... LP, Vinyl record album

A record that boasts a strange image of Arthur Lyman on the front – one that almost makes him look a bit thuggish, despite the affection promised in the title! (A bit of rough trade, perhaps?) The tunes themselves are a love-centered batch of exotic instrumentals – most with "love" in the title – played by Lyman's hip group that includes John Kramer on bass, flute, and guitar; Allan Soares on piano, celeste, and clavietta; and Harold Chang on heavy percussion. The sound is sometimes mellow, sometimes upbeat – and titles include "Love For Sale", "Love", "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing", "Love Dance", "Secret Love", "When I Fall In Love", and "It's So Right To Love". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

One of Arthur Lyman's first LPs –- a brilliant set of percussively grooving tracks, modulated at a low tempo, and recorded in the Henry J. Kaiser aluminum dome in Hawaii with a sound that inspired countless other exotic groups. Art plays vibes, and is augmented by percussion and piano, plus other bits of exotic instrumentation. Cuts include "Hilo March", "Sim Sim", "China Clipper", and "Sea Breeze". LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet exotic sounds from the Arthur Lyman group – heavy on vibes and lots of hip percussion – recorded with a gently swaying feel that recalls the best energy of the Hawaiian scene in the postwar years! The set's one of Lyman's early solo dates – recorded Henry Kaiser Aluminum Dome in Hawaii – which you can almost hear in the way the sounds here resonate, and hang sweetly in air. The tunes are pretty mellow, but in a good way – more sonically sensitive than some more gimmicky, sound effect-heavy exotica – and titles include "Adventures in Paradise", "Andalusia", "Yellow Bird", "Arrivederci Roma", "Sweet & Lovely", "Bamboo Taboo", "Granada", and "Ravel's Bolero". Fire up that console stereo and break out the Tiki glasses! LP, Vinyl record album

The birth of a sound and the birth of a legend – Martin Denny's first album in the Exotica series, and a record so great it named an entire genre! Denny certainly didn't invent the tropical style of easy listening that came to be known as "exotica" in the 50s – but with a record like this, he delivered the goods better than anyone else – by taking away all the too-sweet styles of Hawaiian music, and serving up a stripped-down, jazzy kind of sound! The album features Denny's classic original quartet – with Arthur Lyman on vibes and Augie Colon on bongos – and titles include "Stone God", "Jungle Flower", "Busy Port", "Lotus Land", and his hit recording of "Quiet Village". LP, Vinyl record album

Wonderful stuff – way more than just an easy instrumental album, and a great batch of exotic tunes with lots of jazzy touches! There's enough of the Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman influence here – but Rex and group take the sound a lot further, by playing like a true small combo, and swinging the tunes with a heck of a lot more jazz than you'd expect. Grooves are nice, and get quite Latiny at times – and the feel of the record almost reminds us of some of Bobby Montez work for Pacific Jazz in the late 50s. Titles include "Ginza Girl", "Sushi", "Patricia", "Wild Orchids", "Bird Train", "Bushi Bushi", and "Will He Like Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty nice album of exotica material – much better than most of the other Hawaiian LPs floating around at the time, and very much in the spirit of the best work by Martin Denny or Arthur Lyman. The instrumentation here is a mix of piano, vibes, and percussion – and the recording style has the instruments drifting very quietly about, sliding into one another with less of a dramatic feel than on other exotic albums – which really works well in creating a backdrop of sound. Titles include "The Naked Sea", "Ebb Tide", "Danse Arabe", "Hana Maui", "Ringo Oiwake", and "Africa". LP, Vinyl record album