Kono Tiki Island

Webley Edwards presents "Hawaii Calls" - Soft Hawaiian Guitars

2007-01-04T18:55:00.000-05:00

I tried to upload this fine little Hawaiian/Exotica (Hawaiianotica?) LP once before but my copy sucked, quality-wise. Got a new copy and it sounds pretty good. This a very very nice exotica lite style collection of instrumentals. Don't let the "guitars" thing throw you off: the guitars are not overwhelming. Some ethereal (mostly wordless) vox and just a touch of sound effects make this most definitely an exotica album. Don't pass it up!

Webley Edwards presents...

Nat Mara and his Tahitians - Welcome to Tahiti

2007-01-01T19:46:00.000-05:00

I don't know much about Tahitian pop music but I do know that some of the more traditional sounding tamure type stuff usually has a very frenzied tempo. These romantic pop tunes are of a much more sweetly languorous style that I, for some unknown reason, associate with Yves Roche.

If you know Tahitian pop standards then you'll find many of them here.

Hilo Hattie - at the Hawaiian Village

2006-12-30T19:54:00.000-05:00

Recorded Live in the Tapa Room of the Hawaiian Village Hotel.

Maybe you thought Hilo Hattie's was just a chain store?

From the liner notes:

Hilo Hattie has long been known as the "Clown Princess of Hawaii." For many years she has been spreading throughout the world her comedy versions of the lore and lure of the Hawaiian Islands. Although she is known and has been seen and heard by millions, this album is Hilo Hattie's first LP and it is sure to add many more fans to her long list of international followers.

This is her live comedy and music show opening for the Hawaiian Village Serenaders at the Hawaiian Village Hotel (later to be the Hilton Hawaiian Village).

Hilo Hattie performed live all over the US and was a regular part of the Harry Owens TV show (yeah, I never heard of it either). She also appeared in several movies including "Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" and "Hell's Raiders." And, pssst...her real name was Clara Nelson.

This album is a fun little jaunt back in time to catch Hattie's slightly risque comedy live and in person with a room full of fellow haole tourists.

Sit back in your "noho" with a tall glass of "Okolehao" and imagine yourself in the Polynesian atmosphere of the colorful Tapa Room, and you will be ready to listen and enjoy this incomparable performance of Hawaii's own and beloved HILO HATTIE.

Hilo Hattie Does The Hilo Hop

Hilo Hawaiians - Honeymoon in Hawaii

2006-12-24T20:28:00.000-05:00

This was a booklet plus LP that was sold or given away to tourists by City Bank of Honolulu. Its a fairly large book that gives an overview of all of the islands, Hawaiian history, language, culture as well as current attractions. The art and photos suggest to me that it was made in the late 60s or very early 70s. The album that was included is "Honeymoon in Hawaii" by the Hilo Hawaiians. Its a beautiful little slab of island goodness and one of my very, very favorite Hawaiian music LPs.

There are at least two versions of this LP that I've seen and in both instances the song lists on the covers do not match those on the labels (the labels being correct). The only questionable thing about the label listings is that Aloha Oe is at the end of side one, whereas on the cover (and as common sense would suggest) it closes side two. Since the labels are correct in all other aspects I have continued to use that track list order for my files.

Enjoy

Mele Kalikimaka: A Hawaiian Christmas Party

2006-12-20T19:32:00.000-05:00

This is a really neat little Kalikimaka themed album that I give you just in time for the holidays! Its yet another fake live album. The concept for this one is that we get to listen in on an informal hootenanny style Christmas jamboree hosted by Kent Bowman and featuring the Kamahameha Alumni Glee Club, the great Nina Kealiiwahamana, the legendary Hilo Hattie, the Maile Serenaders and Kent's own haole faux pidgin comedy.

The Kamehameha Glee Club tracks may be live but I'd bet your okole that all the other tracks are previously recorded and dropped into the "party" recording at the appropriate moments. It's like when you were a kid and you'd get out your tape recorder and record player (or CD player for the youngsters) and make tapes like you were a DJ; introing songs and engaging in silly banter. Same concept.

Kent Bowman's pidgin comedy would probably get him killed on The Rock if he tried it as a fresh new act today. Then again, Rob Schneider did something similar in "50 First Dates," however I don't know if he can now walk the streets of Honolulu without being in fear for his life.

FWIW: I nearly blew out my keyboard editing the mp3 tags when I got to "Spring Spends The Winter In Hawaii" by Nina Kealiiwahamana and Boyce Kaihiihikapuokalani!

I'm uploading two versions of this LP. Because of the party conversation that segues song to song, the album is essentially two long tracks. The first link contains the rip broken into twelve individual mp3s, one for each song, with fades where appropriate so that the songs can be used in other mixes. The second link contains just two mp3s representing each of the two LP sides.

Mele Kalikimaka!

12 songs, 12 mps3s

2 LP sides, 2 mp3s

Repost!

2006-12-20T19:23:00.000-05:00

As requested by Chris, a repost of The Fantastic Strings Orchestra can be found in the original post here.

Chris also requested Milt Raskin's Kapu. I'd recommend you head over to Manakoora's site because his is a cleaner rip.

Tak Shindo - Brass and Bamboo

2006-12-17T19:22:00.000-05:00

While it's not the best exotica album of all time, Brass and Bamboo does contain what I consider to be one of the top three exotica tracks of all time, Tak's version of "Bali Ha'i."

There are several other great tracks such as "Caravan" and "The Song of Delilah."

Reminder: if you request a repost of a dead link you have to state which LP it is in your comment. Blogger emails me your comments but does not tell me to which post the comment was attached.

Tak Shindo

Frankie Carle - The Tropical Style of Frankie Carle

2006-12-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

Piano based Exotica Lite. Frankie was a legendary big band pianist that continued to record and play live long after the demise of big band as a popular genre. This one is from 1966 and has yer "Bali Ha'i" and yer "Quiet Village" and yer "Ebb Tide," "Pearly Shells," "Yellow Bird" etc etc.

Nice to play around the pool whilst sipping Rum Barrels.

Tickling the ivories

Webley Edwards - Hawaii The Island of Dreams

2006-12-12T20:10:00.000-05:00

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Webley Edwards series. For those who are not, the short story is that for 3-plus decades Mr Edwards hosted a radio show out of Waikiki called "Hawaii Calls" where he showcased the best of Hawaiian music, which was then re-broadcast by hundreds of radio stations around the world. The LPs are compilations of some of the best music from the shows. Each LP was usually at least loosely based around a central theme.

This album's music is more on the ethno-traditional side with the exception of tracks 5 and 10 which are a little more popular sounding. Highlights for me include "Canoe Song," "Thoughts of Love," "Fire Goddess" and "Island of Dreams."

Here it is.

If any of you are curious as to why there's been such a flurry of activity on this site as of late...if you look back at the start of this blog you'll see that I started with a similar burst of uploads because I was sick at home with pneumonia. So guess what...I broke my flippin' right ankle in a freakish accident(!) and where the pneumonia laid me up for about 10 days or so this should keep me somewhat homebound for several farking weeks. My loss is your gain I suppose, as I will probably turbo-plow through most of the rest of my Hawaiian and Exotica collection over the next few weeks.

God bless Trader Vic Bergeron for inventing the mai tai and also whoever it was that invented oxycodone. Cheers!

Roy Holland & Milt Holland - Perfect Percussion

2006-12-10T16:43:00.000-05:00

Perfect Percussion by The 44 Instruments of Roy Harte & Milt Holland. From 1961 on World-Pacific Records. Roy Harte and Milt Holland, percussion and special effects; Buddy Montgomery, vibes; Monk Montgomery, electric bass; Wes Montgomery, guitar; Richie Crabtree, piano; Benny Barth, drums.

Eight popular songs done with an array of exotic percussive instruments. No bird calls, but you know with a vibes player on the recording that it'll sound great in your tiki bar. And it will!

Enjoy!

Wynton Kelly - Comin' In The Back Door

2006-12-10T12:28:00.000-05:00

A nice piece of fairly standard piano jazz from 1963. Wynton Kelly, piano; Kenny Burrell, guitar; Paul Chambers, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums; with orchestra arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman.

You may be thinking: "Why Kono? Why? This isn't exotica!"

Well, because it has a cover of "Quiet Village." That's why!

Comin' In The Back Door

Lots of music coming up over the next few days (I think)!

Tiny and His Hawaiian Bubbles - Hawaiian Luau Party

2006-12-03T19:01:00.000-05:00

This one's quite a bit better than it might appear to be, if you are one who tends to judge an LP by its cover. Its a faux live album, recorded in a studio with a fake live audience. A few of the tracks are very haole but many of the others have a more trad-pop feel. Most of side two is instrumental and quite sweet.

All in all its a strong addition to the soundloop for your next luau. Enjoy!

