Hawaii-born Arthur Lyman joined with Martin Denny to invent “exotica” on the latter’s 1957 debut album. Exotica combined the melodic sounds of the islands with unusual percussion (notably the scratching sound of the guiro), pop changes, and human-voiced bird calls to create a soundtrack to the late ‘50s fascination with all things tiki. As a vibraphonist, Lyman’s jazz background added an element of cool to Denny’s classical training. Splitting after their debut release, Lyman created a new quartet and recorded dozens of exotica-inflected albums for the Hi-Fi, Life and Crescendo labels. Collectors’ Choice latest series of reissues gathers eighteen of Lyman’s releases from Hi-Fi and Life, fits them two per CD, includes full-panel reproductions of both album covers, adds a full-panel back cover and new liner notes from Scram’s Kim Cooper and David Smay.Lyman kicked off 1966 with his nineteenth original album (a greatest hits was issued in late 1965), and the song selection followed his familiar pattern: a few show and film tunes, a few folk and native melodies, and a few pop hits, mostly arranged this time with exotica at the edges, and light jazz and blues at the center. Opening the record is the 1960's folk title "Lemon Tree," with the Brazilian feel of its original 1930s origin still intact. The group provides a superb stereo arrangement of the main title from "Fiddler on the Roof," with deep bass and flute placed stage center and a percussion spread that gives way to a whirling dervish of piano and vibes. From the world of film, the Oscar-nominated Henry Mancini title tune "Dear Heart" is sweet and gentle, while a medley of Sherman and Sherman tunes from "Mary Poppins" (including "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious") ranges from Vince Guaraldi cool to spooky late-night chill to a Disney-manic. The album's pop hits include "A Taste of Honey," which hit for Herb Alpert in’65, but dates in the exotica world back to Martin Denny’s 1962 waxing; more interesting is the nostalgic "Only Yesterday," rendered as an island-toned instrumental that's nearly unrecognizable as the song recorded in upbeat vocal form by the Four Seasons in 1964.Island favorites include "The Boy From Laupahoehoe," a song closely associated with Hawaii Calls regular Bill Kaiwa, and "Waimea Cowboy," best known by slack key master Sonny Chillingworth. The former is picked on ukulele and guitar before Lyman picks up the melody on vibraphone, the latter is played as swinging jazz, with cascading piano runs and cymbal accents. Also rendered as jazz is "The (Jungle) Cat," with a "What'd I Say" bass line supporting go-go bass and vibes. Mainlanders Frank Metis and Randy Starr provide "Kon Tiki," originally recorded by the songwriters in 1960 as The Islanders; an ironic group name given that Starr was from The Bronx. Their melody provides a wide-eyed search for adventure, ala The Sandals' music for "The Endless Summer." Also from the continent is Alfred Newman and Ken Darby's "Ports of Paradise," with a descending melody that seems borrowed from Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart." Lyman's resonant vibraphone gives the song a terrific tropic drift. Closing the LP is a rare original, "Bird Train," with Lyman's manic playing shadowed by equally energetic piano and percussion.Lyman's second of three albums in 1966 is titled after the oft-covered Grammy-winning "The Shadow of Your Smile," drawn from the film "The Sandpiper" (for which it also won an Oscar). Lyman plays it as a gentle bossa nova, allowing his vibraphone notes to sustain as the melody floats out. Also drawn from film is the title theme to 1964's "Zorba the Greek," replete with its trademark tempo-escalating dance sequence, and a medley of songs from 1965's The Sound of Music." The pop charts are represented by covers of The Beatles' "Yesterday" and The McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy," the former schmaltzy, the latter souped up with drums and piano. Back in the islands, Don Ho's "E Lei Ka Lei Lei (The Beach Party Song)" includes wordless vocals that provide a sense of how this sing-a-long revved up the crowds at luaus, "Kamalani O Keaukaha" is warm and smooth, the martial "Imua Kamehameha" (a Hawaiian football favorite) provides a chance to rock the chimes, and "Marobi" gets the full exotica treatment. One of the sets more bittersweet stories is "I'll Remember You," written in 1966 by Kui Lee, a Shanghai-born child of Hawaiian entertainers. The song was quickly covered by Tony Bennett, Andy Williams and others, but Lee passed away within the year.Both albums continue Lyman's broad reach for songs, and though neither album stands out in particular relief from the catalog, they both make for good listening. The sound on "Lyman '66" is a bit disappointing, with distortion heard in some of Lyman's vibraphone passages, and an audible skip at the 1'32 mark of "The Boy From Laupahoehoe." [©2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]