Ebay has been good lately. 
I'm glad I waited out the lounge music craze, as Esquivel pickings are a lot cheaper today than they were in the past few years. Over the past month, I've hit on some nice items to add to my collection. The only thing I don't yet have is the CD reissue of Latin-Esque. Something I need to remedy w/o paying a small fortune.
First, I won an auction for what I think was Esquivel's first LP, the Mexican album Actual. It arrived last week. It's an RCA reissue, and it's a bit noisy, but I can tell it was from wiping it down with some kind of rag. The vinyl looks shiny and there are no visible scratches or scuffs at all. The music surprisingly is a little closer to the type he'd record in the U.S. starting with Other Worlds, Other Sounds.
Two days ago, I got a reissue LP that is, in effect, Las Tandas de Juan Garcia Esquivel, his second Mexican album. I have this on a very beaten up vinyl copy my mother brought back from Mexico in 1960. This one's more of a big band type of album, strung together with applause and a master of ceremonies introducing each song, much like his old radio show. The reissue LP I got is on the Otra label, which is either a Camden-like division of RCA, or it was licensed from RCA, reissued in 1980. I was concerned that this LP would sound chopped up since the track order was rearranged, but they appeared to have gone back to the master tapes to get only the musical performances and not the applause or emcee. I still may want an original Las Tandas but at least I now have the music...the LP is very clean, and thankfully they did not use FAKE stereo!
Today, I got three 45RPM singles I won on Ebay...all three are, again, early Mexican releases on RCA. One's even a "Record Prevue"...a promo copy. Titles:
Siboney/Hornblowers Serenade
Port-Au-Prince/To Love Again
Nightingale/Jungle Drums
The Ebay seller had short samples of these online, and based on what I heard, and what these look like, they'll play like new. They look new!
Ended up with three really nice scores here. Anxiously waiting for some Disc Doctor fluid to roll in here so I can clean these up and transfer to CD. Neat listening during some of my cross-town drives!
I'm glad I waited out the lounge music craze, as Esquivel pickings are a lot cheaper today than they were in the past few years. Over the past month, I've hit on some nice items to add to my collection. The only thing I don't yet have is the CD reissue of Latin-Esque. Something I need to remedy w/o paying a small fortune.First, I won an auction for what I think was Esquivel's first LP, the Mexican album Actual. It arrived last week. It's an RCA reissue, and it's a bit noisy, but I can tell it was from wiping it down with some kind of rag. The vinyl looks shiny and there are no visible scratches or scuffs at all. The music surprisingly is a little closer to the type he'd record in the U.S. starting with Other Worlds, Other Sounds.
Two days ago, I got a reissue LP that is, in effect, Las Tandas de Juan Garcia Esquivel, his second Mexican album. I have this on a very beaten up vinyl copy my mother brought back from Mexico in 1960. This one's more of a big band type of album, strung together with applause and a master of ceremonies introducing each song, much like his old radio show. The reissue LP I got is on the Otra label, which is either a Camden-like division of RCA, or it was licensed from RCA, reissued in 1980. I was concerned that this LP would sound chopped up since the track order was rearranged, but they appeared to have gone back to the master tapes to get only the musical performances and not the applause or emcee. I still may want an original Las Tandas but at least I now have the music...the LP is very clean, and thankfully they did not use FAKE stereo!
Today, I got three 45RPM singles I won on Ebay...all three are, again, early Mexican releases on RCA. One's even a "Record Prevue"...a promo copy. Titles:
Siboney/Hornblowers Serenade
Port-Au-Prince/To Love Again
Nightingale/Jungle Drums
The Ebay seller had short samples of these online, and based on what I heard, and what these look like, they'll play like new. They look new!
Ended up with three really nice scores here. Anxiously waiting for some Disc Doctor fluid to roll in here so I can clean these up and transfer to CD.
Neat listening during some of my cross-town drives!