Aloha

I should have a couple other uploads this week. Stay tuned...

Repost!

2006-12-03T18:39:00.000-05:00

By request, Yma Sumac - Miracles has been reposted here.

If you post a comment to an older blog entry and wish a response (such as, for example, requesting a repost of a dead upload), mention to which post you are responding within your comment.

Your comments are emailed to my email account but blogger doesn't tell me to which blog entry the comment was given. To search through all the old entries would be a daunting task.

Anyone try the new version of blogger? If so, what do you think?

Arthur Lyman - Puka Shells

2006-11-24T14:45:00.000-05:00

I haven't listened to the whole Arthur Lyman catalog, but this is the first one I can recall hearing that featured vocals. The beautiful young Kapiolani solos on a couple of tracks and duets with Art on a couple more. If you've ever wanted to hear Mr Lyman sing, well here's your chance. I'll leave it at that. He can be heard on the opening track "Puka Shells" and then again on "Guava Tree."

All in all, about half of the tracks contain vocals. There are two killer exotica tracks included: "Legend of the Rain" and "Mystic Island." "Adios, Marquita Linda" is pretty sweet as well. This rip was done with virgin vinyl so it sounds pretty darn good.

Released in 1975 on GNP Crescendo.

Puka Shells

EDIT: Oops! I see that I left the second track "Skybird" off of the first upload. Sorry! Here's that single track: here.

Los Indios Tabajaras - Song of the Islands

2006-11-19T17:37:00.000-05:00

Two brothers, members of the indigenous Tabajaras tribe in the interior of Brazil, Los Indios Tabajaras recorded several albums in the 50s and 60s (and beyond??). This LP was recorded in 1968 and is a collection of Hawaiian-type songs with a definite exotica sound. The music is built around the acoustic guitars of the brothers with some exotic percussion, bird calls and otherwordly wordless vox thrown in as well.

Mellow...

The Hawaiian Islanders - Hawaiian Enchantment

2006-11-18T21:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back!

I got a little bored with the LP digitizing thing and gave my time to other hobbies for a while. So anyway I'm back to the vinyl albums for a bit. Here's an instrumental (some choral vox on the finale) long player thats on Wyncote and undoubtedly all haole but still a good listen.

Classic cover art.

I'll have some new exotica over the next few days.

Hawaiian Enchantment

Bora Bora on ScoreBaby Annex

2006-09-01T20:49:00.000-04:00

ScoreBaby Annex is a great sharity blog for finding rare soundtracks and library music shares, and now he's posted something that I did not know exists: an alternate European score for the 1968 film Bora Bora. Actually, the alternate version would be the Les Baxter one as the Piero Piccioni is obviously the original.

ScoreBaby has the Piero Piccioni Euro market soundtrack posted here and for reference my post of the Les Baxter version for the US market can be found here. Enjoy. Thanks ScoreBaby.

Axel Stordahl - The Magic Islands Revisited

2006-08-26T20:01:00.000-04:00

Swanky mentioned Axel Stordahl as a fave of his so here's one I ripped a while back. Its mostly mid-tempo orchestrated hapa haole (with the emphasis on haole) but there are three or four bona fide exotica tracks, like the first track which is classic exotica. Lousy of me not to clean up the cover but hey, I ain't charging for it.

The Magic Islands Revisited

Cannonball Adderley - Soul Zodiac

2006-08-16T21:51:00.000-04:00

Now this is a GREAT album. No, it's not exotica, nor is it Hawaiian or tropical. It really has nothing to do with the general theme of this blog but its just an awesome listen.

Some of the stuff I post here is admittedly mediocre. I'm digitizing my LP collection and when I come across something that's just OK but fits here (like the Hawaiian Holiday album below) I post it even though its not going to knock the socks off of anyone. I figure someone might enjoy it.

This album is by no means mediocre.

One of my favorite genres of music is that style of experimental/avant garde jazz that was primarily released from the mid-60s to mid-70s. Later Coltrane, Ayler, Shepp, Sun Ra, Ornette, Pharoah, ESP-Disk etc. The tags "experimental" or "avant garde" may not appeal to you but that's just what I think of it as. I don't care for the label "free jazz" as only a small portion of it could accurately be described as truly "free."

Anyway, this is a classic from that era. Thirteen tracks from Cannonball Adderley with the Nat Adderley Sextet featuring LA DJ Rick Holmes narrating. Released in 1972. Listen, I didn't take any music classes in school so I can't talk about "modal" this or "dissonant" that, but I do know that this music sounds like a less-meditative and more genre-jumping Sun Ra Orchestra backing the soulful funky narration of Mr Holmes describing the attributes of the various signs of the Zodiac.

The first track is an intro followed by 12 more tracks for each of the signs. I don't know who the hell is a Taurus that the group felt the need to spend 14 minutes of rock/blues/space/jazz jam on that particular zodiac sign to end this album. Probably a woman.

Like me, Cannonball is a Virgo.

Did Rick Holmes' reading of your sign have any ring of truth with you?

This one is a real pleasure to share. Great music, clean LP, good rip. It is a MUST HAVE.

It's a double LP so the file is close to 100mb.

Jazz Zodiac Godhead.

Featured Drink - Dragon Lady

2006-08-16T21:40:00.000-04:00

I sometimes dabble in creating my own concoctions and this is one of them. The drink usually fills the glass to the rim but I drank a little bit before I thought to take a pic.

Dragon Lady

1 oz vodka
1 oz sake
.75 oz ginger brandy
.5 oz falernum*
.5oz passion fruit syrup
1 oz grapefruit juice
.5 oz fresh lemon juice

Blend with 10 oz shaved ice and then pour into pilsener glass.

I'm not too much "into" garnishes so I just threw a cherry on top but if you can think of a better garnish let me know.

John Taylor's Velvet Falernum liqueur is my preference but the Fees Bros falernum syrup works well also.

Feedback appreciated.

Alfred Apaka - Aloha, Apaka!

2006-08-16T21:22:00.000-04:00

Alfred Apaka with Orchestra directed by Axel Stordahl and the Hawaiian Village Serenaders.

I read somewhere that if Don Ho was the Elvis of Hawaii then Alfred Apaka was the Bing Crosby of Hawaii. I have absolutely no idea what that means.

I was just reading his bio on allmusic.com and it says: "Although many predicted that he would become a successful mainstream vocalist, Apaka took a different route when he convinced multimillionaire Henry Kaiser to build a hotel, The Hawaiian Village, that included a showroom where he starred in his own extravagant revue. Apaka's energetic performances soon made the hotel an essential tourist attraction, and his popularity continued to grow."

So Alfred got Henry Kaiser to build The Hawaiian Village resort (which later became the Hilton Hawaiian Village) that featured a showroom in which Alfred performed and in which Rene Paulo and his group recorded "Beyond Happiness" (third post below this one) a couple of years after Mr Apaka passed away of a heart attack at the young age of 41. Now that's a little bit of blogging synchronicity. I'd wager that Rene Paulo became the feature act after Alfred passed on.

Ther first couple of tracks have a little excess surface noise but it gets better after that.

Aloha, Apaka!

Thurston Knudson - Primitive Percussion

2006-08-15T20:22:00.000-04:00

This one is a must have for the exotica collector even though it's not an exotica album per se. No bird calls or other-worldly female vocals on this one, just percussion. Nothing but percussion. You wouldn't want to just plop this one on and play it through unless you're trying to lure woodpeckers into your den (and hey, if you are, I'm cool with that). These tracks do, however, make for some great change-ups on your exotica mixes.

This recording is about halfway between an ethnographic field study and a percussion based exotica album. Traditional African drum pieces led and directed by a white guy (I'm taking a stab in the dark that Thurston Knudson is not African) are what you're getting here. So enjoy it for what it is...trad African music seen through the eyes of a European or American. If thats not exotica then what is?

To further cement the tiki/exotica connection (from the liner notes): "NOTE: The giant hardwood log used in four of these selections was borrowed from the exotic milieu of the word-famous Don the Beachcomber Restaurant in Hollywood."

African Jungle Drums

Hawaiian Holiday

2006-08-15T20:06:00.000-04:00

This is the 1,987th LP released with the title "Hawaiian Holiday." This one came out in 1980 and has absolutely zero info as to who the musicians are on these tracks. I'd tell you the name of the label but then I'd have to kill you.

Not an exceptional album, but it is a very solid if somewhat generic collection of sixteen hapa haole instrumentals. I doubt if any of the Hawaii Calls "Favorite Instrumentals" LPs are much, if any, better than this one. Perfect for your office party luau!

ALOOOHAAA!

Rene Paulo - Beyond Happiness

2006-08-15T19:11:00.000-04:00

Hey, I found a Rene Paulo LP! Beyond Happiness is a very slow, mellow drowsy recording of piano music. The backing bass, guitar and drums are WAAAY in the background. I'll be honest, this one doesn't do too much for me. Its kinda like Liberace on ludes.

