Customer Reviews

Other Worlds Other Sounds

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4 star:		(1)
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This is the recording that started it all for Esquivel in the USA. A combination of inspired orchestrations of standard favorites, the best West Coast studio musicians and RCA's leading edge (for 1958) recording technology gives the listener an experience they won't soon forget. Esquivel's talent in making each of these tunes his very own is unrivaled. BUT DO YOURSELF A FAVOR and get the import version. The recording is much more spacious than the Bar-None two-fer. Bar-None was too quick to roll off the higher frequencies to reduce the tape hiss on their version. The result is a loss in natural harmonics. So get the import...it is worth the additional money all the way!!

Esquivel was an orchestra leader in the '50s and '60s who later became a cult favorite in the '90s. His brand of instrumental pop music has retroactively been labeled "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music". Other Worlds, Other Sounds was Esquivel's first stereo album. He makes good use of stereo, but doesn't get quite as crazy with it as he later would. The opening track, "Granada", is absolutely fantastic and the rest of the album is good, too. This CD adds three bonus tracks, which are all taken from different albums.

This is a fun listen, but be careful Esquivel! can be habit forming. Other Worlds Other Sounds is the one that started it for me. After my first listening I started to do a little research about the late great Esquivel! Its amazing all the connections he made with our culture. Once your ear becomes trained to Esquivels! sound you start to hear him everywhere and I don't mean just a little I mean everywhere. Commercials,tv shows,movies I even heard a bit of a tribute played by David Letterman's band as they went to and returned from a commercial. Start to do a little research into the musicians Esquivel! used on his recordings and you will start to see their names just about everywhere. Talk about 6 degrees of seperation!? Give Esquivel a try you won't regret it.