Music for Maniacs blog presents the lost-lost “Exotic Sounds of Tiki Gardens” album

Tiki Gardens was a home-grown tourist attraction started by Frank and Jo Byars which used to be located on Florida's west coast. Developed over the course of a decade in the 1960s, the attraction closed in 1990 and was eventually demolished and turned into a beach access parking lot.

One of the more interesting souvenirs to come from the attraction was this record album, "Exotic Sounds of Tiki Gardens." The LP is surprisingly rare and sells easily for more than $200 when they appear on eBay. Given the name, I had always imagined it to be filled with lush Martin Denny-like arrangements and was both shocked and intrigued to find that the album is largely a narrated description of the park's attractions (done very squarely by Frank Byars himself) intermixed with hapa haole and Hawaiian standards performed on the organ.

The album has been out of print for some time. Many years ago, tiki aficionado Swanky of the Swank Pad had offered the album for download on his site but was threatened by someone purported to be the copyright holder, who claimed to be preparing the tracks for commercial re-release. It never happened. Now the music blog Music for Maniacs is offering a rip of the album for download, so take my advice and get this curiosity while you can.

Download Exotic Sounds of Tiki Gardens at Music for Maniacs

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Tiki Gardens on eBay:

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