Savage Night

by

The Blue Hawaiians

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This CD by the Blue Hawaiians, with its "Las Vegas meets West Coast Surf" wave of genre-bending music came riding in as one of the more eclectic releases of 1999. "Savage Night", inspired by Jim Thompson's dark crime novel of the same name comes on as not just your average surf music album with its endless summer of sun and surf, but rather as a walk on the dark side of temptation and sin found only after dark in a shadowy nightclub.

Old fans of the band may be disappointed by the Las Vegas attitude and the glossy production of this disk, but it is the bands fearless ability to mix their potent Mai-Tai of different musical styles without considering the consequenses that so aptly sets them apart from most of the bands working the West Coast Surf music scene today.

In somewhat of a departure from the bands previous offerings, "Sway" and "Live at the Lava Lounge", there is more emphasis on the vocals of Mark Fontana and more of a mixing of the Hawaiian steel guitar and drums found in traditional surf music with the organ, horns, piano, and sax found in jazz.

Fontana's voice, with its Jim Morrison/Roy Orbison/Chris Issac Timbre provides the CD with a sense of danger that is seductive, adventurous, and sexy. "Highlife" with its cool seductive jazz takes you into a nightclub circa the 1950s with Janiva Magness, one of the more talented vocalists on the contemporary blues scene, providing background vocals on this track. The CDs opening track starts with a hypnotic Chris Issac like vocal that sounds like it came out of a David Lynch movie, and on "Lonely Star" Fontana brings Frankie Avalon off of the beach and into the piano bar. On "Sway", and "Jockey Full of Bourbon", the band swings into a Cha-Cha rhythm and then swiches over to south of the border with the toreador inspired "Trouble Bay".

For those who seek a sense of adventure in the music they listen to this walk on the dark side of life is worth the danger.

I guess every party has a pooper, so here I go.....I REALLY wanted to enjoy/love/cherish (etc.) this CD (I love all three of the previous BH's CDs --- rush out and buy them now), but after several attempts to listen to this latest BH release all the way through I just couldn't make it. I am only able to listen to sections of it at a time without wanting to throw my stereo speakers out the window. Okay, I know, you're gonna think I'm a snob, but (despite what some previous reviewers have claimed) this album IS way too overproduced and an obvious (and sad) attempt at the more mainstream commercial market. Hey, I have nothing against a "cult group" ultimately becoming successful. The problem is, well, this CD is flat out annoying! Oh, yeah, "that voice" (to paraphrase a previous reviewer) is the numero uno problem --- the attempt at ultracool Brian Ferry-like lounge crooning (which comes across as totally one dimensional and competely soulless (i.e. unlike Brian!)) had me screaming and running for cover by the end of the third vocal track (the vocalizing stylistics work great for goofy tracks like "Mele Kalika Maka" (Christmas album) and "My Little Hula" (Sway) but on this CD the endlessly monotonous vocals very quickly become annoying and finally unlistenable). Blech, earplugs, please! And all of the so-called "cool instrumentals"? AAAAHHHH! Please, guys, forget the swing-fad-meets-Oingo-Boingo stuff! Terrible, absolutely horrific! Leave that horn-drenched ultra manic minor-key junk to Elfmann, okay? There are only two bright pieces on this otherwise extremely disappointing CD: (i) the instrumental bridge in "Shakin' All Over" (some of the old magic shines through, but, alas, it's over way too quickly) and (ii) the cover of Mancini's "Experiment in Terror" (now this is a CLASSIC cut, and I do listen to it alot; unfortunately, it's mired in alot of other yucky muck, and is unable on it's own to save this sorry CD. Too bad.....this track truly deserved better). Hey, everyone is entitled to an experiment, and I won't hold this against the BHs, and I still remain a big and loyal fan of theirs....But here's hoping that the BHs have now gotten this awful stuff out of their system and will get back to what they do best on their next CD. Support this band by buying the first three BH CDs, but definitely skip this one!