- ISBN13: 0761268590121
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Album Description
There’s a smart balance of traditional Hawaiiana and contemporary tunes on this CD. There’s heart-tugging warmth along with unexpected chuckles. The end result is a candid, honest reinforcement of his vocal breadth.Amazon.com
To gauge the magnitude of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s popularity in his native Hawaii, consider this: following his death in 1997 (at age 38, attributed to his profound obesity), Kamakawiwo’ole’s body lay in state in the state capitol, only… More >>
The only song I like on the CD is “Somewhere over the rainbow” used in 50 Frist Dates Soundtrack. The other songs are boring and the vocals are poor.
Rating: 1 / 5
I did not recieve facing future??? How about sending it so I can review it.
Rating: 1 / 5
I bought this album for the “Somewhere over the rainbow/ wonderful world” medley that I heard on “Finding Forrester.” Can’t really get in to the rest of the album though.
Rating: 1 / 5
My mom likes hawaii and hawaiian music, not not necessarily obese dead Hawaiians. We’ll see…
Rating: 5 / 5
Kamakawiwo’ole had a mess of talent; no one can deny that. But because he was so talented, he seems to have coasted on this CD.
The cut that everyone seems to love on this CD illustrates this better than anything. The ukulele and the humming that begin the “Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World” medley are about the closest thing to perfect ever recorded. Then Iz begins to sing and it becomes apparent that he does not know the song. He mangles the lyrics to “Over the Rainbow” so badly that they cease to make sense. At the end of the song, he falls into a series of grunts that show the recording session was just a big goof; he may have loved the songs but he didn’t respect them enough to learn them.
The rest of the material, with the exception of his version of “Take Me Home Country Roads” which is not very good at all, is not bad though nothing really pops off the disc like the intro to “Over the Rainbow.” And Iz tends to go on too much about the utopia that we all like to think Hawaii was before the evils of civilization (you know, those evils that actually allow us to visit the islands). So I’ll dock it a star for its recurrent naive Rousseau-inspired noble savage claptrap. All in all it’s an okay collection, but it could have been so much better.
Rating: 2 / 5