Club members
reunite for fine workReunion: The Pandanus Club (Hala Records)
KENNETH Makuakane's 1984 "Mango Season" album with Carl Villaverde established him as a recording artist, but it was the Pandanus Club that made him a Hoku Award winner. A number of talented artists have passed through the Club in the last decade. This aptly titled album reunites 10 of them.
This isn't a "greatest hits" project. There's a standard or two, but most of the songs are new compositions by Makuakane and Randy Ngum. "Ho'oheno I Ka Pu'uwai" and "Na Pua Hiwahiwa" are instantly notable, but none of the 15 selections is a throwaway.
Makuakane, Gary Haleamau, Chris Keliiaa, Roddy Lopez, Puanani Makuakane, Jeff Rasmussen and Glen Smith all have showcase vocal numbers; Ngum is featured chanter on "Ka Makani Kolonahe Ko'olau" (Alden Levi adds background vocals; steel guitarist Kalama Koanui completes the roster).
"Reunion" is a beautiful celebration of contemporary Hawaiian music. The lyrics are Hawaiian. The arrangements stretch from falsetto to acoustic swing. Makuakane uses synthetic keyboard effects in a couple of arrangements but avoids the thin low-budget whine so often heard in local recordings. He and his Club do great work throughout.
Photos, song lyrics, English translations, and comprehensive credits complete one of the year's most significant Hawaiian albums.
We Are Only Human (Hot House Mix): Sunland (Universal) 12-inch vinyl record
THE latest chapter in the Sunland saga is a limited release "Hot House Mix" remix of the song that launched the group as a national recording act.
Composer/producers Henry and Peter Bergstrom offer yet another fresh perspective on this song; it should be getting play in Hawaii's progressive dance clubs as of tonight. (Universal will rerelease it on an anthology titled "Dance Across the Universe" next month.)
Hawaiian Reflections: Richard Kauhi (Waikiki Records)
LAST year's HanaOla Records Kalima Brothers/Richard Kauhi Quartette anthology made Kauhi's earliest recordings available on compact disc. This 13-song album dates from sometime after "the mid-1950s" but buyers will find no further information on when and where he recorded it. (The annotation mentions him in the present tense; he died of lung cancer in 1979.)
Kauhi was a memorable vocalist and innovative pianist who incorporated jazz nuances into Hawaiian and hapa-haole standards. The timeless beauty of these numbers transcends the anonymous producer's failure to properly repackage this album for release on disc.
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.
See Record Reviews for some of John Berger's past reviews.
