and put those tunes on through my $15 elementary school style turn table i was already hooked like a crack monkey and had nooo idea that the next 5 years would be swap meets and record stores combined with ebay...it changed me

any hawaiian record is nice to hear...though for exotica's CRAZIEST guitar wizard's tracks pick up any of the ABC paramount "Adventures in Paradise" volumes or Roy Smeck's self titled efforts on the same label...he is the man...there are NUMBEROUS discs by that cat and each has it's highlites that i just can not ignore...i also dig percussion style exoctica music like Martin D and so onin a HUGE way...they are equally hypnotic/gimmick and special effect layered...for some reason strings just do it for me...

by the way that Martin Denny record looks amazing...i wish you could upload mp3s or at least broadcast it for us all to enjoy...

does anyone broadcast OLD OLD exotica for TC peeps??? i'd LOVE to be a part of it if someone wants to put together a broadcast straight from LA...

On the topic of rare records, I have always thought this was a rare Arthur Lyman record, mainly because I have never seen another one.

It's called Jan-u-wine presents Arthur Lyman Luau Time. Its on Mark 56 records, Anaheim California. It has 12 songs.

Their is a small story about Jan-u-wine products on the back cover, makers of "Oriental gourmet cookery".

Anyone got any info? Anyone else have one or seen one before?

Erich Troudt

[ Edited by: ErichTroudt on 2003-10-21 01:55 ]

I've never seen that one either.

I've got one, but, I don't knowmuch about it
Mahalo,
Al

Those are very cool records. I don't have the rare ones and I wish I did. I do know that Mark 56 (for the Luau Arthur Lyman record) did all of the cool promo records for such reputable institutions as Taco Bell and Alpha Beta Grocery Store. Many other unusual ones too, this one included. I wish I had this one. All of the covers I have seen of Mark 56 have been great! Don't know if this is common knowlege but I thought I'd post anyhow.

[ Edited by: Larry Lava on 2003-10-22 00:52 ]

yeah that cover is pretty wacky...it looks all post johny quest and scooby doo style painting...it's more like the chan clan or hong kong phooey style BG...television animation references from a TV animation slave worker

some say the worse the cover on a record the better the music is...especially with TODAY's artists i find it true too often...

ALL of these records look boss...i wish we could hang play them and sip to tomorrow's tomorrow

BK: That's definitely a very cool find! The Exotic Sounds "Series" (Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny in Person, Exotic Sounds from the Silver Screen, Exotic Sounds Visit Broadway, etc.) all are in the $20+ range as far as a "retail/book" price for a mint/near-mint condition record. The red vinyl will shoot up the price AND the Japanese writing will add to the price on top of that! Each addition (red vinyl, non-English writing) all add to the premium. How much? HA! No telling really. It's a rarity, so a die-hard Denny fan can offer $50/$60/$70+ for it (in mint/near-mint condition), but then you've got those die-hard "rare" vinyl collectors NOT really into Martin Denny but into rare import vinyl, and could offer $100+ for it. You know how the biz goes BK. I have never seen that record myself on regular US distributed black vinyl.

Troudt: I do have that "Luau Time" record. Anaheim, California is about 15 minutes from my house, so I am wondering if there are quite a few of these pressings around, since I do run into them from time to time. The price I see ranges from $8 to $15 (depending on condition). I have seen a sealed version at an asking price of $25. I would have bought it, but the shrinkwrap looked questionable, and looked like "newer" shrinkwrap (you have to watch out for stuff like that when dealing with a premium-priced record) and had ring-wear (an indentation on the album cover from the record pressing against it from the inside of the cover). My version has a sticker (just like BK's picture of the sticker with the "Western Cotton Shipper's Association" name on the album cover) but with a restauranteur's/food convention sticker on it (I'll have to dig it out and show you). Jan-u-Wine (listed on the back of the album), I believe, was some sort of seasonings company. It's been awhile since I've taken a good look at mine since I do have literally thousands of records in storage and don't have the room in my home to house all the junk...er, umm...stuff..um,.."Fine Collectibles" I have.

