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Browse by Label: EL RECORDS (UK)


Artist: LEE, RITA
Title: Build Up
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 044CD
Reissue of Rita Lee (Os Mutantes)'s debut solo album, originally issued in Brazil in 1970. "In the mid-sixties, Sao Paulo born vocalist Rita Lee met brothers Arnaldo and Sérgio Dias Baptista and founded the most important Brazilian rock group of all time, Os Mutantes. In 1970, she released her first solo album Build Up, though she remained with Os Mutantes until the end of 1972, when she left the band. Os Mutantes were very much Brazil's answer to western pop culture venturing constantly into entirely uncharted creative and political waters. Indeed they were eventually deported to France by the Brazilian military dictatorship and it is said that as a subversive act Rita Lee planned at one point to fill the Sao Paulo water supply with LSD. Lee and Os Mutantes were central to the Tropicalia movement that in oppressive social circumstances revolutionised attitudes and Brazilian popular music. Protagonists included Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Tom Ze and the gifted arranger Rogerio Duprat who it may be claimed was to Os Mutantes what George Martin was to The Beatles. Certainly Rogerio's name on any record of those days is considered the mark of quality. For Build Up Duprat provides the orchestral arrangements while the album is produced by Lee's then-partner Arnaldo Baptista. It is an exciting piece of work. Eclectic in style; dominated by original material and a sinister reading of The Beatles' 'And I Love Her.' Build Up received a mixed reception in 1970 but like Lee herself has come to be regarded as the product of a golden age and a national treasure."


Artist: DUPRAT, ROGERIO
Title: A Banda Tropicalista Do Duprat
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 047CD
"Born in Rio De Janeiro in 1932 the composer Rogerio Duprat lived in São Paulo and it was there in the early sixties that he developed an interest in the avant-garde which would soon lead to him studying in Europe with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez. Returning to Brazil, Duprat wrote scores for Walter Hugo Khouri's films and, against the background of military dictatorship, Duprat met the leaders of Tropicália, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil; drawn to the movement by their determination to absorb universal culture and revolutionise Brazilian music. So in 1968, he wrote several arrangements for the seminal Tropicália album which involved Caetano, Gil, Tom Zé, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, Nara Leão and Torquato Neto and played a decisive role in liberating the sound of the ground-breaking albums of Os Mutantes. Duprat's arrangements are marvellous; intelligent, imaginative, playful and distinctive. He has been called the George Martin of Tropicalia -- the Brian Wilson of Brazil. Rogerio Duprat's solo LP A Banda Tropicalista was released in 1968 when he was at his peak. São Paulo was living a modernist dream, classical music was in the air and so was psychedelia. Duprat audaciously fused these elements. Under Rogerio's skillful auspices, material by John Fred and his playboy band, The Beatles and the Cowsills is harmonised with the compositions of Tom Jobim, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. Os Mutantes perform joyfully on four tracks. Sometimes knockabout, always within an atmosphere of refinement, the album is a cultural mosaic -- a positive happening. In later years Duprat spent time writing jingles but was slowly forced to withdraw from his artistic activities due to hearing problems. He now lives in retirement on his farmhouse in the São Paulo countryside. Today, the work of this important pop composer is being discovered outside of Brazil. Seek out these productions. The name of Rogerio Duprat on any record is the stamp of quality."


Artist: BAXTER, LES
Title: The Fruit of Dreams
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 057CD
"The Fruit Of Dreams is a fantastic combination of Les Baxter's rarest, best and most pure exotica albums Ports Of Pleasure and The Sacred Idol, both of these records are rightly internationally acclaimed as masterpieces, remarkably this is their first release anywhere on CD. Les Baxter was the founding father of exotica, a variation of easy listening that documented the sounds and styles of the South seas, India and South America. Exotica became a massively popular trend from the early fifties and with the onset of international jet travel, making it possible for middle-class Americans to simulate an authentic travelogue experience in the comfort of their suburban homes. The music of Les Baxter is never sad or gloomy -- it is full of the adventure of life, the sounds of exotic lands and the free spirit of life close to nature. Because of the wild inventiveness of his music Les Baxter is a hero to contemporary independent artists as diverse as Jello Biafra and Beck. Les Baxter has scored many movies and he also scored music for theme parks and seaworlds. In the nineties Baxter was widely celebrated, alongside Martin Denny (for whom he had written the 1959 top ten hit 'Quiet Village') and Arthur Lyman Group, as one of the progenitors of exotica."


Artist: MORRICONE, ENNIO
Title: Happening
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 058CD
"This album is the fifth of our very successful El's themed Ennio Morricone compilations. Morricone Happening is a psychedelic montage with the centrepiece being the music from three important soundtracks from the maestro's oeuvre; The Serpent (Yul Brynner, Dirk Bogarde, Henry Fonda), Bluebeard (Richard Burton) and Burn! (Marlon Brando's best screen performance). With this album we reach the point where Mojo and Q should be writing about Ennio Morricone as the master of psychedelia. This music is far ahead of it's time....if you want a glimpse of what pop might be in the future."


