Ultra lounge

Is it me or is capitals ultra lounge collection the greatest thing ever to happen to cd.just wanna see what people have to say about it.

I love the ultra lounge series,it a great introduction to exotica,lounge etc.great fun graphics as well.great job with the 2 christmas volumes!

Be forwarned!Some musical cooler than thou hipsters/snobs love to turn up their nose at the series

It only changed my life, that's all.

http://www.ultralounge.com/

Have been listening to -- and collecting -- these CDs for years. Just recently acquired "Cha Cha de Amor" and "Bachelor Pad Royale" -- will soon have a complete collection to hand down to my son.

I see on their website that there's a Cole Porter Ultra Lounge CD out now -- perhaps in honor of the new movie? It will soon be the next notch on my gun belt, rest assured.

I was on a mission last summer to get the first 18 Ultra Lounge CD's and I did so rather inexpensively using Amazon auctions! I love them all - some more others but they are always fun to listen to!

They are definitely a great! I own some and i love the music, the covers, the booklets and the website!

To bad that there aren't any new releases though...

To bad that there aren't any new releases though...

Guess what...

Cocktails With Cole Porter

I'm been listening to those Cds for a few years now. I love the hidden extras, like the how to play a bongo instructional on the "Tiki Sampler". There are a couple great extras on the Christmas Cds too. Old toys for tots radio commercial with Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee. Oh yeah, and the music is good too; Just picked up the Vegas Sampler with the working roulette table cover last week. I never knew that was Wayne Newton singing “Danke Schoen”, always thought that was a woman. Ferris Buller, Ferris Buller.

On 2004-08-14 07:18, Juno wrote:

To bad that there aren't any new releases though...

Guess what...

Cocktails With Cole Porter

well... speak of the Tikidevil! I am going to buy it, thanx for lettin me know!

These CDs got me into Exotica. From there I went out to get a bunch of Denny Martin, Les Baxter, and Yma Sumac, etc.

Ooh, well I got the first one , 'Mondo Exotica' , which certainly does the job I asked of it. (Ie - a bunch of exotica skillfully gathered together on CD form for party purposes, etc)

I'm not so sure about spending wads of cash on the rest of the collection though, as it's 1000% more fun searching out the original vinyl and making up your own compilations.

Trader Woody

Yeah, the Mondo Exotica CD kicked things off for me too. Then the sampler and pretty soon any Ultra Lounge CD I could lay my hands on. Right now Bachelor Pad Royale is getting a lot of play. I pop it into my car's CD player and the 1st track: Theme From Route 66, makes me feel like I'm cruisin' down a long open hiway in a '62 Corvette convertable with nowhere to go and plenty of time to get there (even though I'm really on my way to work).

"Theme From Route 66" makes me think I'm an advertising exec dreaming up a campaign for the introduction of the first flying car.

Think of it next time you hear the tune. A flaming red flying car with a hot babe behind the wheel, scarf whipping in the wind as she zooms high over the "old" Rte 66 .... old time cowboys rear back on their horses and wave their hats ... the babe finally lands at a really cool Dude Ranch ....

Does she pick up a seductive hitchhiker who looks alot like Uma Thurman with 4 inch thumbs and the Dude ranch is called the Rubber Rose Ranch and it's run by lesbian cowgirls who...Naahh, that would be ridiculous.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread off to another dimension. It's all Satan's Sin's fault for gettin' me wound up. Anyway, I was looking through my Ultra Lounge collection and found to my dismay that I only have about half of their catalogue. Some of the stuff I think I could slide on like the Christmas CD's, TV Time and Mondo Hollywood but I don't know how I let Vegas Baby, Space Capades and Organs in Orbit get by me. Speaking of Organs in Orbit...where's the Jimmy Smith?!? Not lounge enough I guess.

I WAS going to show you my new "heliocar," but if you want to get back on the main thread, fine! I'll just put it back! Humph!

Shipwreckjoey -- I have Space Capades and Organs in Orbit -- I could give you, um, "evaluation" copies, if you'd like. If you let me have your Fishermen's Burlesque for a weekend, that is ....

Satan, the best "moderne" song on these is found on "spacecapades"

David Rose "gay spirits"

I listen to that one when I want to meditate on the modern conveniences and modern appliances and modern highways of the golden space/atomic age!!

Organs in orbit is a great one too, possibly my favorite besides Bongoland....the Jackie Davis song "love is just around the corner" gives me goosebumps!!

The only thing missing from these fine dics is Mancini!!!!!!!!!

Totally agree, tiki mick -- on ALL counts.

Was at a friend's party and the most wonderful music was playing -- checked the CD and it was "Henry Mancini's Greatest Hits." Gonna have to break down and get it!

Hey, if you like this sort of music, check this out:

http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=08271a

(at least listen to the opening sequence)

Satan, I would recommend this one: mancini "combo"

It was a non soundtrack record he made....

