"Na Mele Pumehana"

Neal Yamamura
(Koamea)

Local music veteran Neal Yamamura opens his third solo album with a straightforward rendition of "Waikiki," a hapa-haole classic that never loses its appeal. He also does nicely with Hawaii standards of more recent vintage — "Pua ‘Olena" and "Maui Waltz," to name two.

Yamamura shows he has a beautiful falsetto voice in "Pua Karauna" and " ‘Akaka Falls," but the highlight comes with the phenomenal range and breath control he displays in his rendition of "Kalama‘ula."

Yamamura includes a popular haole (non-Hawaiian) song, "Purple Raindrops," originally released as the "B side" of Stevie Wonder’s 1965 hit single "Uptight (Everything’s Alright)," and recorded locally by the Nihau Brothers featuring Oliver Kelly in 1981. It would be hard to improve on the original but Yamamura does a fine job with Kelly’s version of the lyrics.

"Na Mele Pumehana" is available at www.mele.com.

"Waikiki"