Hope this helps.

Enter The SoCal Hoity Toity Schedule

[ Edited by: SugarCaddyDaddy on 2003-10-23 10:03 ]

yo erich i think u stole that from me lol.

No way dude..but I got plenty of other stuff I stole from you.

Give me some time, and I'll post a picture of my ultra cool Les Baxter album "Space Escapade" that you want and ain't gonna get, my friend.

Erich

Nice Marty and Arty discs there, BK. The FORBIDDEN ISLAND is always hard to find, in another thread we talked about how the same Tiki on it appears on a Mills Brothers Hawaiian album cover and also on a men's magazine nude foldout, it was probably rented from the legendary ROSHU prop company in Hollywood.
The "Polynesia" cover belongs to a fave Exotica sub-category of mine, "Exotica-album-covers-shot-at-Polynesian-Restaurants", this one was shot at THE POLYNESIAN in Torrance, I have a copy that shows a pic of the place in the back, "The Polynesians" were the houseband. (I wonder if "The Beachcombers", house band at the Kahiki ever did an album.)
There are also two covers by THE SURFERS shot at Steve Crane's THE LUAU, two THE OUTRIGGERS covers (a studio musician outfit), one shot at Don The Beachcomber and one at Trader Vic's in L.A., a Latin cover shot at THE TIKIS, and a Canadian lounge singer album shot at the Montreal KON TIKI. The fact that not only the music was recorded on the mainland, but also the locales were from here makes the artifice complete in my book (well, WOULD have made it if the BOT could have kept it's Exotica chapter!).
My big question: WHERE was Marty's QUIET VILLAGE cover photographed? That bamboo pier screams Polynesian Restaurant...or maybe a theme park? But the light looks like an interior... (I remember that Sandy Warner mentioned somewhere that the PRIMITIVA cover was shot in am icey creek in Mammoth).
Anybody else have a cover that fits that genre?

I have Arty's JAN-U-WINE too, had to get it because of the weird Tiki art, I mean a Tiki under a bamboo roof, where did that come from !? (reminds me of these cemetary statues I saw yesterday here in Berlin that had modern canvas roofs set up over them to protect them from the the acid rain..)

Thanks, BigBro...that's very good information..I may have another of the ones you mentioned...just got back my copy of Adomono "Guitariste Fantastique"'s"A Night At The Beachcomber" from Kiliki, all recorded live a the Waikiki Don The Beachcomber's. Nice cover shot, too...I'll post it again when I return from my daily business foray.

I've gone through lots of Lyman and Denny's, but I always return to listen to one record: Bahia, by Arthur Lyman. I believe it is the most beautiful and densly recorded rain forest sound ever pressed on vinyl. However I have no clue if it is a rare album, I just saw it once, but then again, here in Europe Hawaii is far away.

Yesterday I picked up Ports of Paradise by Alfred Newman and Ken Darby. The great pull out leaflet makes up for the very orchestrated content that was sponsered by the Matson Navigation Company. Anyone seen that one before?

Ok, here's my rare album. (or at least obscure)

Found this at a garage sale in Lomita a few years ago:

"Taboo Vol. 1" by the "Arther Cyman Group" (sic). This is Arthur Lyman's "Taboo" but with the songs in slightly different order, I believe. Check out the cool lemon-lime/cola colored vinyl:

Sabu

The Lyman "Port of Los Angeles" LP is pretty rare. It was released by the LA Port to promote trade. The rarest ones are full color on the back.

On 2003-10-19 23:04, tiki1963 wrote:
my fav-o-rite ones are the vietnam/thai mid to late 60s go-go records....they rock! i can just see the frothed-mouthed GI's flicking dollars at the Southeast/Asian answers to Nancy Sinatra in the Saigon nite spots.

