Eden Ahbez

Edens Island And Beyond Eden Ahbez

? Widely perceived as California's prototype Hippie, the enigmatic, eternally-cool EDEN AHBEZ was an occasional songwriter and musician, who suddenly shot to fame in 1948 when Nat King Cole topped the US charts with 'Nature Boy', a song he'd written a year or so earlier.

? He subsequently became a cult figure, who continued to write and produce, sporadically, in a wide range of musical styles, throughout the 1950s.

? In 1960 he recorded a one-off LP, "EDEN'S ISLAND", which juxtaposed beatnik poetry with Exotica, and has gone on to become regarded as a benchmark album of the Exotica genre.

? This unique compilation reissues the LP, plus a non-album B-side and an outtake, alongside sixteen further bonus tracks of other artists singing/playing his songs, including Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Eartha Kitt, Frankie Laine, Sam Cooke, etc.

? It hardly needs adding that some serious rarities are contained herein, which have never previously appeared on CD.