{"title":"Latest Repress","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"four-mints-gently-down-your-stream","title":"Gently Down Your Stream","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGently Down Your Stream\u003c\/em\u003e marked a creative zenith within the Columbus, Ohio, soul scene, at the juncture of the 1960s and ’70s. The Four Mints were one of the most influential local group harmony outfits of their era and—with assistance from Columbus doyen and Capsoul purveyor Bill Moss—among the few to release a full length LP. The roster of backing musicians hired to provide aural landscaping reads like a Midwest super-group, with surprising appearances from Indianapolis-based vibraphonist Billy Wooten and drummer Bobby Allen of the Fabulous Originals from Dayton, Ohio. And though most of the material on 1973’s Gently had been previously released as 45s, the collection—five singles and one priceless track saved from the scrap heap—gives witness to a world-class vocal quartet at its professional and intuitive peak. Under the watchful eye of arranger and mega-talent Dean Francis, the Four Mints pour forth from your speakers soulful, faithful and clear, but perhaps more importantly, intrinsically homegrown and utterly honest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\t\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/numero-cdn\/images\/atoms\/four-mints-gently-down-your-stream\/atom-1620923115.JPG\"\u003e\t\u003cfigcaption\u003eGentle Blue Vinyl\u003c\/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c\/figure\u003e\n","brand":"Numero","offers":[{"title":"LP (Teal Clear Vinyl)","offer_id":43201508147398,"sku":"NUM1213lp-C2","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP (Gentle Blue)","offer_id":40259820650694,"sku":"NUM1213lp-C1","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":40259820617926,"sku":"NUM1213lp","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40259820552390,"sku":"NUM1213cd","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40259820585158,"sku":"NUM1213digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0573\/1650\/7846\/files\/gentlydownyourstream_C2.png?v=1709764223"},{"product_id":"penny-the-quarters-you-and-me-bw-some-other-love","title":"You and Me b\/w Some Other Love","description":"\u003cp\u003eSometime in 2005, a lone box of master tapes escaped an estate sale and made its way through a network of collectors, record dealers, and “junkers” into the hands of leading Ohio soul expert Dante Carfagna, who linked them to Columbus, Ohio’s mysterious Prix label (See: Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label). A bit of research turned up Prix proprietor George Beter, who identified most of the unlabeled material. All it took was an endless series of phone calls and letters and two fields trips in Columbus. But one complete mystery wended its way onto our final Prix compilation. “You and Me,” a simple but irrepressible demo credited only to Penny \u0026amp; the Quarters, was found tacked onto a mixed studio reel. Our survey of every willing lifer left on the Columbus soul scene, including retired DJs, producers, and important local artists, produced not so much as a glimmer of recognition at the name Penny \u0026amp; the Quarters. Though we loved the song from the first play, it may’ve ended up a bit buried on our original compilation, as #18 of 19 tracks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour years later, Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label hadn’t exactly become a huge seller, although listeners had repeatedly told us that the unfiltered studio demos that fill out the record’s back half were true diamonds in the rough. But neither Penny nor her Quarters had appeared to claim credit for their efforts. Then, completely out of left field, we heard from respected screen actor and avowed Numero fan Ryan Gosling that Penny’s piercing bit of stripped down doo-wop was being considered for inclusion in Derek Cianfrance’s indie-weeper film Blue Valentine. What we didn’t know was that “You and Me” had won a major role in what became an indie circuit hit, and that Penny \u0026amp; the Quarters would instantly assume the role of world’s most famous unknown doo-wop group.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery week is a slow news week in Columbus, Ohio, and early January 2011 found the city recovering from the thrill of elevating Ted Williams—the formerly homeless guy with the awesome voice for radio—into a national news sensation. But both major daily newspapers in town, as well as the city’s alternative weekly, also ran stories about how a lost and unknown Columbus soul group had become the musical centerpiece of a film already garnering Oscar buzz. That mainstream spotlight aimed at Blue Valentine and Penny \u0026amp; the Quarters did the trick: we finally made contact with the widow of Jay Robinson, lead Quarters’ singer and songwriter. Robinson, it turned out, had also been the leader of Columbus doo-wop pioneers The Supremes (later known as “The Columbus Supremes,” for reasons which should be obvious). Jay Robinson never did give up on the dream of writing a hit record; even so, the posthumous realization of his dream is cold comfort for his widow and daughter. With their blessings, we returned to those estate sale masters and pulled down another neglected track (“You Are Giving Me Some Other Love”) from the still-unknown Penny and her now-partly-known Quarters. “You and Me” is a song that could not be suppressed: not when Prix failed to release it; not when Penny \u0026amp; the Quarters were forgotten; not when Numero stuck it at the bitter end of a much overlooked compilation. Its evolution from estate sale trash to silver-screen gold has finally returned it to big-hole 45, where it probably should have lived all along.