The Album Exchange

[Guybrush]

Sounds interesting! I do like a lot of lounge music and exotica from the 50s and 60s but I've never delved into any later revivalist stuff.

So for you, Guybrush, I recall you saying you liked prog, so I'd like to recommend one of my favorite fairly obscure prog albums: Pulsar - The Strands of the Future (1976). Without spoiling anything, I think you will probably understand exactly why I rate it so highly pretty quick, haha.

The whole thing is on Youtube, I'm eager to know what you think!

Brilliant! I'll get right on it once we're back and settled from our trip to France 😊

Looking forward to it!

[Guybrush]

@Mrs. Waffles I did listen to most of this - actually all of it, but I was distracted by my kids towards the end.

However! I haven't written anything because I listened to the YouTube full album vid as I couldn't find the album on streaming services. As a result, I didn't know which track I was listening to and felt I couldn't give proper feedback in that regard.

My plan was to see if I can get a hold of a digital version of the album and have a proper listen. It's still my plan, but our vacation got in the way!

My general impression so far is the music is well made and cool for its time. It starts very synth-soundscapy and I think it reminded me a bit of Jean-Michel Jarre, although I believe this predates his famous output.

The production is good at being spacy and that sounds good, but it has big problems in that it lacks punch. It's a bit of a weak porridge so my general impression is the album could benefit a lot from a remix and remaster.

I'll post some more when I'm back from vacay 🙂

[Lexi Darling]

@Mrs. Waffles I did listen to most of this - actually all of it, but I was distracted by my kids towards the end.

However! I haven't written anything because I listened to the YouTube full album vid as I couldn't find the album on streaming services. As a result, I didn't know which track I was listening to and felt I couldn't give proper feedback in that regard.

My plan was to see if I can get a hold of a digital version of the album and have a proper listen. It's still my plan, but our vacation got in the way!

My general impression so far is the music is well made and cool for its time. It starts very synth-soundscapy and I think it reminded me a bit of Jean-Michel Jarre, although I believe this predates his famous output.

The production is good at being spacy and that sounds good, but it has big problems in that it lacks punch. It's a bit of a weak porridge so my general impression is the album could benefit a lot from a remix and remaster.

I'll post some more when I'm back from vacay 🙂

Thank you for your thoughts! I wasn't aware that it wasn't on streaming services, my apologies; I listen to all my music on Youtube so I didn't know.  I will be able to listen to your rec probably tomorrow, I'm a bit swamped today.

[Lexi Darling]

My apologies for the delay, I've been very busy this week as well as a bit drained from loss of sleep due to people setting off fireworks at night. I should have more free time on Saturday when I don't have a work shift.

[Lexi Darling]

In an unexpected twist of events, I got off from work today so I had a lot more free time to listen to music. With the fittingly Mrs. Waffles-esque whiplash of having listened to a bunch of death metal immediately before, I threw this album on while I was cleaning the pantry.

I really enjoyed it! It's cool to hear an interpretation of these classic exotica sounds with more crispy hi-fi production. I enjoyed the instrumental tracks the most, especially "Maidenhair Fern" which came on just as I sat down for a relaxing lunch. But some of the vocal tracks were no slouch either, I liked the haunting vibe of "Close Your Eyes" especially. The sound is lush and pretty but avoids being bland or unexciting, it was engaging all the way through. I also really loved that nice little piano coda to the album.

Thank you for the rec!

[Guybrush]

Nice! So glad you liked it 😊

The piano at the end is played by Martin Denny who, of course, is a godfather in that genre and real exotica royalty. One of the members is the kid of one of the guys in Denny's old band and I believe they're also guested by other people with exotica connections.

I have all their albums, but their debut is definitely my favorite and particularly the first half. I like all their songs, but may also be slightly more fond of their instrumentals. Barbi in Bali followed by Hot like Lava is great.

My ideal summer pool party has these tracks on the playlist 😄