Time: 31:12
Size: 71.4 MB
Styles: Easy Listening, Exotica
Year: 1963/2005
Art: Front
[2:25] 1. The Girl Behind The Bamboo Curtain
[3:57] 2. Lord, What A Morning
[2:15] 3. Coffee Bean Calabash Annie
[2:55] 4. Sunrise At Kowloon
[1:58] 5. Which Doctor
[2:16] 6. Mai Tai
[0:33] 7. Drum Intro From A Day In Rio
[2:53] 8. A Day In Rio
[2:12] 9. River Of Dreams
[1:35] 10. Nina
[3:19] 11. Shadow Of Love The Enchanted Reef
[1:30] 12. Jacaranda
[3:19] 13. Ceremony
The Soul Of The Drums is no more remarkable than any other of Baxter’s albums of one’s choice, but does thankfully emit a strictly uplifting, mirthful aura which is only fugaciously interrupted – or alternatively improved – by mystical heterodynes, otherworldly phantasms and ritualistic drum patterns. It is not as cineastic as his first forerunner and pre-Exotica blueprint Ritual Of The Savage (1951), but this works to its advantage, as the flow or fluxion is uninterrupted. While there are a few pinpointable real-world locations such as Kowloon and Rio on board, this is no dedicated travelog LP rather than a concoction of delight. What role do the drums play? How do the melodies unfold? And why are these things of importance in an Easy Listening work? Someone’s gonna explicate these things below.
This would not be a Les Baxter album if there were no compositions dedicated to adolescent girls and women on this album, and sure enough, the opener The Girl Behind The Bamboo Curtain both glorifies female intuition and beauty; this, however, does not happen via whitewashed strings but in the shape of a rather uplifting upper midtempo Latin base frame. The congas, tonewoods and diffuse maracas create a dense thicket which is lit by polyphonic fairy flutes, warmhearted pianos, short vibraphone additions and many brass instruments. Shuttling between excitement and soothingness, the opener is everything at once, but first and foremost utterly exotic. The odd follow-up Lord, What A Morning by Michael Carlton Clough is a true-spirited Gospel gone wild. Launching with rufescent sunset guitars and yearning strings, the constant bongocalypse nurtures and drives the tempo ever-forward. Mellifluous flutes and distant horn spirals traverse through the percussion placenta, which is later revved up, as are the strings around which a female vocalist orbits. Occasional show tune-resembling protrusions round off a Latinized corker.
This would not be a Les Baxter album if there were no compositions dedicated to adolescent girls and women on this album, and sure enough, the opener The Girl Behind The Bamboo Curtain both glorifies female intuition and beauty; this, however, does not happen via whitewashed strings but in the shape of a rather uplifting upper midtempo Latin base frame. The congas, tonewoods and diffuse maracas create a dense thicket which is lit by polyphonic fairy flutes, warmhearted pianos, short vibraphone additions and many brass instruments. Shuttling between excitement and soothingness, the opener is everything at once, but first and foremost utterly exotic. The odd follow-up Lord, What A Morning by Michael Carlton Clough is a true-spirited Gospel gone wild. Launching with rufescent sunset guitars and yearning strings, the constant bongocalypse nurtures and drives the tempo ever-forward. Mellifluous flutes and distant horn spirals traverse through the percussion placenta, which is later revved up, as are the strings around which a female vocalist orbits. Occasional show tune-resembling protrusions round off a Latinized corker.
The Soul Of The Drums mc
The Soul Of The Drums zippy