This was recorded at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki and does include some Hawaiian faves (Akaka Falls and Ke Kali Nei Au (Hawaiian Wedding Song)) but I'm sure Rene was playing in the hoity toity room with all the guests in dinner jackets and evening gowns. If I were there (and I was there, but 40 years later), I would've been hanging out at one of the outside bars with the hula dancers and fire drummers and the uke players and hopefully drinking the handiworks of their legendary bartender Harry Yee.

Somber piano tunes.

Rene Paulo and Akemi - Forever More

2006-07-30T18:24:00.000-04:00

I had an idea to do a "theme" type post around Rene Paulo but apparently (and unfortunately) I don't have any of Rene's classic exotica LPs. How did I manage that? I even looked through my download collection and "The Enchanted Garden" is the only Rene I have (besides this one). People! Where are the Rene Paulo shares? Consider this a formal request. I'd especially like to hear "Black Coral."

EDIT: And just like magic Xtabay comes through with Rene Paulo - Black Coral. Now you can hear what Rene was doing as an exotica bachelor. Thanks Xtabay! This sharity thing is great.

Anyway, Rene Paulo on the piano with his group accompanied by the singing of his lovely wife Akemi. Feels a bit like a live lounge act but its a studio recording. Nice.

Rene and Akemi

Kathy Paulo - Fall In Love With...

2006-07-30T18:21:00.000-04:00

Rene and Akemi got married and the results you can hear on this album from 1980. Kathy Paulo is their daughter and she apparently got her own "one-woman show" in Waikiki after several appearances in bit parts on Hawaii Five-O. I was just perusing the credits of her TV appearances on imdb and I'm pretty sure I remember her in the "Computer Killer" episode and she was quite the hotty. I'll have to dig around in my Five-O collection and see what eps I have. Her brother Rene Jr also appears on this album singing Beautiful Kauai. I'm not sure if he plays piano as well since the participating musicians have no credits in the liner notes.

Please know what you are getting into before you download this one. This is a LOUNGE ACT in Waikiki FROM 1980. There are corny interactions with the audience and the musicians and the songs are not done in a subtle style. This is the kind of stuff that Bill Murray parodied on SNL. She talks about her background and about Hawaii and judging by the back of the LP (which I am privy to and you are not) she put on different costumes for the different numbers. I find it funny that she (as was likely the fashion at the time) makes a point to pronounce Hawaii as Hah-veye-ee and nowadays when you're over there the trend is more on getting a good glottal stop between the "i"s when saying Hawai'i and they don't much push the "w" pronounced as "v" thing so much anymore.

Sorry for the tangent. This is a fun listen and transports you back (or over) to those darkened Waikiki nightclubs where you sip on a cheap "Mai Tai" while watching a semi-cheesy song and comedy act. They still do the same thing today in Waikiki and in Nashville and Bronson MO and elsewhere I'm sure. It does go a bit (a lot) downhill at the second half of side two when Ms Paulo goes mainland and starts singing some contemporary show tunes like "Tomorrow" from "Annie" and the song I despise above all others: "Send In The Clowns." Yech!

Darken the lights and pull some naugahyde furniture into your tiki lounge and get into that early 80's vibe. Enjoy the Hawaiian and Hapa Haole tunes and when you finally get to "Send In The Clowns" crank it up to run off those rum thieves.

Fall in love with...Kathy Paulo

Featured Drink: Sleepy Lagoon

2006-07-30T18:19:00.000-04:00

I feel a little guilty about this recipe because I changed it up a wee bit. Obviously, its silly to feel guilty about that since every legendary tiki bar of yore had it's own versions of all the classics. How many versions of the Mai Tai are there? Donn Beach and Vic Bergeron both claim to have invented that uber-drink but both recipes are quite different. For what its worth, I'll always believe that Vic invented the Mai Tai simply because his recipe is simple and elegant when compared to Donn's recipe which included grapefruit juice, falernum and (oh the horror!) Pernod. Anyway, I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to making the vintage cocktail recipes so I do this with some small amount of trepidation...but damnit! the name "Sleepy Lagoon" is too great a drink name to be consigned to as poor a drink as the original is.

When you're dabbling in vintage cocktail recipes you'll undoubtedly run across more than a few stinkeroos. Some of these old drinks are just plain nasty. Rather than dump the offending drink down the sink and waste my hard earned booze, I have found that no matter how foul the concoction is, adding orgeat syrup will eventually (keep adding it) render it palatable.

The World can do without the original Sleepy Lagoon as it appears in Okolemaluna! I found it fairly hard to get down the gullet so, as per my usual practice, I added a half ounce of orgeat syrup. Whoa! Pretty good drink!

It maybe could use a little more tweaking but here it is:

SLEEPY LAGOON (Kono's version)

1oz brandy
1oz dry gin
.5oz orange juice
.5oz orgeat syrup
dash of lemon juice

Shake with cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

If you're brave enough to have the original just delete the orgeat (but keep it close at hand - trust me).

New Blog!

2006-07-18T19:14:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to point out to the ohana that Manakoora has finally started up his own blog!

Manakoora's rips are SUPERB and he has infinitely more patience and skill than I do when it comes to cleaning up digitized vinyl.

Bookmark it: http://manakoora.blogspot.com/

The Big Sound - Heart of Hawaii

2006-07-16T19:18:00.000-04:00

This is a bit of an odd quasi-exotica album. Who are "The Big Sound?" I have no clue. I have two copies of this LP, each with unique covers but with essentially the same liner notes on the back. Regarding "The Big Sound" it says on the backside:

"You will find big pleasure in The "Big" Sound. This album is just one of a series of new recordings released under The "Big" Sound. Be sure to ask for them at your favorite record counter."

This is a collection of Hawaiian and like type tunes done up by an orchestra with some wordless female vocals and the odd tribal drumming here and there. It'll mix in well with your exotica collection. Kind of reminds me of some the Hawaii Calls Orchestra stuff but a little more bombastic. One major clue that this is not true exotica is that there are only ten tracks. As all aficionados are well aware, TRUE exotica albums always have twelve tracks. ;)

Tracks include: "Red Sails in the Sunset," "Moon of Manakoora," "Hawaiian War Chant" and "Beyond the Reef" plus six more.

I'm going to go ahead and publish this post and whenever Rapidshare finally uploads the file then I'll edit.

EDIT 1: The rapidshare bastuhds cut me off at about 90% (and 50 minutes) of the upload. A-holes. I can get a good megabyte a second downloading off of strong servers but uploading to rapidshare is like being on dial up. This LP may or not be posted tonight.

EDIT 2: OK! Here it is finally: The Big Sound

Yma Sumac - Miracles

2006-07-16T18:09:00.000-04:00

This is the album all of the Yma fans can't stand. It's my favorite Yma LP! I love it because it's just so insane sounding.

This is Yma and Les Baxter's "rock" album from 1970. All of the tracks but the last one ("El Condor Pasa") were written by Les.

What allmusic.com says:

"The first song on this disc should've been a hit; "Remember" begins with a hard rock explosion and Sumac exploring what the liner notes call her "extraordinary five-octave voice." There are no lyrics here, just Sumac's vocal flights which ride over rock & roll textures. Although the rock here sounds like it is straight out of the Berklee College of Music, jazz influenced organ courtesy of Richard Person, Chuck Cowan's guitar, the bass of Roger Cowan, and Skippy Switzer's drums all shine here. On "Let Me Hear You," Sumac reaches down into her gut and comes up with a sound Peter Frampton utilized on his 1976 hit "Show Me the Way," the amazing thing is, she didn't have to use the mouth instrument employed by Frampton!"

What I said on another forum some time ago:

"That album's so whacked I'll always love it. It makes me think of a group of early 70s long-sideburned, mustachioed, Peruvian narco-guerillas getting floopy on ayahuasca and jamming out with some kind of birdgod woman spirit guide. If that makes any sense."

Play this at closing time to run all those rum thieves out of your tiki bar.

Miracles

EDIT: The above dead link has been fixed!

Featured Drink: Island Dreamer

2006-07-14T20:04:00.000-04:00

These drink features seem not to be all that popular since they garner no feedback, but I don't care. Here's another one!

The Island Dreamer is perhaps the finest drink I've sampled so far from the Okolemaluna recipe book. Very very tasty and yet another drink from this booze tome that features that famous Hawaiian staple, maple syrup, as a sweetener.

I use .5oz of maple syrup myself, but as it says, mix "to taste."

OH YEAH, before I forget, go down to the comment section of the Arthur Lyman - At The Crescendo post to find a very nice clean rip of that LP courtesy of Manakoora.

From the book:

ISLAND DREAMER

2 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. orange juice
Maple syrup to taste

Shake well with cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Tastes like a thick, sweet, fruit juice, but will sneak up on you if you try too many!

