"Exotica Volume 1," by Martin Denny (April, 1959)

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.

Elvis' Golden Records, by Elvis Presley (April, 1958)

Brad's Take:


This is thought to be the first rock 'n roll greatest hits album. It includes eight Elvis #1 hits and five B-sides from 1956 to 1957. It includes "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," "All Shook Up," and many more recognizable Elvis jukebox tunes. As of 1999, the album has gone 6x Platinum, which means 6,000,000 units have been sold from its original release date.

One thing that bugged me about this release is something that also bothered me with Elvis' second album Elvis; they kick both of these albums off with an upbeat song and then follow it up with a super slow song. I wish they did these albums like this... A side: Upbeat songs. B side: Slow songs. That way, depending on the mood of the listener, they could choose which version they wanted at that time, rather than having to flip the record over and over and over to get to certain songs. But that's the sequencer's problem, not Elvis' necessarily. Aside from the roller coaster sequencing, this is a great compilation of Elvis songs. It's got everything that any fan of The King would want; the fast upbeat songs and the slow-dancing ballads.

This is just another reminder that I need to make my own Elvis mix CD to listen to in my car

Dad's Take:

Brad has discovered one of the problems vinyl had compared to CDs, if you want to see it that way. We were at the mercy of the people who sequenced the songs. There was no programming the songs in the order you like, and skipping songs was only worth the effort if you really disliked a song. That said, the order of the songs on this record isn't that unusual. A fast song, followed by a ballad, then two or three fast songs, another ballad, and a fast song to end the side. The fast-to-slow-song ratio on this record wouldn't support the breakdown Brad suggests. If he wants a fast side and a slow side, he should check out the excellent Beach Boys Today! album which, somehow, did not make our list.

While I still think it's a little unfair to include a greatest hits package in a list of classic albums, unless the record became a phenomenon on its own (like, say, The Eagles Greatest Hits album that stayed on the charts for, like, forever), there's no denying the greatness of this record. And 40 weeks on the charts in its initial run, plus another 23 weeks after Elvis died in 1977, would qualify it as phenomenal record, I suppose.

Golden Records has most of the songs most people know, and a surprise or two for the casual listener. It's hard to listen to this record without breaking out the old Elvis imitation Mrs. Barbara Williams used to have me do in her Music As Media class back in my old Newark High School days, especially when I hear "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You," which was one of my favorites to do. Only now I'd be the fat old Elvis and I'd have to rest my knees for a few days afterward.

That all of these songs were hits in a two-year period demonstrates Elvis's reign better than anything we can write about the songs. And he had enough hits in the next year and a half for another greatest hits album, which comes later on our list. But if you only wanted one Elvis record, this was the one to get before Elv1s 30 #1 Hits came out in 2002.