Artist: DOHERTY, DENNY
Title: Waiting For A Song
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 060CD
"This is a welcome re-issue of the extremely scarce early seventies solo album by Denny Doherty, who is one of the original members of the hugely successful Mamas & The Papas, one of the best loved of all sixties groups. Denny Doherty is one of the great vocalists of the sixties, a singer described by Mamas & Papas' Michelle Phillips as 'The Psychedelic Frank Sinatra.' With the demise of the group amid drug-induced acrimony, Denny embarked on a solo career which culminated in the 1974 LP Waiting For A Song. The album featured backing vocals by Cass and Michelle Phillips on what proved to be Cass Elliot's final recording, as she would suffer a fatal heart attack in London in July of that year. This album is very much one for aficionados of Margo Guryan/ Free Design style intelligent vocal pop-flowerpower-sunshine pop."


Artist: ROTA, NINO
Title: LSD Roma
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 061CD
"Nino Rota and Federico Fellini are the definitive composer-director team. They are Italian cinema and they are internationally famous. This compilation features a number of Rota scores, Toby Dammit, the soundtrack of which is the centrepiece of this compilation is a cinematic masterpiece made by Fellini during his LSD-taking period and widely regarded as the most eloquent example of film psychedelia. Nino Rota is seen as very contemporary -- this compilation will be of interest to the same public who have purchased our highly successful Ennio Morricone compilations. Nino Rota is hugely collectable especially in Japan and America. The music of Nino Rota is the timeless sound of Italy; a mixture of romance, surrealism and madness. Almost all of the Fellini films are landmarks in cinema history and both the director and composer were extremely popular; Nino Rota's theme song for the film La Strada sold more than two million copies in Italy alone."


Artist: LEAO, NARA
Title: Nara '67
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 062CD
"A brilliant 23 track compilation of the Brazilian Bossa Nova star Nara Leao. The cliche about Nara Leao was that she was 'the muse of bossa nova.' As a teenager in the late '50s, she opened up her parents house as a salon for the movers and shakers of the early bossa nova scene -- Tom Jobim, Joao Gilberto and others to hang out in. In the early sixties, as bossa nova exploded internationally, Nara rose to stardom. Soft and sweet, moody and sensuous, she performed pop and beautiful samba and bossa standards and established her reputation as one of the outstanding talents of her generation. She toured Japan, Brazil and France with Sergio Menzies and returned to record political songs that were critical of Brazil's prevailing military junta. Nara's catalogue of recordings are so magical, of such a consistently high standard, they are sacrosanct in Brazil. This compilation concentrates on recordings made in 1967, her absolute best period."


Artist: PUFNSTUF
Title: Original Soundtrack Album
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 065CD
"The soundtrack to the film version of Sid & Marty Krofft's gigantic children's TV hit HR Pufnstuf-the programme that introduced psychedelia into the diet of English and American children in the late sixties/ early seventies. Starring the most famous English boy actor of all, Jack Wild who had starred as the artful dodger in Lionel Bart's 1968 film musical smash Oliver! alongside the great Cass Elliot from the Mamas And The Papas (whose film debut this was), so a unique anglo-American appeal. Pufnstuf was a smash hit in America and is today an institution. Still remembered fondly by those that were touched by it as children and now enjoyed by younger viewers through cable transmissions. Pufnstuf was also a hit here in the UK where, like The Simpsons, it enjoyed prime airtime slot at 6pm in the evening. The soundtrack written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel (Barbarella, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley) is a remarkable amalgam of bugglegum, psychedelic instrumentation and joyful knockabout songs including 'Zap The World' and the fine Cass solo number 'Different' which is exclusive to this record. Pufnstuf is full of great, clever, funny songs sung by Jack Wild, Cass Elliot, Witchiepoo and the cast."


Artist: BUGALOOS
Title: Songs From the Original Television Series
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 066CD
"Syd & Marty Krofft's enormously successful follow up to Hr Pufnstuf another Wizard of Oz-style children's programme full of psychedelic metaphors and great music (Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel). With a nod toward the contemporary success of Josie and The Pussycats and The Banana Splits (which placed a band at the centre of the story), and with insect wings that allow them to fly, The Bugaloos were a fake pop band of English bugs who live in Tranquility Forest (the last of the British colonies) along with their friend Sparky the firefly. The Bugaloos theme was created by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel (who had completed Barbarella and Pufnstuf and would soon write the famous themes for Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley) with most of the other beautiful selections (including the hit 'Senses of Our World') penned by Hal Yoergler who also produced the soundtrack. Touted as the British version of the Monkees, over 5000 aspiring Bugaloos auditioned to cast the four leads, each having to demonstrate aptitude in dance, singing, and acting. Apparently a young Phil Collins was amongst them, auditioning for the role of I.Q but failing to get the part. If anything in America, the Bugaloos are even bigger than Pufnstuf. it's the Partridge Family plus surrealism. The Archies and LSD. In America and Japan it is regarded as an important part of popular culture and through web sites and books its memory is lovingly maintained. Incredibly, this is the first time that this soundtrack has been made available in the West. The appeal is everything cartoon and kitsch from Batman to Josie & The Pussycats to the Banana Splits and Brady Bunch."