MAITAI: tahiti cocktail

2006-07-05T20:55:00.000-04:00

This is an LP of "traditional" Tahitian folk-type songs and dances. The reason I put the word "traditional" in parentheses is because one of the tunes was co-written by Eddie Lund and more than half of the others were co-written with Yves Roches. So I don't know how truly traditional they are. Anyway...they sound traditional with lot's of drums, chanting, singing and vahines shaking the hips and all that good stuff.

Performances by: Groupes Folkloriques COCO TEMAEVA, TAHITI NUI, CERA PHINE, TEHAHE REHEVA, and PUPU TAMATA NOA.

On Tamure Records as part of the Manuiti Productions Musicales Polynesiennes Series. Year of release is unknown.

MAITAI

Webley Edwards/Hawaii Calls Orchestra - Sunkissed Hits of Hawaii

2006-07-05T20:44:00.000-04:00

One of the "Webley Edwards presents Hawaii Calls" series. Mostly these are heavily orchestrated hapa haole hits sung by various members of the Hawaii Calls Chorus BUT! there's a nice slinky version of "Quiet Village" AND! "Hawaiian Wedding Song" has some slightly ethereal female vox and is a quite fine version of that classic.

The tracks do not follow the listing order on the cover.

Sunkissed Hits

Featured Drink: Fiji Blackout

2006-07-05T20:33:00.001-04:00

This is an interesting drink from Okolemaluna! It's simple to make, tastes great and a bit different from your average "lots 'o juices" tiki drink.

From the book:

FIJI BLACKOUT

A tasty dark drink, mixed for two.

1 1/2 oz. lime juice
1 oz. light maple syrup
4 oz. dark rum

Stir ingredients well in a mixing glass, and pour over 2 champagne glasses filled with finely crushed ice. Mix another batch-for-two as often as needed.

Les Baxter - Ritual of the Savage

2006-06-24T22:11:00.000-04:00

Les Baxter, Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman are the Holy Trinity of Exotica.

I wanted to bring this one back to the top because I saw that it had very few downloads. As best I can figure, it was largely ignored at that time because A) I didn't post a pic of the cover, B) I neglected to post a pic of the cover and C) there was no pic of the cover.

I've noticed that most of the early posts, where I didn't include a pic of the cover, sadly did not get all that much love.

THIS is the record that really started the whole Exotica thing. Even though Les never really got all that much into the bird calls and the special effects, He is still The Father of Exotica and this, RIGHT HERE, is where it all started.

A huge chunk of the Baxter catalog has been re-issued on CD, but for some inexplicable reason "Ritual of the Savage" has not been re-issued.

Its an older rip of mine but a pretty good one.

Exotica Primus

Arthur Lyman - At The Crescendo

2006-06-24T21:56:00.000-04:00

!!!!!UPDATE 7.13.06...SEE THE COMMENTS FOR A BETTER VERSION OF THIS LP!!!!!

If Les is "The Father" and Martin is "The Son" then Arthur is "The Holy Ghost" of Exotica. I guess. Actually I'm just blabbering on semi-coherently and hope not to offend.

This one is ostensibly a true restaurant record but looking into it further leaves me in doubt. On the liner notes it states: "For the first time the exotic sounds of Arthur Lyman are recorded "live" as they appeared "in person" in one of their regular engagemenst at the Crescendo on the world-renowned Sunset Strip in Hollywood."

But then further on it says: "The applause was later deleted to preserve the exotic mood!"

Yeah, right.

Anyhow its a good recording of a mix of exotica and contemporary hits. Arthur rarely recorded an LP of just exotica, he always threw in few standards like (in this case) "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue."

There's a good amount of surface noise on this one. Not for playing in the Bentley. Better play this one in the Viper. With the top down. "Cindy Oh Cindy" (which sounds a lot like "Yellow Bird") has the most noise. The others are not as bad.

Don't download my version, see comments.

Martin Denny - From Maui with Love

2006-06-24T21:45:00.000-04:00

The last of our triptych is Martin Denny's From Maui with Love. This one you can play in the Bentley, in fact, its perfect for it.

Most of this LP is just Martin and his piano. Tracks 7-10 (including Quiet Village) have Martin accompanied by drums and string bass. Released in 1980, this is almost a restaurant record as the album was recorded to "celebrate his current engagement at the Wailea Beach Hotel," and Martin included a song that he wrote ("Raffles'") that "takes its name from the beautiful gourmet restaurant where he performs to the listening delight of its diners and his many fans."

No bird calls on this one. Just THE MAN and his piano.

From Maui with Love

Featured Drink: Humuhumunukunukuapuaa

2006-06-24T21:19:00.000-04:00

From the Hawaii Kai Cookbook. This one's for those with a bit of a sweet tooth. This drink has enough calories to get you through an entire weekend. A weekend of running marathons.

FYI: to make honey cream, heat separately one part sweet butter and one part honey. Don't let either come to a boil. Pour together in a bowl and whisk until fully blended. Voila!

From the book:

Humuhumunukunukuapuaa

(Hum Hum for short.) Intrepid ones love this innocent-looking concoction of coconut milk and gin whipped into a frenzy, then enhanced with the nectars of the romantic Island fruits.

1 ounce orange juice
1 ounce honey cream
1/2 ounce heavy cream
1 ounce dry gin
1 ounce white rum
1/2 ounce coconut milk

Pour ingredients over 1/2 cup shaved ice and blend. Pour into 10-ounce footed highball glass. Garnish with a half a slice of orange, pineapple spear on pick with green and red cherries stuck on end of spear, 8-inch candy-striped straw, parasol open and in straw end.

Les Baxter - Bora Bora

2006-06-12T20:09:00.000-04:00

Soundtrack to a 1968 Italian film that apparently very few people have seen or even heard of. Its Les so you know its good. I always thought this was recorded and released in the early 70s so I'm slightly surprised it came out in '68. It just has that early 70s sound and I can easily imagine this music on the soundtrack to Hawaii Five-O. So if you dig that 5-O sound then you should really dig this.

Bora Bora

The Islanders - The Enchanted Sound of The Islanders

2006-06-12T19:07:00.000-04:00

This is one of the unsung classic exotica albums. The Islanders are probably just the two producers, Frank Metis and Randy Starr, with maybe a little help from session musicians (and "Special Sound Effects: Ralph F. Curtiss"). Released ca 1958. The great thing about this LP is that it sort of bridges the genres of surf and exotica with its liberal dose of surf ballad style electric guitar. The only thing is (and I'm by no means a surf music expert) if it came out around 1958, doesn't it predate classic surf music by two or three years? Anyway, most of these songs sit right at home on either surf mixes or exotica mixes no problemo.

I wanted to try and dupe you all into thinking I'm smart and somewhat knowledgable about this music so, of course, I did a quick google search and did not find all that much. I found a couple of references about Frank Metis (wrote "Kissin' Cousins" for Elvis) and also that this album is at least somewhat rare ("rare as hens teeth" one forum entry said). I checked ebay and there are quite a few 45s from this LP on right now but no copies of the album itself. So maybe it is rare and that's all the more reason to download it.

Plus it's KILLER CLASSIC exotica. Some of the original Metis-Starr songs on this LP that were later covered by the more well known exotica masters include: Tramp Steamer, The Enchanted Sea, Kon-Tiki and City Under the Sea.

Once again, I wish I had a cleaner copy. The rip is fair, quite a bit better than the Webley Edwards below, but not as good as I'd like. It sounds fair under headphones but just fine in my truck with all the ambient noise covering the imperfections. So get yourself a truck and listen to The Enchanted Sound of The Islanders.

Kana Kapiolani & his Hawaiians - Songs of the Islands

2006-06-11T20:15:00.000-04:00

This rip is as clean and sweet as the last one was rough. Gorgeous semi-trad instrumentals featuring steel guitar and a little uke. Perfect for your next luau.

I know most of you prefer the exotica over the Polynesian (the downloads for exotica are approximately double than those for the Hawaiian stuff) but you should check this one out. Crisp and clean and "Aloha Oe" is especially nice.

Songs of the Islands

Webley Edwards presents Hawaii Calls: Soft Hawaiian Guitars

2006-06-11T20:05:00.000-04:00

I decided to delete this post because the quality of the rip is not acceptable. I'll find another cleaner copy soon enough and re-rip this LP.

Again...if YOU have a good quality rip of this album feel free to post a link in the comments!

Martin Denny - Hawaii

2006-06-04T20:33:00.000-04:00

Martin Denny plays the theme from the United Artists motion picture Hawaii. One of the few Denny LPs not released on CD.

Several good tracks. "Oro (God of Vengeance)" is killer exotica but has been released on a few compilations so you may already have it.

