The CCM Arthur Lyman Reissues REVIEWED!

While perusing the June '08 issue of Paste Magazine, I noticed an extremely positive review of the recently released Collectors' Choice Music Arthur Lyman reissues:

ARTHUR LYMAN
The Hi-Fi Reissues
Collectors' Choice

Hawaiian exotica legend's long aloha

Along with Martin Denny and Les Baxter, vibraphonist Arthur Lyman formed a triumvirate of kitsch from the late '50s through the late '60s. His 18 exotica albums on the Hi-Fi label - long out-of-print until recently being reissued en masse as nine twofers on Collectors' Choice - are the soundtrack to the Space Age Bachelor Pad's Polynesian suite. The usual tropical ingredients are all here: cool but swinging lite-jazz, polyrhythmic percussion, bird calls and monkey screeches. But Lyman displays an instrumental virtuosity and eclectic reach that Denny and Baxter lacked, and he covers everything from traditional Hawaiian music and Japanese folk songs to Dylan protest anthems and Broadway show tunes. The Bwana'A/Bahia twofer is the best example of pure exotica, but it's all immense, campy fun. So light the tiki torches, sip a Mai Tai, and lei into this sonic feast.

Andy Whitman

There's also an accompanying cover scan of Bwana'A/Bahia next to the review.

Perhaps such a positive notice in a magazine for music lovers (and not necessarily mainstream music lovers) will cause people to take notice of the exotica genre and compel Collectors' Choice Music to continue reissuing more of the music we love!

Hey it could happen!
Peace,
Peter

In my last conversation with Atta, just before he went into the hospital, he again bemoaned the fact that he didn't get $ residuals from any of his LP recordings, and that alimony to his wives was keeping him at work.

What a loss when it finally came, but a truly beautiful dude.

On 2008-05-09 22:07, msteeln wrote:
In my last conversation with Atta, just before he went into the hospital, he again bemoaned the fact that he didn't get $ residuals from any of his LP recordings, and that alimony to his wives was keeping him at work.

What a loss when it finally came, but a truly beautiful dude.

That's unfortunte news, indeed. Still, isn't it at least a little comforting to know that, although many years have passed, his music is still relevant? People are still discovering and rediscovering the wonder that is Arthur Lyman, and the mere fact that his music is still in print (thanks in no small part to Collectors' Choice Music and Hi-Fi/ Rykodisc!), means his spirit will live on through the tunes he left behind.

For the CCM reissues to get a notice (albeit a small one) in a major music periodical like Paste Magazine, when hip-hop and rap dominate the popular music markets, is nothing short of miraculous!
Peace,
Peter

Oh yeah, his music was relevant from the first strike of the mallet til the ends of time. There will never be another like him.
He excepted the risidual issues, but knew he'd own Diamond head if life was fairer. Otherwise, he was very aware of his fortunes in life, and certainly wanted to continue in the revelry.

He finished out his playing life in the lounge of the New Otani Hotel on Waikiki's Sans Souci Beach, typically as a solo act, and had everybody's love. My last time there, Eddie Kamae, and Jim Nabors were some of the friends wishing him well. I had the #1 table, right next to him, and he talked story about the things of interest to him and some history. Fortunately, I finally had the tapes rolling for this show, and got his words and awesome music down to replay and remember a unique icon by.

At one point, after a series of bird calls, he turns to me and say's off mike "I hate that shit".