How do I get some Baxter!? = Baxter online find!!

I have his Tamboo/Skins on CD (went out and bought it first), and some of the Ultra Lounge where he's featured (esp. Mondo Exotica), and I even found a really good copy of one of his LP's (Sounds of Adventure), along with some other LPs of Exotica and Tiki music, but I've tried for three weeks to get turntable belts, or styluses for the two old tables I've got and the prices are just too high for me to handle as a grad student right now to get a new turntable or apparently even one that works. I'm still working on this, but can't get straight answers from some of the suppliers I've contacted (and can't get prices I can afford on parts from others).

So my question for now is this: for all the Les Baxter that's out there on LP, but not on CD, and therefore virtually unaccesible to most listeners, how is it possible to get more Baxter!? Even just a little more than the double disc I have now would be awesome to hear. I have about 20 LP's I've gotten over the past few months scanning stores in a few different cities I've had to travel to, but I can't even listen to the danmed things yet outside of the library listening station.

Is there some sort of quid pro quo network for mp3's or cd-r's out there for BaxterTrax that I can try and get my foot in the door in? I have tried to use some Denny CD's (of course which are at least able to be purchased online) to help this problem, but they just don't do it (for me) quite as well.

Any advice on forum or off would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT BEGINS HERE: Original post is above unaltered, but I'd just like to add that I am trying out Rhapsody, an online music service from Real.com, for 14 days free. I think it's 9.95 per month after that, with unlimited listening streams.

Though I am only trying it out right now, I will admit that I was pleasantly surprised. They have:

1. Exotic Moods - all tracks, both discs, very clear
2. Colors of Brazil / African Blue
3. All the Ultra-Lounge CD's
4. Yma Sumac Collection
5. Other Baxter songs from various collections

also

6. Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny
7. Lyman's Pearly Shells
8. Esquivel's Cabaret Manana
9. A Hawaii genre section - some of it's pretty new, some looks old
10. about 8 or so Perez Prado albums

Hope this might help others who are looking for this sort of thing out. If anyone wants me to check, I can see if they have anything in particular. Just reply at the bottom of this thread.

Cheers!!

[ Edited by: wilusa on 2004-06-10 15:33 ]

[ Edited by: wilusa on 2004-06-10 17:54 ]

Depending on where you live...but I got three Les Baxter CD's....tamboo/skins, academy awards/drums, and "voices in rythmn"..all from Tower Records...I am still looking for the moon music CD though!

Might I also suggest looking on half.com for used Baxter CD's. It is a subsidiary of ebay, but they have a ton of people selling used CD's. They are strickly, buy it (no auctions) and I've found some CD's on there very cheap.

This may be extreme... but in the LA weekly (a local free newspaper) I see adds for people who will digitize your record collection for a fee (burn them onto CD for you). Your local "alternative" newspaper may have people that do that too. Or, maybe you have a friend who has a turntable hooked up to their computer and can digitize them for you.

I thought no other CD's existed of his music (at least no other commercially produced ones). Is it possible for someone to sell his music in any form unless Capitol records is making profit from it or unless the person is selling a used LP or one of his few used CD's.

It's all his music on LP (LP's that are very rare and extremely hard to get--and expensive at that obviously) that I am intrigued by. If it exists and is very popular and is not available on anything but LP, then should it remain a sort of 'holy grail' for listeners to aspire toward even daring to hear, much less own a copy of? When I first started getting interested in Exotica, that omnipresent FAQ gave me hope that I might be able to find some more Baxter somewhere.

I quote:

"Q: Is it wrong to buy (or make) bootlegs?
A: Virtually all agree they would prefer to see a legitimate release, where the original artists receive credit and royalties if possible. In some cases the existence of bootlegs can undermine the market for such legitimate releases. However some feel there is a gray area, where rights-holders have thrown up impossible obstacles to a legitimate release, or where the intent is mainly to make hard-to-find music available, rather than as a mercenary venture. Whatever your ethical views are, the rapid spread of digital reproduction technology is certain to make the issue even more confused in coming years."

Now, I wouldn't want to try and finesse anyone out of any music that can be bought on a CD, since it's possible to get the music that way using the internet and Amazon.com or whatever, but for the music not released anywhere since the LP's, I would think that some folks out there who have the LPs and have digitized them into either mp3's or onto CD-R's, that at least some of those people might be interested in letting others hear that music.

Any opinions or thoughts on that?
Thanks again for what's been offered as advice so far!

easy.... go to http://www.amazon.com and type in Lex baxter, there are a lot of listings..

enjoy

What is available:

Tamboo/Skins = Two original Baxter releases, easily available new or used on CD. I really enjoy Tamboo and listen to it over and over. Skins is quite different and not exactly relaxing, though still interesting.

Colors of Brazil/African Blue = Another set of two of Baxter's releases. This is not music composed by Baxter, but arranged by him.

