Search - Dominic Frontiere :: Pagan Festival / Love Eyes

Frontiere's Masterpiece + Love Eyes = Paradise

Alvin Soedarjo | Jakarta, Indonesia | 03/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Pagan Festival" sounds a lot like a 1950's Hollywood soundtrack for a 'forbidden' society, far away buried and hidden from modern civilization's harmful touch.



Thanks to Dominic Frontiere, the experience is now available for curious listeners.



Lush landscapes, mysterious rhythm and romantic adventures await you! I first discovered it on LP, mistakenly or deliberately categorized in a Hawaiian section in a record store, when actually the theme is of an Incan society participating on their ritual.

The first time I heard it, I felt that the tribalistic orchestra and heavenly vocal arrangement came to seduce and transport me right into the middle of the action. Frontiere range of influence is also magical, I could even hear a subtle Polynesian melody fused with middle eastern licks. Five stars for most of the tracks in "Pagan Festival" especially 'Moon Goddess', 'House of Pleasure' and 'Corn Festival'.



If you are familiar with instrumental works of Martin Denny or Les Baxter, you can easily relate to Dominic Frontiere. Personally, I think Frontiere's music is a little more accessible and dramatic than theirs.



"Love Eyes" shares the same artistic passion as "Pagan Festival", but this time the music takes on a different path. When you hear it, you can feel a "big band" swingin' influence right away. It still sounds a lot like a soundtrack, but this time it's tailored for those black-and-white romantic flicks. Although the tracks in "Love Eyes" are less inventive than those in "Pagan Festival", some of the cuts, such as 'Sensuous', 'Lonely' and 'Childish', can really melt the hardest heart.



Treat "Love Eyes" as an excellent bonus for the underrated masterpiece from an underrated composer.



So what genre does this music really belong to; Lounge? Easy Listening? Exotica?

Find out for yourself."

It hardly gets better than this

Stuart M. Paine | Arlington, VA USA | 05/18/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As did Andre Previn, Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams before him, Dominic Frontiere studied composition under Hollywood great, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also studied conducting with Felix Slatkin. Not bad at all for a guy who started on the accordion! Many folks know Frontiere's work without knowing they know it - from the 1963 sci-fi television program, THE OUTER LIMITS, or from the 1968 Clint Eastwood film, HANG 'EM HIGH.



PAGAN FESTIVAL is a GREAT exotica album. Recorded in 1958 and released the following year, it should be the next purchase for any Les Baxter aficionado who's acquired all he can of Les's work and is searching for more great listening. With large orchestra, ample latin rhythm/percussion section and wordless mixed chorus, it captures the spirit of Baxter's 1955 LP, TAMBOO!, beautifully. The chorus is put to use in five tracks: 1-4 and 7. Such evocative titles as "House of Pleasure", "Jaguar God" and "Temple of Suicide" are meant to inspire visions of the world of the Incas. Baxter fans will recognize the unusual term "X-Tabai" [from the title of track 6, "Goddess of Love (X-Tabai)"], as having been borrowed from "Inca princess" Yma Sumac's ground-breaking album, VOICE OF THE XTABAY, recorded under Baxter's baton in 1951. PAGAN FESTIVAL's final number, "Venus Girl", a lilting and relaxed contemporary piece, would have fit right in on Baxter's LP, CARIBBEAN MOONLIGHT. This music is inspired, polished and professional. For the original LP liner notes, Alfred Newman, director of music for Twentieth Century-Fox from 1940-1980, wrote: "I think you will note the rare combination of keen musical perception, the delicate blend of sensitive feeling and exciting tempo, and the attention to detail which Dominic brings to his work." 34:10



LOVE EYES (recorded 1959, released 1960) is not as unusual as PAGAN FESTIVAL, but only slightly less impressive. It's more a classy lounge sound with allusions to jazz and even the new rock and roll scene. This is the hip Hollywood sound, and Frontiere does it as well as anyone I know. The compositions, sporting titles such as "Sultry", "Fickle" and "Wistful", are again all his own. Very nice - similar to Percy Faith's LOVE GODDESSES. Approx. 37:00



There are several 1960-recorded bonus tracks, too: FROM THE TERRACE (Love Theme) by Elmer Bernstein and Frontiere's own (w/ Edward Ward) Theme from ONE FOOT IN HELL.



TT: 76:34

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