Yma Sumac
A singer with an amazing four-octave range, Yma Sumac was said to have been a descendant of Inca kings, an Incan princess that was one of the Golden Virgins. Her offbeat stylings became a phenomenon of early-'50s pop music. While her album covers took advantage of her strange costumes and voluptuous figure, rumors abounded that she was, in actuality, a housewife named Amy Camus. It mattered little because there has been no one like her before or since in the annals of popular music.
According to the Sumac legend, she was the sixth child of an Indian mother and an In...[more]
Sumac's first and most popular release, and also one of her least hokey or pop-oriented. That's not to say it's without its mass-appeal elements, especially in the arrangements, conducted by Les Baxter. Originally issued as a 10-inch LP, the latest CD reissue combines the eight tracks with the eight others contained on another of her early albums, Inca Taqui. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
CD $11.38
The Ultimate Yma Sumac Collection may very well live up to its title; at the very least, it's likely the most comprehensive overview of her recordings yet assembled. Therefore, the question is, is it better to go with a collection (which contains three previously unreleased cuts and four rare stereo mixes) or an official album, namely her Voice of the Xtabay, which Richie Unterberger calls her "first and most popular release." Since that first album isn't quite as pop-oriented as some of the materi [ read more ]
CD $11.38
Capitol got on top of two '50s fads at once by issuing an album of Sumac tackling mambo. Yma (characteristically) held nothing back, and the result was one of her more enjoyable LPs, with respectably swinging mambo grooves crafted by Billy May. "Five Bottles Mambo" is one of her most astonishing vocal workouts, dropping into guttural growls that are downright bestial, and making one wonder how exactly they got away with that in the conservative milieu of the 1950s. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Musi [ read more ]
CD $11.38
Even those who find Sumac unbearable would have to admit that she was nothing if not adaptable. Fuego Del Ande has her interpreting South American folk songs with characteristic panache, although it's not one of her better '50s albums. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
CD $11.38
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