I have a handful of Hawaiian records and let's be honest I bought all of them for the covers. Many of them are pretty beaten up and many of them aren't that enjoyable of a listen. Some are kind of cheesey, but this one has just the right amount of cheese and genuine faux Hawaiian exotica spice to make it a relaxing and fun record. The key word in that last sentence is "relaxing". This record just oozes relaxing on the beach at sunset. This is the romantic version of Hawaii before all the mega resorts.I've been to Hawaii once and it was for work. Didn't get to see much of anything. In fact I wasn't even in a very touristy place. However in my imagination I imagine that at the real touristy resorts it is kind of like Disneyland, where they are selling an image. Selling an experience and my guess is that at some of those places they are selling this romanticized version of Hawaii that America had in the 50's where it was this exotic far off place. A place not overrun with hotel and pavement. I'm guessing that as part of the sell there is Hawaiian music pumping out of the shrubs and echoing through the lobby. I don't know if it true of not, but if it is, I imagine this music playing. That's not really too far of a stretch, because that is essentially what this music was doing in 1963. It was selling a romantic dream of Hawaii as this dream getaway paradise. And you know what? I think this does the trick. I listen to this album and I want to go wherever this came from. It almost seems otherworldly.
The site Spaceagepop has a good little write up about the group that should give you some context about the group. This article refers to them as a super group in the exotica genre. Who would have thought?
Enjoy!
01 Lovely Hula Hands.m4a
02 Beyond The Reef.m4a
03 Orchid Lagoon.m4a
04 Ha No Hano.m4a
05 Ma Hala Pua.m4a
06 Oloha Oe.m4a
07 Bali Hai.m4a
08 Hawaiian Wedding Song.m4a
09 Jungle Romance.m4a
10 Moon Of Manakoora.m4a
11 Polynesian Fever.m4a
The Surfmen.zip
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