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Numero Group","offers":[{"title":"45 (Blue Valentine Vinyl w\/ Blue Sleeve)","offer_id":44383129862342,"sku":"ES018lp-C3","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"45 (Orange Vinyl w\/ Pic Sleeve)","offer_id":41023502254278,"sku":"ES018lp-C2","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"45 (Purple Vinyl w\/ Pic Sleeve)","offer_id":40260719313094,"sku":"ES018lp-C1","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"45","offer_id":40260719280326,"sku":"ES018lp","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40260719247558,"sku":"ES018dig","price":3.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0573\/1650\/7846\/files\/ES018_mockup.png?v=1737039230"},{"product_id":"kathy-heideman-move-with-love","title":"Move With Love","description":"\u003cp class=\"dropcap\"\u003eLodged between a heartbreak and a smoke break, Kathy Heideman’s \u003cem\u003eMove With Love\u003c\/em\u003e wandered off I-5 somewhere just south of Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area and broke down. 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The band was put on ice in 1966 for Wine’s enlistment, and he spent the next three years stationed in Korea, Germany, and Fort Riley, Kansas, where he spent his downtime honing his bass chops to a fine point. Discharged honorably into the heady climate of the ’60s final year, Wine waded into the potent stream of freedom and higher consciousness that was flowing in every city. He got an apartment in KC with another childhood friend whose hair was gathering around the collar and a job in avionics. It was here he reconnected with Paul Parkinson.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Wine had already been looking into putting a band together. A personal ad in the K.C. Star put him in contact with guitarist Alan Lewis, who had a monstrous talent and a familiarity with Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep. Lewis and Wine gelled immediately, but lacked the introspective nature of true songwriters. Wine invited the wordsmith Parkinson to apply his lyrics and melodic ideas to their heavy foundation. On the drum stool was Chuck Horstmann. For no identifiable reason, Lewis thought the term “Bulbous” applied to their sound, and wanted to name the band thus. His mates balked, but applying the slightly cosmic “Creation” to it at least let it roll off the tongue. Their all-originals set list made them a difficult booking, and profits did not materialize.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In 1971, the quartet poured what little personal surplus they had into a full day of recording at Cavern Studios, tracking enough material for a full length album. Bulbous Creation wouldn’t stay together long enough to save up for a custom pressing. The deeply individualistic Parkinson left to perform his songs as he thought appropriate, as a solo act. He preferred coffee shops to concert halls, and would stick to his craft another 20 years before hanging it up. Horstmann followed suit. 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Get reintroduced to White Zombie as New York noise-rock, a grotesque creation that clawed and threatened its way to crossover metal glory. Spread across five LPs or three compact discs, all 39 tracks have been remastered by guitarist J. Yuenger and packaged alongside the original lurid artwork. The accompanying 108-page book painstakingly documents White Zombie’s punishing progression through scores of unpublished photos, period discography, a T-shirtography, and tales from the terrifying early years that stitch together the sordid story of a band whose true power eclipsed its mainstream heyday. White Zombie lives. Don’t be afraid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n","brand":"Numero","offers":[{"title":"5LP + Book","offer_id":40261514690758,"sku":"NUM204LP","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"5LP White Vinyl + Book","offer_id":40415836733638,"sku":"NUM204lp-C1","price":85.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"3xCD + Book","offer_id":41156204036294,"sku":"NUM204CD","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0573\/1650\/7846\/products\/NUM204_WhiteZombie_ItCameFromNYC_LP_Black.jpg?v=1659035512"},{"product_id":"unwound-fake-train","title":"Fake Train","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfter the Pacific Northwest grunge raids of the early ’90s that saw Nirvana, Mudhoney, and even the Melvins hoisted up the major label flagpole, Unwound’s 1993 debut came as a welcomed reprieve for underground noise-niks everywhere. 