Friday Record Reviews
By John Berger,
Special to the Star-Bulletin
Friday, April 19, 1996
Anyone who caught Cruz's performance at the Wave Waikiki last month may be surprised to find that he is as good "unplugged" as he is playing high volume rock.
His album, "Acoustic Soul," comprises mostly originals and unfamiliar songs by other writers. Cruz wrote five of the songs; his sister Ernelle and friend co-wrote another. The only selection that is a blatant mainstream remake is "Sitting in Limbo," but Cruz's interpretation offers a fresh perspective, rather than a "Jawaiian" imitation of the original. A work by Kawaikapuokalani Hewett taps another facet of Cruz's heritage.
Unlike many contemporary local artists Cruz includes enough annotation to explain the personal significance of each song and share the things that inspired him as a writer. For instance, an encounter with a barroom heckler was transmuted into "Impossible Anna," an enigmatic musical snap shot of a tentative relationship.
"Island Style" was written while he was in New York City and very homesick. It's catchy and commercial in a low-intensity way, and expresses the sentiments of many expatriate Hawaiians. His Jimmy Cliff remake may be the song that gets the play on local "island music" radio, and "Island Style" makes a memorable calling card.
The Cruz Brothers may eventually record together, but "Acoustic Soul" makes it clear that John would be a talent to watch even if he was an only child.
SINGER-SONGWRITER Rachel Victoria formally introduces herself with a 10-song sampler of original work. In addition to writing all the songs, she did the arrangements, sang all the vocal tracks, and played keyboards, bass and drums. The result is a musical curiosity most likely to appeal to adventurous explorers who are open to synthesizer-based rock performed by unknown artists.A majority of the songs tell of lost love, rejection and loneliness while only rarely utilizing memorable melodic or rhythmic hooks. Her vocal style can aptly be described as "soul-less melancholy."
Faster and harder tempos occasionally assert themselves. Guitarist Robert Cameron adds shards of texture; "Thunder" closes the album on a heavier note and Cameron contributes considerably to the impact of the arrangement.
The title track could be a sizzler if arranged and recorded by a vocalist with the gritty intensity of an Alannah Myles, Bonnie Tyler or Jennifer Barber.
However, if the songwriter chooses to serve up a sex song with all the heat of southern Tasmania in July who's to argue? Sex can be a pretty chilling experience these days.
WHEN a local label rereleases an album offering only 26 minutes of music at local CD list prices, the least it can do is add information left off the original."Waimea Cowboy" lacks song lyrics, English translations and liner notes that would give the buyer some information on the artist who recorded it, Sonny Chillingworth.
The recordings apparently date from 1964; at least that's the date on the liner notes. The annotation offers some vague stream-of-consciousness musings on the general mystic wonderfulness of slack-key, but next to nothing on Chillingworth himself.
New arrivals who know him only as one of the now-departed grand old men of slack-key may be surprised to discover how good he was 30 years ago. He was clearly a master of the instrument; his voice was as romantic as his music. What a heartthrob he was!
It's too bad that there's nothing on the exterior of the disc to inform tourists browsing the record bins who he was or all he accomplished. Nor are his musicians and female vocalist identified. It's a sad contrast to the packaging of "Sonny Solo," the album released by Dancing Cat in 1994.
Hardcore slack-key fans will want this album for their disc collections. The music is beautiful, and the performances are classics, but the label should give the buyers more for their money.