Martin Denny/Hawaii

Featured drink: King Kamehameha

2006-06-04T20:28:00.000-04:00

From the Hawaii Kai Cookbook. Nice and juicy without all that damn citrus. Very tasty drink.

From the book:

King Ka-Meha-Meha

His royal sins are rolled into this devilish mixture of brandy laced with gin.

1 ounce passion fruit nectar
1 ounce pineapple juice
1/4 ounce triple sec
3/4 ounce dry gin
3/4 ounce brandy

Blend all ingredients over 1/4 cup shaved ice. Pour into 7-ounce highball glass. Garnish with slice of orange, red cherry, 6-inch candy-striped straw with paper parasol inserted.

The Voices of the Atolls and The Zizou Bar Trio - Ta'u Tahiti

2006-06-04T20:06:00.000-04:00

Or Mon Tahiti in French. Funny thing about this LP, everything is in French or Tahitian except the song titles which are in Tahitian with the English translation following in parentheses. Odd.

From 1957, one of many LPs on the Tiare Tahiti Records label that mixed trad Tahitian music with a slightly franco-jazzy lounge feel. As far as I'm concerned Drums of Bora Bora, Songs of Tahiti was the best of the bunch, and the reason The Voices of the Atolls will forever have a special place in my Polynesian musical pantheon. Their song "E Hina," from that LP is probably my favorite Polypop tune of all time. I'd be glad to share Drums of Bora Bora here but for the fact that it's been released on CD (look on Amazon) and thus it would be a no-no to share.

Not all of this album is great but there are a few jewels: check out track 1 "Pinol (Tahitian Love Call)", track 9 "Tarevereva (Crest of the Wave)" and track 12 "Haapou Mai Na (Tahitian Love Song).

The label says that its recorded in "stereo simulation." As far as I can tell, that means one channel is a little bit louder than the other.

Mon Tahiti

BONUS! An LP rip of my favorite Atolls song "E Hina" from the LP version of Drums of Bora Bora. It kicks okole!

Don Ho - East Coast/West Coast

2006-06-02T22:25:00.000-04:00

Man, I love Don Ho! As far as I'm concerned, on The Islands he is THE MAN. I got to see him perform his act about three years ago in Waikiki. He was still as entertaining then as he was on this recording from 1967 or 68. Maybe more so. I got to talk with him a bit and the man is the shiznit. I know a lot of people think of Don as just an antiquated lounge act but he's more than that, he's the ultimate beach boy. A "kanaka" who beats the "haoles" at their own game and takes their "wahines" to boot.

Repeatedly.

This recording is on Reprise Records but sounds more like a slightly higher than average quality bootleg than a major label release. It's in mono which I thought it a bit odd for something recorded and pressed in the late 60s. The sound quality lacks a bit but it's a nice little snapshot of the Don Ho live show experience circa that time frame.

There was really no way to break the tracks down individually, they all kind of mush together cause Don would sing/talk/sing/talk/crack a joke and then sing something different. It's ripped and presented as two mp3s, one for side one and one for side two.

Tracks:

Side One Recorded at the Cocoanut Grove, Los Angeles

Introduction by Bill Dana
Lover's Prayer
One Paddle, Two Paddle
What Now My Love (with Robin Wilson)
Macao
Soon It's Gonna Rain (Robin Wilson)

Side Two Recorded at The Royal Box, New York

Introduction by Arthur Godfrey
This Could Be the Start of Something Big
All That's Left Is the Lemon Tree
Goin't Out of My Head (The Aliis)
She's Gone Again (and I'll Remember You) (with Robin Wilson)
Born Free (with Robin Wilson)
Tiny Bubbles

You may be wondering who Robin Wilson and The Ali'is are (well, most of you probably know of The Ali'is). Apparently Don has always surrounded himself with an entourage of "up and coming" talent. When I saw him he had a few opening acts that were obviously under his wing. One of them was this crazy country cowboy who was allegedley a Cajun firefighter, but speaking with him after the show I noticed his "accent" would meander from Cajun to Australian to...I don't know...Ohio, or something. I'm guessing Robin Wilson was one of his proteges. The Ali'is were his back up singers who went on to become an independent act of their own. Why they covered "Goin' Out of My Head" is beyond me. It's a weird rendition.

Don usually peaks out or ends his shows with a couple of tunes: "Tiny Bubbles" and "Born Free." Now, I get "Tiny Bubbles." Its the song that everyone thinks of when they think of Don Ho. But why "Born Free?" He still features that song to this day.

Unfortunately, East Coast/West Coast is not as focused on the Hawaiian tunes as I'd like. I'm sure Don was courting mainstream at the time but its worth downloading and burning to a shiny disc for some play in the car. The jokes are risque and since it's early in his career, Don gives some back story to many of the songs.

Don Ho!

The Waikikis - Hawaii Beach Party

2006-06-02T21:36:00.000-04:00

This a slightly odd one. When I heard the first track, "Hawaii Beach Party," I thought these guys are European. Weird la-la-la female vocals (like the kind you hear in cheesy Z-movies from early 70s Germany and Scandinavia) in front of a Northern European martial parade beat. Yeah there's steel guitar but no one in Hawaii or California plays like this. Then I hear the second track, "Farewell Hawaii," and think maybe these guys are from Nashville. The steel git has that 60s Nashville "Now Sound" vibe. Each track had me going back and forth, finally deciding on The Waikikis being German guys living Nashville.

Its not your trad Hawaiian album. Some of the tracks are downright borderline obnoxious but tracks 2 (Farewell Hawaii), 4 (A Little Bit of Heaven in Hawaii), and 8 (Coral Girl) are quite sweet and tasty. Very nice. Track 10 (Waikiki-Ki-Hu La Hu) gets two thumbs up for the cheeze factor.

"Coral Girl" is a bit of an odd name for a song. When ripping this I'd just finished re-reading Hawaiian Dick: Byrd of Paradise and pictured Coral Girl as an animated golem gal made up of bits and pieces of coral. If I sound like an idiot, well maybe I am, but Hawaiian Dick is a "graphic novel" (comic book) set in a 50s noir Oahu with supernatural themes like The Night Marchers of the Pali Highway and Kahami's sister, Leila Rose, getting killed and turned into a lovelorn zombie. So my Coral Girl would fit right in. You can find it on Amazon if you are so inclined.

Euro-Nashville-Hawaiian music here!

Chief Bey and His Royal Household - Taboo

2006-05-29T21:01:00.000-04:00

"All The Excitement And Mystery Of The Jungle In High Fidelity."

A mysterious one. Who is Chief Bey? There is no information in the liner notes. Just a mention that the drums are in the hands of the "CAWANDA group." I got the "Chief Bey and His Royal Household" off of the record label. There is no mention of "Chief Bey" or any "recording artist" on the cover, either front or back.

I seem to recollect reading somewhere that Chief Bey might be an alias of Chaino. I doubt it, but its possible. This is a very ethnographic style recording as opposed to the crazed exploitation feel of Chaino. In fact, much of this LP would be right at home as the background music on a commercial for Disney's Animal Kingdom (natazu!). Its very traditional African sounding, whether its real or not.

Most of the tracks would be a bit out of place on an exotica comp but...BUT, you exotica types might check out tracks 5 (Fakiiya) and 10 (Ayilongo) as those are pretty cool and could snuggle up with Yma most righteously.

The liner notes describe "Fakiiya" as thus: "The deep drums, the big drums, predominate as an accent to the rhythms of the smaller drums. The random shout, almost hysterical, pierce the air as the rhythm increases in intensity. A visual scene is stirred in the mind of a primitive jungle orgy."

Woohoo!

Chief Bey and His Royal Household

Frank Edwards - Flying Saucers--Serious Business

2006-05-29T20:15:00.000-04:00

Here's one for those of you who like the weird stuff (like me). Nine tracks of nothing but talking. Frank Edwards sitting in front of a microphone talking to you from 1966. The tracks are:

Flying Saucers Around Ships and Astronauts
UFOs--From the A Bomb to the Blackout
Kooks Who Claim Saucer Contacts
UFOs in Ancient History
Astronomers Report Flying Saucers
UFOs--Their Size and Power Source
Mysteries on the Moon
Flying Saucer Censorship
Signals--and Creatures--from Space

If any of you know of an online source for more recordings like this, please let me know. I'm also looking for sites that have audio files of alleged real weirdness like UFOs, Bigfoot, etc including interviews. Its for a Halloween mix project I have in mind. Anything that could've been on Sightings would be cool.

If I was on the ball I would've recorded this in mono and saved you all some download time. I screwed up.