Artist: HI-LOS, THE
Title: Listen!
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 067CD
"The Hi-Lo's are arguably the greatest vocal group of all time. In the fifties they brilliantly combined doo-wop, jazz and pop to create an incredible new genre that would change the whole direction of vocal popular music and eventually inspire Brian Wilson to create Pet Sounds. Although they grew from the fifties, the Hi-Los appeal is by no means restricted to that decade. Their sounds anticipated the eclectic musical attitudes of the sixties and seventies influencing the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas and Manhattan Transfer. Listen! is the Hi-Lo's first album issued in 1954. It is a landmark work of considerable artistry and has never been released in digital format anywhere in the world. This is a beautiful record that will appeal to fans of all shades of vocal music; Free Design, The Association, Harpers Bizarre and followers of doo-wop."


Artist: VA
Title: Music From The Films of Orson Welles: Volume One
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 068CD
"First volume of music from the films of one of the biggest names in world cinema, Orson Welles. Prodigy, aesthete, actor, magician, maverick and very probably the most gifted director film has known, Orson Welles came from a theatrical and radio background to revolutionize cinema. Welles is no mere success but a legend whose work is timeless and has been appreciated by generation after generation of moviegoers. Music from Citizen Kane, regarded by many as the greatest film ever made is included in this highly original compilation. Music from the film that made Orson Welles a household name in Europe The Third Man is also part of this collection with it's memorable zither theme by Anton Karas. The music from Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons and Jane Eyre is composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann one of the all time greats of film music Psycho, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Taxi Driver."


Artist: COWSILLS, THE
Title: Painting The Day (The Angelic Psychedelia of The Cowsills)
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 069CD
"The Cowsills are right up there with the Monkees as classiest of all the American teen groups. The Cowsills were an institution in the late sixties. This 23-track compilation comprises their significant hits, the best of their superb vocal psychedelia and the entire '11 x 11' acid concept album released digitally for the first time anywhere in the world. Hailing from Rhode Island, The Cowsills were the original 'Family of Pop' on whom the Partridge Family were based. Their father William 'Bud' Cowsill, began assembling the group at the height of Beatlemania. Eventually it comprised his sons Bill, Bob, Barry, John and Paul, seven year-old daughter Susan and their mother Barbara. The Cowsills created highly polished vocal pop and in 1967, after some false starts, their breakthrough single, the very memorable 'The Rain, The Park & Other Things' reached number 1 on the American chart. The Cowsills enjoyed two million selling number one hits (both included on this compilation) 'The Rain, The Park & Other Things' (sometimes known as 'I Love The Flower Girl') and their cover of the theme song from the popular musical Hair which became a hippy anthem and was banned in Vietnam."


Artist: SHANKAR, RAVI
Title: Transmigration Macabre
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 070CD
"Ravi Shankar is frequently credited with introducing the sounds of the Indian sitar, tabla and oud to western ears. One of the most respected contemporary musicians of any country, Shankar is as revered by Indian traditionalists as he is by the rock musicians and fans who have incorporated the unique character of the sitar into their working vocabulary of sounds. Transmigration Macabre continues in the tradition of this exciting blend of both worlds. Shankar composed Transmigration Macabre for the British art film Viola which tells of the growth and eventual victory of a possessed man's belief that his dead wife has returned to life in the form of a cat that pursues him. The music traces his emotional turmoil as the man, dominated by his wife during her lifetime, struggles against her baneful influence after her death. One of the first adapters of his music was George Harrison, who made a pilgrimage to Shankar in India. The influence of the master is apparent in 'Norwegian Wood' and obviously Sgt Pepper's 'Within You Without You'. Ravi performed to wildly enthusiastic audiences at both the Monterey International Pop festival of 1967 and at the Woodstock Festival and Peter Sellers sought his advice regarding the sitar during filming of the Blake Edwards comedy The Party. Transmigration Macabre is Ravi Shankar's most psychedelic album, the dreamlike quality of the album is extraordinary. The beauty and sensitivity of the playing out of this world."


Artist: FOUR KING COUSINS, THE
Title: Introducing...
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 071CD
"At last the re-release of one of the best and rarest albums of the sunshine pop/light psychedelic harmony genre of the late '60s. The Four King Cousins Introducing... is one of the last undiscovered masterpieces of that golden age. Produced, arranged, and conducted by the great David Axelrod under the pseudonym Lex de Azevedo. The already seductive four female voices are charged still further by Axelrod's characteristic sensuality. The Four King Cousins covers of period material such as Bacharach-David's 'This Girl's in Love with You', Brian Wilson's 'God Only Knows' and Roger Nichols' 'Love So Fine' are as good as any contemporary recordings, comparing favorably with giants such as Harper's Bizarre, The Association and The Free Design."


