The Exciting Sounds of Martin Denny: Exotica Vols. 1 & 2
These early Denny creations cover his more wildly "exotic" career phase. The  first album, presented in its original "Spectra-Sonic" mono, includes the hit title track in  its entire eerie swamp-varmint splendor. Other standouts are the dreamy xylophone on  "Lotus Land" and the absolutely wacky "Love Dance," which sounds more like an  ornithologist's orgy. The second album, in stereo, gets more intricate and oddly romantic.  The best is the opener, "Shoshu Night Serenade," with its ghostly textures and the  persistent ringing of bells that suggest the carriage of a typewriter. The Denny  arrangement of "Ebb Tide" is also a stunner. This double volume gives listeners a clear  picture of how Denny was interested less in an "authentic" Hawaii and more intrigued by  an imaginary and often surreal geography.--Joseph Lanza