Exotica-Cool Strange Unusual Music Group

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Saturday, March 16, 2024

Remastered Rips Of Vintage LPs - Part 12

The zip archive for each album contains: the audio files for each track in lossless FLAC format, with 24-bit samples @ 96 KHz, and also images of the front and back covers. No guarantee how long the links will be valid, so get them while you can. 

These albums were remastered to have the best listening experience over loudspeakers.

Technical Information:
Turntable: VPI Scoutmaster.
Cartridge: Hana SH
Phono Preamp: Cambridge Audio Alva Duo
ADC: MOTU UltraLite Mk5
Capture Software: AlpineSoft VinylStudio Pro
Cleanup And Remastering Software: iZotope RX and Ozone
LP Cleaning Machines: VPI 17 and KLAudio - KD-CLN-LP200


NOTE: Clicking on the album covers below will take you to the DropBox download page for the album. Click on the download icon  in the upper-right corner of the DropBox page to get the zip file.


UPDATE March 16, 2024 @ 2:37pm PDT: Posted a new version of The Sound Of Sounds. The original version was too aggressively de-clicked, resulting in the removal of too much of the audio (e.g. the backfires from the sports car engines were interpreted to be clicks and removed). It sounds much better now.


Russ Garcia, His Vocal Choir And Orchestra

1958 – Sounds In The Night (Stereo) 

AAMCO Records – ALPS 76

Notes: Comparing our copy of this LP with the 2012 web download from Trunk Records, there is, unfortunately, a lot of noise baked into the disc itself. I hope this attempted cleaning using the latest de-noising software will do some justice to the recording. I'm certain we will be returning to this project in the future.

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Strange Currencies In Music, Space Age Pop and Discogs.



Paul Mark, His Orchestra And The Geishas

1963 – 12 1/2 Geishas Must Be Right (Stereo) 

Sounds Of Hawaii – SHS-5010

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Ambient Exotica and Discogs.



Jimmy Namaro Trio

1958 – Driftwood (Stereo) 

Dot Records – DLP 25246

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.












More info from Discogs.



Conte Candoli, Jack Costanza, Chuck Flores, Russ Freeman, Mike Pacheko, Art Pepper, Bill Perkins and Ben Tucker

1958 – Mucho Calor (Much Heat) (Stereo) 

Andex – S 3002

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.


More info from Discogs.



Carl Stevens

1962 – African Sounds (Stereo) 

Mercury – PPS 6030

Notes: Our iZotope wizard did an excellent job decompressing the audio in this LP, which improved its dynamic range and made it more listenable.

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Allmusic and Discogs.



No Artist

1961 – The Sound Of Sounds (Stereo) 

Directional Sound – DS 5013

Notes: As a kid, Side 1 of this LP was always fun to play LOUD. 😄

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Discogs

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Remastered Rips Of Vintage LPs - Part 11

We're back!

The zip archive for each album contains: the audio files for each track in lossless FLAC format, with 24-bit samples @ 96 KHz, and also images of the front and back covers. No guarantee how long the links will be valid, so get them while you can. 

These albums were remastered to have the best listening experience over loudspeakers.

Technical Information:
Turntable: VPI Scoutmaster.
Cartridge: Hana SH
Phono Preamp: Cambridge Audio Alva Duo
ADC: MOTU UltraLite Mk5
Capture Software: AlpineSoft VinylStudio Pro
Cleanup And Remastering Software: iZotope RX and Ozone
LP Cleaning Machines: VPI 17 and KLAudio - KD-CLN-LP200


NOTE: Clicking on the album covers below will take you to the DropBox download page for the album. Click on the download icon  in the upper-right corner of the DropBox page to get the zip file.


As far as we know, there are two Paul Mark albums whose stereo versions have never been released in a digital format. Even the Japanese two-for CD from Oldays Records is monaural. We needed to change this situation. For your listening pleasure here are Paul Mark's East To West and Golden Melodies From Japan.

UPDATE: Okay, thanks to Gerard, I found a stereo version of East To West on Apple Music from 2006. I never saw if before because it was blocked from accounts in the USA. The one on Apple Music is obviously an LP rip, but, for various reasons, ours sounds a lot better.   
😉


[Update Feb 29, 2024: Fixed a few things in Ahmad Jamal - Macanudo album.]

[Update Mar 6, 2024: Fixed a couple of clicks that snuck by at the end of track 2 in Paul Mark - East To West.]


Paul Mark And His Orchestra

1961 – East To West (Stereo) 

Imperial – LP 12057

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Ambient Exotica and Discogs.



Paul Mark, His Orchestra And Voices

1962 – Golden Melodies From Japan (Stereo) 

Imperial – LP 12075

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.










More info from Ambient Exotica and Discogs.



Ahmad Jamal

1963 – Macanudo (Stereo) 

Argo – LPS-712

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Ambient Exotica and Discogs.



