Take It Off!: Striptease Classics (CD, Apr-1997, Rhino)

Album Features
UPC:	081227272425
Format:	CD
Release Year:	1997
Record Label:	Rhino
Genre:	R&B, Soul

Track Listing
1. Stripper, The - David Rose & His Orchestra
2. For Strippers Only - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
3. Shivas Regal (Theme for Gypsy) - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
4. Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody, A - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
5. Lament - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
6. Blues to Strip By - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
7. Walkin' & Strippin' - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
8. Bumps & Grinds - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
9. Lonely Little G-String - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
10. Big Millie from Philly - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
11. Late Late Show, The - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
12. Perfume and Pink Chiffon - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
13. Swingin' Shepherd Blues - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
14. Lullaby of Birdland - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
15. More Bumps and Grinds - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
16. Strip Poker - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
17. Stripper's Holiday - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
18. Woman, A - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
19. Play the Blues for Masie - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
20. How Mable Get Sable Cha Cha Cha - Sonny Lester & His Orchestra
21. Take It Off - Genteels
22. Pad - Bobby G. Summers

Details
Distributor:	WEA (Distributor)
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Reissue/Compilation producers: Andrea Kinloch, Jill Ruzich, James Austin.Includes liner notes by Eddie Gorodetsky.Audio Remasterers: Chris Clarke; Geoff Sykes.Liner Note Authors: Eddie Gorodetsky; Gary Peterson .Illustrator: Gil Elvgren.Photographers: Paula Klaw; Peter Gowland.David Rose's "The Stripper," with its now instantly recognizable bump-and-grind blare, was a fluke number one hit in 1962. It leads off this collection of early-'60s instrumental music specifically made (and, more to the point, marketed) with burlesque titillation in mind. Roulette Records was spurred to devise two entire instrumental LPs of "The Stripper"-styled music, titled Ann Curio Presents: How to Strip for Your Husband/Music to Make Your Marriage Merrier and Ann Curio Presents: More How to Strip for Your Husband, Vol. 2/Music to Make Marriage Merrier. These were performed by the obscure Sonny Lester & His Orchestra; indeed, as material from those two LPs comprises 19 of this CD's 22 tracks, you might as well consider this a Sonny Lester compilation, rather than a general striptease one. It's as silly and harmlessly fun as you'd expect, with winking, showbizzy horn lines and sultry rhythms that look to "The Stripper" for inspiration, but aren't quite as memorable as that hit single. "The Stripper" is available on numerous compilations, and that sole track should satisfy most consumers. The disc does tack on a couple of singles in the strip mold: the Genteels' "Take It Off" (1962) has twangy guitar lines out of Duane Eddy, and Bobby Summers' "Pad" (1962) has more stuttering, modern rhythms than the ones deployed by Lester and Rose. ~ Richie Unterberger