You will dig it if you like Jazz harpsichord and jazz marimba!!!!

"Playboy's theme" is the one track from this that is used on a few mancini compilation albums....

it's the swanky-est, swinging-est album in my extensive collection!!

Straight up martini music!!!!!!

"The Party" soundtrack is an awsome Mancini event.

These rec.s sound great -- and lord knows I'm always up for a martini!!!

On 2004-08-22 20:19, Satan's Sin wrote:
Shipwreckjoey -- I have Space Capades and Organs in Orbit -- I could give you, um, "evaluation" copies, if you'd like. If you let me have your Fishermen's Burlesque for a weekend, that is ....

You're on!

I just got my first Martin Denny. It's the Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny in the Ultra Lounge series. I love it! Diga Diga Doo is the coolest song ever made.

Actually, scratch my previous comment - some of those compilations sound terrific! Why wait?

Trader Woody

I have about 10 or so of the series with Space Capades being my fave. I also like to put the Vegas disc on endless repeat in the restroom when hosting a party. I always get questioned about it.

Don't forget, Mrs. Miller has a compilation disc in the Ultra Lounge series too.

-Z

I love Ultra Lounge. Gheeeez...I never knew they had a tiki cd. Just ordered it....and also never knew they had a sight....duh!!! With all my googling you's think I would have figured that out years ago, thanks for the link.

Is anyone here into Michael Buble? I have seen him in concert twice now and he is just fantastic.

EDITS...I can't type today!!!

FATIMA BLUSH: Oh, how reckless of me. I made you all wet.
JAMES BOND: Yes, but my martini is still dry.

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2007-05-20 10:00 ]

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2007-05-20 10:00 ]

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2007-05-20 10:01 ]

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2007-05-20 10:02 ]

Awesome topic! I own almost all of the Ultra-Lounge series. I started a DJ company back in 2000 called Retrophaze DJs (www.retrophazedjs.com) and I bought as many of the UL as I could get! I also went wild buying tons of 80's music, which I also love! You guys should definately check out the double-disc UL compilations for Martin Denny and for Les Baxter. Fantastic stuff!
Hey, I'm in Denver near Littleton. Where are you?

Michael

P.S., I love Michael Buble also, although I haven't seen him in concert. Kind of expensive, that.

I have the Mondo Exotica album--really amazing collection, and I can listen to the thing over and over. Not a boring track on it.

I did CD release parties here in Seattle for several different labels putting out Lounge compilations and re-issues (RCA, Scamp, Rhino, Castle, etc.) in the mid-1990s, and Capitol's Ultra Lounge series was one of them. I highly recommend the series. I do have issues with some of the material, however (with the enormous amount of material available to Mr. Benedict and his associates, a good deal of the selections could've been better and more tastefully chosen), and as a DJ I've always been thoroughly irritated by the mixing of two songs to form one track, which is purely about money and licencing -- killing two birds with one stone. Putting on mystery tracks and not listing them is another. I never understood why Capitol did not release the full albums by a lot of these artists, though. I and loads of folks I know/knew would've purchased them. Still, the best by far of all the Lounge music compilations released. And put together by folks who truly understood the genre. (There were quite a few folks at record companies who didn't understand the genre, but jumped on the Lounge bandwagon and put out sub-par rubbish in the hopes of making an easy buck.)

DCC's Bachelor Pad series was (still is!) very good, too. And Rhino's offering (initally consisting of three differently-themed Lounge music discs, then with one or two later additions) is another excellent series, as well. The 3 disc RCA Lounge series was full of rather irritating, but mostly rare instrumental, ping-pong effects stereo-action material, and I didn't much care for them myself (though I'm sure some folks did/do). Still, worth mentioning, as I believe the RCA compilations predated all the others (with DCC coming in second, then Rhino).

Welcome to TC retrophazer. I agree that the Michael Buble tickets are getting pretty damned expensive. Next thing ya know...he will be taking up residence in Las Vegas and playing exclusively for some shi shi hotel. He does make it around to some little out of the way places though....which is pretty neat. (P.S. you can generally see where people are from under their name on the left column.) Have fun surfing the board...lots of neat stuff and great people. :)

Great to hear you are spinnin the UL on your gigs DJ...I just may try those other series CDs that you mentioned...thanks. :wink:

On 2007-05-20 18:35, VampiressRN wrote:
Great to hear you are spinnin the UL on your gigs DJ...I just may try those other series CDs that you mentioned...thanks. :wink:

The ironic thing about those Ultra Lounge compilations, though, is that before they saw the light of day I had been doing a weekly Lounge night called 'Shaken, Not Stirred' (starting in January 1996), and each week I hosted and DJed a different musical theme: Latin Lounge, Spy's Night Out, Swingin' N' Loungin', Rat Pack, Nonstop To Brasil, Stage & Screen Scene, Exotica!, Swinger's Night Out, etc. Then these Ultra Lounge compilations are released shortly thereafter -- many bearing the same or similar musical themes and music, but going even farther than I did. Coincidence?