Serious Business

Featured Drink: Zombie Headhunter

2006-05-28T20:04:00.000-04:00

This one is from the Hawaii Kai Cookbook. The actual name of the drink in the book is "Headhunter Zombie" but I've flipped the name around as it just sounds much cooler that way, besides this Hawaii Kai book is a bit sketchy. The Schindlers may have been a bit lit up when they put these recipes together. I've found two instances (so far) where the drink description did not match the recipe. The description for the "Waikiki Daquiri" mentions passion liqueur but the recipe does not contain it. The "Hawaiian Russian" is described as "Hawaiian wedding of Kona liqueur and vodka" but there's no Kona liqueur or coffee liqueur in the recipe! So for all I know this drink could actually be the "Zombie Headhunter" (it is the last drink listed in its section) and they just screwed up the name when putting the book together. Plus, in Jeff Berry's Grog Log prototype zine there is a drink called the "Zombie Headhunter" as was discussed on Tiki Central. Anyway...

This is a very strong drink that goes down quite easy. Two sips in and I immediately knew that tomorrow morning will be a tad rough which is too bad because I have things to do. You can really taste the demerera rum in this one. I used Lemon Hart 151 for the 151 required in the recipe. From the book:

Headhunter Zombie

Renowned as the "walking dead"! Two is the limit!

1 ounce papaya nectar
1 ounce peach nectar
1 ounce lime juice
1 1/2 ounces Demerera dark rum (86 proof)
1 ounce heavy dark rum (151 proof)
3/4 ounce gold rum
3/4 ounce honey
dash of angostura bitters

Pour all ingredients, except bitters, over 1/2 cup shaved ice. Blend! Pour mixture into 13-ounce frosted Zombie glass; add dash of bitters. Garnish with fancy pick, pineapple spear, red and green maraschino cherries, 8-inch straw, and paper parasol stuck in tip of straw. So here's mud-in-the-eye or, in graceful Hawaiian style, lea lea kakou--to happiness! And your response can be Mahalo, thank you or likepuol (the same to you). Serves 1.

The Polynesians/Buddy Collette - Aloha To Jazz

2006-05-28T19:09:00.000-04:00

Who's idea was this?

Side one features The Polynesians with five sweet tracks of Polynesian and hapa haole goodness.

Tomi Tomi
Beyond The Reef
Lovely Hula Hands
Kalua
Beauty Hula

Side two features Buddy Collette and his Quintet with a blast of West Coast Cool followed by a slow flute and drums based piece of exotica.

It's You
Blue Sands

Blues Sands is a fine bit of exotica except like many jazz cuts its longer than your average exotica piece clocking in at 8:48.

Both sides of the LP are great! As to why they were presented together, I have no clue.

On scratchy blue vinyl.

Today's Featured Drink: Barracuda Bite

2006-05-26T22:35:00.000-04:00

Got a new drink recipe book: Okolemaluna (Bottom's Up!) and it appears to be dandy. Time will tell. If the drinks are half as good as the drink names then we've got a winner here. Some of the drink names that caught my eye are Sleepy Lagoon, Zombie Sleepwalker, Fiji Blackout, Mermaid's Milk (!), Tongan Teaser and South Sea Siren to name several. But good names do not make for good drinks necessarily. One thing I notice right away is that most of these drinks are very simple. Simple can be good and simple can be disastrous. The only way to know is to actually make the ultimate sacrifice and slog through them one by one. I feel that I am ready to make that sacrifice!

It appears that Beachbum Berry has this book in his library as many of the simple line drawn graphics appear in his books.

First up is the Barracuda Bite. This one is a monster. VERY strong and quite the looker. It's basically a lot of booze and a little lime, with grenadine to cut the harshness and provide the uniquely bloody appearance. I'd recommend for anyone reading this to go out of your way to pick up some Fees Bros American Beauty Grenadine and make it your grenadine of choice. It has a very distinct pomegranate flavor and doesn't taste as candy-like as most of the other grenadines. A second recommendation: let the ice melt a bit before you drink this one. Just a bit. It'll help. Yow! (In case you haven't guessed, I'm drinking this as I review it).

This is a good drink. That 151 kicks it straight into your bloodstream. Directly from the book:

BARRACUDA BITE

To be mixed only if you are in a big hurry, and then only behind locked doors. Even though you can still stand, never drink more than two at one sitting.

1 1/2oz 150 proof rum
1 1/2oz vodka
1/2oz lime juice
1 oz grenadine

Mix lightly in shaker, pour into tall glass filled with crushed ice. Drink S-L-O-W-L-Y, no matter how thirsty you are!

Scientists - Weird Love

2006-05-26T20:49:00.000-04:00

And now for something completely different...

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. For those who do not know, the Scientists were a seminal Aussie band led by the semi-legendary Kim Salmon. Founded in 1978 and dissolved in 1987, the band went through (to me) three fairly distinct phases. The early phase being sort of punky pop or poppy punk a la Radio Birdman, the middle phase being more of a swamp blues grunge rock sound and the latter phase being a bit more quirky and experimental. Sympathy For The Record Industry released three CD comps that more or less chronicled each of these three phases on a separate CD. For me, without doubt, the middle swamp-hunch phase is by far the superior and even though Weird Love was recorded and released in 1986, near the end of their career, it definitely and perfectly summates that phase of the band's output.

None of these tracks from this recording session appear on the SFTRI CD comps or on the Sub Pop comp. All of those tracks are taken from recordings made for Au Go Go or other labels. For this LP the band re-recorded the selected songs in London in 1986 with producer Richard Mazda. The LP was released on Karbon Records (UK?) and Big Time Records (US). I love the sound and the style that they got in this session. Its a tad more b(l)oozey, grungey and loose than the original takes. As far as I can determine these have appeared nowhere else but on this album and have never been put on CD.

I found this album by chance in 1986. I lived in a smallish college town in the South and we had a record store in the local mall that had a cool manager that would stock weird and unusual LPs, maybe he even had a few bootlegs. Can you imagine anything like that in a mall record (err, CD) store today? I think it was a Camelot Records. Anyway I bought this based soley on the cover art and I immediately fell in love with it. I sought out other Scientists releases but they were few and far between in the US in the days before ebay and independent mail order record stores. Whatever I found was good but not as good as Weird Love. For me, this is the pinnacle of their output.

Kathleen C. Fennessy, writing for All Music Guide (allmusic.com) described their sound as "primitive, psychotic, feedback-drenched swamp blues with a hint of twang (Hank Williams' legacy had also worked its way into the equation)" and also wrote that "At their best they were so far ahead of their time, they transcended the very notion. The proto-grunge they were cooking up in the late '70s/early '80s prefigured the music Sonic Youth, the Spacemen 3, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion would be cranking out a decade later." But don't let that comparison possibly put you off, I don't think the Scientists sound all that much like those three bands (much looser and less dissonant than Sonic Youth or the JPBE and not as minimalist as Spacemen 3), at least not on this release.

This music sounds as fresh to me now as it did 20 years ago. And speaking of 20 years, that's how long I've had this LP and its been played probably hundreds of times but still sounds pretty decent.

Lastly, this is one of the few rock albums that I can see playing in a tiki bar. At least in my tiki bar. Its got that same exotic (but darker) vibe that the Hoodoo Gurus had with their early stuff. So if you're ever in the mood where the polynesian and the exotica just ain't mean and booze drenched enough for you, put this on and fire up the pufferfish lamps.

Weird Love

Hawaiian Room

2006-05-21T20:31:00.000-04:00

Another restaurant record, this one is Hawaiian Room presents Melodies for Dancing from the Enchanted Islands by the Hawaiian Room Orchestra featuring George Hines on vocals and steel guitar and (allegedly Hawaiian) Johnny Coco on vocals. I never heard of a native Hawaiian go by the name of Johnny Coco but what do I know? I'm not sure what year this came out but those are some hellacious fonts on the cover!

This is a VERY haole recording. I doubt anyone who ever even met a person of Polynesian descent ever came within a mile of the studio during this recording. Its more whitebread than Pat Boone. Its still worth having though. The Hawaiian Room was one of the old classic tiki establishments and the mugs, souvenirs (of which this is) and the ephemera are very collectible. Beyond that its a more than decent collection of orchestrated Hawaiian standards (with the exception of the first track "Enchanted Island" which is an original) and some of the tracks have enough sweet falsetto to make me think that "Johnny Coco" may actually be a Hawaiian braddah.

Before anyone gets all snippety with me, "Sweet Lelani" was spelled thus on the cover and so that's how I spelled the file and the same with "Little Brown Girl" as opposed to "Gal."

Though the cover says MGM Records, my copy was pressed by Quality Records Ltd for distribution in Canada. I wish I knew what year this was recorded. To my uneducated ear the recording sounds early 50s if not a bit earlier.

From "The Hawaiian Room, situated in the Hotel Lexington, Lexington Avenue and 48th Street," NYC.

Lordy, rapidshare is slow on the upload tonight...

Doo doo de doo...da da da ta, bop de dah...

OK, let me go surf the net a little bit...

