From the liner notes: "Here, in an album of compositions by [Les] Baxter, he calls forth fascinating impressions of the mysterious East -- those small dots on the globe where one's index finger lingers longest." Hard to top that, suffice it to say that Ports of Pleasure evokes a Far East that seems almost mythical, Baxter's exotic melodies and Technicolor arrangements beautifully evoke an Orient as alien as it is intoxicating, where elephants lumber through city squares, monkey butlers await your every command and nothing is exactly as it seems. Titles like "Tramp Steamer to Singapore," "City of Veils" and "Harem Silks of Bombay" perfectly capture the cinematic precision of Baxter's artistry, yet Ports of Pleasure is, above all, a journey to the center of the mind.