Well it does make ya wonder. But the world is a small place and so many of us have similar likes and interests, many of them the things we were exposed to as youngsters. All good things circle back around eventually.

If you like the Ultra-Lounge series, it's worth it for you to track down the RCA series called "History of Space Age Pop." There were three volumes, now out of print but you can usually track them down on ebay or Amazon.com. The Ultra-Lounge series is exclusively Capitol and Liberty recording artists whereas the RCA fills in the gaps for those lovers of Mancini, Esquivel, and the Three Suns. The third volume is basically a Greatest Hits collection of the greatest space age concept albums, the "Stereo Action" series. If you've never heard the Three Suns' amazing version of Caravan you haven't lived! (Incidentally, a lot of the Stereo Action series was released on CD by RCA Spain and can be tracked down on Amazon.com without too much trouble--highly recommended)

The Ultra Lounge series and the History of Space Age Pop are both must-have series; my only complaint is I wish they would release more volumes!

The frustrating thing about the Ultra Lounge series is that it wets the appetite for the whole albums. Some great vintage albums are represented by only a couple of songs in the entire UL series. Its like looking at a guat warehouse through a keyhole. But don't get me wrong, I have my UL CD's in heavy rotation!

This might be a really dumb question, but it's something I've been wondering about for a while now and this thread might be the place for it:

What original music inspired the Austin Powers theme? What else from the period sounds like that?

just used search and answered my own dumb question -- Soul Bossa Nova. ya learn somethin new every day

Quincy Jones' 'Soul Bossa Nova'. Though it was released long before, 'Soul Bossa Nova' appeared on the Rhino Cocktail Mix Vol. 2 compilation -- Martini Madness, released in early 1996. I used to play it all the time at my weekly Lounge nights in 1996. Then later, when the Austin Powers film came out, and I played the song, everyone kept referring to it as the theme to Austin Powers. I hadn't seen the film, so was pretty annoyed by the reference.

It's interesting how a lot of old, forgotten music got new recognition in films and TV through the issue of these mid-1990s Lounge compilations. For example, the discs 'Music For TV Dinners' from Scamp have always been a favourite of mine. Some of the songs have been used on Nick At Night and Ren & Stimpy, as well as in various TV commercials. Then there's the excellent Sound Gallery and In Flight Entertainment compilations from England. I could go on and on.....

On 2007-05-22 11:18, Digitiki wrote:
The frustrating thing about the Ultra Lounge series is that it wets the appetite for the whole albums. Some great vintage albums are represented by only a couple of songs in the entire UL series. Its like looking at a guat warehouse through a keyhole. But don't get me wrong, I have my UL CD's in heavy rotation!

That's pretty much how I feel, but maybe that's not a bad thing to get more people into the genre. For me, the Ultra-Lounge series has been like a useful roadmap to the world of collecting vinyl of that era. And one thing I've noticed about the series is that there are relatively few records represented for how many songs there are (i.e. almost every song on Terry Snyder's "Mister Percussion" LP is featured throughout the series.) It's too bad that they don't release the entire record in its original form but then again who would buy it (except me and maybe I Zombie from Jet Set Planet.)

On 2007-05-22 11:18, Digitiki wrote:
The frustrating thing about the Ultra Lounge series is that it wets the appetite for the whole albums. Some great vintage albums are represented by only a couple of songs in the entire UL series. Its like looking at a guat warehouse through a keyhole. But don't get me wrong, I have my UL CD's in heavy rotation!

So true! I have been able to find a lot of the original complete CDs, but not all by a long shot.

One that I am particularly wishing they would re-release would be the first cut by David Rose, "Gay Spirits" on the "space capades" Ultra lounge. I did find a David Rose CD, but they are all mono, earlier versions of songs including that one, and "holdiay for strings", but what I want is the later versions he recorded in glorious, lush stereo sound. Another great one would be the complete album by (I forgot the artist-Jackie something) of an organ combo on "organs in orbit" ultra lounge-the tracks I have heard are "Love is just around the corner" and "perfidia", and I believe there are a couple of other tracks on one of the other ultra lounge discs. The whole album re-released would be great!!

Lucas,
Oh yeah, I hear ya! I just met a woman who's son worked for Capitol and can vouch for the fact that their vaults are loaded with digitized archival copies of EVERYTHING. ARGHH!!!! Some of the items that are sampled in the ultra lounge series that I would personally love to see released is the Out Islanders "Polynesian Paradise", Augie Colon's "Sophisticated Savage" IN STEREO. There are virtually no copies of that LP in stereo, however there is a stereo track from that album on one of the UL discs!

