There were already a couple fine Yma Sumac collections on the market when The Sun Virgin appeared in 2006. The songs are all culled from basically the same source material: her legendary Capitol sessions from the '50s, so choosing between them boils down to track selection and liner notes. And with that criteria, The Sun Virgin goes to the head of the class. At a generous 27 tracks (more than any other compilation) it has tracks from four of her five Capitol albums (including most of Voice of the Xtabay), as well as her ...
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There were already a couple fine Yma Sumac collections on the market when The Sun Virgin appeared in 2006. The songs are all culled from basically the same source material: her legendary Capitol sessions from the '50s, so choosing between them boils down to track selection and liner notes. And with that criteria, The Sun Virgin goes to the head of the class. At a generous 27 tracks (more than any other compilation) it has tracks from four of her five Capitol albums (including most of Voice of the Xtabay), as well as her only Capitol single. It's also got two tracks recorded in 1943 in Peru that were reworked and retitled on later albums, providing a glimpse of her very early career that the other compilations don't offer. Finally, there are excellent track-by-track descriptions that provide a bit of analysis of the songs, as well as historical details and a brief biography of her early career. If you're unfamiliar with the amazing talents of the utterly unique Yma Sumac, this is an excellent place to start. ~ Sean Westergaard, Rovi
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