Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop Five: Must-Have Lounge Records, And Their Uses

Tiki bars are hip again; can lounge music be far behind? It's been 20 years since the last lounge revival and, Mad Men theme parties notwithstanding, that means we're just about due for another. While you polish your cocktail shaker, I'll get your hi-fi ready with recommendations for five must-have lounge records, and the situations in which they'll come in most handy.
 

1) Ferrante & Teicher - Heavenly Songs in Hi-Fi (1957)

Useful when: You need to defend lounge music from naysayers.

It's important to remember that lounge acts weren't all made up of square dudes with loud jackets and thick glasses. I mean, most were, but that doesn't mean that hip dudes didn't lurk beneath the polyester. Before they earned their reputation as purveyors of inoffensive easy-listening music, piano players Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher were faculty members at Julliard. That pedigree makes it less surprising that the two Muzak masters once drew inspiration from avant garde composer John Cage. Cage's "prepared piano" techniques make thrilling appearances on the duo's early collaborations; jammed with precisely placed debris including "metal chains, glass, wood and cardboard," Ferrante & Teicher's dueling pianos reinvented decades-old standards with percussive, alien effects previously unheard in pop music. The duo's run of albums from 1956's Soundproof to 1959's Blast Off contains no duds, so grab Heavenly Songs in Hi-Fi for its hypnotic rendition of 1930s hit "The Moon Was Yellow."
 

2) Dean Elliott & His Big, Big Band!! - Zounds! What Sounds! (1963)

Useful when: You want to party like Bugs Bunny.

Dean Elliott got his start in cartoons, composing incidental music for series including Mr. Magoo and Tom and Jerry. He channeled some of that same twinkle-eyed spirit into Zounds! What Sounds!, his only non-soundtrack album. The sounds in question came from Tom and Jerry sound effects guy Phil Kaye, who dipped into his unorthodox catalogue of everyday items; as the album plays, you'll hear the thwack of a punching bag, the clop of ping-pong balls, and the chugging of a old-fashioned air compressor. There's even a cement mixer, which features prominently on the album's cheeky cover. In lesser hands, this might come off like a cheap gimmick. But, as reviewer Jason Ankeny noted, the deep integration of Kaye's sound effects into Elliott's arrangements helped the pair "transcend the confines of novelty music" while retaining its madcap energy.
 

3) Esquivel - Latin-Esque (1961)

Useful when: You want to test a new sound system just like grandpa did.

Composer Juan Garcia Esquivel's nickname, "the King of Space Age Pop," mainly refers to the Cold War era in which the composer worked. However, it can also be read as a nod to his studio innovations. Esquivel was one of the prime beneficiaries of the advances in stereo technology, and quickly sought the outer limits of recorded music's newly expanded space. Over at the Space Age Pop Music Page, the editor describes the recording process of the 1961 album Latin-Esque, saying that Esquivel "went to the extreme of channel separation by placing two orchestras in studios a block apart and mixing the result live in the booth." Connected by nothing but headphones, sheet music, and Esquivel's brain, the two bands filled up the space between the speakers, producing lively Latin pop songs that remain as challenging on headphones as they are effervescent on stereos.
 

4) David Rose & His Orchestra - The Stripper And Other Fun Songs For The Family (1962)

Useful when: It's time to get sexy (possibly as a joke).

"The Stripper" has been everywhere since bandleader David Rose wrote it in 1958. Maybe you know it as the entrance music for the late WWF wrestler "Ravishing" Rick Rude, or the recently retired (and always sexist) Blackhawks tradition. Maybe you think of the farcical striptease from Slap Shot, or the (slightly less farcical) background music to an iconic Noxema commercial. With its leering trombone and burlesque rhythm, the song has become shorthand for "I know that what's about to happen isn't actually sexy, but maybe if we both acknowledge that now, we'll circle all the way back to arousal by the time this bit is over." That playfulness extends to the rest of the tracks on the album that shares the song's name, giving future generations the soundtrack to their misguided attempts at seduction. (For an extra treat, try to pick up a newer European copy of the album, which collects this appealingly sleazy rendition of "Sunset Strip" as a bonus track.)
 

5) Bob Thompson - Sound of Speed (1960)

Useful when: You need a little Space Race optimism.

The records on this list were all recorded during America's transportation zenith, a time when air travel was glamorous, the trains weren't owned by Amtrak, and "take shuttle to moon" seemed like a reasonable thing to pencil in on your 1975 calendar. Bob Thompson sought to capture this world-shrinking grandeur with Sound of Speed. Paired with samples of actual vehicles in motion, compositions like "Star Fire" and "Early-Bird Whirly-Bird" act as audio snapshots of the time when future transportation breakthroughs felt not only possible, but inevitable. It's not all rockets, though; from the prowling engines of Le Mans to the contemplative pedaling of an afternoon tricycle ride, Thompson's work also paints a picture of a world in more mundane motion. After more than 50 years, those songs still conjure familiar feelings. That may not say much for our current travel plans, but on a human level, it's pretty comforting.

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