A few more recent vinyl pick-ups:
Really bizarre German LP consisting of six medleys of Euro-Polynesian ditties. It's a 1972 LP, and honestly it sounds kind of like The Ray Conniff Singers on an acid trip...there's hand clapping, fuzz guitar, moog synthesizer...kind of a "wall of Hawaiianish sound."
From Japan, a strange LP again. Not sure what they concept is here for "Home Songs 16: Hawaiian Songs" by The Tokyo pop Orchestra and Crystal Vocal College.Side One is Hawaiian, side two has seemingly random songs on it ending with The Battle Hymn Of The Republic..seriously. There's a killer version of "Hawaiian War Chant" sung in Japanese, and an odd song with drumming called "A Song Of Samoa Island."
Another LP from the prolific Swedish steel guitar player and "singer" Yngve Stoor. I really wish had wouldn't have sung on his records as the steel playing is nice, but the singing...ugh. Oddly, this one has no tittle of the front, but on the back it's called "Snackans Sang", which as far as I can figure out from online translating, is probably something like "Seashell Song."
A pop/cultural icon on Guam, Johnny Sablan, and his LP "My Chamorrans." Chamorrans are the indigenous people of Gum, as opposed to Guamanians, which is the general population regardless of ethnicity. The LPs in OK condition, the jackets kind of trashed, but his records are WAY expensive when they are listed online, so I grabbed this thrift store cheapo copy.
This is an old 10-inch LP from Japan and what a GREAT find this was! It's called "Hawaiian Christmas Carols" by Ginji Yamaguchi & His Luana Hawaiians. This is an excellent instrumental album containing Christmas songs on Hawaiian guitar, ukulele, church bells, etc. There's GREAT bongo drum action as well as several songs are presented as cha chas & upbeat numbers..."Jingle Bells","I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus","Rudolph" and "Mele Kalikimaka"..even"Auld Lang Syne." This is a TREAT and I can't wait to spin this one during the holidays on "Hawaiian Hi-Fi" radio!
Lastly, an LP that has had an emotional impact on me as a collector and really "made my year." One of the very first Hawaiians records I ever had was by The Waikikis, a instrumental group out of Belgium that had an international hit with the song "Hawaii Tattoo" in 1964. I had two Waikikis LP as a kid ("Hawaii Tattoo" and "Hawaii Beach Party") and honestly I wore them out. I've since replaced them and gotten most everything they put out in LP form, over a dozen records, and for me they always epitomized the sound of what I imagined it would be like living in "gleaming city in the Pacific, Honolulu."
When I saw THIS LP listed on German ebay "Traumklange von Hawaii" or "Dream Sounds Of Hawaii" by the Honolulu Paradise Band, I just assumed it was a budget label reissue of stuff I already had plenty of. But when I looked at the song titles and that the soloist was Jo Van Wetter, my heart raced. Jo Van Wetter wrote many of the original songs on The Waikikis LPs, but I never realized he/she was their steel guitarist. I thought.."Holy smokes, is it possible that this is some kind of spin-off project that "sounds like" the Waikikis? Could it be? like, a "lost Waikikis" album, kind of??" I had to order it and I was amazed and kind of overwhelmed when I put it on the turntble and, sure enough, they created an album with the EXACT Waikikis-style sound and arrangements, with mostly new original compositions like "Telphone From Hawaii","Blowing Kisses On The Beach" and "Hula Girl Parade"...tres-Waikikis. I felt like a little kid at Christmas, or an explorer who comes across a lost treasure. I've been playing this record on an endless loop the past few days! So happy to have found this.
Got some more things coming in the mail shortly, and will put up a few selections from the new records onto the radio station playlist, too.
