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"Hawaii's Rock 'N' Roll
-- The '60s"

Various artists
TMP

This long-awaited anthology will resonate with anyone who grew up listening to "Uncle Tom" Moffatt on "Boss Radio K-POI" in the mid-1960s. Moffatt recorded some of these tracks in a local nightclub and others at the K-POI studios. They include some of the top cover bands of the day, several Ventures-style instrumental acts, and Linda Green's timeless pop hit, "My Little Japanese Boy." Other songs became local hits as well, making this anthology one of the hot local releases of the season.

Green's song is the most professional-sounding by far, but garage band fans will enjoy the work of the Val Richards V, the Spirits, the Undertakers and the Casuals, all of whom recorded "live" at the Funny Farm in front of an enthusiastic audience.

Vintage band photos and the station's old "poi boy" logo add to the mid-'60s ambience.

No contact information

Mpeg Audio Clips: "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" "Double Shot" "My Little Japanese Boy" Quicktime | RealPlayer | MPEG-3 info

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"At Christmas --
A Legacy Series Volume III"

Faithfully Yours
Faithfully Yours Productions

Faithfully Yours' third album celebrates Christmas with an assortment of Christian and secular songs that captures the spiritual and secular aspects of the season in equal measure. Producer and musical director Noe Kimi Buchanan evidently adds and subtracts members on an album-by-album basis, and the group here is a de facto quintet, with engineer Charles Recaido playing guitar and bass.

Two- and three-part harmonies are the group's strengths, whether they're doing conventional seasonal material or something a bit more tangential, such as "Moments to Remember." Boyson Brown and Bobo Brown trade off with Buchanan in sharing lead vocals. Marlene Sai and Vicki V do nicely as guests on three key tracks, but Buchanan's unfortunate penchant for using synth-tracks as sonic filler diminishes the traditionalist "legacy" concept she mentions in the liner notes.

No contact information

Mpeg Audio Clips: "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" "Must Be Santa" "Merry Christmas Darling" Quicktime | RealPlayer | MPEG-3 info

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"The Contents of Truth"

Native Blend
Flyin' Hawaiian Productions

Is it already time to revisit the reggae-lite Jawaiian sound of the early 1990s? Native Blend's beautifully produced album revives the pseudo-Jamaican posturing of Na Waiho'olu'u O Ke Anuenue, Bob St. John's admirable but unsuccessful efforts to get something imaginative out of the group Reality, and Matt Young's Caribbean-fantasy girl group, Sistah Sistah. Do we really want to go there again?

But give Native Blend credit for being defiantly non-PC as songwriters. "Drink It Up" extols the cosumption of alcoholic beverages."Dem People Who Smoke De Pakalolo" needs no further explanation. Two other songs deliver basic anti-war messages.

Jawaiian remakes are rarely worth hearing, but producer Lester Gantan's take on "I'll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me" is one such rarity. "The final song, "Two Souls Unite" shows Gantan's pop-lite side with a gentle love song.

www.flyinhawn.com

Mpeg Audio Clips: "Drink It Up" "De People Smoke Da Pakalolo" Title Quicktime | RealPlayer | MPEG-3 info