Well I’m back to haunting the blog space here at FSM again after taking a month and a half off from my ramblings. I wrote weekly, and at times “weakly” as well, from February until the beginning of August and just needed a break. This time around I’ll just write when I feel the urge and not try to adhere to any fixed schedule. Don't need that much structure anymore! Anyway, this blog’s subject is Russell Garcia’s Space Exotica classic Fantastica.

 

Although Fantastica is not film music, I have written previously about contributions of film composers outside of their film music that may be of interest to some. Fantastica is one that I mentioned briefly in my The Space Age Pop Connection blog back in March. Listening to it again just recently, I thought I would expand a bit on this album in a blog all its own.

 

Russell Garcia (1916-present) is probably best known to film music fans for his classic score to George Pal's The Time Machine (1960), FSM Vol. 8, No. 13. Mr. Garcia, besides being a staff composer for Universal for many years, was also an arranger, composer and band leader in the jazz and pop worlds. In recent years, Mr. Garcia, after retiring from the music world in the 60s, has returned to his musical roots again with some new recordings, notably the recent release of Charmed Life: Shaynee Rainbolt Sings Russell Garcia. This is a collection of Mr. Garcia’s songs backed by his 4 trombone band. Not bad for a 93 year old!

 

Long before this however, Mr. Garcia penned what came to be known as Space Exotica for his album entitled Fantastica – Music from Outer Space (1959). The 50s was filled with music labeled as Exotica, music that created soundscapes which allowed suburbanite and city dwellers alike to escape to the South Seas and other exotic locales via intoxicating music, rich in color and vibrant rhythms. Back in the day, plenty of these albums were being produced by the likes of Les Baxter, Martin, Denny and Arthur Lyman to name a few and there were also a lot of space themed albums being produced as well (this being the dawning of “The Space Age” and all). I don’t think however, there were many albums, if any, that were a combination of the two, so Fantastica became the de facto classic entry into this sub-sub genre of popular instrumental music. 

 

Although most exotica recordings utilized standard musical instruments and at times vocals, Fantastica also incorporated a lot of electronic effects thereby adding more of the “space” sound to the exotica. In fact, it is the combination of these sounds with orchestra that prompted producer George Pal into selecting Mr. Garcia to score The Time Machine and you can definitely hear similarities between the two at times.

 

Film music fans may enjoy this album as it is very much like film music in creating a musical narrative and providing colorful settings for the specific subjects of each track. These pieces really appeal to the imagination and many are quite impressionistic in nature. This is very much like film music written for a non-existent film!

 

FSM board member Charles Thaxton is something of an expert on this recording and has corresponded with Mr. Garcia about it over the years so he should be able to add more to the comments section here. There are several others on the boards who can contribute as well. I invite you guys, even though we've been down this path before, to add your comments here. If only a few people's interests are piqued enough into checking out this album, it will be well worth it. 

 

Note: The sound in this clip is obviously from an old worn LP. This is NOT the sound of the stereo re-issue! Also, there are no more spoken words on the album beyond the initial countdown of "Into Space".

 

Below is a track listing that gives you an idea of the “spaciness” of the album.

 

 

This album is available in a very recent re-issue via legitimate download from Amazon (where you can preview each track) as well as several other sources and the CD is available from Basta Music and Dusty Groove. This release is the stereo version of the album. There is also a mono version with electronic effects supervised by Mr. Garcia. The stereo version effects were not supervised by him, but is still highly recommended in any case.

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