I have no idea what this 1961 “sound track” to Master of the World will sound like, but with the merging minds of Jules Verne and Les Baxter, it’s sure not to disappoint. It’s next up in the “newly acquired” pile, so the mystery will be readily solved.
Tag Archives: Les Baxter
Skins!
1957’s Skins! is an adventurous 10-track soundscape sure to please the easy-listening-lazy-demon within every needle-dropper. Skins! grooves, baby, and with all of Baxter’s mid-late 50s / early 60s cuts, is essential Space Age Pop spinning material.
File Under: Sumac – Female Vocal
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to purchase Yma Sumac’s Voice of the Xtabay, as a 12″ nonetheless! What the hell would have stopped ya’? You may ask. Well, Nosey Neil, I’d already been the proud owner of the original 10″, so my inner money-saver began prodding with “reasonable” questions… that was until I discovered that the 12″ not only contained all 8 tracks from the original 10″, but also all 8 tracks from 1953’s Inca Taqui. Pimped as A Capitol Records Value (sticker in top right corner), the clear and correct decision to obtain was swiftly and promptly applied. Let’s not forget that legendary Space Age Pop-per Les Baxter composed and produced Voices, so you pretty much know you’re getting quality music. The 12″ is a steal at any price, and comes highly recommended.
Tamboo!
Latin, jazz, pop, space-age, and easy listening are just a few terms to describe Les Baxter and His Chorus and Orchestra’s 1955 classic, Tamboo!. If songs like Cuchibamba, Zambezi, Mozambique, and Oasis of Dakhla aren’t enough for you, the mid-century exotic cover should do the trick. A deal at $2.99, a steal as a free gift. Thanks, choch.
Blast
Well, the time has come. We finally completing the “Ten Basic Space Age Pop Albums” according to Space Age Pop Music with Ferrante & Teicher’s 1958 offering, Blast Off! If pressed to say, Blast Off!, with its brilliantly campy cover aside, will likely get the least amount of spins when compared to the other classic albums on this custom checklist. I mean, it’s hard to compare Perez Prado’s Havana 3 A.M. or Les Baxter’s Ritual of the Savage with the experimental and ear-piercing Blast Off!, but that being said, the cover alone is worth the price of admission.Le Sacre Du Sauvage
Indeed, Ritual of the Savage has finally come home in its native, 10″ state. We’ve been holding out for this version for a few years, and she plays perfectly. Les Baxter and your 1951 genre-creating, rhythmic and barbaric chants, we thank you. 66 years young, I’ll have you all know!
Greatest Science Fiction Hits II AKA The Not So Great of the Great
In the mood for great (not second rate) Science Fiction movie music favorites produced & arranged by Les Baxter & Neil Norman? Of course… it’s Friday, why wouldn’t you be? For those of you needing a little push in the ways of interstellar incentive, here’s what you’ll find on Greatest Science Fiction Hits II:
War of the Satellites (AKA Verizon Vs. AT&T)
Daughter of the Lesser Moon (AKA Girl from My First Wife)
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (AKA 90s PG Stand-Up Comedy and the Feral Cat)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (AKA Nope)
The Time Tunnel (AKA A Night of Heavy Drinking)
More from Star Wars (AKA Heavy Breathing from an Overweight, Yet Excessively Lucrative Franchise Creator)
And many more!
Shoot for the Galilean moons of Jupiter this early February (there’s an “R”) weekend, and hip yourself to the grandiose sounds of Neil Norman and His Cosmic Orchestra (produced & arranged by Les Baxter & Neil Norman) as they milk the last ounces of 70s groove-inspired, disco-influenced jazz-rock with this 1981 compilation of Science Fiction craziness from GNP Crescendo Records. If you find yourself poverty-stricken, but still long for the infinite sounds of the great unknown, this time-traveling collection will fit just about any budget-restricting needs.
The O.C. 45
This record is a thermoplastic material. Do not expose to excessive temperature. So reads this vintage 45 sleeve from Capitol Records. I personally don’t own an O.C. 45, but that will undoubtedly change sometime in the near future. For those of you not in the know, don’t worry if you aren’t, because I just discovered this for myself some short moments ago, the O stands for optional and the C stands for center. I do, obviously, possess several generic adapters (many of them classic Spiders), but something tells me that the O.C. 45 is, quite simply put, the Rolls Royce of 45 adapters. Except that, it isn’t. Here’s why.
Thanks to Capitol6000.com for harboring the only information about this long defunct adapter anywhere online. I encourage you to read the article at Capitol6000.com, but here is the gist of it: To provide the listener/purchaser/record collecting nut with viable options for pure, listening satisfaction, Capitol Records invented a record that could easily play on either small spindles (78rpm and 33 1/3rpm), or by (aggressively) punching out the optional center, the record could be played on larger spindles (45rpm). This seems like a clever and convenient way to circumvent the clouded format war of the late 40s and early 50s (a war that still rages on to this day), but my question is this. Was the punched out adapter able to be punched back in?
Say your wife wanted to enjoy some Les Baxter with her bothersome friends at the bi-monthly block party cookout, but you’ve already punched out the optional center. After (reluctantly) searching the entire house looking for the damn thing, do you return to the Better Homes and Gardens party a hero, or will you go down in history as the only guy on the block who couldn’t give the ladies Les Baxter when they needed it? Thankfully, the Frank A. Jansen and Snap-It adapters were slowly moving their way into record collections across the gluttonous US of A by this time, so any possibility of further social awkwardness could easily be avoided.
Used to house my transparent blue vinyl copy of the Sabotage/Sure Shot split by the Beastie Boys, this pristine little vintage record sweater is a perfect fit for my mid 90s rock/hip-hop obsession.
The Prudent Groove 