Martin Denny – Exotic Moog

Superb pressing, crystal clear and loud. No surface noise at all on mine. So worth having, a real must-have if you're a fan of exotica/easy listening instrumental music of the 50's / 60's, but maybe you're lucky enough to own an original pressing in good condition. Hats off to the people who repressed it. The music is fantastic, real fun, sometimes cheesy of course, but it gives hints of lots of electronic pieces to come up decades later. Modular Moog programmation and patching is clever and not showing off too much like other Moog branded productions of that time. To me it equals Wendy Carlos records of the same era. Electronic milestone, fresh as ever, essential music !

A much better description can be found below from b0ssh0gg. All I’ll say is that this is a fun listen, and the colored vinyl sounds really crisp and clear! I had low hopes for an RSD, colored vinyl reissue of a novelty album like this but it’s really nice and enjoyable!

A love of Moog synthesizers in 60s music partially caused a blind purchase of this album, coupled with a desire to find new music. With no prior knowledge of the artist, I spun the album up and gave it a good listen. The album was impressive to say the least, and easily warranted another listen in the future. The presence of such a wide array of musical styles gives the album plenty of power to guide the listener through to the end. This album is diverse: rock & roll, classical, sunshine pop, British Invasion, world (mostly South American and Middle Eastern), psychedelic, jazz, country, electronic, and what at times sounds like a precursor to disco are all easily identifiable. Typically, it is contained individually but at times does cross-over within a song.

This is all presented via Moog synthesizer, as the title of the album would suggest, which can give it a bit of a cold feeling at times. Contrasting the colder feeling of synthesizers is the intricacy of the compositions, which brings the music right back into something warmer and more pleasing for an entire album's worth of listening. The backing rhythm section and the melodies are executed quite skillfully, and if it weren't for the fact that it's all-instrumental with a heavy reliance on synthesizers, the album might actually feel like it has more of a direction. The lack of cohesion between most of the songs brings the album down a bit, as at times it can feel like more of a display of ability rather than a unified musical endeavor. However, as this type of music was somewhat in its infancy in 1969, the album certainly gives off the impression of innovation.

For people who enjoy music, I'd say it's worth a listen. And for people who love synthesizers and that trademark late-60s sound that goes with them, it is sure to be an enjoyable listen.

8/10 first listen, not the 9/10 d on the hype sticker.