Search - Various Artists :: Space Capades: Ultra Lounge 3

Spaced-Out Fun!

loungelizard7 | 01/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I really just bought this volume for "Puttin' On the Ritz" and hoped that I'd like the rest. Imagin my surprise when the whole thing was incredible! This truly is some of the kitschiest stuff you will ever find on CD. It really brings to mind images of the way things used to be and the way people percieved space and the future back in the '50s. Now, sadly, it's just a fun novelty, but back then this was serious stuff, and "THE SOUND OF THE FUTURE!" If you listen long enough, you feel like you've gone back in time and find yourself imaging the future this way too. It's really cool how this CD in a way functions as a...great big time capsule.From the opening of "Gay Spirits," you're pulled in. Those first notes make you see pictures like the one of the Milky Way at the beginning of "The Jetsons." The incomparable Les Baxter, who seemed to excel in whatever he tried, was the pioneer of space-age exotica before he got into the jungle exotica that's found on other U-L volumes. His spacey stuff is the very epitome of futuristic kitsch, and it's irresistible to listen to. "Moon Moods" will show you that. And get a load of the jumping orchestral piece "Saturday Night on Saturn," with its lush, swirling strings and its bongos and trumpets--it rivals "This Room is My Castle of Quiet" as the best piece on the CD. I'm not exactly sure HOW spacey his cover of "Calcutta" is, but it's cool. Dig the maracas!Dean Elliott heard as one big cartoon. Take a listen to his two offerings. Cole Porter's "You're the Top" complete with ringing phones and a host of FX that sound like they were mined from the Hanna-Barbera sound library. And the disc is closed with the fantastic, swinging "Lonesome Road." I fell in love with this one on the Fuzzy Sampler, along with the gargling, car horns, coughing, popping bubbles, crashes, tinkles, whistles, high heels, slamming doors, pops, and baby noises. Very infectious, indeed!For more kitsch, there's the pizzicatto choir on "Holiday for Strings." (Listen for when they go "Zing-boom, zing-boom...") Tak Shindo has a very funny and Oriental-sounding "Stumbling," Baxter serves up a crazy "Sabre Dance" from his 'Wild Guitars' album, and Felix Slatkin features chimes on "I Get a Kick Out of You." If you have, by chance, ever played the classic "Earthbound" for Super NES, "Satan Takes a Holiday" will remind you of music from that game. Very oddish-sounding, it's somehow effective.Space, like most things, can be jazzed up, as is evident in the light vibes on "Lover." Vibes are also prominent on "Power House," probably one of the best-recognized tunes ever. (Remember those Rube Goldberg machines on the old toon shorts?) It doesn't sound like space to me, but I love "Drivin' Round the Block!" That beat is inescapable! The song I bought the CD for, "Puttin' On the Ritz," didn't fail to please. A big band, a swinging arrangement, bongos, vibes, guitars, and even castanets all work together for a really slam-bang number. Swing fans, see if you can catch the part where the band samples from "Sing, Sing, Sing!" Loved it! I first heard "Istanbul" when They Might Be Giants did it on "Tiny Toons" years ago. The strongly jazzy version included here is the best ever. This is largely due to the boisterous trumpet player, sounding like Satchmo gone Latin. From the flamenco flourish at the intro to the last naughty growl, you're hooked. The version that follows really leave something to desire, not being able to leap the bar that the first left.The standout piece is Billy May's eerie "This Room is My Castle of Quiet." It'll keep you listening for hours. The melody is played by a theremin, recognized by most as that odd vibrating whistle used in old sci/fi movies when the aliens attacked. It's so effective, and makes the haunting melody linger in your mind long after the song has ended. My only complaint about this disc is that there was only one theremin track."

Hold the Vermouth

My Uncle Stu | Boston | 11/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
I picked up Space Capades out of curiosity, thought the campy lounge would be a fun little background goof for my martini ritual. But I actually really got into this music. It's got that early-60's-bad-movie soundtrack feel, like cotton-candy flavored ether for your ears. It's very relaxing, but floating over the lush orchestral arrangements are xylophones, springs, car horns, coughs, cowbells, sneezes, and- the cherry-on-top for your audio trip to the local soda fountain- none other than Dr. Leon Theremin himself soloing on theremin.



I should mention that, being born in the early seventies, the nostalgia I reference cannot be true fifties nostalgia. It's nostalgia for the fifties nostalgia of the seventies, so it is an ultra-filtrate. The music tickles sanitized memories of sanitized memories, and that is just fine to go with my dry, dry, dry Tanqueray martini. With a couple of olives.



A friend stopping by, picking her daughter up after a play-date, heard Space Capades playing pianissimo in the background, and decided to stay for dinner. True story. She didn't want to leave, saying our home was much more relaxing than her home, but said she wasn't sure what it was exactly. She thought maybe it was the soft lighting.



See for yourself. Buy it. Enjoy. You can listen with tongue in cheek, or lighten up and just give yourself over to its hypnotic reverberations.







"

Excellent CD. Best of the series.

My Uncle Stu | 09/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When i first heard this CD in a friends stereo i hated it. I thought it was too weird. Then I realized that I kept wanting to hear it so I bought my own copy. Now, I absolutely love it!! It totally reminds me of old Star Trek episodes. I always feel like i am in a room full of lava lamps and strange creatures. It's pure camp. i have since then purchased several other Ultra-Lounge CDs but this one is still my favorite. A must have!!"