Artist: THE DAVE PELL SINGERS
Title: Mah-Na-Mah-Na
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 077CD
"The Dave Pell Singers album is highly prized, top class lounge/harmony sunshine pop. What the Japanese call Soft Rock. Originally issued in 1969, It's many highlights include a breezy version of Piero Umiliani's Mah-Na, Mah-Na and a cool, sensuous performance of the title tune from the controversial musical, 'Oh, Calcutta.' With this release Dave Pell can now take his rightful place amongst the giants of lounge; Andy Williams, Roy Budd, Dudley Moore, Tony Hatch. Dave Pell's behind-the-scenes career may be more familiar to space age pop fans than his own accomplishments as a performer. Head of A&R at United Artists and Liberty Records in the sixties Pell produced well-known albums by Martin Denny, The Ventures, Shirley Bassey and Bobby Vee."


Artist: SATIE, ERIK
Title: Francis Poulenc Plays the Piano Music of Satie and Poulenc
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 078CD
"Exquisite set of historic recordings from the early fifties of Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc piano music played superbly by Satie's friend Poulenc. This Poulenc Plays Satie and Poulenc album is one of the most sought after by Erik Satie followers and completists. The sensitivity of the performance rivals any. With the interpretations of Aldo Ciccolini it is regarded as the finest and the sound is pristine. Satie and Poulenc are amongst the most important European composers of the 20th century. The work of both belongs to today and Satie especially is quoted as an inspiration by international modern musicians in the fields of jazz and rock and experimental music such as Frank Zappa and Brian Eno. Eno especially actively developed Satie's minimalism and ideas about furniture music toward the ambient music and 'muzak' of today. A lovely performance of Satie's best known composition 'Gymnopedie No 1' is included here along with other famous pieces such as 'Gnossienne No 3' and 'Descriptions Automatiques.' The Poulenc numbers are also a delight. His most popular piece 'Mouvements Perpetuels' which was used by Alfred Hitchcock in the film Rope is included in this programme along with 'Suite Francaise' that was a hit of its day and much admired by Stravinsky. Erik Satie's legacy is his position as a progressive composer and his cross pollination of musical forms and contexts that mixed the artistic high culture with the trivial. Since the sixties especially he has received worldwide appreciation and the recognition of his importance he so truly deserves."


Artist: BARDOT, BRIGITTE
Title: The Girl In the Bikini
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 081CD
"The biggest female name in cinema, Brigitte Bardot is the embodiment of all that is sensuous and exciting about fifties and sixties pop culture. This is the soundtrack to The Girl in the Bikini, Brigitte's second film made in 1952. The original vinyl edition of this album is an almost impossible rarity; amongst the most sought after of all Bardot artifacts. Brigitte Bardot's enormous international reputation is based on her incredible beauty and intelligence and the work she did in film with Roger Vadim and in pop with Serge Gainsbourg. Brigitte Bardot -- the name has generated headlines and cinema queues over five decades. Her very initials are known far and wide and signal instant revolution in films, fashion, lifestyles, sexuality. She is undoubtedly one of the most famous French women of all and there has rarely been any woman from anywhere creating such an impact on her times -- reverberating still in her retirement, as film-makers and actresses, designers and jet-setters, continue to pour through the doors of permissivity she kicked open with elan. Credible with every pop generation. simply a living legend."


Artist: VALENTE, CATERINA
Title: The Hi-Fi Nightingale
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 087CD
"Caterina Valente was the first international girl pop star and has much in common with the yé-yé girls of the '60s, Francoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot, Sylvie Vartan and Anna Karina currently so beloved in Japan and in underground European pop circles. Her vocal range was often compared to that of Yma Sumac and it was her distinctive voice, allied with great charm and intelligence, which brought her immediate commercial success, and this compilation of her brilliant early work includes the three million selling hits 'The Breeze and I,' 'Malaguenña' and 'Love Paris.' This compilation has serious export potential to Europe, Japan and Australia where she toured extensively and was consistently successful. She was so successful in Germany she is often mistakenly thought to be a German singer. In the '60s and '70s Caterina recorded four albums with her second husband, the gifted British jazz pianist Roy Budd."


Artist: CAGE, JOHN
Title: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 088CD
New UK issue of what the premiere recording of this historic work, originally issued by Dial Records in 1951, as performed by Maro Ajemian; later reissued by CRI, but long unavailable on that label. "John Cage was one of America's most important avant-garde/classical/conceptual composers of the 20th century. The influence of his works such as sonatas and interludes for prepared piano in both jazz and underground popular music (Stereolab, Broadcast and the like). This vintage recording dates from the early '50s when nothing like it had ever been heard before and is the perfect introduction to Cage. Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano is John Cage's magnum opus. This is the first recording of this work, played by the Armenian pianist Maro Ajemian over 50 years ago, when the music was new and shocking. It still is."


