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Island Mele John Berger |
"Kaulupono"
Poki
The influence of Ho'okena and the Brothers Cazimero can be heard in the smooth harmonies and crisp acoustic arrangements on 'Ale'a's beautiful third album, but the trio's growing confidence as singers and songwriters is evident throughout. 'Ale'a performs 13 Hawaiian and hapa-haole songs here and does well by all of them.
For instance, Ryan Gonzalez's banjo adds a distinctive timbre to "E Kiss Kaua," and guitarist Chad Takatsugi displays salacious wit as a lyricist with an original song about an oyster, "He Mele Na Ka Pipi Palupalu."
The group, however, has mixed results with pop tunes. The trio brings nothing new to the Eagles' hit, "The Best of My Love," but with support from John Cruz on harmonica, Greg Sardinha on dobro, and an 18-voice choir, 'Ale'a successfully step outside their comfort zone on "Long As I Can See the Light."
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"Roots Music"
Quiet Storm
PRODUCER John Ierolino introduced a new idea to the the local record industry several years ago when he began sweetening generic anthology albums with rarities leased from national or international labels. This album contained two or three such classics, along with recycled material from local artists, when Iervolino first released it in 1999. Now, he's introducing a new gimmick by reissuing it, this time with four additional songs
Shinehead's "Golden Touch" should be available on other CDs, but roots reggae fans hunting for "Good's Gonna Happen" by Sahra Indio, "Speak To Me/Breath (In The Air)" by the Easy All-Stars, or "Warriors" by Ky-mani Marley, will find 'em here.
(Buyer beware!: The reissue's cover art and serial number is the same as the original version, so be sure to get the reissue with 17 songs.)
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"The Panini Collection"
Panini
Panini was a major label during the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s and quickly rose to rank even with Don McDiarmid's Hula Records and Jack de Mello's Music of Polynesia labels in presenting the music of cutting edge artists of the era. Panini's roster included the Sons of Hawaii, Gabby Pahinui, the Sunday Manoa and the Peter Moon Band, and this 13-song anthology is a perfect retrospective. It covers not only the albums Panini released before going dormant in the mid-1980s, but also Steve Siegfried's later projects with the Pahinui Brothers and Randy Lorenzo in the 1990s.
Siegfried has devoted the same attention to detail here that he and his partners were known for in the past. Almost every song is a biggie, and the liner notes include not only the history of the album each recording came from, but performance credits for the individual song as well.
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