Hypnotique by Martin Denny (1959).
In Waikiki, where I live whenever I get the chance, a bistro known as the Daggar Bar and its accompanying Bora Bora Lounge has for some time been the mecca of people who enjoy a new type of music. I’m one of the gang that gathers there to hear the fresh, clean tropical sounds of Martin Denny and his group.
By the time James Michener wrote the sleeve notes for Hypnotique, Martin Denny‘s fifth album, the composer was attempting to broaden his horizons and outpace his imitators by introducing strings and vocals to augment his “fresh, clean tropical sounds”. This perhaps explains the curious jumble of objects on the album sleeve (a rifle?), my favourite among the wonderful covers Liberty Records’ art department supplied for Denny’s work. The best of these feature model Sandy Warner who appears in a variety of guises, shown here as a cross between a Japanese temptress (if we take the paper mobiles as a cue) and a precursor of Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams. The art direction was by Bill Pate with photography by Garrett-Howard.
top left: Exotica (1957); top right: Primitiva (1958).
bottom left: Afro-Desia (1959); bottom right: Exotica vol. III (1959).
Sandy Warner appeared on 16 album sleeves for Denny and was even persuaded to record an album of her own to capitalise on her renown as “Miss Exotica”. In design terms, these sleeves are some of the more successful products of the late Fifties’ fad for tribal kitsch. Other covers were crazier or more garish—and few could resist flaunting a bikini-clad woman—but Bill Pate showed more care with his layouts and Sandy Warner’s alluring presence went a long way towards conjuring the required mystique. Denny’s records aren’t too bad either although when it comes to tiki-fuelled easy listening I tend to prefer his rival Arthur Lyman, especially Taboo from 1958.
Large copies of the covers shown here can been seen at Shellac.org. There are many more sites with galleries devoted to this style of music and sleeve art; Space Age Pop A Go-Go and 317x are two of the better ones. And let’s not forget Dana Countryman’s Virtual Museum of Unusual LP Covers or LP Cover Lover (check the great blogroll) or the Retro Records Flickr Pool…
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Oh man, I don’t even care what the music is like I’m so in love with the cover art! Fantastic! Thanks.
I love this stuff! As you can imagine, these girls have all been seen on Fabulon. I actually enjoy the music, too, in a wacky retro cartoony sort of way. My dad has all of those albums and more, which possibly explains why I am the way I am today!
I find Denny’s music gets irritating very quickly! A little goes a long way… For real musical craziness, I have two semi-bootleg compilations featuring nothing but different versions of Quiet Village, Taboo and Caravan.
Always been jealous of the whole tiki kitsch thing which even spread over here in the Sixties. There was a bar in Blackpool, the wretched seaside town I grew up in, called The Islander which I believe was a tiki-themed placed. I always liked the huge faux-native sign they had outside the place.
What I’d really like is for someone to let me design an album cover in this style!
The music is much easier to enjoy if one is drinking heavily. That seems to be what that era was all about!
Ah, of course. Presumably a tall glass of something bright green piled with enough fruit to sink Carmen Miranda.