Dad's Take:
This is a slightly more jazzy entry into the exotica genre we first saw with Les Baxter's Tamboo. Loaded with sound effects like screeching monkeys and with exotic instruments from around the world, Martin Denny transports the listener to a mysterious tropical island, or the jungle, or China. Or at least a Hollywood lounge version of those places.
This album got rave reviews that mentioned "the most exciting musicians" and claimed that it was the perfect record to push rock and roll stars out of kid's minds. I don't know about that last claim, but it's an enjoyable enough record, for what it is.
Next time you have a tropical-themed party (and who doesn't have those all the time?), put this record on and enjoy the monkeys and frogs and birds and the jazzy percussion-oriented music. Before you know it, you'll be dancing like the cartoon version of Barbara Eden during the opening credits of "I Dream Of Jeanie."
One little side note. This album was actually recorded twice, once in mono in 1956, and then again a couple years later in stereo. The stereo version features Julius Wechter on vibes (the mono version had Arthur Lyman). People who, like me, know more than is healthy about the Beach Boys, will recognize Wechter's name as part of Brian Wilson's stable of studio musicians. He also worked with Phil Spector and others.
Brad's Take:
This album is all over the place. There's songs that remind you of China, South American jungles, and so on. I enjoyed the jazzy piano bits of the songs, but everything else was just a little too weird for my taste. Some of the experimentation is interesting on the album, but a lot of it (mostly the crazy human-made animal sounds) was just laughable. I couldn't take it seriously.
The experimental sounds and instruments used on this album remind me a lot of the Pet Sounds and SMiLE era Beach Boys recordings, but it's of course missing the poppy vocals and melodies that I like most about those albums.
For what it is (a super weird experimental jazz record) I guess it's as good as you can get. I can't say I'm much of a fan of the exotica genre, but it's not that much of a struggle to get through.
Brad's Take:
This album is all over the place. There's songs that remind you of China, South American jungles, and so on. I enjoyed the jazzy piano bits of the songs, but everything else was just a little too weird for my taste. Some of the experimentation is interesting on the album, but a lot of it (mostly the crazy human-made animal sounds) was just laughable. I couldn't take it seriously.
The experimental sounds and instruments used on this album remind me a lot of the Pet Sounds and SMiLE era Beach Boys recordings, but it's of course missing the poppy vocals and melodies that I like most about those albums.
For what it is (a super weird experimental jazz record) I guess it's as good as you can get. I can't say I'm much of a fan of the exotica genre, but it's not that much of a struggle to get through.
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