Those records are cool. Here is one of the best/rarest examples:

Recorded in Saigon during the war years, this LP features female lounge acts from GI bars like The Kontiki, Eden Roc, Queen Bee, and the Olympic. Very cool.

Vic

I'm with BigBro on the JAN-U-WINE cover. A Tiki under a thatched roof? What the? I, personally, think it looks kinda like a Birdhouse. But why would an Arthur Lyman record have a picture of a birdhouse (Tiki or otherwise) on the cover? Hmmmmmmmmm...

That record was featured as a stream on Vegas Vic's Tiki Lounge within the past year. I heard it. It's good. That Vegas Vic is a pretty cool guy (as Vics go).

So, BK. What's on the Red Vinyl Japanese pressing? Is is just an unusual item or does it include any unusual music?

TraderVal... I picked up a copy of the Newman/Darby Ports of Paradise not too long ago. Forget that it's "not really at all exotica" and just listen to it over and over (while pouring over the photo spreads in the insert, of course). It's really a marvelous thing. Okay... Maybe not that "Madonna In the Flowers" part.

[ Edited by: Traitor Vic on 2005-06-25 01:44 ]

I was hoping against hope that some TCer would win this auction and make mp3s so we could all hear this record (ebay auction, album cover has nudity):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4738095928&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Since the link will eventually die, here's the description:

"M. KAWAHARA & THE EXOTIC SOUNDS ecstasy on VENUS records. jaw-dropping disovery here for fans deep into exotica and sex-ploitation sounds. this is a late 60's album of very well executed exotica standards with incredible overdubbed orgasmic female purrs and moans - the best example from this sub-genre that i've heard. was purchased from a indonesian dealer so MAY be from that country but (if artist credit is non-fictitious) arranger is cleary japanese. an ultra-obscure rarity to be filed next to your craziest exotica/sexploit LPs (chaino's eeire spectre, tortura, etc). you won't believe their s&m version of "taboo" or their "jungle drums" with searing fuzz guitar and overtly-sexual panting girl vocals (which just lowered the stock of chaino's "jungle chase", and all of his recordings for that matter, by 75%). SO many good songs on here it's crazy - side two opener "mit day lagoon" (sic), minus the softcore angle, is one of the coolest, most unique exotica songs i've ever heard! and 2 or 3 of the numbers layer the orgasmic moans over lovely wordless female chorus (album closer "poinciana" a great example). insane nude cover art here as well. should be reissued but we aren't the label to do it and what category would stores file it in anyway?"

Alfred Newman's Ports of Paradise: That version of Little Grass Shack with Mavis Rivers is SMOKING! IMO. She sounds to me a little like Doris Day singing a slightly suggestive version of the classic hapa haole tune with a strip tease rhythm backing her. And those men singing back up crack me up: "It's lonely over here with only fish and poi!" One of my favorite Hawaiianotica tunes.

On 2005-06-25 01:42, Traitor Vic wrote:
I'm with BigBro on the JAN-U-WINE cover. A Tiki under a thatched roof? What the? I, personally, think it looks kinda like a Birdhouse. But why would an Arthur Lyman record have a picture of a birdhouse (Tiki or otherwise) on the cover? Hmmmmmmmmm...

Here's the cover art in question:

Pretty interesting history. From what I can gather, this was basically a giveaway record produced for the Jan-U-Wine corporation, maker of soy sauce and other oriental foods. Normally you'd think something like this would contain drek or throwaway tracks -- but no, it's practically a greatest hits record; with Quiet Village, Yellow Bird, Bwana A, Bahia, etc.

p.s. thanks for comments vic

The Jan-U-Wine record was released by a company called I think Mark 56 (it’s late and I have no memory) owned by a man named George Gabadarian (sp?) that mostly did promotional records for various food companies. They did the Avengers VI album (a fantastic surf album which I was blessed to reissue on Bacchus Archives) for Good Humor Ice Cream. The band was signed to do an album, but didn't know that the record was going to be called "Good Humor!" There is an Arthur Lyman 45 that also has the song "Peanut Butter" by The Marathons...with a double groove, you don't know what song is going to play when you drop needle. Another one of the many interesting "budget" type labels from a magical era!

