Eden's Island

Eden Ahbez

I'm very lucky. Found this minty stereo copy for $3 at a local record swap. Man, that was cool.

Legendary album that lives up to all the hype and is a true masterpiece of Exotica.

Eden Ahbez was a notorious Hollywood figure in the '50s credited as one of the first hippies years before "hippie" became a household word. Story goes that he rode around town on a jerry-rigged bicycle in the day and slept under the Hollywood sign at night. In 1948 the eccentric poet penned the lyrics to "Nature Boy" that would go on to become a #1 hit for Nat King Cole. These lyrics were offered to Nat on a crumpled napkin outside one of his concerts. Ahbez went from being the Town Freak to being the Talented Town Freak. Royalty money from that song was funneled into this, his magnum opus.

Imagine if Jack Kerouac had met Martin Denny on a desert island and recorded an album. Ahbez recites his poetry and plays flute over an exotic score he wrote painting a dreamy portrait of a Utopian island paradise where free-love abounds and "all men walk as brothers". A strange and beautiful work and an album that's mandatory listening for fans of the esoteric. This was reissued on CD from the Del-Fi label. Go find one.