June 18, 2018

If You Love Kooky American Music Trends, You’ll Totally Dig 1950s “Exotica”

Not saying it was good, but it was fun.

Album Review

Various Artists
Technicolor Paradise: Rhum Rhapsodies & Other Exotic Delights
Numero Group

Targeted at grown-ups who were turned off by the vulgarity of rock and roll in the late-’50s and early ’60s, Exotica wasn’t so much a genre as a marketing tag. The music incorporated a smorgasbord of elements, such as twangy surf guitars, dreamy melodies, often with a Middle East tinge and a tropical vibe intended to evoke a South Seas idyll, hoping to snare folks who preferred their Easy Listening with less vanilla and more spice.

The premier reissue label Numero Group, known for stellar sets of obscure soul and rock, applies its meticulous archaeological approach to this oddball phenomenon on the delightful Technicolor Paradise. Bypassing bigger Exotica names like Martin Denny and Esquivel, this three-disc, 54-track set showcases a host of obscure artists, among them The Monzas and Gene Sikora & the Irrationals, and devotes a third of its space to vocalists, including an adult Darla Hood, the former Little Rascals fave. Goofy, tacky and cheerfully fake, Exotica wasn’t “good,” but it was great fun.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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