This classic gem is the product of David Rose, whose masterpiece track “The Stripper” was originally composed in 1958 for a television show called “Burlesque.” The first seven notes, big and brassy, are recognizable to anyone even peripherally aware of popular culture as *the* definitive piece of music to which pretty girls gradually fling their clothes about the stage. You can practically see the fringe twirling. “Back to the Future” fans will also recognize track two, Night Train, as a particularly sleazy arrangement of the song featured prominently during the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

The prolific Mr. Rose was briefly married to Judy Garland and composed music for television, film, and Broadway, including the theme for “Bonanza” and on the TV series “Little House on the Prairie.” Still, “The Stripper” remains one of his most memorable and recognizable pieces of music. Incidentally, I think the title is a little creepy: other fun songs for the family? Maybe in the fifties parents took their kids to burlesque shows all the time, but I don’t generally associate stripping with a fun family activity. Still, it’s a great record, so enjoy.

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I was going to post Lenny Dee’s ‘Something Special’ for my first album, but when doing a search to see what year it was released, I found another blogger who had it on theirs. Fine. I’ll just have a fiesta!

“Fiesta!” (shouldn’t it be “¡Fiesta!”?) is a four-record compilation put out by Reader’s Digest featuring the Latin stylings of various Mexican and Cuban orchestras and leaders. I love the idea of something so mundane as Reader’s Digest putting out these amazing compilations, and these WASP-y suburbanites blasting out mambo from their console hi-fi at dinner parties.  These were the days when there were ballrooms, band leaders, and “going dancing” didn’t just mean crowding a dark, drunken room and moving vaguely around to loud techno.  There was an art to it, and the mambo, salsa, cha cha, and all their other permutations requested a style and grace.  Heck, it’s just fun.
I bought this set a few years ago, complete with forms you could mail to RD to send copies of the set to your friends. This is disc one. Side A of disc one is entitled “Golden Hits from Latin America,” and Side B is called “Rio by Moonlight.” Enjoy.
¡Download!