Customer Reviews

Isle of Enchantment/Polynesia

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Hawaii-born Arthur Lyman joined with Martin Denny to invent "exotica" on the latter's 1957 debut album. Exotica combined the melodic sounds of the islands with unusual percussion (notably the scratching sound of the guiro), pop changes, and human-voiced bird calls to create a soundtrack to the late `50s fascination with all things tiki. As a vibraphonist, Lyman's jazz background added an element of cool to Denny's classical training. Splitting after their debut release, Lyman created a new quartet and recorded dozens of exotica-inflected albums for the Hi-Fi, Life and Crescendo labels. Collectors' Choice latest series of reissues gathers eighteen of Lyman's releases from Hi-Fi and Life, fits them two per CD, includes full-panel reproductions of both album covers, adds a full-panel back cover and new liner notes from Scram's Kim Cooper and David Smay.

Lyman began 1964 with Isle of Enchantment, his fifteenth album in seven years. As the title suggests, his attention returned from the folk revival excursions of 1963's Cotton Fields and Blowin' in the Wind LPs to world music and exotica. The album opens with the rumble of a conch shell, bird calls and a shimmering minimalism that escalates by song's end into the two-fisted piano chords emblematic of many exotica arrangements. As on most of Lyman's albums, there are excursions into film themes, including the mystery-laden title of 1963's "Charade" (alongside the film's "Orange Tamoure") and the Oscar-nominated title of 1954's "The High and the Mighty," as well as a demonstration of the quartet's jazz chops on the flute-and-bass led "Swingin' Shepherd Blues." But unlike many of Lyman's earlier 1960s releases, there's also a deep helping of traditional island melodies, including a brilliant, melancholy version of the Fijian farewell song, "Isa Lei." Lyman's biggest hit, "Yellow Bird," is recalled by "The Proposal," and the dreamy "Lei Aloha Lei Makami" drifts along blissfully like a blossom in a slow-moving stream. Further afield, Lyman makes a playful march from the Japanese children's melody "Sho Joji" and turns Pepe Guizar's "Guadalajara" into a nighttime fiesta. Closing the album is a lightly swinging rendition of "Et Maintenant," the original French melody of Frank Sinatra's vocal hit, "What Now My Love."

Skipping past 1964's Call of the Midnight Sun and 1965's Hawaiian Sunset, Vol. II, this two-fer serves up 1965's Polynesia, his eighteenth album. The title and cover promise more songs of the islands, and there are several, but Lyman also falls back on stage and screen, and ventures around the world for folk songs. The disc opens with an exotica-spiced arrangement of "Afro Blues" that hews more to Mongo Santamaria's Cuban-styled original than John Coltrane's later jazz exploration. From the worlds of film and theater, Lyman creates a jazzy bossa nova from "Don't Rain on My Parade" (from 1964's "Funny Girl"), and pianist Alan Soares plays a florid, Ferrante & Teicher-like arrangement of "More" (from 1962's "Mondo Cane"). Traditional melodies from around the world include the unofficial Australian national anthem "Waltzing Matilda," which builds from a gentle vibe-led introduction to a rousing climax, and a dramatic reading of the Mexican folk tune "Malaguena Salerosa." Closer to home, the languid "Kamakani Kaili Aloha" features Lyman's most gentle tones, and the faux-traditional "Hawaii Tattoo" provides a kitschy album closer. Polynesia has a few bright spots, but Isle of Enchantment is the more coherent and listenable spin, and a real sleeper within Lyman's vast catalog. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

As someone who likes the music of Arthur Lyman especially his warm, romantic and tender melodies I am highly delighted about the release of this set of 9 CDs as a reissue of part of his recordings. The reissue appears in good quality close to the original issues of vinyls in the late 50's and 60's.
Unforunately there are a few remarks:
Examples:
1. at least on Lyman '66 "The Boy From Laupahoehoe": a rhythm error
exists at 1:33 where some portion of the recording is missing. This
could have been corrected resp. compensated easily. I have tried it
successfully.
2. "Colorful Percussions": Dropout on left channel between 2:41,900 and
2:42,700. That dropout appears on the original vinyl too. Even that (I
have also tried to correct successfully) could have been done during
mastering.
3. There are a few tracks in mono, but why the complete 12 tracks
of "Bwana á" are in mono cannot be understood.