Kalapana's Best

"Kalapana puts spin on the traditional Hits Compilation"

Kalapana were one of the most popular bands in Hawaii during the 1970s, second only to Cecilio & Kapono. They have released two hits compilations and their most recent release is packaged like a compilation but it really is not. The group has collected twelve of their most popular songs and rerecorded them. Hawaiian artist have been doing this for quite some time Kalapana started in 1990, with "Back in your Heart Again," they included a few of their older hits on each of their new albums often in rerecorded versions.

Brother Noland used this idea as well on his best album "Mystical Fish" taking a number of his best old songs and formed them with new material into an excellent album.

Anyway back to Kalapana's album "Many Classics Kalapana Plays Their Best." While the songs are excellent these new renditions are not better or drastically different from the original recordings. Malani Bilyeu's voice is also losing a lot of its power as time is moving on. So while the album is not bad it probably will not be worth getting if you already have the older albums. It is uncertain who the intended audience for this album is, the fans already have these songs in the original versions and the uninitiated would do better to pick up "Best of Vol. 1" Yet if you just want all their biggest hits in one place, there is no other single CD that holds all these songs, regardless of the version this CD is for you.