Artist: BUDD, ROY
Title: Blue Budd
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 096CD
"Roy Budd is best known for his brilliant score for the Michael Caine gangster movie Get Carter, one of the most popular British films of modern times and one that is regularly shown on television and spoken of both as Caine's best. Roy Budd was a virtuoso pianist often seen on British television in the '60s/early '70s and Blue Budd covers the immediate pre-Get Carter years when Budd was a major figure at the center of the London jazz/mod scene. Like the voices of Scott Walker and Dusty Springfield, Budd's piano is one of the distinctive sounds of the '60s and this album should be classified soundtrack first, then pop/lounge, then jazz. Tony Hatch produced these recordings at a time when he had the Midas touch and was one of the biggest pop producers in the world."


Artist: BARDOT, BRIGITTE
Title: And God Created Woman
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 098CD
"And God Created Woman is the soundtrack to the notorious 1956 film that made Brigitte Bardot the sex symbol of her generation and propelled her to international stardom. It was condemned by the Church and created scandal everywhere. Bardot's then-husband and film director Roger Vadim (Barbarella) was quick to capitalize. It made a fortune and changed the face of cinema. Jane Fonda called it 'the first cinematic blow for women's liberation' and as a landmark in French cinematic culture is considered the film that ushered in the 'New Wave.' The jazzy/mambo score by Paul Misraki (Alphaville) creates the appropriate steamy atmosphere and in the first half of the programme, Brigitte Bardot reads selections from the script in French."


Artist: HARRY ROCHE CONSTELLATION, THE
Title: Spiral/Sometimes
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 100CD
"The last great psychedelic album, Spiral and its successor Sometimes are restored to the catalog (together here) for the first time in over thirty years. Completely overlooked when it was first released and quickly deleted, original copies of Spiral have long been the Holy Grail for collectors, changing hands for ridiculous money. This album crosses over onto the jazz-lounge scene where Spiral is right up there with Roy Budd's Get Carter score. The famous title track features the vocals of Claire Torrey who contributed to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon."


Artist: JONESY
Title: Ricochet (1972-73)
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 104CD
"Jonesy are the last great secret of the early '70s progressive rock era. A wildly acclaimed British group whose influences vary from Frank Zappa, Can, Neu, Ian Carr's Nucleus and King Crimson, Popol Vuh and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. The original vinyl editions of their three original albums (from which this compilation is drawn) on Pye's Specialist Dawn label are expensive collectables. The music has aged well and for once the inflated price tag is entirely justifiable. The group were brilliant musicians, pioneers who were not above creating under the influences of strange substances. The music is very psychedelic and hugely compelling."


Artist: GROSSMAN, STEFAN
Title: Flowers on the Wall: The Unique Art of Stefan Grossman
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 108CD
Compilation of material from the Transatlantic label, originally recorded 1970-74. The majority of the material is solo acoustic guitar and vocals, although there are also appearances by Richard Thompson, Ian Whiteman, Danny Thompson & others. "America's master guitarist, Stefan Grossman is a recognized but underrated virtuoso in every genre of the guitar. This set draws on vintage material in the classic Transatlantic folk catalogue that showcases Stefan's genius as both a guitarist and as a songwriter, particularly able to evoke the atmosphere of Americana."


Artist: SHANKAR, RAVI
Title: Flowers of India
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 117CD
"Historic Ravi Shankar beginning with the astonishing 28 minute 'Raga Jog' recorded in 1956 and arguably one of his absolute finest recordings. The other really serious rarities of this set are the those made of the Hindu musicians that provided music for the production of original Uday Shankar (Ravi's brother) dance company of Hindu musicians when it made its historic first visit to the United States in 1937; the young Ravi Shankar was amongst that number. These are therefore the earliest recordings of Ravi that exist, originally released on 78s and available digitally for the first time ever. Ravi Shankar is the biggest name in world music and -- due partly to the closeness of his involvement with The Beatles -- a towering figure in psychedelic circles also. 'Raga Jog' is first and foremost, the most refined Indian classical music; it is also the most incredible piece of sitar psychedelia you will hear!"


Artist: KHAN/USTAD VILAYAT KHAN, USTAD ALI AKBAR
Title: Psychedelic Music of India
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 121CD
"Both regarded as absolute masters in their homeland, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Vilayat Khan, exact contemporaries and sarod and sitar players respectively, are in India spoken of with the same reverence that is usually reserved for Ravi Shankar. Of course, both are familiar to students of the genre of Indian classical music in the West (Vilayat Khan is known for his famous score to the Merchant Ivory film The Guru) but the commercial potential of their incredible art is only now beginning to be realized. Like Shankar, their work is hypnotic and spellbinding, realized by flawless technique through a lifetime of devotion to their music."


