Arthur Lyman -- The Exotic Worlds of Arthur Lyman

The "big three" of tiki exotica music are Les Baxter, Martin Denny, and Arthur Lyman. A few years ago I got two double-CD compilations of works by Baxter and Denny titled The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter and The Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny that were released in 1996. Both featured cover art by Mark Ryden. I play them as background music for our home tiki bar.

However, there wasn't a similar release for Arthur Lyman, and I felt it was lacking from the collection, so I created one myself.

DISC 1

01 - Isle of Golden Dreams

02 - Ebb Tide

03 - Black Orchid

04 - Afro Blue

05 - Jungle Drums

06 - Akaka Falls

07 - Blue Hawaii

08 - Fire Down Below

09 - Aloha No Honolulu

10 - Jungle Fantasy

11 - Harbor Lights

12 - Bolero

13 - Hawaiian War Chant

14 - Bahia

15 - Jungle Jalopy

16 - Bwana A

17 - Beyond the Reef

18 - Caravan

19 - Hawaii Tattoo

20 - Ke Kali Nei Au

DISC 2

01 - Sweet Leilani

02 - Koni Au I Ka Wai

03 - My Tane

04 - The Limbo Rock

05 - Pele

06 - La Paloma

07 - Sweet Someone

08 - Theme from Adventures in Paradise

09 - Mapauna

10 - Quiet Village

11 - Taboo

12 - The Moon of Manakoora

13 - Midnight Sun

14 - Return to Paradise

15 - Whispering Reef Lullaby

16 - Taboo Tu

17 - Misirlou

18 - Ringo Oiwake

19 - The (Jungle) Cat

20 - Yellow Bird

In deciding what tracks to include by Lyman, I searched through various "best of" collections but focused mainly on songs featuring titles about the South Pacific or exotic locations. Both the Baxter and Denny compilations include 40 tracks each, with 20 tunes per disc. So, in keeping with the format, I chose 40 songs of Lyman's music.

The collection begins with "Isle of Golden Dreams," originally released in 1958 on Lyman's Hawaiian Sunset LP. It's a rather slow, "dreamy" piece that I thought would allow the listener to drift into the mood. All the instrumentals presented here can transport you to a mythical tropic island with their use of vibraphones, marimbas, ukuleles and exotic bird calls. I ended the collection with probably Lyman's best-known tune, "Yellow Bird." I recommend you shake up a mai tai and relax.

For the cover artwork, I wanted to use another painting by Mark Ryden like the ones used for the Baxter and Denny compilations, but I couldn't find anything suitable. So, instead, I chose an image of a velvet painting by Robb Hamel, cropped it, and added titles. The title I chose, to go along with the other two compilations, was The Exotic Worlds of Arthur Lyman.