Les Baxter - The Singles

A correspondent has advised me that an interesting selection of Les' Capitol 45s has been compiled by this blog.

You can choose to download there or grab this edited version here.

I haven't changed the actual coding of 320kps MP3 but I have tidied up the tags and renamed the files to show the Capitol disc number for each track. I've also normalised the sound using Replay Gain but you of course need to use that to see any benefit.

The sound is very good in the brief listen I had and the music is more from ahem Les ' Romantic style (somebody didn't like me using the word schmaltz).

Track list

Capitol-1760 - Because Of You
Capitol-1966 - Blue Tango
Capitol-2106 - Lonely Wine
Capitol-2143 - Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart
Capitol-2374 - April In Portugal
Capitol-2457 - Ruby
Capitol-2479 - Gigi
Capitol 2479 - I Love Paris
Capitol-2845 - The High And The Mighty
Capitol-3055 - Medic
Capitol-3055 - Unchained Melody
Capitol-3120 - Wake The Town And Tell The People
Capitol-3291 - The Trouble With Harry
Capitol-3336 - The Poor People Of Paris
Capitol-3404 - Tango Of The Drums
Capitol-3404 - Sinner Man
Capitol-3526 - Giant
Capitol-3573 - The Left Arm Of Buddha

Young Pops

This album now supplied by detour on his blog. Great share, nice blog go here.

Les Baxter - Confetti

Nearly all of the Capitol albums are now posted. I don't know if the Arthur Murray albums for instance should be counted. Anyway here's one of Les' more schmaltzy offerings I've uploaded but a fine effort nonetheless.

If Les' albums could perhaps be roughly categorized as Exotica, Schmaltz and Soundtracks, the majority of exotica stuff has now been posted except for some late 60s & early 70s stuff. A lot of the schmaltzy stuff is here also but I don't feel its as important. The soundtrack stuff is mostly generic but still worthwhile for completists like me.

Link

Les Baxter - Sweet Harmonies

Found a few Baxter albums on the Sweet Harmonies site. I have put a few of them into the links in the sidebar but you can visit the site and have a look including the above fan album which I've downloaded myself to see what its like. Link

Les Baxter - Harry Revel - Dr Samuel Hoffman

Here's the first efforts of Les as conductor and producer. I'm going to upload all the albums I have in chronological order and hope that some kind collector can fill in the gaps. Typical late 40s orchestral sounds augmented with Dr Hoffman's fine theremin playing.

All three albums in one file. 96kps mono (equiv 192kps stereo).

Les Baxter - Space Escapade

If you aint got this already here 'tis. Just about my favourite cover the music's not quite as space age as the cover but being LB its pretty darn good.

Link

Les Baxter - 'Round the World With

Ah the bachelor's dream in the mid '50s. Trips to exotic locations with an exotica soundtrack playing complete with bongos and vibes and when at home lounging in your den with a globe of the world and a beautiful Grace Kelly lookalike listening to your travel stories.

Ooops drifting off there back to reality (sigh).

link