This is one of the very best discs in the series by the Guild label (from Switzerland, of all places), covering the music known in North American as easy listening or pops (the dividing line is tricky and interesting in itself) and in Europe as light music. Exoticism was a fundamental feature of this music, and on an entire disc devoted to exotic, mostly tropical settings the listener becomes the beneficiary of a riot of imagination. Whereas many other discs in the series have inclined toward British selections, the ensembles here are from all over, with orchestras and leaders from America, France, Germany, and Denmark represented. Highlights include the unique Hawaiian-tango fusion called Tahiti Tango by British organist and conductor
Jackie Brown's Orchestra; the absurd polka Swiss Boy from the multinational
Cedric Dumont, with its kaleidoscope of orchestration (keep listening until the C major strain); and Flamenco Love by
Reg Owen's Orchestra. The Three English Dances of
Roger Quilter show that the musicians heard in Guild's series reveal an aspect of how lighter works from the mainstream British repertory were heard in their own time. About the only complaint is once again the sparseness of the booklet, which covers the performers in a hit-or-miss fashion -- something that's inappropriate in a historical reissue. You will learn nothing about one of the most intriguing recordings, the curiously titled Indian Mail -- Descriptive (1935) of the
Orchestre Raymonde. A good choice for anyone wishing to sample Guild's series or any fan of easy listening music, and one can say with confidence that if
Edward Said had lived to hear this, he would have had to be carried out in a cold sweat.