Les Baxter Capitol Exotica Albums on iTunes

[Teasing the Korean]

Just found out on another message board that Capitol has made many of Les Baxter's classic exotica albums available via iTunes. Each album is $6.99. I'd been hoping for CD reissues, but the only CDs since the Capitol "Exotic Moods" comp of 1996 have been EU public domain albums, likely mastered from vinyl. Available titles from Capitol include:

Ritual of the Savage

Ports of Pleasure

Tamboo

The Sacred Idol

African Jazz

Jewels of the Sea

Space Escapade

Skins

Edited June 29, 2010 by Teasing the Korean

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Thanks, I'd hope for CDs too. I look every now and then for them to be issued.

No 'Jungle Jazz'?

and screw iTunes! they want $1.29 for indy tracks. Amazon has them for .99 if you are interested and probably have the Rhino twofer on disc.

[Teasing the Korean]

The full albums are the same price on Amazon and iTunes, for whatever that's worth.

If you mean the two-disc "Exotic Moods of Les Baxter," the sound on that was not very good - lots of limiting, noise reduction, fake stereo, etc. Judging from the sound samples of the downloads, they are an improvement.

[tom skouras]

Thanks, I'd hope for CDs too. I look every now and then for them to be issued.

No 'Jungle Jazz'?

and screw iTunes! they want $1.29 for indy tracks. Amazon has them for .99 if you are interested and probably have the Rhino twofer on disc.

Hi,

New subscriber to forum but long-time reader. I too am a big Les Baxter fan, and I thought you'd like to know that thanks to El Records and Rev-Ola, both English labels, some great titles are available as CD releases: Space Escapade and Fruit of Dreams (both on El) and Ritual of the Savage (Rev-Ola), with African Jazz and Jungle Jazz coming out on July 20 from El as a two-on-one disc. Needless to say, my order is in for this last title!

[Teasing the Korean]

Hi,

New subscriber to forum but long-time reader. I too am a big Les Baxter fan, and I thought you'd like to know that thanks to El Records and Rev-Ola, both English labels, some great titles are available as CD releases: Space Escapade and Fruit of Dreams (both on El) and Ritual of the Savage (Rev-Ola), with African Jazz and Jungle Jazz coming out on July 20 from El as a two-on-one disc. Needless to say, my order is in for this last title!

While I appreciate those labels, and have many releases by them, their Les Baxter titles are mastered from vinyl. The downloads are from Capitol master tapes and, IMHO, sound much better, despite the digital format.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

damn, so we are finally at the point where pared down digital thru a little solid state matchbox is now "sounding better".

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I saw the FSM / Tiki Central forums - maybe you? - while perusing whether Jungle Jazz and Teen Drums are coming.

so you've a/b'd the cuts with the old Capitol collection (not Rhino, silly me)?

I see that 'el is Cherry Red Records (have only a couple Garland Jeffreys from them and they sound great to me). Hopefully they do a good job on this "Africa / Jungle Jazz" issue.

Edited June 30, 2010 by Man with the Golden Arm

[Teasing the Korean]

damn, so we are finally at the point where pared down digital thru a little solid state matchbox is now "sounding better".

I didn't mean to imply that mp3s were a superior format to LPs, CDs, or reel to reel tape.

I was trying to say that the mastering on these is much better than the mastering on all that 90s Ultra Lounge stuff, which were probably mastered to match the levels of then-current rock/pop CDs (the bass on the Ultra Lounge series is artificially heavy). I'll take a superior mix/mastering job on a compressed file over lousy mixing/mastering on a CD quality file. Of course, if these superior mastering jobs were available on CD, that would be my first choice. But that is not likely to happen.

Edited June 29, 2010 by Teasing the Korean

[Man with the Golden Arm]

i was not implying your implying of any implications. i was just saying that it's too bad it's finally come to this.

just me being a beggar and a chooser.

[Teasing the Korean]

i was not implying your implying of any implications. i was just saying that it's too bad it's finally come to this.

just me being a beggar and a chooser.

I hear you. I suspect that more and more of the music I care about will be available only through pricey limited edition CDs or cheap digital downloads.