Imagination flavors
‘Tastee’ rapsTastee: SKI featuring G-Smooth (Swing Flava Music)
FEW local rappers succeed at being more than imitations of the real thing. Hawaii-born SKI is an exception. He sounds real throughout this 15-song album.
SKI raised the standards for local rap as SKI-103 in 1993 with his catchy safe sex anthem, "Hole Stroller" ("It only takes one 'ho/To put you on death row"). He has deleted the "103" to signal his artistic growth since then and proves the point with a diverse palette of rap and "urban" music. Many of his originals are as good as the mainland jams getting major play on Hawaii's contemporary hits radio stations.
SKI proves imaginative and resourceful as a rapper, lyricist and arranger. The live sax of musician/composer G-Smooth adds textures usually missing in local rap. The duo is a creative team to watch.
Touch: Wayne Takamine (Starsong Productions)
WAYNE Takamine's second album is a conglomeration of folk rockish originals and routine pop chart remakes. Instrumental renditions of five old European melodies and "Jesu Meke Kanaka Wai Wai" follow the other stuff. Takamine isn't the only guy in town who plays classical music on guitar but his interpretations are worth hearing. So are three originals: "Ocean Breeze," "Thoughts Of You" and Hopes & Dreams (Radio Remix)."
A Japanese song, "Shima Uta," adds depth and diversity. Local pop remakes of songs done better by Three Dog Night and Christopher Cross do not. Takamine's take on Mason William's 1968 hit, "Classical Gas," lacks the strength and texture of the original; more live instruments and less synthetics would have improved it.
Live At The Contemporary Cafe: Shoji Ledward (Guitar Monster Studio)
GOOD local jazz albums are always a rarity. The artistry of guitarist Shoji Ledward and acoustic bassist Dave Snider is one of these rare gems. All but one of the selections is a standard. Ledward and Snider do justice to all of them. Engineer Milan Bertosa enhances the performance by capturing just enough audience noise to create the "live" ambience.
See Record Reviews for some of John Berger's past reviews.
See Aloha Worldwide for locals living away.
John Berger, who has covered the local
entertainment scene since 1972, writes reviews of recordings
produced by Hawaii artists. See the Star-Bulletin's Home Zone
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.
