Manoa DNA shows growth

"No Place Like Home" Shows growth for the Trio.

The Kawakami family trio of Manoa residents Lloyd (Dad), and sons Nick and Alex (where they get their inventive group name) has made a second album that shows much growth in both song choice, style and professionalism. Their first album, "Follow Me," consisted mainly of original compositions by Alex. While the songs were good they were not spectacular and some of them really blended into each other.

Here on their second album Alex still writes all the original songs but the group now balances his song writing with covers making the album consist of six Alex originals and six covers, that include "Fire and Rain" and "The Hurt." The covers, while not very different from the originals, are very well chosen and fit into the scheme of the album perfectly. They fit so well that if one has never heard the song they could be convinced they were originals. What really impresses, though, are Alex's originals, the opener "Down in Paradise" is a killer pop song. If this were still the radio age it would be a song that people would hear constantly on the airwaves, its catchy up beat and excellent. Other original highlights include "Before I knew your Name" and "Lovers Lullaby."

If this growth process continues, particularly in Alex's song writing, the group's next few albums should be spectacular and possibly make the group as big superstars in Hawaii as they are in Japan. Keep on growing Kawakami boys and keep up the good music.