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110 minutes long. Let me set the god damn record straight, and to anyone not in the know let me explain. Fire Maidens of Outer Space is a bad British movie from the 50s. Some have called this movie the worst of all time, I wouldn't argue. At times painfull, this movie has always fascinated me, because it is just so, bizzare, and badly done. But what bothers me about this film that I want to set straight is its title and release date. Most people call this film Fire Maidens from Outer Space and give it a release date of either 1954, 55, 56, or 58 (I haven't seen a 57 or a 59, yet). This movie was released in Britian in 1955 with the title (and on-screen title of) Fire Maidens of Outer Space. The films American release was in 9/6/1956 and was retitled Fire Miadens from Outer Space. There, got all that, I just had to get that off my chest. The gist of the plot is, a bunch of "astro-nots" land on Jupiter's 13th moon, where they find new Atlantis, a ton of flora, and some very hot fauna in the forms of the buxom Fire Maidens, and the "Black God". Some really skinny guy in a full body black leotard with a black mask on that resembles the face of the martians in the old Outer Limits episode "Nightmare". I can say I have watched this movie more than anyone on Earth (at least 15 or so times) and I just had to celebrate it's badness. I am tired of this film just getting panned, it is not just boring tripe, it is hypnotizingly bad tripe, often amusing and with one of the most unforgettable dance scenes in 1950s cinema history. The Fire Maidens doing their interpretive dance to Borodin's Stranger in Paradise. A staggering scene. "Quiet, I hear the strains of Borodin. There must be fire maidens close by!"
...An actual quote from this movie, I couldn't make something this good up. So you can see I just had to make a mix album dedicated to this movie. I wanted to use music roughly from around the same time period (40s-60s) and it just so happened I wanted to make an exotica/lounge mix album for a while too. So I gathered up a bunch of exotica/lounge tracks that suited this film and weaved them together into what I think tells the story of the film, with some tracks deviating slightly because I just had to put them in. All in all my proud contribution to the greatness/badness of Fire Maidens OF, OF, Outer Space. This exotica/lounge mix is dominated heavily by Les Baxter, because Les IS exotica/lounge music. Along with a handful of Martin Denny tracks, that man could put together some great sounds. Dean Elliott's genius Lonesome Road and You're the Top from Zounds! What Sounds! cement the middle of the second side. April Stevens has the only vocal here with Teach Me Tiger, but other tracks like Lolita Ya Ya offer vocal sounds and rhythms, not mentioning what Yma Sumac adds with Babalu and Wimoweh. And the album opener with Les and Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman at the theremin on Moon Moods is unstoppable. Any exotica/lounge fan should seek out most of the tracks I have used here, truly great exotica/lounge material, and an overlooked genre with lots of amazing artists. In closing I give to you this link http://www.womwam.net/rl/1956/Fire%20Maidens/

lots of great pictures here of the Fire Maidens, enjoy!

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