Post #480132 by bigbrotiki on Sat, Aug 29, 2009 10:57 AM

I can't concur here. And I didn't think they were that common... In 2007 Jeff Central had this to say about it:

On 2007-05-13 03:54, Jeff Central wrote:
I have never seen a picture of ALL three cover variations before. Very nice!
Who has the elusive 4th cover? And while I'm at it who has one for sale? This album is extremely difficult to find in ANY version.

I guess Ohio is far away from Southern California, where Page plied his trade. I sure hope Jeff owns one by now :) The album in question and its four restaurant-specific versions:

Though Paul has put out about 4 other obscure albums, such as this:

...the Ports of call/Castaway/Reef one above is his best effort, where almost every song is a gem. He indeed is an heir to Blanding in terms of pure corny schmalz, but it is not the cliched texts that make his music so endearing to me, it's his theatrical recital of them, mostly done in a deep speaking voice, not sung, as if Johnny Cash or Criswell are singing Aloha-eh. Some of the tracks on the album are more chorus-heavy, but who can resist such clear and simple invitations such as "Let's have Luau, a Luau, a Luau, with lots of Fish and Poi!"

Just like Eden Ahbez is the missing link between the Lounge and the Hippie generation, between Sinatra and Jefferson Airplane, so Paul Page is the link between Hapa Haole and Exotica. Though his style IS pre-Tiki Hapa Haole, he adapted it and added bird sounds (mostly seagulls) and exotic percussion instruments to his slide guitar sound.

And like Eden Ahbez, he put in words some of the basic themes of Polynesian pop. The naive charme of America's love affair with Polynesia oozes out of this record.