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Crewmen arrived from the worlds of jazz, folk, rock, and soul, all peddling a product that was sincere, leisurely, and lofty. A sound that was buoyant, crisp, defined. Sometimes classified as West Coast—and, later, Yacht Rock—the compass points of our \u003cem\u003ePrivate Yacht\u003c\/em\u003e expedition are the blue-eyed harmonies of Hall and Oates, the cocaine-dusted Fender Rhodes of Michael McDonald, and the combover strums of James Taylor. Here, at the glassy apex of rock’s softer side, 20 strong swimmers are gathered together. An album for both relaxation and reflection, where listeners can enjoy the present, a cool breeze, and a taste of the good life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"dropcap\"\u003eAs if fired from a cannon, the cacophony of ’60s rock left a ringing in some ears. Burned out or bummed out, fatigue had set in. Free Love had come at a price. Many young couples had become young families, with their bandleaders-turned-breadwinners gracious they’d purchased a station wagon rather than the customary van. As rock began to mellow and folk began to solidify, “Our House” became a work of nonfiction—with a mortgage. Some escaped the vortex of the collective cul-de-sac and lived to headbang another day, while others followed their collective hairlines, receding into the margins of the counterculture. Stretching an extension chord to the bonfire had always posed an obstacle for lackadaisical strummers. Likewise, plugging in poolside proved a new hazard. Others found it less of a bother to get an acoustic guitar in and out of rehab than an amplifier. Everywhere the wind blew, James Taylor and Carly Simon were soft rock’s power couple, with a combined catalog mellow enough to enjoy after the kids had been put to bed. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e This is not to say soft rock was a sacrifice. Rather, it reflected the refined tastes of the boomers: better wages, better dwellings, better drugs. Greater musicianship led to improved songwriting, chord voicing, and a deeper respect for harmony. Sometimes classified as West Coast—and, later, Yacht Rock—the architects of this sound were not exclusively Californians or mariners. These were stylistic tides felt in North Dakota and Colorado, along the Outer Banks and the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Softer fare could occasionally serve as a salve for city life, a coping mechanism for strong swimmers still treading the nations’ metropolises. With pop music’s volume knob adjusted for deflation, softness begat smoothness. Songs conceived on the Gibson Dreadnought were embellished with Fender Rhodes, hand percussion, and chimes. Crewmen arrived from the worlds of jazz, folk, rock, and soul, all peddling a product that was sincere, leisurely, and lofty. A sound that was buoyant, crisp, defined. Numerous artists were able to coexist along this narrow stylistic isthmus. There was Crosby, Stills, Nash \u0026amp; Young—and, eventually, Scaggs, Rundgren, Hall \u0026amp; Oates. All the while, James Taylor was still plucking away with a beautiful head of hair, no end in sight to where a capo could take him. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe hands that hoisted the sail over the ’70s went down with the ship in the early ’80s. Feeding tributaries of Caucasian reggae, Salsalito, and Marina Rock, some ponds were drained while others stagnated, and others still overflowed. With the pop charts littered with shiny keyboards, sherbet guitars, and gated reverb, our celebrated strain of rock became a casualty of the gluttonous hair decade. Marriages capsized. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Staring out from either coast, a thin membrane is almost visible, one that separates the calmness of the sky from the stillness of the sea. 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There, at the glassy apex of rock’s softer side, away from all of the commotion, exists a place for both relaxation and reflection, where listeners can enjoy the present, a cool breeze—a taste of the good life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Numero","offers":[{"title":"2xLP (Seafoam Green Vinyl)","offer_id":42519689593030,"sku":"NUM072lp-C2","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP (Black Vinyl)","offer_id":40261837717702,"sku":"NUM072LP","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP (Purple Vinyl)","offer_id":41156181590214,"sku":"NUM072LP-C1","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40261837652166,"sku":"NUM072CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40261837684934,"sku":"NUM072digital","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0573\/1650\/7846\/products\/NUM072lp-C2SeafaringStrangersPrivateYacht2xLPTransparent.png?v=1672871681"},{"product_id":"pastor-tl-barrett-the-youth-for-christ-choir-like-a-ship","title":"Like A Ship...","description":"\u003cp class=\"dropcap\"\u003eRecorded in 1971 by a 27-year-old pastor and an after school program choir, \u003ci\u003eLike A Ship\u003c\/i\u003e is a stirring and powerful meditation on the wayward aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement. 