The Lost Esquivel Album!

There appears to be a great lost Esquivel album. It's entitled "SEE IT IN SOUND". It would have followed "More of Other Worlds, Other Sounds" chronologically. From what we've heard from Neely Plumb and Esquivel, it was in the tradition of "Zounds! What Sounds", "Music from A Surplus Store", "La Dolce Henke", "Shock", etc - a sound FX laden Esquivel album, using a smaller ensemble (15 pieces). The deal on this album is that it was so weird, RCA rejected it. Absolutely refused to put it out. Meaning that, if it's that bizzare, it may be the greatest thing he ever recorded. Neely Plumb says it was amazing. At this point we're praying that it's buried somewhere deep in the RCA archives. It appears that they will finally release it if and when the tapes are found. Keep an eye on the Space Age Bachelor Pad site--if a track listing is found, it will be posted there.

This rejection by RCA may indicate why Esquivel didn't record another album for three years, although he also claims, quite truthfully, that this was the time period that he started his live show and was too busy with that (and writing for Universal) to do anything else. This was not the first or last time, either, that RCA rejected an Esquivel album. "More of Other Worlds...", released in August '62 (6 months after "Latin-Esque") was recorded by Bill Stewart's Albums Inc production company, who shopped the licensing agreement to the highest bidder, which turned out to be Reprise. Whether "See It In Sound" (which RCA payed for) was recorded before or after "More OWOS" is unknown at the moment, but it does mean that RCA rejected 2 albums, possibly in a row. Esquivel, with his Sights and Sounds band, didn't return to the studio until late '65/early '66 to record "Esquivel! Actual!", which was initially released in Latin America in June '66 ( later released in the States in January '67 as "The Genius of Esquivel"). His band returned to the studio in "67 to record his last album of the 60's, "Esquivel! 1968!". RCA U.S. chose not to pick up their option for that title, bringing Esquivel's U.S. recording career to a halt.

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