Artist: ROTA, NINO
Title: Fellini Masterpieces: La Strada/Nights of Cabiria
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 123CD
"The artistic partnership between film director Federico Fellini and composer Nino Rota was one of the most productive and enduring in cinema history. La Strada and Nights of Cabiria announced their arrival on the scene to an awestruck Italian and international public. Both movies won Academy Awards for 'Best Foreign Language Film'; establishing the style that would soon reach full expression with the renowned La Dolce Vita. These are the original mono soundtracks recorded in 1952 and 1956 respectively: the same recordings that are used on the films and both are long out-of-print in any format."


Artist: FERRANTE AND TEICHER
Title: Soundproof - The Sound of Tomorrow Today!
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 124CD
Extremely welcome first CD issue of two classic and unique exotica albums, Soundproof and Soundblast. Tracks 1-12 are the original 1956 Mono LP Soundproof LP. Tracks 13-24 are the Stereo reissue LP of Soundblast (12 different songs, originally released in mono in 1956), which was confusingly given the title Soundproof (Stereo). "Prepared pianos in space... mid-'50s standards meet the arrangements and production of Joe Meek and the technical approach of John Cage. Space-age pop, exotica, bachelor pad, lounge, cocktail music, hi-fi sounds". A-List exotica right up there with Les Baxter and Martin Denny.
       -- ning nong.


Artist: VARÈSE, EDGARD
Title: The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse Volume 1
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 125CD
Reissue of the first edition of these seminal early Varèse tracks, originally self-issued on LP in 1950 as EMS 401 (this was later reissued to a wider audience on the Finnadar label in 1977). Features: "Integrales"; "Density 21.5"; "Ionisation"; "Octandre" & "Interpolations From Deserts". Recorded 1950, with Robert E. Blake, sound engineer. Performed by the Julliard Percussion Orchestra and New York Wind Ensemble. "Interpolations" is added as bonus to the original LP, an important tape/concrete realization, recorded in Paris, 1954. First time these recordings are on CD. "These compositions by Edgard Varèse, keepsakes of tomorrow originally conceived way back in the 1920s and '30s, offered the aspiring young composer Frank Zappa a sense of life-affirming danger and mystery amid the suffocating cultural conformity of his 1950s upbringing. [This is]...the original 1950 EMS release, recorded under the composer's supervision, the sound couldn't possibly be more vivid or more terrifyingly alive. There's a curiously eastern ambiance to Varèse's haunting melodic visions of solo flute on 'Density 21.5,' an effect he expands on in the gripping chamber voicings of 'Octandre,' where his mastery of the overtone series is such that he makes acoustic woodwinds suggest analog synthesizers. Likewise, on his famous percussion work, 'Ionisation,' Varèse's layered, chanting polyrhythms achieve a perfect balance between tribal communalism and modernist defraction. The previously unreleased recording of 'Interpolations' is a jarring hard-left, hard-right, no-center-fill stereo collage of 'organized sounds' recorded on magnetic tape in Paris in 1954. The work anticipates a host of musical milestones we now accept as commonplace -- everything from techno and industrial to turntable back-spinning and radical hip-hop sampling." --Zan Stewart/Stereophile


Artist: VA
Title: The Changing of the Guard: The Sixties London Pop Explosion
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 127CD
"The Changing of the Guard is a unique music and dialogue sound collage of Swinging London in 1968; a time of exciting developments in all the artistic fields and a time when England set cultural standards that the world is still trying to emulate. Protagonists central to the scene are included here: Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones discussing revolution; his manager Andrew Loog Oldham explaining business philosophy; the young Michael Caine debating morals in the context of the permissive society; Julie Christie on fame and Lee Marvin on mini-cars and mini-skirts! The dialogue is edited against brilliant historic London pop of the period: big hits such as The Small Face's 'Itchychoo Park' and 'Here Come The Nice,' Chris Farlowe's memorable number one 'Out of Time,' 'If Paradise is Half as Nice' by The Amen Corner and mercurial psychedelia; The Marquis of Kensington, Fleur De Lys, Duncan Browne, Billy Nicholls and the first line up of Humble Pie featuring Steve Marriott and 'the Face Of 1968,' Peter Frampton. Special mention too for an early song from Vashti. The success of Andrew Oldham's two recent autobiographies confirms that there has never been more fascination with the period, even if some of it is nostalgia for what we have subsequently unfortunately lost."


Artist: PANDIT, KORLA
Title: The Grand Moghul Suite/The Universal Language of Music
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 128CD
... Volume 1. "Most exotic and enigmatic of all of the artists of what is broadly described as the 'exotica' genre, Korla Pandit's astounding early concept albums are here together restored to the catalog for the first time in five decades. A kind of Indian Ziggy Stardust, Korla Pandit's work is taken extremely seriously and is extremely collectable amongst followers of Martin Denny, Les Baxter and Esquivel. Pandit's Wurlitzer has a strange David Lynch quality to it and has aged very well."