"Primitive and Passionate: Les Baxter Balladeers" = not released yet. Don't know much about this release, but it's not available yet anyway.

Les Baxter [Madacy] = Basically 10 of 12 of Baxter's Que Mango songs.

Black Sunday/Baron Blood = Soundtrack compilation of two of Baxter's scores. Not available from Amazon, but a marketplacer does have it. I assume this is the CD version, though I do not know for sure since it doesn't actually state it.

Academy Award Winners/Soul of the Drums = Another compilation. I am glad that you mentioned Amazon, because I had discounted this one as being just the Academy Award Winners CD. I had not been interested in that since those were not Baxter tunes, but the Soul of the Drums is definitely worth buying it for.

By Popular Request = Not Baxter's work.

Best of Baxter = Not available new. Not Baxter's own compositions either. Marketplacer has one copy for $25. Plus some of these songs are stuck onto the end of Tamboo/Skins, so it really seems like a bad choice.

Exotic Moods of Les Baxter = If only... Not available new. 2 CDs for $70 just ain't happening.

Les Baxter-the Pop Side = not interested in pop songs of the day.

Voices in Rhythm = Same. Pop songs arranged by Baxter.

Sound Sensation = same as the [Madacy] release above.

Baxter's Best = same as the Best of Baxter release above except with a couple of extra ones thrown in - again not really his best, but pop songs of the day arranged by Baxter.

Lost Episode = A recording made from a VCR tape of a show that Baxter did on TV. Interested, but certainly not going to pay new prices for it.

In sum, it looks like the double releases of Tamboo/Skins and African Blue/Colors of Brazil along with the Soul of the Drums from another double release and most (though not all) of Que Mango are about it from his original albums.

The albums of his I would be most interested in hearing are:

Ritual of the Savage
Caribbean Moonlight
Round the World with...
Ports of Pleasure
Jungle Jazz
Sacred Idol
Jewels of the Sea
Quiet Village
The Primitive and the Passionate
Barbarian
Bora Bora

Anyway, I'm very happy with what little I have heard of his, and if the other stuff just isn't out there, then that's cool too. It just seems a shame that all of that great music is only available for the highest dollar (and that in itself seems pretty unique-is there any other type of music that's not even available to listen to or to get as a poor copy without paying as much for it?)

Thanks again to those who responded!

Well, if you can find yourself a decent used turntable then you can find the LPs on ebay. And you can get them at a decent price if you really want them just for the music and don't care what condition the jacket is in. The higher dollar auctions are for LPs with VG++ or higher graded covers. I've noted a few copies of Baxter's Quiet Village (not to be confused with Mssr Denny's version) go for $7 or less recently. Also saw a copy of Jungle Jazz (the one I've been really hunting for) go for seven or eight bucks recently because it had a poor cover but VG+ vinyl. I probably should've bought it and then gone on the lookout for a nice cover/beat up vinyl combo. But if you don't mind a beat up jacket you can find some good deals on ebay.

wilusa, you really know your baxter!!!

I found a CD yesterday of Tamboo / Ritual of the Savage (NOT the Tamboo / Skins disc).

The sound quality is NOT good.

It was clearly mastered from a copy of the vinyl record, not the original tapes, and whoever did the mastering didn't even bother to remove the worst of the pops and clicks from the LP. The peaks of the record are horribly distorted; "Havana" is unlistenable.

The disc was released on Tikitune Records, who list their address only as "275th Ave, NY, NY". No web site, and a web search turned up NOTHING. Zero hits.

Avoid this shady and poor quality release!

UPDATE: listening to the disc further, there are 24 trax listed in the liner notes, but only 23 on the actual CD. Shoddy! Incomplete! At 64 minutes, there's plenty of room for more songs, so thismissing track was not a time issue, it was a SLOP issue! And there's no bar code on the back of the CD. This reeks of a home-made project. How did it get into a legit record store?

I wouldn't mind if one of our own made it just for trade within our community, or even if it is something like what Vegas Vis is doing (straight-up admitting it is a home-done project, and not auhorized by the copyright holders) but to sell it as a legit release in a record store implies a certain level of professionalism that isn't present here.

Iorana!

JT

http://www.tydirium.net
Tiki Bar Review Pages / Tiki Road Trip / Left Orbit Temple

[ Edited by: tikibars on 2004-11-27 17:59 ]

Relax all you Baxter fans. You help has finally arrived. I have over 100 albums in my collection and have mastered a lot of the ones we are discussing here. If anyone is interested I can make some copies available to Tiki Central members for a measly $5 charge. This will include the cost of the blank disc and shipping charges anywhere in the continental US and a color cover. I will do this until the end of the year. Just let me know which ones you would be interested in and I will see what I can do. You can even send the money to my Paypal account by using my email address. Hope this helps and Merry Christmas everybody!