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Serve garnished with an alluring woman on the album jacket for best results. Liberty Records co-founder Si Waronker called it Exotica; the soundtrack for a mythical air conditioned Eden, packaged for mid-century, tiki torch-wielding armchair safariers. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the five years after \u003cem\u003eExotica\u003c\/em\u003e—Martin Denny’s 1957 landmark Liberty debut—arrived, hundreds of other ethnographic forgeries washed up in record racks all over the U.S., bearing titles like \u003cem\u003eSophisticated Savage, Sacred Idol, Chant of the Jungle, Polynesian Paradise, Exotic Paradise, Taboo, Primitiva, Forbidden Island, Afrodesia, Hypnotique, Percussion Exotique\u003c\/em\u003e, and a barrel’s worth of other portmanteaus. “All of those ica and itiva endings I came up with because I thought I was being cute,” Waronker said. “And I don’t know why, but nobody got wise.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile Liberty certainly had a first mover advantage, it wasn’t long before the major recording companies began reinventing their aging mood music purveyors as pushers of peregrine percussion. And where the majors went, so too did the rest of the market. Dozens of readings on the genre standards like “Quiet Village,” “Similau,” “Miserlou,” “Caravan,” “Nature Boy,” “Moon of Manakoora,” and “Taboo” appeared on micro-pressed 45s and LPs as hotel lobby combos and restaurant entertainers alike tried their hand at creating regional living room lotus lands while others summoned their own sonic visions of Shangri La, bringing their versions of the Pacific, Africa, and the Orient to the hinterlands America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eIf you can’t come to paradise, I’ll bring paradise to you.\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe earliest whispers of this brand of appropriated escapism appeared not in song, but literature. Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 collection \u003cem\u003eThe Jungle Book\u003c\/em\u003e and William Henry Hudson’s 1904 novel \u003cem\u003eGreen Mansions\u003c\/em\u003e both chronicle the experiences of young protagonists in the jungles of India and Guayana, respectively. Eight years later, Edgar Rice Burroughs blew the naturalist scene wide open with \u003cem\u003eTarzan of the Apes\u003c\/em\u003e. These woodland tales inspired English Impressionist Cyril Scott, who in penning “Lotus Land” in 1905 and “Impressions of the Jungle Book” in 1912 unwittingly became the godfather of exotica. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Exotica was a name I made up,” recalled Waronker, “I never heard that word before.” But the cultural trappings of that word began appearing nearly 25 years before his invention. Born in February 1907, Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt would be the first to “bring paradise”—as he sloganized—to American shores. The 1933 opening of his first Don the Beachcomber’s Cafe offered Los Angelenos a glimpse into island life, its walls adorned with spears, masks, and bamboo, a hose dripping on the corrugated metal roof giving beachniks refuge from a make believe tropical deluge. The fare was simple: Chinese food served in wooden bowls. The drink menu, on the other hand, was transportive: A bootlegger’s trunk of rums mixed with fruit juice and other liqueurs, with terror-glee inspiring name like Cobra’s Fang, Demerara Dry Float, Missionary’s Downfall, and Zombie. As Hollywood rediscovered their love of alcohol following the repeal of prohibition, Gantt—who officially changed his name to Donn Beach—found himself in the middle of a typhoon of cash and franchise opportunities. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe bombing of paradise on December 7, 1941 inadvertently set off the tiki explosion, when Beach and 16 million others joined the war effort. Many servicemen caught their first glimpses of the outriggers, rattan rugs, thatched roofs, wahine waifs, and totems while stationed on Wake Island, the Philippines, and Guam. When the curtain was drawn on the Pacific theater, these suntanned veterans washed up stateside with more than just sand in their boots; they brought tiki culture to the suburbs. Beach faced a rude awakening upon his return; his wife filed for divorce and he lost everything but his name, which he’d take to Waikiki for a reboot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLieutenant Commander James A. Michner published his account on the fictional island of Bali Ha’i as \u003cem\u003eTales of the South Pacific\u003c\/em\u003e in 1947. “I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific,” Michener wrote. “The way it actually was. The endless ocean. The infinite specks of coral we called islands. Coconut palms nodding gracefully toward the ocean. Reefs upon which waves broke into spray, and inner lagoons, lovely beyond description. I wish I could tell you about the sweating jungle, the full moon rising behind the volcanoes, and the waiting. The waiting. The timeless, repetitive waiting.