Ritual of the Savage LP

Les Baxter walked into a single Hollywood session in May of 1951 and came out with Ritual of the Savage, a record Capitol released calling it "a tone poem of the sound and the struggle of the jungle," orchestral strings pressed up against tribal-style percussion like two different rooms sharing one wall. Buried in there is "Quiet Village," the Baxter composition Martin Denny would turn into a Top 5 Billboard hit in 1959, the spark that lit the whole exotica and tiki-lounge fire. This Wax Time pressing folds in two tracks from Baxter's 1955 Tamboo! sessions alongside the original album, the Spanish reissue label keeping the expanded set in circulation.