"Exotica Volume II" by Martin Denny (July, 1959)

Dad's Take:

I can't think of a lot more to say about exotica. This album is very similar to volume 1, except that some songs are a little softer and moodier, more romantic. Denny's version of "Ebb Tide" fits well with elevator music, while songs like "Rush Hour in Hong Kong" are fast and playful. Other songs are romantic background music.

It's no wonder that exotica became known as "bachelor pad music." In the late fifties, thanks partly to Hugh Hefner and partly to a budding sexual culture, single men began decorating their apartments for seduction. Like this:

Music was a big part of the atmosphere, and exotica was apparently a popular form of music in the perfect bachelor pad. And I can see why, especially with this album. It's just the right set of sounds for a private tiki party.

And that's just about all I have to say about that.

Brad's Take:


When I saw this on our list, I muttered to myself, "Oh no... Volume TWO??" Martin Denny's Exotica Volume 1 wasn't bad necessarily, but I didn't want an encore...

It's kind of like when you're in high school or whatever and there's a kid that you don't like, but you feel sorry for him because he's a loner and everyone just teases him so you kind of pretend to be nice so he feels like he has a friend. So every day you sit through one of his lame stories or something, and then when it's finally over and you go to walk away, he stops you and says, "Wait! I have one more story to tell you!" and then you have to stay to humor him... This album was kind of like that for me.

Like my dad, I'm not really into this genre of music. I like to be open-minded when it comes to all styles of music, but it's hard for me to sit through Exotica style records, I'm discovering. To me, it's just too weird and sometimes barely musical. Maybe it's too busy and noisy for my liking. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I can tell you that the vibraphones don't help me like it more.

I hope there's not a third volume by Martin on our list. If there is, I don't know if I will have it in me to humor him again... Again.

"Film Encores Volume 1" by Mantovani (April, 1959 in the UK and in our book, but actually 1957)

Dad's Take:

It's probably not Mantovani's fault that his style of music became the elevator music of my generation, and so we react to it with fear and loathing and aching teeth. But regardless of where the blame belongs, the facts remain.

The music is lovely enough. But those slow, slow rhythms and ultra-high-pitched strings found a place in my soul when I was young that stood for everything unpopular about "old fogey" music and everything we hated about waiting rooms at places like doctors' and dentists' offices. When I hear this style of music, I smell hot enamel being drilled off of teeth.

This is exactly the kind of music that turned my generation off, unfortunately, to classical music, because these little studio orchestras with their dentist-drill strings were wrongly referred to as "classical," just because they used classical-style instruments and arrangements. It took years to overcome that and to discover that real classical music is much more interesting and far better than classical-styled renderings of popular songs and show tunes that strip them of all life.

So, that said, I'm afraid I have a natural bias that keeps me, maybe, from giving this record a fair listen. I hear the associations of my youth and the misleading "classical" label that kept me from discovering the sublime delights of Mozart and Beethoven and Strauss and Hayden and Tchaikovsky and Strauss and Strauss (or how ever many Strausses there were) for far too long. That's all I hear. I don't know whether this is good or not. It brings be aural pain as well as oral pain. Seriously, my teeth literally ache listening to this. Yeah, OK, it's pretty, I guess, but ow.

This is one of those cases where "prettiness" and "beauty" are not the same thing. Not to me. This is the kind of "pretty" you'd find in Pleasantville before the colors came.

Maybe Brad won't have those associations. Maybe Brad can give this record a fair review. But I'm five songs in and I'm having a hard time keeping to our rules. I want to bail. I don't want to hear the rest of this. But I'll keep it on as background music while I do something else. I'm done with the active listening.

Brad's Take:


After reading my dad's less than praising review of this album, I was a bit nervous to dive into this 40 minute orchestral instrumental album. During the first song, "My Foolish Heart," I began to understand that high pitched violin sound my dad mentioned. But after I turned my speakers down a hair, my headache subsided, and I began to listen a little more. It became quite tolerable.

The first song that I recognized was the second track, "Unchained Melody," (originally by The Righteous Brothers.) I love The Righteous Brothers' version of the song so much already that it's hard for me to forgive Mantovani (let's call him Manny.) Manny also arranged his own version of "Over The Rainbow."

"Summertime In Venice" sounds like you're actually in Italy. The accordions and staccato guitar playing set the mood. I want some spaghetti now, Manny!

My dad might be traumatized by this style of music, but I didn't experience the dental office nightmares that he did. I didn't even really listen to this kind of music growing up... probably because of the memories it made my dad think of. So really, this is borderline new to me, and I kind of dig it. I preferred the first half over the second, and I prefer the original versions of the songs that I was already familiar with, but the overall mood of the album was relaxing. In fact, it almost made me want to fall asleep in a dentist's chair and get some teeth pulled.