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor America, the wait for exotica’s arrival was almost over.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1947, Eden Ahbez was living under the first L of the Hollywood sign. He’d spent the bulk of his 40 trips around the sun as a proto-hippie, living in caves and lean-tos with a group of men affectionately known as “The Nature Boys,” before decamping to Mount Lee with a sleeping bag and his wife. Lyrics for his free-love hymn “Nature Boy” began circulating in 1946, with a tattered copy reaching Nat King Cole via his valet the following year. Hoping to record the song, Cole began seeking out a bearded man who was last seen preaching the wonders of Lebensreform on the streets of Hollywood. The April 1948 release would ultimately hit #1 on the \u003cem\u003eBillboard\u003c\/em\u003e charts and spawn dozens of cover versions, making “Nature Boy” the first hit in the exotica canon. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNearly a year to the day after the release of “Nature Boy,” Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s musical adaptation of \u003cem\u003eTales of the South Pacific\u003c\/em\u003e debuted on Broadway, whetting America's island appetite. Juanita Hall’s quivering mezzo-soprano on “Bali Ha’i” prototyped the coming movement, her character Bloody Mary creating a sultry intrigue with the lyric “Where the sky meets the sea. Here I am your special island. Come to me, come to me.” The Original 1949 Broadway cast LP was the best selling album of the decade, bringing the imagined sounds of Vanuatu into living rooms everywhere. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Cyril Scott’s 1928 book \u003cem\u003eThe Influence of Music on History and Morals\u003c\/em\u003e he anticipated that “Great floods of melody will be poured forth from the higher planes, to be translated into earthly sound by composers sensitive enough to apprehend them.” His heir apparent was only six at the time of the prediction, but two decades later Les Baxter found himself on the cusp of creating a series of modern classical works that would define an entire genre. Baxter had spent the ’40s banging around west coast jazz combos, including stints with Freddie Slack, Mel Tormé and his own Les Baxter Trio before being tapped by composer Harry Revel to arrange an album around the then-chic theremin. The two Revel collaborations—1947’s \u003cem\u003eMusic Out of the Moon\u003c\/em\u003e and 1948’s \u003cem\u003ePerfume Set To Music\u003c\/em\u003e—solidified Baxter’s innovative reputation at Capitol Records, who had unusual pairing in mind for his next effort. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I hadn’t been to South America or Cuba or anyplace when I did my exotic stuff,” Baxter said in a 1995 interview with Peter Huestis. “It just came out of nowhere.” He did, however, have a Peruvian princess in the studio to make up for the lack of stamps in his passport. Yma Sumac arrived in New York in 1946 with her husband\/manager Moisés Vivanco, showcasing her her five octave, quasi-operatic talent as Inca Taqui Trio before finally catching Capitol's ear three years later. “We sat with Yma Sumac and listened to her natural incantation, or music, or whatever you might call it, which was totally foreign to anything that we know as Western music or European music, or anything else,” Capitol V.P. Alan Livingston said. “I give Les Baxter credit. He sat with her and managed to isolate certain portions of what she was doing to write and create a background to go with it.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“After \u003cem\u003e(Voices of the Xtabay)\u003c\/em\u003e came out, people were very intrigued,” Sumac said. “They had never heard this kind of singing before. They didn’t know how to classify it; whether it was classical or mumbo-jumbo!” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the half century mark, exotica had found its image via Donn Beach, its sound through the classical musings of Les Baxter, and its voice in Yma Sumac, but it lacked for an anthem. Baxter’s 1951 solo debut \u003cem\u003eThe Ritual of the Savage\u003c\/em\u003e would change that. The back cover described the album as “a tone poem of the sound and the struggle of the jungle...the hue and mood of the interior...the tempo and texture of the bustling seaports and the tropics!” Savage’s signature moment doesn’t appear until the opening of side B, when “Quiet Village” unfurls as a series of ostinatos bathed in percussion and strings. It would be another eight years before the song hit the charts, and even then Baxter’s name could only be found while squinting at the credits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMartin Denny washed up at Donn Beach’s Dagger Lounge in 1954. The pianist had spent the previous 20 years in and out of casinos and hotels on and off the mainland before forming a trio with vibraphonist Arthur Lyman and bassist John Kramer. A year later, after moving on to the Shell Bar at Hawaiian Village and adding percussionist Augie Colon, inspiration struck Denny: “The Hawaiian Village was a beautiful open-air tropical setting. There was a pond with some very large bullfrogs right next to the bandstand. One night we were playing a certain song and I could hear the frogs going ‘Rivet! Rivet! Rivet!’ When we stopped playing, the frogs stopped croaking. A little while later I said, ‘Let’s repeat that tune,’ and sure enough the frogs started croaking again. And as a gag, some of the guys spontaneously started doing these bird calls. The following day one of the guests came up and said, ‘Mr. Denny, you know that song you did with the birds and the frogs? Can you do that again?’ At the next rehearsal I said, ‘Okay, fellas, how about if each one of you does a different bird call? We must have played that tune thirty times. It turned out to be ‘Quiet Village.’” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWord of Denny’s schtick spread east to Liberty Records’ Los Angeles office, leading Si Waronker to take a $850 gamble and put Denny \u0026amp; Co. in the studio. The result was 1957’s \u003cem\u003eExotica\u003c\/em\u003e, a slow burner that wouldn’t find the charts for nearly two years, but would ultimately be the genus for an entire subspecies of music. Baxter’s song would be covered vigorously in the coming years, working its way into every lounge set from Maui to Miami, replete with bird calls and piped in shorebreaks and tradewinds. Was it jazz? Was it classical? Was it world music? Could it be mumbo-jumbo?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust as Si Waronker wrung every nickel out of Ross Bagdasarian’s Chipmunks, he would apply the same level of force in getting the most out of his new invention. Thirteen Martin Denny albums were pushed through the system over the course of five years alongside cash-ins by the likes of Russ Garcia, Leo Arnaud, Jack Costanzo, Ethel Azama, John Buzon, Augie Colon, Chick Floyd and Rene Paulo. Many of these shared more than just a flair for Polynesian pop, they used the same team of photographers, and quite often the same woman for their album covers. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe team of Murray Garrett and Gene Howard had only a few credits under their belts when a portrait of a bejeweled Sandy Warner peering through a beaded doorway was optioned by Liberty Records for use on Denny’s debut. An aspiring model and actress, the buxom Warner appeared on 16 Denny jackets wearing little more than the wind, and many of the other Liberty exotica titles. Blonde or brunette, half naked or clothed, in nature or in studio, Warner’s striking look earned her the title of “Exotica Girl” on the way to a career that included body doubling for Marilyn Monroe in \u003cem\u003eSome Like It Hot\u003c\/em\u003e and guesting on \u003cem\u003eThe Twilight Zone\u003c\/em\u003e. “A lot of people bought the album on the strength of her pictures,” Denny reflected. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“She came to Hawaii and sat in the audience right in front of the stage. After my performance, she sort of waved at me to come over. I walked over to her table, and it turned out that she was on her honeymoon. But I didn't know who she was. Then she said ‘You and I have a lot in common.’ And I said ‘Oh, really? What's that?’ She said, ‘Well, I'm the girl on your album covers!’ I looked at her and said, ‘My God, you're right!’”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWarner took her celebrity status one step too far with 1959’s \u003cem\u003eFair \u0026amp; Warner\u003c\/em\u003e album, exotic in cover only, and even then just barely. She’d hardly be the last struggling actor to go looking for paradise in a Hollywood recording studio; Martha Raye, Aki Aleong, and \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/dev.numerogroup.com\/products\/darla-hood-silent-island\"\u003eDarla Hood\u003c\/a\u003e all donned sonic loincloths on their climb up Mount Lee. Even Les Baxter succumbed to the pressure of Tinseltown and recut his own version of \u003cem\u003eSouth Pacific\u003c\/em\u003e, adding—as described on the back cover—”a new dimension of color and momentum...to the already legendary music of Rodgers and Hammerstein.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy the time Hawaii entered the union in August 1959, the Exotica movement was febrile. Hawaiian shirts and floral muu muus became de rigueur. Backyard pools were ringed with torches and rattan furniture. The Outrigger Lounge in Rochester, Minnesota, The Mainlander in St. Louis, Missouri, Tiki Cove in Fairbanks, Alaska, Kahiki in Columbus, Ohio, and Judges’ Beyond The Reef in Brookfield, Wisconsin, proved that the phenomena was no longer coastal. Walt Disney even got into the fray, breaking ground on his million dollar Enchanted Tiki Room at the turn of the decade, promising to combine “entertainment magic and the wonders of space-age electronics...starring a cast of more than 200 birds, flowers and tropical Tikis…all brought to life through the wonders of AUDIO ANIMATRONICS!