Keola Beamer "Wooden Boat"

So I had previously wrote a long review of Keola Beamer's album Wooden Boat when I first started this blog last year. I am writing again because I have started to write an entry for all of the albums in my collection. Never the less I am going to try and keep this one short since there was a much longer post earlier.

Anyway, this is Beamer's first album for, Pianist George Winston's, Dancing Cat Records and is certainly Beamer's finest solo recording. As he always does he interchanges instrumental music with songs (lyrics) and weaves new compositions with traditional ones. The album uses the idea of Hawaiian navigation and sailing as a metaphor for traveling through time and generations. This is Beamer's most pop oriented and accessible album. It is an excellent showcase for Beamer's Slack Key Guitar stylings and his ability as a song-smith. Listing individual songs would be pointless as all the tracks are wonderful. It is often overlooked but Wooden Boat is one of Hawaiian Music's finest albums.

Keola and Kapono Beamer "Honolulu City Lights"

Considered by many to be the Greatest Hawaiian Music Album ever made. Honolulu Magazine listed it as number one on their "50 Greatest Hawaii Albums of all Time." While I don't put the album as number one I do think it is one of the top ten best Hawaiian albums.

Released in 1978 "Honolulu City Lights" was an immediate success and catapulted the Beamer Brothers from famous to superstars. The album, and three songs in particular, have become linked to Hawaii's cultural mindset. The title track is still played to this day at numerous occasions and has a timeless quality. The idea of leaving a place but not really wanting to go is a universal theme that is captured in this excellent song. "Only Good Times" is another nostalgic look at better days that became a staple of High School Graduations in Hawaii. "Kaliponi Slack Key" has become the Channel 2 news theme which is played every night over the end credits accompanying images of island residents doing the shaka. The Beamers effortlessly mixe traditional Hawaii songs and motifs like "Kamakani Ka Ili Aloha" with blissful pop "Love you all the Time" throughout the record, mixing traditional Hawaii instruments and Hawaiian Slack Key music stylings with a string orchestra and grand piano. All the elements blend perfectly to make a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. Produced by 60s crooner Teddy Randazzo and Disc Jockey Tom Moffatt who add a professional and sleek feel to the proceedings. It is certainly one of the best Hawaiian albums and definitely the best the Keola and Kapono's career together, this is also one of the few albums that are still available from the pair, a must for any fan of Hawaiian Music and particularly those who enjoy 1970s style Hawaiian music.

A Wooden Boat for all time

Keola Beamer is one of the masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar. Along with his younger brother Kapono, an accomplished player in his own right, the pair were one of the most popular Hawaiian groups of the 1970s as The Beamer Brothers (also billed as Keola and Kapono Beamer). The pair also recorded a genuine classic in Keola's "Honolulu City Lights" and its spectacular album of the same name.

After disbanding in 1983 Keola and Kapono both went on to successful solo careers. Keola was always the more visible of the two and that didn't change when the pair disbanded. Kapono released a number of successful solo albums but he remained largely out of the public eye. Keola on the other hand seemed to embrace his celebrity.

In the early 1990s Keola signed on to George Winston's Dancing Cat/Windham Hill record label whose goal was to promote Slack Key Guitar on a national level, the label also signed other masters like Leward Ka`apana, Cyril Pahinui, Ray Kane, and Sonny Chillingworth. Keola's first Dancing Cat release "Wooden Boat" (pictured above) in 1994 was one of the labels highlights as well as a highlight in Keola's discography. The album debuted at number 15 on Billboard's World music charts an extremely high place for a first album and is a return to the earlier style of albums like "This is our Island Home" and "In the Real Old Style." The music is traditional and innovative. The songs alternate between instrumental and lyric tracks forming a great balance and while on many albums instrumentals tend to fade from memory, not in Keola's hands. The instrumentation here paints pictures in the mind and builds an image of Hawaii that is not often seen. From taking a ride with the native birds "Elepaio Slack Key" to a hula through the realms of gods "Dancers in the land of Po" the imagery that Keola's music creates is vivid and powerful.

The album contains pop music "Don't you want to be my Baby?" calypso "Hemo da Kope Bean," classics "Kalena Kai," traditional "E Manono," and contemporary "Where I hold you." This album is a pleasure from start to finish and should be part of any Slack Key fan's collection. If you are a fan of Keola or The Beamer brothers this is highly recommended. The packaging is first rate with lyrics and little history about each song and the recording process as well as lots of information about Slack Key. "Wooden Boat" is mainly available on the internet because the record company is not widely producing it anymore, so get your copy while you can it is really a treasure.