Artist: SATIE, ERIK
Title: Socrate/Mass For The Poor/Piano Pieces by Francis Poulenc
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 130CD
"These recordings of Erik Satie's symphonic drama Socrate (1916) and the beautiful Mass for the Poor are both very rare. They have been out of print for five decades and here are restored and released digitally for the first time. Erik Satie's compositions have been recorded by such diverse musicians as John Cage, Gary Numan, Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and one of his greatest admirers was Frank Zappa! Erik Satie has an international fan-base amongst whom he has attained god-like status. These completists alone will deliver good sales. Satie's sumptuous melodies (what he described as 'Furniture Music') remain attractive to the modern ear; compositions such as 'Gymnopedies' (included here in a performance by Francis Poulenc from 1956) are amongst the most famous of the 20th century. Classical, avant-garde and independent outlets the world over, should all do well with this little beauty."


Artist: PATCHEN/LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI, KENNETH
Title: Rebel Poets of America
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 133CD
"Two of the most brilliant poets of the Beat generation, Kenneth Patchen and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, performing their compelling works in a jazz context. This edition captures the movement in poetry toward all-inclusiveness, and a belief that the language and music of the street had their own beauty, integrity and significance, rooted as they were in the experience of ordinary people. Patchen is one the most important American writers of the 20th century and Ferlinghetti wrote Coney Island Of The Mind which sold a million copies. In terms of both attitude and style, Patchen and Ferlinghetti paved the way for Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Captain Beefheart."


Artist: MANCINI, HENRY
Title: Touch of Evil OST
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 134CD
"Touch of Evil is a masterpiece of 20th century cinema: Director Orson Welles' final Hollywood film and regarded as the last great film noir. Stars Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich and Welles himself as the crooked police chief Hank Quinlan, who always gets his man even if he has to concoct the evidence to do so! The searing semi-Latin rock & roll score is considered (both by critics and the composer) to be one of Henry Mancini's finest. Barney Kessel, who featured on Pet Sounds and many of the Phil Spector and Monkeys' hits, plays guitar."


Artist: LES TROUBADOURS DU ROI BAUDOUIN
Title: Missa Luba
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 136CD
"Hailed by Stanley Kubrick as absolutely one of the great films, Lindsay Anderson's stylish, surrealistic, uncompromising and confrontational film If... encapsulated the revolutionary atmosphere of the '60s; and four decades on, has lost none of its power to astonish and provoke. Malcolm McDowell (of whom If... made a star), suggested the bewitching, otherworldly music of Sanctus from the Missa Luba, a version of the Latin Mass based on traditional Congolese songs, which establishes the film's very particular atmosphere. If... captured the public's imagination beyond anyone's expectation and the memorable Sanctus subsequently became a chart hit ("I couldn't believe it," recalled McDowell). Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin, a choir, with percussion section, consisting of about 45 boys from 9 to 14 years old, and 15 teachers were formed by Father Haazen. The Missa Luba is pure Congolese. It is completely void of any modern, Western musical influences. None of it is written. Certain rhythms, harmonies and embellishments are spontaneous improvisations. This edition, comprising the mass and native songs of the Congo, is the first complete restoration of the original album first released in 1963."


Artist: ESQUIVEL, JUAN GARCIA
Title: Mexico Days
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 139CD
"The king of space-age pop, the genius of Mexican composer-arranger Juan Garcia Esquivel lay in his audacious instrumentation; his blending together of exotic sounds from other cultures and experimentation with the new tonal palettes that were becoming available in the mid-fifties period from which these, his earliest commercial recordings, derived. Esquivel has been proclaimed by Brian Wilson and by Simpsons creator Matt Groening, 'who'd have thought that out of a genre as debased as easy listening would come something so mind-curdlingly bizarre and beautiful.' This set comprises the first digital release of Esquivel's impossibly rare first album Las Tandas de Juan Garcia Esquivel from 1957 coupled with To Love Again; a collection of singles and 78s recorded in Mexico between 1954-57. International potential. Essential for followers of Esquivel and of students of lounge and space age pop."


Artist: WELLES, ORSON
Title: Your Obedient Servant
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 140CD
"Orson Welles is a titanic figure in popular culture. Before Kane, before Ambersons, The Lady From Shanghai and The Third Man; Before Touch of Evil, his astounding Othello, Chimes At Midnight and F for Fake, Welles created the sensational War of the Worlds broadcast that terrified a nation of American radio listeners. While Hollywood beckoned, Welles and his company, The Mercury Theatre continued to produce compelling radio drama that still sounds extraordinary. Make no mistake, if radio held sway over us like it did during its Golden Age, much of Welles' work in the medium would be as venerated as Kane or any of the other creative triumphs that were to follow. 'The Hitchhiker' and the chilling 'Search for Henri Le Fevre' were written by Lucille Fletcher (author of, in Welles opinion, the greatest ever radio drama, Sorry, Wrong Number). 'Sredni Vashtar' is the work of the inscrutable late nineteenth century English writer Saki. The music for all three performances was composed by long-time Welles (and Hitchcock) collaborator Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane, Magnificent Ambersons, North by Northwest, Psycho etc)."


