“LINE OF LIFE”
Richard Natto (Rd Music)
The release of multi-talented Richard Natto’s new CD caps a career that goes back to the 1970s and his on-again, off-again musical partnership with Dave Toma. The duo achieved fame on the local bar circuit. Their first break-up coincided with the release of their first album, “Zoomin’ Away.”
They got back together, did more recording, and broke up again in the 1980s. Natto’s work as a solo recording artist included his 1980 album, “Not Just Another Pretty Face” and another that was named for his namesake street, “Richard’s Street.” He was also a prominent founding member of the Society Of Seven-Las Vegas, the group SOS leader Tony Ruivivar created in 2001 as an intended successor to the original SOS group.
This one-man, home-studio project — a collection of original songs and pop chart remakes — reaffirms his abilities as a singer, musician, arranger, writer, and interpreter of other artists’ work. Natto’s ability to take Top 40 classics and personalize them gives his remakes a feeling of freshness that local remakes of pop hits frequently lack.
Natto approaches “Rhythm of the Rain” as Michael Franks might have done back in the mid-1976 and makes it his own statement on loss and loneliness. Natto undertakes no experiments with “Warmth of the Sun” and “Here, There & Everywhere,” but his remakes are worth hearing. He also slows down and softens the Isley Brothers hit, “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You),” but doesn’t dilute the poignancy of the lyrics or the tragedy that the song describes.
As a writer, Natto displays his knack for memorable lyrics and catchy rhythmic hooks with a trio of award-worthy pop-oriented originals: “Fragile Heart,” “Best Boy” and “Love=You+Me.”
If this is indeed going to be Natto’s last full-length album, he is bowing out with some of his best work.
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“PU‘U KEKA‘A”
Mondokane featuring Amy Hanaiali‘i Gilliom (Coconut Gold Records)
Maui-based recording artist Mondokane provides a preview of the music on his next full-length album with the download-only release of this original hapa haole song inspired by the black rocks in the Kaanapali area of Maui.
The area represents two things for him — it’s the place where he enjoyed playing when he was a child, and it’s a place where he plays music for the visitors who come to experience the beauty of the island.
Gilliom joins him in describing the beauty of the beaches and the sunsets, the breezes and rains, of the area in Hawaiian as well as English. Their voices blend beautifully in a modern “place song” certainly suitable for performance by halau hula or solo dancer.
Purchase the single online at iTunes and Amazon; hear it on Spotify and YouTube.