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe arrival of the Beatles and their British brethren in 1964 wiped out this lush, easy-listening movement almost entirely. Sinatra or Martin might be able to squeeze “Blue Hawaii” into a set at the Sands, but for the turned-on boomers gripping with the Kennedy assassination and the Civil Rights Movement, a bit more substance was required. A few outliers would slip through here and there, but America’s fascination with the tropics was largely over. Martin Denny’s 1969 album \u003cem\u003eExotic Moog\u003c\/em\u003e was a fitting nail in the coffin. “The company aimed this at what was then called the ‘underground’ market. This was when the hippie thing had started happening in San Francisco,” Denny said. “But the record never sold, so that was the end of \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA quarter century later, a new generation of space age bachelors and bachelorettes rediscovered the sound, nestling Esquivel and Chaino LPs between their mid-century hi-fi systems and Libbey cocktail glassware. Capitol Records—the repository for both the Les Baxter and Liberty catalogs—rolled out nearly 50 volumes of \u003cem\u003eUltra Lounge\u003c\/em\u003e, compact disc compilations aimed squarely at hipsters and boomer nostalgists alike. Fittingly, much of the renaissance focused on the more established names in the field, ignoring—or just completely unaware of—the indie contributions to the field. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eTechnicolor Paradise\u003c\/em\u003e is proof that Denny, Sumac, and Baxter were just islets poking through the sea, and that Exotica’s larger ecosystem of reefs, lagoons, and sandbars are worthy of equal attention and conservation. Be it mosquito-bitten torch singers, landlocked surf quartets, fad-chasing jazz combos, mad genius band leaders, wannabe actors, or a middle aged loner programming bird calls into a Hammond, Exotica was always more concerned with what geography might sound like over who was conducting. Bill Bradway of the \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/dev.numerogroup.com\/products\/gospel-hawaiinaires-the-songs-of-bill-jean-bradway\"\u003eGospel Hawaiianaires\u003c\/a\u003e never even made it to the 50th state, but his homemade three-necked pedal steel is far more exotic than the Xaphoon or Chinese Bell Tree. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTechnicolor Paradise is where one makes it, after all.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Numero","offers":[{"title":"Moon Mist Vinyl (Numero Exclusive 3xLP)","offer_id":42411309301958,"sku":"NUM065LP-C1","price":80.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"House of Grass (3xLP)","offer_id":42411311038662,"sku":"NUM065LP-C2","price":80.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Technicolor Isle Pink Swirl (3xLP)","offer_id":42411312414918,"sku":"NUM065LP-C3","price":80.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Blue Oasis (3xLP)","offer_id":42411313955014,"sku":"NUM065LP-C4","price":80.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"3xLP","offer_id":40311233315014,"sku":"NUM065LP","price":70.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"3xCD","offer_id":40311233282246,"sku":"NUM065CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40311233249478,"sku":"NUM065dig","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0573\/1650\/7846\/products\/NUM065_TechnicolorParadise_RhumRhapsodies_LP_MoonMist.jpg?v=1667329763"},{"product_id":"catherine-howe-what-a-beautiful-place-50th-anniversary-edition","title":"What A Beautiful Place (50th Anniversary Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis recorded autobiography of Catherine Howe, age 20, briefly appeared in 1971. Too young for memoirs, most artists have barely established any sort of musical competence by the age of legal adulthood, let alone compositions matching the maturity and complexity of Howe’s. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWhat A Beautiful Place\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, however, is a prodigious effort wrought from the melancholy ruminations of post-adolescence. The album’s twelve songs unfold like a classic bildungsroman, beginning in the smoke-stained industrial county of Yorkshire, transformed by the electrified creative landscape of mid-century London, and retiring to the warm pastoral bliss of the county of Dorset on England’s southern coast. Produced by noted jazz pianist Bobby Scott, the LP—oft-mistaken for a concept album—was available for only a month in the summer of 1971, disappearing after Reflection Records’ shuttering in 1971. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Numero Group","offers":[{"title":"Misty Morning Color Vinyl (Numero Exclusive)","offer_id":42812059386054,"sku":"NUM1283lp-C3","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Yellow Vinyl","offer_id":40875689541830,"sku":"NUM1283lp-C1","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black Vinyl","offer_id":42812059418822,"sku":"NUM1283lp","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40875695603910,"sku":"NUM1283digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0573\/1650\/7846\/files\/NUM1283lp-C3CatherineHoweWhatABeautifulPlace_MistyMorningColorVinyl.png?v=1696005237"}],"url":"https:\/\/numerogroup.com\/collections\/latest-repress\/punk.oembed","provider":"Numero Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}