Artist: SHANKAR/ALI AKBAR KHAN, RAVI
Title: More Flowers Of India
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 141CD
"With recordings made at least a decade before psychedelia, More Flowers of India showcases the beautiful, dreamlike art of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan and attests to the extraordinary influence of Indian classical music on western culture. By the early seventies, both men had been signed to the Beatles' Apple label and thanks to the revolution they spearheaded, the global musical landscape had altered irrevocably. The Beatles, The Doors, The Byrds and John Coltrane were amongst the many that came under the spell of these great masters."


Artist: GIL, GILBERTO
Title: The Sound of Revolution 1968-69
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 142CD
"The Sound of Revolution combines Gilberto Gil's brilliant 1968 and '69 Tropicalia albums, Frevo Rasgado and Cerebro Electronico; joyous, extraordinarily inventive pop music made against a background of terrible political unrest in Brazil and in the shadow of both imprisonment and eventually exile both for Gil and his friend Caetano Veloso. The 1968 album is electrified by the meteoric Os Mutantes and both sets were arranged by Rogerio Duprat, who contributes a range of totally original textures and orchestration, much as George Martin did with 'Strawberry Fields' and Sgt. Pepper. Suffice to say, this combination of precocious talent achieves a magical and historically important result." Two-fer reissue, with 2 additional bonus tracks.


Artist: REGINA, ELIS
Title: The Voice of Brazil
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 143CD
"Graced by the exquisite arrangements of Roberto Menescal, The Voice of Brazil combines Elis Regina's masterful 1968 LP, Elis, Como e Porque ('Elis, How and Why') with recordings made a year later in London where Menescal teamed with Peter Knight (of Moody Blues fame). Although the flawless album she made in 1974 with Tom Jobim is regarded internationally as one of the great treasures of bossa nova, almost three decades after her death, Elis remains one of the music world's best-kept secrets, a truly great singer who deserves to be recognized beyond her beloved Brazil. Stylistically, Elis Regina is part Dusty Springfield, part Blossom Dearie. Considered to be part of the Tropicalia family."


Artist: GARSON, MORT
Title: The Wozard of Iz: An Electronic Odyssey
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 145CD
"An extraordinary, acid, counterculture take on The Wizard of Oz created under the auspices of electronic producer, Bernard Krause and combining Jacques Wilson's inventive lyrics with the Moog synthesizers of the legendary Mort Garson. Even in the heady, drug-fuelled atmosphere of sonic exploration that ruled the late '60s, there was never another album quite like The Wozard of Iz; a psychedelic masterpiece both of and ahead of its time. A psychedelic concept album of estimable mind: funny, crazed, beautiful, thought-provoking."


Artist: IVES, CHARLES
Title: A Radical In A Suit And Tie: Premiere Recordings
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 146CD
"The music of Charles Ives is a cultural sourcebook of America at the beginning of the 20th century. He took the evangelical hymns, the college songs, the melodies of the dance hall, the tunes of small town bands and the sounds of village life and shaped them into musical works that are at once familiar and of startling originality. Long considered to be unplayable, his musical juxtapositions would prove to be enormously influential and inform such kaleidoscopic inventions as Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle and The Beach Boys' Smile. Ives today is regarded as 'a greatly original, immensely creative composer, who gave new dimensions to the vast and varied heritage of America¹s music.' A true 'American Original' who marched to a different beat. Ives audience stretches beyond classical into the modern avant-garde fields of Cage, Varèse and Stockhausen. He is very collectable and none of the pieces that comprise our edition have ever been re-released or restored digitally."


Artist: ROTA, NINO
Title: War and Peace OST
Label: EL RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: ACMEM 147CD
"For King Vidor's 1956 filming of Tolstoy's epic, Nino Rota, already revered for his work on the films of Federico Fellini and who would go on to compose the Oscar-winning music for the first two parts of The Godfather trilogy, provides a suitably dramatic and romantic score that pays homage to the music of Tchaikovsky. The film is a truly sumptuous spectacle, thanks to the radiance of the young Audrey Hepburn (who plays Natasha) and the contribution of veteran cinematographer Jack Cardiff -- widely hailed as a genius in the field after his work on the Powell and Pressburger masterpieces A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes. Nino Rota's score is long deleted in digital form and much sought-after by the composer's acolytes in America, Japan and Italy especially. Audrey Hepburn is collectable in all mediums and naturally enough, she graces the front cover of our edition."

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