Finally! Here it is: The Hawaiian Room

The Big Bamboo

2006-05-21T19:48:00.000-04:00

I want to post a couple of "restaurant records," a genre that consists of LPs that were recorded at or promo a restaurant, bar, club, resort or whatever. The first is a nice one recorded in 1961 at The Big Bamboo club in Nassau, Bahamas by the Big Bamboo Orchestra featuring Roy Shurland as vocalist and Little Sparrow on the Steel Pan. Though recorded at the club its not "live" as there is no audience or if there is then they are incredibly silent.

Its a great little album with the stand out track for me being the very, very (for 1961) risque song "Big Bamboo." Now I'd have figured it to be a standard but the label credits the tune to Roy Shurland, the featured Jamaican vocalist. But then again it credits Shurland for "Yellow Bird" and I'm doubting that. Hmmm... Anyhow its a fun one with calypsos and ballads and strong vocals and so just check it out!

I found it also curious that on the back cover, Carib Records had for sale other LPs that you could mail order directly from them. What I thought curious is that they were charging $5.95 per album back in 1961!

Today's featured drink: Maiden's Downfall

2006-05-21T19:23:00.000-04:00

I like to dabble in mixology, especially when it involves vintage cocktails from the old tiki establishments. Or contemporary recipes from current tiki establishments. Or any drink with alcohol in it that is vaguely tiki-esque. I like the tiki drinks!

Most of the books that I have are still in print (Jeff Berry's books, Don The Beachcomber, Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails) and it wouldn't be right and proper to post those recipes since those guys went to all the hard work to find and compile them and publish a book. But now I'm working my way through an old out of print book so anything there is fair game for me to share.

The book is Hawaii Kai Cookbook by Roana and Gene Schindler. It was published in 1970 and you can usually find a copy on Ebay for pretty cheap. I haven't been terribly impressed by most of the drink recipes but this one is quite nice, if a bit on the sweet side. You guys and gals that love the lip puckering tart drinks might want to steer clear of this one. I really like it though. Directly from the book:

Maiden's Downfall

Virgins beware! This arouses the beast in any man.

2 ounces grapefruit juice
1 ounce lime
3/4 ounce orgeat
1 teaspoon sugar [ed - or .25 oz sugar syrup]
1 3/4 ounces vodka
1/2 cup shaved ice
dash of bitters

Mix all ingredients, except bitters, in blender over 1/2 cup shaved ice. Blend! Pour into 16-ounce glass over ice cubes. Add dash of bitters. Garnish with pineapple spear skewered with red and green maraschino cherries, 1/2 slice orange, and parasol placed into and 8-inch straw. Serves 1.

Jonathan Knight - Rainy Night in Shangri-La

2006-05-13T21:28:00.000-04:00

Thinking about so-called (by me) "late exotica" in the previous post sparked a memory of this album. I ripped this quite a while back so there's no pic of the cover.

Jonathan Knight's Rainy Night in Shangri-La has a great selection of songs, strong arrangements and superb exotica sound effects with the bird calls and the thunder and rain, and it would be one of my all time favorite exotica LPs if not for the fact that Mr Knight's instrument of choice is the harpsichord. Yup, harpsichord. If you've ever wondered what Martin Denny would've sounded like if he performed for the court of Marie Antoinette then this album is right up your alley.

ANY other musical instrument would've been better than the harpsichord! Oboe, cello, trombone, mandolin, didgeridoo (actually, a didgeridoo exotica album would be extremely cool!), tuba or even a plain old harp would've been better. Any instrument that makes me think of John Malkovich in a wig and hose is a damnable thing.

Looking on the bright side: you've got some great tunes including Quiet Village, Yellow Bird, Pagan Love Song and Bali Hai; the rip sounds good and maybe this could kind of sort of fit in with a bunch of late exotica tracks.

I'm not crazy about this one but some of you may dig it.

Crazy harpsichord music here.

EDIT: Tiki Tim was kind enough to share HQ scans of the front and back covers of this LP. They can be downloaded here.

George Cates - Hawaii

2006-05-13T20:43:00.000-04:00

Here's another exotica album that to me has a strong late 60s/early 70s vibe. One of these days I'm gonna divide all my exotica files into "classic exotica" and "late exotica." All of these late exotica LPs fit better with each other on a mix than they do with the older classics. Other examples of this sub-sub-subgenre would be Michel Magne, Fantastic Strings Orchestra, The Kokee Band, Les Baxter's Bora Bora and some others that escape me at the moment.

Having said all of that...this is a very good little LP. A collection of ten instrumentals that are a little punchier (just a little) and not (quite) so laid back as say...Arthur Lyman, but a damn fine listen just the same.

Tracks:
Now Is The Hour
Moon Of Manakoora
Hawaiian Wedding Song
Beyond The Reef
Pagan Love Song
Drifting And Dreaming
Bali Hai
Ka-lu-a
Hawaiian War Chant
Song Of The Islands/Aloha Oe

Not a weak song in the bunch.

George Cates - Hawaii

Richard Kauhi and the Polynesians - Hawaiian Sunset

2006-05-09T18:56:00.000-04:00

Richard Kauhi and the Polynesians featuring: Harry Baty - Bob Nichols - Bernie Mattison - Bernie Allen.

This is a nice little set of mid-tempo hapa haole crooning in front of a small jazzy lounge combo. Not a world beater but nice mellow romantic aloha music. Every now and then you need a slow number thrown into your Hawaiian mix to give all the drunken haole dancers a chance to catch their breaths, and you can't always use Alfred Apaka so try using some Richard Kauhi and the Polynesians once in a while.

In stereo. On Crown Records.

Shelly Manne - Daktari

2006-05-08T20:49:00.000-04:00

From 1968 here's Shelly Manne "conducting and performing his original music for the hit TV show." That show would be Daktari.

I was a kid when Daktari was on TV and I don't remember much about it except that it was a big favorite of mine and they rode around in jeeps with seats mounted to the front fender for lassoing rhinos and other large African plains mammals. As an adult, I'm taking an easy guess that the TV show was based on John Wayne's Hatari! movie which also featured jeeps that had seats mounted to the front fender for lassoing rhinos, giraffes etc etc.

When I was about ten or twelve, I had a big pile of model car parts that came from several different kits. I think that my modus operandi at that time was to get the model kit, open it up and promptly scatter and lose most of the parts all over our play area. I distinctly remember one day taking a Pontiac Firebird convertible body (ca 1968), painting it in zebra camo and frankensteining together my own Daktari style hot rod. I gave it big off road tires, a roll bar, a blower sticking through the hood and, of course, a seat mounted on the left front fender. That's how much I apparently loved that show! But enough about me...

Shelly Manne was a known and respected jazz conductor and drummer when he agreed to compose and record the music for this TV show. Its a VERY good LP and most all of the tracks fit extremely well with 70s exotica and a few would even mix well with the Classics from the 50s and 60s.

Those chimps: aren't they so cute?

Shelly Manne - Daktari

Sam Makia and the Makapuu Beach Boys - Hawaii The Fabulous Fiftieth State

2006-05-04T20:45:00.000-04:00

I'm going to have to start using my scanner for these LP covers. That there looks like crap.

This one here is for ol' Pappy the Sailor. Pappy likes the Hawaiian stuff and I've been slacking a bit on the Hawaiian side and focusing more on the Exotica. I promise to try and have a more balanced selection in the future.

This LP does have an Exotica tie-in since Sam Makia and the Makapuu Beach Boys are backed up by the Frank Hunter Orchestra. Yup, Frank Hunter of White Goddess fame.

13 tracks of Hawaiian instrumental standards backed by an orchestra. These are more haole than hapa but they do feature some great time-warping steel guitar (listen and you'll know what I mean). A few of these tracks are medleys of two songs. That's the way they are on the album, I didn't present them that way out of laziness!

Sam Makia and the Makapuu Beach Boys

Fantastic Strings Orchestra - The Shadow of Your Smile

2006-04-29T23:03:00.000-04:00

Betcha don't have this one! I'm assuming that this is a pretty rare Exotica album since I've never ever seen anyone mention it before.

Yeah, the cover is a bit bizarre.

The title of the LP is The Shadow of Your Smile - Fantastic Sound by The Fantastic Strings Orchestra. As far as I can tell this album was recorded in Japan in 1972 and The Fantastic Strings Orchestra consists of Japanese musicians and vocalists. The label is JVC CD-4.

Yup, its a full fledged Exotica release with all the bird calls and other sound effects. It does have some 70s touches (wahwah guitar or synth bloops) on some of the tracks that makes it sit in better company with 70s exotica LPs like Nardini's or Michel Magne's but many of the tracks could sit comfortably, if not intimately, with your Denny's and Baxter's.

Enjoy. Its a good one.

"Ebb Tide" is a smoker.

New working link!

