Welcome to The Tuna Melt Music Sharity Blog!

It is here that I post old records that I've ripped
to Mp3 format (and grouped in .ZIP files) via File Sharing Sites,
album cover scans and, sometimes,
somewhat coherent ramblings related to said shares.

Most of the items shared are rips of Out-of-Print
(or, at least, very difficult to acquire)
Vinyl Records from my own collection,
or Compilations ("Seasonal" or "Genre-Specific") made up of Mp3 files
either digitally collected or ripped from Compact Disk.

Come on in. Look around.
Scroll downward to find available links.
I hope you find something you like.

If you don't,
you can always come back later, as the variety
of what is made available should be pretty wide-ranging.


Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Sammy Laului Orchestra: Hawaiian Wedding Song


Like a Budget Hawaiian Vacation


As we complete our tour around the mighty Pacific Ocean, we approach the shore of Waikiki only to discover a record on Diplomat Records! Diplomat, one of several labels of Synthetic Plastics (of Newark, NJ), was the Budget Record Label to End All Budget Record Labels. My record doesn't even list an artist name on the sleeve or the label. Luckily, the record was released with several different variations on the sleeve over the years and some of them identified the music as being performed by the Sammy Laului Orchestra: a group with such a wide range of different sounds that it's almost difficult to believe the entire record is by the same combo.

It's a nice record, though, and should help you to relax at the end of a long, hard day. If you find yourself thinking that the song "Island's Goodbye" sounds an awful lot like "Now Is the Hour", you're correct. You are also correct if you find yourself thinking that much of this album sounds remarkably (EXACTLY!) like the album "Hawaiian Enchantment", by Luke Leilani, on Spin-O-Rama Records or, perhaps "Hawaiian Enchantment", by The Hawaiian Islanders, on Wyncote.

  1. Hawaiian Wedding Song
  2. Dreams of Hawaii
  3. Waikiki Moods
  4. White Sands
  5. Girl of the Island
  6. Hawaiian Skies
  7. Island's Goodbye
  8. Chanting Waves
  9. Isle of Dreams
  10. Hula Moola

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Various Artists: Songs of Guam


This one is Oddly Charming…


Well, okay… Mostly it's just odd.

Upon happening upon this record I thought I had found a collection of, perhaps, Traditional Guamanian Folk Songs or Historical Recordings of The Chamorro People. What I had actually found is a bunch of songs by an American woman who had lived in Guam for a couple of years that were recorded
in Hawaii, apparently by Hawaiian recording artists.

From the liner notes:
"With the exception of four Guamanian folk songs… this KONA RECORDS Album reflects the musical impressions of Mrs. D.S. (Jean) Lennox. She has completed a labor of love for the Island she called home for a little while.

"Her affection for Guam and it's people is rewardingly evident in each of her ten original compositions. For a "Statesider", who lived just two years on the Island of Guam, our composer has created a truly remarkable musical montage."

The native language of the Island of Guam (and all of The Marinara Islands) is a Malayo-Polynesian language called Chamorro. The Chamorro language was heavily modified during Guam's occupation and colonization by Spain from 1668 to 1898 and now contains many words and phrases of Spanish origin. Guam was captured by the US in a bloodless landing during the Spanish-American War. Since then, Guam's official languages have been Chamorro and English and, again, the Chamorro language has incorporated many English words. It makes for a bit of a strange mix.

Something tells me that Mrs. D.S. (Jean) Lennox had no idea, while writing these songs, that they would ever end up being recorded for commercial release. They're nice enough, and charming in their own way, but they sound more like songs intended to be sung by school children than professionally created pop pieces. The quality of the recording is poor and the singers involved, while competent, sound uninspired and disinterested. That being said, since our recent visit to Tahiti I figured I'd continue the Pacific Cruise and steer the Good Ship Tuna Melt on over to Guam for a visit.

  1. Guam is Good
  2. The Old Spanish Bridge
  3. Song of Guam
  4. The Wizard Lizard
  5. The Island of Cocos
  6. Statesider's Song
  7. Guamanian Medley -
    Panguengue / Toma Na Plangpang Tres / Gumupo Si Paluma / Nobia Cahula
  8. The Ladrones Latte Stones
  9. It's Always Manana on Guam
  10. Honeymoon Island
  11. Hafa Adai