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Island Mele
Friday, April 13, 2001
Hawaii reggae pioneer Butch Helemano was into reggae well before the Jawaiian/island music boom of the early '90s. He was also one of the few who understood the relationship between Rastafari and Judeo-Christian scripture. Helemano was unique in refusing for years to record remakes and generally put his vision of artistic integrity ahead of commercial success. He seemed to be opting out of the island music scene for several years. This album -- more reggae than Jawaiian -- is a powerful bid for a bigger role here. The Promised Land
Butch Helemano & The Players of Instruments (Eighth Wonder EWR2001)Anyone familiar with Helemano's music will instantly see "Next Time" as the key song since it falls outside his usual basic reggae format. "Promised Land" and "Soulful Feeling" share Rastafari social consciousness, and "One Love" is the definitive dance number, but the smooth urban-pop sound of "Next Time" is something new and different. Helemano is still a guy to watch!
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Promised Land
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The Krush was a struggling local Top 40 band when Yemun Chung took over as manager in 1977 and changed the name to "Fabulous Krush." Five years and many personnel changes later they were headlining the Outrigger Main Showroom and enjoying huge success as a Hoku Award-winning pop group. Their Greatest Hits
The Krush (Bluewater BWCD 1098)The Krush broke up after Chung resigned as manager. He and Krush leader Edwin Ramones have reformed the band twice since. The cover art on this album shows the modern Krush but all the "greatest hits" here were recorded by the original Krush of 20 years ago. That makes it problematic.
This is a convenient repackaging of memories from three of the four original Krush albums, but while Hal Bradbury and Bobby Gonzales are heard singing lead on most of the songs that made the band a local super group in the '80s, it seems quite petty that they're not mentioned anywhere on it.
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Singer/songwriter Robbie Larey introduces herself with a collection of sophisticated pop tunes that deserves a national audience. "Black Velvet" is the one notable remake. Larey does a nice job with the Alannah Myles hit. It must be a personal favorite since her originals also show that she can rock as well as purr. Peeling Layers of Debris
Robbie Larey (Park Row PR0001)Larey sings with smokey ambience that attracts without sounding affected. The seductive sound on her softer tunes brings to mind Deana Carter and Lisa Stansfield. "Black Velvet" and "Wait For You" hit all the harder for being so different from the others.
Larey shares credit with John Basebase and Vernon Sakata for the imaginative arrangements that add other diverse textures to her work.
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See Record Reviews for some 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 Today
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.
