what Frank is listening to #21 – MARTIN DENNY – The Enchanted Sea – (Liberty) – 1960
I have quite a few Martin Denny albums (8 or so) so I like my "exotica".
I wont do a bio as its adequately covered here:
I will say that Denny was the "father of exotica"
To some this is "exotica", to others it is "lounge music", "popular", "muzak", "mood music", "background music", "easy listening" or "instrumentals" . These are all terms which can be applied, though those terms also define specific and distinct styles under the general banner of "lounge music". The term "exotica" is best applied to Denny as most of his career he spent in re-interpreting native (Polynesian, African, Hawaiian, Caribbean etc sounds) … it's not folk music as it is distinctly western with a hint of jazz but what Denny did was take the "mood" of those "exotic" sounds and fuse them in with his western upbringing. To enhance the effect (or mood) he would use "strange" instruments or sound effects.
He started to go off the boil in the early 60s – that's not to say the music isn't worth hearing after that but rather its not as groundbreaking as his earlier LPs "Exotica", "Forbidden Island", "Primitiva", "Hypnotique", "Afro-Desia", or the magnificent "Quiet Village". Those 60s albums were less experimental so I wasn't sure what I would get here given this is one on the cusp.
I am not disappointed … it's magnificent. Denny is a bit more gentle on this album than on the 50s albums but there is still an abundance of exotic effects and sounds under Denny's control so that each song ,regardless of composer, becomes part of the whole in mood. There are snatches of vocal, wind chimes, foghorns, bird calls, whistles, conch shell, trumpets etc. It was for this type of music that stereo was invented, or at least, this type of music first explored the possibilities of stereo.
Sit back with a drink (preferably a pina colada, or something with white rum) and you are transported to another time and another place … a small island in the Pacific, 1960. I can feel the wahinni fanning me now and I don't have a care in the world. Was life simpler then I think not, though Denny was selling escapism then and that's what makes this so enjoyable now … we probably need this more than ever now ... Ray Davies would certainly agree.
Its' hard to pick individual tracks because as I have said they are meant to be heard as a whole. However, the Hoagy Carmichael tune " Stardust" always works on me … likewise Bobby Darin's big hit of 1960 "Beyond the Sea" (La Mer) also sends me back to a place I never knew (the Charles Trenet original French version from the 40s is also worth hearing). The pace is picked up with a weird retelling of "Sentimental Journey" which has crazy harpsichord and sound effects. And the title track "The Enchanted Sea" is a haunting mood piece making full use of all the exotica effects..
Denny's combo spawned two successful offshoots: Julius Wechter (of Baja Marimba Band fame) – a cheesier version of Herb Alpert if that is possible – and the legendary vibist Arthur Lyman (who left in 1957). Lyman ups the jazz quotient on his exotic records and really grooves. (also check out Les Baxter and Esquivel who work in the same area).
The single "Enchanted Sea" went to # 28 in 1959 (which was really Denny's year – the "Exotica" album went to #1 and the "Quiet Village" single hit #4) … though there was a national obsession for all thing Polynesian and tiki at the time (Hawaii has just become a State)… in any event the charts were certainly more interesting in those days.
And of course you gottta love the art work, which is actually how I got into this stuff back in the early 90s – I would buy LPs purely for the art work usually featuring scantily clad babes which I thought was a hoot. And then one day I put on a record and …
website:
sounds:
his big hit (live):
This album is definitely a keeper and if you don't like it ya can all get fucked.
(originally posted: 03/05/2009)