Where do the Martin Denny 10" UK Liberty pressings figure on the rarity scale? I've never seen those.

Mostly a reply to BIGBROTIKI

You should try to locate ARNIE AKA-NUI's AN EVENING AT ARNIE'S LOUNGE, he made several records, and if I ever get to Florida, I will visit, very cool album, though amateurish, but then, how many Tiki Bar owners play in their Bar? I wish I had more of his records, if anyone have spare's, I can trade for many scarce US and Hawaiian exotica LPs in at least VG+ shape

See photo here:
http://www.bellybongo.se/temp/DSC06628.JPG

I think I mentioned this before but I have a copy of Exotica by Martin Denny that has side two pressed on both the A and B sides. It's probably more of an oddity than a rarity and sadly it's Quiet Village free.

I also have a Japanese copy of Fire Goddess pressed on cool bright red vinyl with liner notes in Japanese.

[ Edited by: naugatiki on 2005-07-02 12:12 ]

I may be from far away, but I have not seen "collector madness" on Exotica LPs that is offered on eBay, I find exotica collectors willing to spend lots of money on "very rare" LPs, and not on mis-presses, or strange foregin presses, I may be wrong.

My hope is that the music some of us love is not finished yet, and with a weird silly imagination in someone's acid trip, we will see a bunch of new cool wax, but that's just me. It depend how you see the world

It would not be very fun if the "exotica community" turned into the usual dead LP collector business staring at dead facts

I'd love nothing more than to press new and reissue Exotica releases on vinyl but the market is not there. I'm barely scraping by with vinyl that at one time did well (reissues of '70s punk, '60s garage and new bands that sound like that,) but now I can only press 500 which is not an easy thing when you do several of these a year.

There is a whole audiophile market that buys 180 and 200 gram analog reissues that end up costing between $20.00 tO $45.00 in stores, mostly reserved for jazz or uhem "classic" rock buffs (a company called Simply Vinyl has put out a slew of interesting records that fall between those cracks.)

I am currently thinking of a way to put out something Exotica on vinyl ...and will let you know the moment I do. It's unfortuanely come down to what won't lose money for the label...things have changed so much in the past few years...

You know the ritual of getting a record home, holding the cover, taking the vinyl out, the smell, the sound...it's something you just can't get out of a CD or goodness forbid an MP3 or IPOD. But people like us? We're in the minoriy.

In regards to the value of a record, it's fair to say that if a record is extremely rare and/or in PERFECT CONDITION...it can command a few bucks in the right place (a speciatly store, a mail-order catalog, etc.) Other than that, you know, the market is just flooded.

Oh I'm on a tangent, sorry!

Lee Joseph
"DJ Lee"
The Dionysus Records Empire
http://www.dionysusrecords.com

[ Edited by: DJLee on 2005-07-02 18:56 ]

Do any of Martin's records exist on 78 rpm?

On 2005-07-03 20:23, Table Top Joe wrote:
Do any of Martin's records exist on 78 rpm?

Yes, in Canada, Quiet Village!
magnus

On 2005-07-05 02:49, bellybongo wrote:

On 2005-07-03 20:23, Table Top Joe wrote:
Do any of Martin's records exist on 78 rpm?

Yes, in Canada, Quiet Village!
magnus

Actually it should exist in the states as well...that came out in '58 so there should be a 78 counterpoint as mass production, though slow, continued through '59 (sort of like mono albums in the states through early '68!) They did continue making them for coin-ops as well as there were still functional jukes that played '78s up through the early '60s. A mint "Quiet Village" 78 played on a nice system would sound stunning!

I have the full '60s painting from the LUAU TIME album cover. It's a '60s print... I'm guessing from a Japanese home decor store.