Ukonu - Real Native (redux)

2006-04-28T22:30:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the feedback on the "noise filter" vs "non-filter" question.

Here's the Ukonu LP without the filter: Ukonu - Real Native

I need a little help...

2006-04-27T20:37:00.000-04:00

No, I don't want any money...

My latest rip, Ukonu - Real Native, had a problem with excessive surface noise. I tried out some new software and I have mixed feelings about the results. Here are two versions of track 2: Ada Le, one with noise reduction and one without. The one with "(noise)" in the track title is the one without the noise filter. Maybe I did that backwards? Anyhow, if you could take a couple of minutes and compare the two and let me know which version you prefer, I'd appreciate it. It will help me to know how to deal with filtering on future rips. Thanks!

Click here.

Ukonu - Real Native

2006-04-27T20:14:00.000-04:00

Here's a new one for ya. This is supposed to be a recording made by four African students (and one American) studying in the US whenever this was recorded (late 50s?). Lots of drums and flutes. From the liner notes:

Though his full name would hardly ever appear on a marquee, Anyaogu Elekwachi Ukonu is a young man of many talents. A pre-medical student at UCLA, Ukonu has appeared in three motion pictures since coming to this country, and having started drumming at the age of six, he has developed blinding speed and precision in his short twenty-three years. A member of the Ibo Tribe, Ukonu hails from Nigeria, West Africa and is the son of Chief Elekwachi. The leader of the group, Ukonu will return to his native land following the completion of his studies at UCLA and his internship in this country.

Other members of the group include Henry Palmer, a UCLA student from the Yoruba Tribe in Nigeria, West Africa; Alex Amatow, flutist from the African Gold Coast; John Ibloko, an engineering student at Loyola University and a cousin of Ukonu's; and Cecil Penrice, drummer and sanitary engineer from Santa Barbera.

I wonder how those guys met Cecil?

Authentic? Who knows.

I had some problems with this rip. The surface noise is strong on this LP and the music, being primarily drums and flute, does not override the noise all that well. I have some new editing software and tried to eliminate the background noise but I'm not completely happy with the results. There are some odd sound artifacts due to the noise reduction filter. My impression is from listening through headphones, however, and perhaps listening to the tracks over a regular speaker at home or in the car wouldn't sound so weird. I'd like some feedback on the sound quality if you don't mind.

Maybe you should read the next post before downloading this rip. Especially if you have a slow connection.

EDIT: Based upon your feedback I redid this rip without the noise reduction filter crap. Here it is.

Milt Raskin - Exotic Tahiti

2006-04-15T21:18:00.000-04:00

One of the ten best Exotica albums of all time, in my opinion, is....Milt Raskin's Kapu.

Exotic Tahiti is Kapu as released in Germany. Same songs but different cover and the tracks are in a different order. My copy of Kapu is kurap (sounds like the band is playing on the back of truck as its driving down a gravel road) so I ripped this version. This vinyl isn't perfect, there are some surface noises and a few clicks but it's not too bad.

Track listing:

Kapu
Koko Head
Telani
Moon Festival
Lanikai
Maika
Mileka
Iolani
Lehuo
Leahi

Hope you enjoy.

Rex Kona - Wild Orchids

2006-04-14T20:40:00.000-04:00

Light bubbly exotica. The more interesting tracks are the Japanese flavored ones. You'll know them by their titles. Moonlight in Vermont would, for example, not be one of those tracks to which I refer.

Wild Orchids

Tenth Naval District Steel Band - New Paths For Steel Band

2006-04-13T20:10:00.000-04:00

This is one of the more unusual "exotica" LPs and I've never seen anyone else do a rip so here it is! This is a new one, just ripped it tonight.

New Paths For Steel Band by the Tenth Naval District Steel Band - San Juan, Puerto Rico. Chief Musician Franz E. Grissom, USN - Leader.

Apparently a US Navy band got the go ahead to record this project for God knows what reason. The back cover suggests that the LP is on Showtime records and was recorded by the West Indies Recording Corp but the record label says "Cook" so your guess is as good as mine. Its basically steel band renditions of a few classics and a few originals. The reason it shows up on the radar of exotica collectors is, I suppose, because of 1) the presence of bird calls and jungle noises and 2) they cover "Quiet Village."

The tracks:

Annie Laurie
Steel Band Safari
Matilda
Choucounne
Penny Whistle Calypso
La Pachanga
The Enchanted Sea
Walking to Missouri
Theme for Steel Band
Mercin Bon Dieu
Quiet Village
Enoe y Paquita

Dig the liner note description for The Enchanted Sea: "not only enchanting music, but a sea that is so magicked, it sounds more like a tropical jungle. Musicological note; all jungle sounds re-created exclusively by these versatile musicians."

"Magicked?" What the hell? Sounds like a bunch of Crowley acolytes or something. Too weird! No respectable person used the word "magick" back in those days. Not that anyone respectable would use such a word today. Was the Tenth Naval District Steel Band a cover for a covert Naval Intelligence group studying Caribbean occultism to use against the communists?

How about this blurb describing the cover? "On the cover: the band during a happy moment on a trek through El Yunque, the Puerto Rican rain forest." "During a happy moment?" Like just before they all got killed by the first batch of experimental chupacabras? What does it mean!?!? Does McGarrett know about this???

Sorry.

Its an interesting listen. It won't segue seamlessly into most exotica comps since its all steel drums. You're going to have to be a bit creative to make it fit. But I know you can do it. :)

New Paths for Steel Band

Les Baxter - Ritual of the Savage

2006-04-13T15:26:00.000-04:00

The classic. Strangely enough never released on CD here in the US (as far as I know). Here it is complete with a few pops and clicks for that real vinyl experience.

Les Baxter - Ritual of the Savage

Dick Schory - Supercussion

2006-04-13T14:39:00.000-04:00

A selection of five tracks from Dick Shory's Supercussion. These five lean more towards the exotica side of the tracks.

Dick Schory

Billy Vaughn - Blue Hawaii

2006-04-12T21:09:00.000-04:00

Hapa loungey haole music. Great for your prom.

This one is the entire album.

Billy Vaughn - Blue Hawaii

The Islanders with the Waikiki 12

2006-04-12T20:31:00.000-04:00

Three tracks from the "Hawaiian Paradise" LP. Steel guitar and falsetto vox.

The Islanders with the Waikiki 12

Hilo Hawaiians - Honeymoon in Hawaii

2006-04-12T20:21:00.000-04:00

This isn't the entire LP, just the six best tracks. Sweet, sweet steel guitar...

Hilo Hawaiians

Alfred Newman - Ports of Paradise

2006-04-12T19:22:00.000-04:00

I've heard people refer to this album as overly orchestrated, and that may be true, but its not orchestrated like an ultra-saccharine easy listening record. The way this one is orchestrated reminds me more of a 1950s movie soundtrack which, for all I know, it may very well be. This is another LP that I ripped long ago and I don't have the cover with liner notes available to me just now. Anyhow, the highlights are the opening track "Ports of Paradise," track six "Isa Lei" and track eight "My Little Grass Shack." Those latter two tracks feature the vocals of Mavis Rivers.

"My Little Grass Shack" is a smoking version of the hapa haole classic. Suggestive rhythms and slightly suggestive tweaking of the lyrics with some pretty comical background singing adds up to being one of my favorite Hawaiian haole tracks of all time. When I first heard it I pictured Mavis Rivers to look something like Doris Day so imagine my surprise to find out that Mavis is Samoan!

Mavis Rivers

Here's the album:

Ports of Paradise

A little about this blog...

2006-04-12T18:58:00.000-04:00

My original intent for creating this blog was primarily to share older Hawaiian and Tahitian LPs. There are several blogs sharing Exotica rips but not so many with the Hawaiian stuff so that was my intended niche.

I was also planning on getting a much nicer turntable and, in fact, had one lined up but the deal fell through. So for now I'm making due with my old unit. Truthfully, for now I'm just posting rips that I made months ago for personal use, hence the lack of cover art. Once I start digitizing LPs again I'll scan the covers an include them as well.

I don't know how this blog things gonna shake out. It'll primarily be shares of old Hawaiian and exotica LPs, stuff that is not in print, but I'm sure I'll occasionally include whatever strikes my fancy, whether that be country, jazz or punk or whatever. Let me know if you dig what you hear...

The Surfmen - Hawaii to Tahiti

2006-03-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

Here's a rip I did a while back of The Surfmen - Hawaii to Tahiti. This is the exact same LP as Exotic Island, just a different title and cover. Hell, you can put the files in a folder called Exotic Island and I guarantee your friends won't know the difference!

I know blogs are supposed to be informative and entertaining but I'm feeling a profound lack of personality right now. So...just grab the music.

The Surfmen - Hawaii to Tahiti

2006-01-29T20:31:00.000-05:00

Under construction...