Another rant I have about labels not releasing CD's of certain vintage LPs--
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what people are paying on eBay for certain LPs. I've seen some go for $100 - $200. If I were an exec, I think those LPs are the one's I would release because there are certainly people who want that one. Sorry, just a short rant.

That's EXACTLY what I meant when I said I have issues with the Ultra Lounge series and Capitol in general (aside from not expanding the song and artist selections). I had a portion of the music they released on CD before they released it on those compilations, but the other stuff (some in stereo for the first time) -- the rare stuff -- I would rather have had the full albums to, remastered and in stereo. What do they have to lose? There's a large audience and following for this kind of music (and there will always be new-comers to it in the future), and it wouldn't cost a mega-conglomorate like Capitol much money to release a bunch of their old music, that they already have the rights to.

I agree - Capitol is one of my least-favorite labels of all-time due to their butchering of the Beatles LPs back in the 1960s, and the fact that they've now issued more Beach Boys compilations than the Boys released original albums. Every summer brings a new compilation milking their back catalog.

While the perceived market for these titles might be small from the company's standpoint as far as actual hard-copy product... one could see that a deep catalog full of titles that could be available on-demand (as downloadable files of music & artwork & liner notes) would be a good way to keep the overhead low. Or, a smaller boutique label like the good work being done over at Rhino Handmade is another option. Once word got out on this stuff becoming available, collectors would seek it out.

If they've already got them digitally... why not make them available to those who want them? The money being spent on eBay isn't benefitting the labels in any way.

A hearty BOO to the record companies!

Cheers,
Rupe

rupe33,

I think you just nailed it, as far as a cost-effective way to get more access to their catalog to fans like us. I kept thinking to myself that they don't release the albums because of the cost of producing CDs, packaging, and shipping for such a limited audience (honestly, there's probably only a few hundred of us who would buy the complete albums from these space age artists.) But selling MP3s is a no-brainer.

I'd like to see them do iTunes style pricing format but make it even cheaper--$0.50 a song and $5 an album for "Capitol Classics." The guy on basichip.com has a setup kind of like that ($2.00 an album) but Capitol would have the marketing muscle to sell a helluva lot more copies. Even I would buy some of the things already have on vinyl, just to get the high-quality master.

Of course the suits at Capitol are so fricken' clueless they won't catch on for another 10 years.

I second that, rupe. Talk about a method that really has no drawbacks and risks, pay per individual song and album downloads by these rare Atomic and Space Age masters is inarguable. The proof of the popularity is, indeed, in the downloading. However, there's more to it than that. Sure it wouldn't cost Capitol anything -- it's just another project for their salary and hourly paid employees anyway. But to the download sites like iTunes, Real, etc. it's another matter, one that involves money, bandwidth, licencing and royalties (usually directly to BMI, ASCAP, and SEASAC, but not directly to the artists themselves -- many, in this case, who are no longer with us and do not have any estates), etc.

As far as it costing Capitol much money in releasing these rare artists' albums on disc, I think everyone here would be surprised how little it costs these big companies to produce and market CDs -- pennies to a dollar or two, pending the circumstances of the product and how many produced. However, making a little profit is of little interest to them. They want big profit. And though I'm not in the business, I know the best way to make profit: cut out the middleman. In this day and age with the internet, media downloads, blogs, free advertising, do-it-yourself technology, and sites such as tikicentral, the middleman for record companies is absolutely superfluous. And in this case, when I say middleman, I also mean superfluous practises -- practises that may have had some legitimacy in the past but that are no longer necessary today.

But it makes me wonder. The Ultra Lounge series, I should think, did very well for Capitol and beyond their expectations; and they continued to release quite a few throughout the years, which constitutes the proof of sales. I still see the compilations in record stores today (even though they were more a product of the mid to late 1990s, and most likely considered for a niche audience only -- which can be in the hundreds of thousands, if one thinks about it realistically).

Perhaps a gathering of names and signatures and putting in requests for these albums to be released on CD is the way to go about it -- much like they do on Amazon.com for movie reissues onto DVD. Perhaps Hanford and Humuhumu and the other moderators can implement such a feature into the tikicentral website?

Quince and DJ--
You guys are saying exactly what I'm thinking! In this age of legit. internet downloading of tunes via iTunes, Rapsody and the rest, it would be only a matter of dealing with the ASCAP, BMI and the like. No CD duplication required--although, you are correct, CD duplication is so cheap, its almost a non-cost. But going straight to download also eleminates the cost of warehousing, inventory control and shipping. Direct download is a great way for legacy labels like Capitol to get those old tunes working for them again with little investement.

It's worth noting that the people who produced the original Ultra Lounges are no longer involved in the project. Approach recent and future releases with trepidation...

Oh that is a good thing to know, so they might do poor quality but reap the benefits of the name. Sad:(