Lounge / Exotica

Space age bachelor pad music.

Johnny Rusk: at the Seattle Airport Hilton

They must have had quite the lounge at the Seattle Airport Hilton because Mr. Rusk turns in quite a juiced up set here. And while it’s your fairly standard Elvis wannabe moves complete with white jumpsuit, the covers are actually well chosen and delivered with a near manic zeal. I especially enjoy his robust version […]

Loving Cup

Lounge double lp by these hairy people from Michigan. Like most records of this sort there is a fair amount of totally worthless schmaltz, but unlike most, there’s also a few absolutely jaw-dropping tracks. For instance the version of “Feel Like Making Love” is just amazingly sleazy… complete with seductive moaning. I mean just imagine […]

William McCauley – Ontario

This is a nice little obscure 7″ flexi record containing the soundtrack to a film called “Ontario”. I guess it was a promotional documentary of sorts from around 1970, highlighting this and that of the province. Films like that usually ooze loads of period charm and you often wonder where all the nice tunes went […]

Adomono: Gypsy

Jerry Stiller look-a-like flamenco guitar dude record that is actually pretty far out. To look at the titles on this set of all covers does not exactly fill you with enthusiasm, but they are so completely drenched with echo that even the most banal 60’s pop cover is transcended into enjoyable weirdness. And according to […]

Yogi Adonaiasis: Gettingittogether

Truly bizarre double lp made by this lounge singer turned self styled yogi. Side one is deep thoughts about being, spoken through super echoed-out effects. Much like what you’d expect to find on a Timothy Leary lp or some other such psychedelic guru of the time. The weird part is that the other 3 sides […]

The “Easy Listening” Group – Vol 1

The messages on the sleeve of this record are somewhat confusing. First, the front promises us “easy listening” and adds a logo saying we are dealing with “background music” (or “BGM”). The back adds to the titles classical indications what style and tempo they are in. So we have scherzoso, moderato but also tempo di […]

Richard Powell – Memories Of GlenIvy

Here’s a great unrestrained real-people hotel-lounge/AOR banger that has probably remained unknown on account of its misleading cover (or I just have terrible taste, which I’m not going to rule out). Richard Powell pens side one himself and leaves side two for covers (Stevie Wonder, Feelings, Get Down Tonight, etc). Side One is the obvious […]

Baligh Hamdy – Gada

Baligh Hamdy is a composer well known for his work with Egyptian super star singer Oum Kalsoum and Hamdy’s wife, Algerian born Warda. Here’s a real oddity from his hand, an EP with a rather daring silk screened cover (daring considering it was released in Egypt in the sixties). This mini-album has 6 beautiful instrumental […]

Willy Wall Trio: the Traveling Sounds

Private organ trio lounge lp that has been much bandied about as of late. Off-kilter in a very subtle way; this is exactly what you always want out of a record like this, but what none of them ever actually deliver. It really manages to transport one to happy hour in a time and place […]

Jose Barroso – Flamenco

Another Crown atrocity that plays like total rubbish. This would actually be not a bad album of flamenco guitar. The guitarist Jose Barroso is really quite good although he only took up the guitar aged 39 & this album of Laurindo Almeida tunes is quite appealing if you are into that sort of thing. Everyone […]

Patrice Sciortino – Percussion Power

Strange “exotica” library disc out of Paris, France from what sounds like the late 60’s (no date listed on the label or back cover). A “composition for 30 instruments and percussion accessories” by French composer Patrice Sciortino, and one of the finest of its kind. Sciortino does a great job of creating a distinct mood […]

Belly Dance with Themi Kakias and The Continentals

1977 out of Columbus, Ohio. Themi’s bouzouki is backed with guitar and synthesizer, which adds a nice twist on the belly dance sound. “Shades of Rhythm” is a drummer freak out and “Dal se Bami 77” is hypnotic

Jack Marshall & Shelly Manne – Sounds!

