The band is in good form. It is the same line up from their two previous albums Malani Bilyeu, DJ Pratt, Kirk Thompson, Randy Aloya, Alvin Fejerang, and Michael Paulo. For these concerts Hiroshima keyboardist Kimo Cornwell joined the group.
Most of the tracks come from the albums "Kalapana II," "Kalapana III" and "Many Classic Moments." Most of the performances do not differ greatly from the studio versions aside from more energy, or changes in instrumentation.
Some of these performances, however, are pretty killer including the opening medley of "Jamaica Farewell/Banana Boat Song/When the Morning Comes," the jamming on "Nathen's Lament" and the jaw dropping guitar work by Pratt on "Can you See Him." This is a great time capsule as Kalapana disbanded shortly after these concerts. This is also the only live recording from their heyday, the other two records/videos are from later in their career. This shows how popular they were because very few Hawaii artists have the popularity to release double albums without losing money. Kalapana could do it. Finally many of these songs are no longer in Kalapana's live repertoire so it is neat to hear them in a concert setting.
Like their two previous studio albums this one is only available as a Japanese import CD. I got it as a Christmas gift one year. It is not entirely essential especially considering the import price but it is nice to have for the die hard Kalapana fan. Long live Kalapana.
No comments:
Post a Comment