Pete Terrace Quintet

1956 – Invitation To The Mambo (Monaural) 

Fantasy – 3-215

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Discogs.



Robert Maxwell, His Harp And Orchestra

1963 – Shangri-La (Stereo) 

Decca – DL 74421

Click the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Discogs.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Remastered Rips of Vintage LPs...So Far...

If you came here from The Quiet Village podcast to find the remastered vintage LPs, then here's a set of links to the first ten blog posts in that series:

Part 1   Part 2   Part3   Part 4   Part 5   Part 6   Part 7   Part 8   Part 9   Part 10

And don't forget to peruse the rest of our blog!


Friday, January 19, 2024

Basic Rips Of Vintage LPs - Part 2

The LP rips in this series are simply digitized, manually de-clicked (for the most part), maybe a bit of EQ if needed, and normalized to 0 db. No noise filtering or remastering is done.


The zip archive for each album contains: the audio files for each track in lossless FLAC format, with 24-bit samples @ 96 KHz, and also images of the front and back covers. No guarantee how long the links will be valid, so get them while you can. 

Technical Information:

Turntable: VPI Scoutmaster.
Cartridge: Hana SH
Phono Preamp: Cambridge Audio Alva Duo
ADC: MOTU UltraLite Mk5
Capture and De-clicking Software: AlpineSoft VinylStudio Pro
De-clicking Software: iZotope RX
LP Cleaning Machines: VPI 17 and KLAudio - KD-CLN-LP200


NOTE: Clicking on the album covers below will take you to the DropBox download page for the album. Click on the download icon  in the upper-right corner of the DropBox page to get the zip file.


[UPDATE: Tweeked the EQ a bit on Pagan Festival.]

[UPDATE 1/27/2024: Removed more clicks from Tropicale.]

[UPDATE: 2/24/2024: Restored the Suzie Wong soundtrack link.]

[UPDATE: 3/17/2024: Redid restoration on Paris Goes Latin using RX]

Dominic Frontiere And His Orchestra

1959 – Pagan Festival (Stereo) 

Columbia – CS 8084

Click on the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Ambient Exotica and Discogs.



Orquesta Riverside

1956 – Ritmos De Cuba (Monaural) 

Puchito – MLP-513

Click on the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Discogs.



Tommy Morgan

1958 – Tropicale (Stereo) 

Warner Bros. Records – BS 1214

Click in the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Ambient Exotica and Discogs.



Marcel Hayes and His Orchestra

1959 – Paris Goes Latin (Stereo) 

Guyden Records – GLP-501 ST

Click on the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Discogs.



George Dunning

1960 – The World Of Suzie Wong (Stereo) 

RCA Victor – LSO-1059

Click on the cover photo to download the album zip file.











More info from Discogs and IMDB.


Monday, January 15, 2024

World Of Music

 Here are some pictures from home where I live surrounded by the music of many countries and many genres.Including 78rpms...45rpm...33rpm..CDs..Sheet Music. The history of music surrounds and comforts me as I pursue the next adventure or discovery in that world.









Saturday, January 13, 2024

Sheet Music Original Versions Part 3

 Here we have Are You Lonesome Tonight written in 1926 with 3 versus and a spoken bridge. Which was printed on the inside of the back cover. The Sheet music also comes with out the bridge printing. I have both.  First recorded  by Charles Hart in 1927..Also in 1927 Vaughn De Leath. both sang 3 verses but no bridge. Henry Burr in 1927 dropped the 3rd verse and no bridge. Then finally in 1928  Stanley Kirkby drop 3rd verse but sang the bridge "Yes you seemed to change you acted strange.......That 3rd verse added so much context. Thats why these early versions just are better. Its funny how the song changes in just a short period of time from the writers original intention.  Again as I've said before the original intention is usually the best.



 
Many others recorded the song through  the years. Above we have the Sheet Music for Elvis Presley's Version from April 1960. Initially he sang this in the studio with the lights out  with his band and the Jordinaires including the bridge. Initially he didn't like how he sang it. but agreed to one more take and that became the master.

Sheet Music Original Versions Part 2


 
Here we have the original sheet music of As Time Goes BY from the Broadway musical Everybody's Welcome  in 1931 sung by Frances Williams in the show. Great picture of her on the cover. The original song was sung with the beginning intro that puts every thing in perspective. Just adds to the song. Rudy Vallee recorded it in 1931 as well as Binnie Hale and Jacques Renard and then many others as the years went by. Most if not all dropped the intro.  ;(


 
 

Here we have the sheet music Of As Time Goes By from Casablanca in 1942. The Canadian version is red. It was sung in the movie by Dooley Wilson. No Intro. He was never able to record it because of the musician strike. In the movie the Piano was played by studio musician because Wilson was a drummer.