I forget where I got this record from, but I have probably had it for around 3 years & have listened to it about 3 times (two of those times were in preparation for this review). I do know that it was one of the records I “discovered” in my shelves when I had to […]

The Oscar Arias Quartet

“From the world famous Mexican Village (in Coronado, CA)” 10 tracks of lounge jazz and pop (drum,bass,organ,trumpet,singer), the better tracks being “I Feel The Earth Move” & “Evil Ways”

Omar Khorshid: With Love Vols. 1 and 2

When I found this lp in a thrift a few years back amongst a massive collection of belly dancing records, I had absolutely no idea who Omar Khorshid was. In fact, I think I might have left a few of his other records behind that day – a thought which has troubled me greatly ever […]

Eddie Baxter: Super Organ

I realize that after uncovering possibly thee DIY keyboard gem in Ron Lasiter, master diggers made of lesser stuff would probably just rest on their laurels. Wallowing in their new e-fame, visions of fantasy dancing in their head, they’d become lazy and complacent. Disgusting. I am no such person. For I’m still out relentlessly “diggin’ […]

Eric Dimson: That Latin Feelin’

I waste dollar bills at thrift shops in search of the ultimate lounge record the way chain smokin’ grannies fritter away their Social Security on lottery scratchers. If I could curb this habit a bit I’d probably be driving a nicer car, but every now and again you end up with something pretty sweet – […]

Los Admiradores – Bongos

This record is actually better than I remembered, which is always nice. It’s an Enoch Light production loosely disguised as a latin record. The bongo stylings are provided by Willie Rodriguez and Don Lamond who basically go bongo mad over backings provided by a pretty sweet jazzy Enoch Light band that features the usual suspects […]

Stereo Steal Guitar Mood

File this one under ‘Japanese Easy Listening Steel Guitar Exotica’. All the text on this record is in Japanese except for ‘Made In Japan’ on the back cover and ‘Stereo Steal Guitar Mood’ (with the typo) on the record label. Maybe a Japanese reader can tell me the name of the artist or what the […]

Reggae Beat

Okay, the music on this Indonesian reggae record might not be all that good, but hey, how often do you stumble into Indonesian reggae? The accompanying track, called Reggae Beat, is actually quite charming. Especially the flute parts are rather exotic, with a gamelan scale that blends in nicely. The organ sounds pretty spaced out […]

Omar Khorshid: Rhythms from the Orient

If you dig “east meets west” style exotica ala Ananda Shankar then prepare to have your mind blown, cause Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid is one of the giants! A swirling blend of snakey rhythms played with Moog, organ, belly dance percussion, and of course Omar’s driving electric guitar in the foreground. Check out the track […]

Victor Tschoutschkov and Georgi Genkov – All over the world

“Suite from the original music of the seven coproduction films of the Bulgarian and Hungarian red cross societies.” Composers Victor Tschoutschkov and Georgi Genkov did an excellent job on this soundtrack for several Red Cross documentaries and educational films from the sixties. This is something of a politically correct Mondo affair where director Gyorgy Karpati took […]

Pino Manci Sings Borriquito an Other International Hits

What can be said about Pino Manci? When entering his name on Google you get the reply “Did you mean: Pino Manic?” So all we know is the little information that is offered on the cover. Pino led a combo in the Safari Room at the Kyalami Ranch, South Africa. The repertoire that made it […]

James Bond And His Sextet "The James Bond Songbook" (Mirwood)

Here’s a James Bond exploitation jazz album on the Los Angeles-based Mirwood label, which other than this LP, released soul 45s. The sextet features local session players such as bassist Jimmy “James” Bond and sax/flutist Buddy Collette along with Harold Land and Bobby Bryant. Audio coming soon…

Dave Pell Singers: Mah-Na-Mah-Na

I grew up in southern California. So, I have often been asked by unfortunate souls doomed to live in places like Wisconsin what it’s like – “Is it really sunny on Xmas day?” “Do bikini-clad girls really frolic 365 days a year?” “Does everyone dress like Don Johnson circa Miami Vice?” In way of answer […]