Customer Reviews

Voodoo

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a required Exotica album, yet it's very overlooked, most often because of its lack of availaibility over the years. Robert Drasnin was a composer for films & TV shows when in late 1959, Tops Records tried to cash in on the Exotica craze and asked him to dash off a quickie jungle-lounge album. Having never played this style of music before, Drasnin recorded this album in just two sessions. Although inexperienced with Exotica, Drasnin's "Voodoo" album became a recording that many lounge lovers now regard as indispensible, despite it's nonappearance over many decades. This is just as necessary as Martin Denny's "Exotica, Vol. 1" and Arthur Lyman's "Taboo" album (Drasnin would later go on to arrange and co-write two Martin Denny albums).

Dionysus Records finally re-released this on CD, but with a different album cover. The original cover photo had an attractive woman in a leopard-skin fur bikini dancing between two sitting bongo players, all in front of a jungle backdrop. Pickwick Records has released a Robert Drasnin album known as "Percussion Exotique", which is basically a truncated version of this album with two tracks removed. "Voodoo" measures in at 33 minutes, and all 12 tunes are Drasnin originals, featuring then-unknown (film composer) John Williams on piano. Drasin's take on exotica is a steady, middle-of-the-road approach; emphasizing flutes, clarinets, vocals and throbbing percussion. If an hour-long record is just too much for you, like the many 2-for-1 albums available on CD from Les Baxter, this might be the exotica appetizer you need. It's music made for summer evenings in need of a little retro ambience.

This lush Robert Drasnin album is a gem, a superb and sublime example of exotica music that, in my opinion, far surpasses the works of Les Baxter, Martin Denny & Arthur Lyman. The recording is fabulous and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Dave Pell, who produced the original recording session. Also deserving of a deep bow of gratitude for this reissue is Len Horowitz at H.R.S. who did the vinyl transfer, David Schultz who did the digital mastering supervised by the maestro himself, Robert Drasnin, and last but by no means least Skip Heller, who produced the reissue, and his "co-conspirator" Ted Gerike. These folks of "Lost Episodes" at Dionysius Records deserve our thanks for making a CD that sounds like its original recording session was just last week, with nary a hiss or faintness to it. Listening to it one could close ones eyes and imagine that the musicians are in the room with you mere feet away -- the recording is THAT GOOD! Without this reissue of a classic we'd all be listening to the many and sometimes repetitive releases from Martin Denny et. al., and while those are certainly wonderful and definitely part of my collection, this one is the best. If you only get one 'exotica' album, make it this one!

"Voodoo" apparently has been around on CD since 1996 but somehow I missed it. Still, I was lucky enough to find a version of it under the title "Exotic Excursion" but truncated by a couple of tracks, I believe. So to get the entire original album and the great original exotica album artwork missing from the re-release are just two of the three reasons I am buying this CD. The third is the music! To me, Les Baxter remains the king of exotica and much of what Drasnin does here is very Baxteresque. I have no complaints however, in that the main thing this music does is what all of the best exotica music does. It takes me to another place if I let it, provides good background music for anything under the sun or stars, and provides a great road rage remedy as well. Here's to more original exotica releases from the 1950's and early 1960's, and shame on Capitol for not releasing by now all of Les Baxter's exotica albums on that label, two per CD. However, if anyone at Capitol is reading, you are forgiven as long as you get right on it!

This Cd preserves the LP sound. This music is perfect for a lounge-bar with a polynesian touch, and for ambient.

Exotica lounge music by musician-composer Robert Drasnin (piccolo), who used to be Director of Music for CBS Television. This reissue of an obscure record album, created when 'bachelor pad music' was a successful musical genre, has an eerie, other-worldly quality, like a 'Night of The Iguana' tropical resort complete with voodoo glow skulls, flaming torches and forbidden love on a moonlit beach.

The more I hear the music on this CD, the better it sounds.
Robert Drasnin in these twelve tracks has produced the
'sounds of exotica' almost the equal of both Les Baxter and
Martin Denny.
The quality of this original 1959 recording is close to
excellent and I consider this CD a great buy.
It will not disappoint those who relish 'exotic style' entertainment!

I think this isa great album, but mine sounds as taken from a LP...
I hear a lot of scratches and tickles. does everybody have that experience?

Exotica lounge at its best! I recently went all out and built my own tiki bar. I was looking for the old tropical music to play at my tiki party. This obscure release ranks up there with Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman and the rest and I must say, it is my favorite of them all. This CD is perfect for creating your own little tiki atmosphere--sipping on a Mai Tai. I strongly recommend this album, it will not dissapoint

The original 1959 Drasnin recording, which I also believe is a CD of the actual original LP cleaned up as much as possible, but still has some ticks & scratches. The sounds on Voodoo are terrific including use of a harp & other exotica instruments. IMO this original recording is superior to Voodoo II which can tend to get a little boring. Drasnin gets a much cooler sound on Voodoo & it just sounds more authentic vintage, because it IS!

This is not Martin Denny, but then who could be?

However, I'm waaaaayyyyyyy into Martin Denny starting back in the sixties when I got the first Exotica LP and then when I saw him perform....

This is kind of.......Martin Denny "lite"....... but that is not "bad"...

After you have heard all of the Martin Denny albums..... you find that about a third of it is rather a "repeat"....and that is to be somewhat expected given the VOLUMINOUS output of the band and the number of albums produced....

I had not listened to Drasnin until I picked up this album... I did it as a digital download and made my own cd....

He has a "different take"....on the whole genre and is quite enjoyable.... it is on the shelf right alongside my Denny cds....

cool...... Polynesian....light...... very nice...