Webley Edwards presents Paradise Island Capitol Records 1959 ...

I've been doing a little reading around the marketing of Hawaiian music in the 1950's. I found quite an informative article which highlighted its growth, and this Webley Edwards album is a classic example. There are tracks which mark your arrival and departure on the island by boat... you kick back in your favourite armchair and are transported to a Paradise Island aided by the impressive sleeve notes and full colour booklet which acts almost as a travel brochure.

Extract from article...

"Hawaii-inspired music marketed via popular record albums, radio shows, and Hollywood film soundtracks aided Hawaii’s transformation in the popular imagination from a mysterious ‘primitive’ paradise into the 50th U.S. state. Indeed, by constructing and capturing the temptingly tropical so-called ‘sounds’ of Hawaii on the latest hi-fi recording equipment, the music industry offered up Hawaiian music as an achievement of modern technology, promoting these U.S. islands as an acoustic, as well as a tourist, paradise."

"Record albums are useful sights for material culture studies for several reasons. They are durable. Records from the 1950s remain widely available today, collected and coveted by consumers, and recirculate as retro icons. Used records are sold by the thousands in vinyl stores, at record fairs, and on the Internet; and, surprisingly, vinyl has rebounded as a viable niche within the music industry. Furthermore, old records are often re-released on compact disc, thus enjoying a new life. Although images from 1950s and 1960s advertisements usually appear hopelessly dated, record cover designs enjoy new life on compact discs that cash in on ironic trends or retro fashions."

Enjoy a trip to Webley Edwards' Paradise Island.

Webley Edwards presents Hawaii Today ...

Here at the Secret Island I like nothing better than to mix a cool drink, place the needle on the record and watch the sea lap the shore to the sound of some classic exotica. In no particular order I'd like to share with you some of my favourites...

I'll kick things off with this 1966 Capitol release from Webley Edwards - Hawaii Today which was linked to Hawaii Calls, a radio program that ran from 1935 through 1975 that featured live Hawaiian music. It was broadcast each week from the courtyard of the Moana Hotel on Waikiki Beach and was hosted by Webley himself. The first show reached the West Coast of the continental United States through shortwave radio. At its height, it was heard on over 750 stations around the world. However, when it went off the air in 1975, as only 10 stations were airing the show. Because of its positive portrayal of Hawaii, the show received a subsidy for many years - first from the government of the Territory of Hawaii, and then from the State of Hawaii. The termination of the subsidy was one of the reasons that the show went off the air.

Hawaii Calls is credited with making many Hawaiian performers household names across the US and around the world. Among the regulars of Hawaii Calls were Alfred Apaka, Haunani Kahalewai and Pua Almeida. Other well known performers such as Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman also made appearances. Each show opened with the sounds of the pounding surf and the enthusiastic bounding voice of Webley Edwards proclaiming "The sound of the waves on the beach at Waikiki.."

During the height of the shows popularity Webley Edwards served the role of producer of numerous records such as this, released on the Capitol Records label, under the title of "Webley Edwards presents Hawaii Calls." This particular albums contains some typical renditions of hawaiian classic songs and exotica, some as lovely instrumentals as well as some vocal arrangements. I hope you enjoy it...

Webley Edwards presents Hawaii Calls - Hawaii Today. Capitol Records 1966.

Well that was 1966... but what does the same view look like today? Check out Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon 2010 style!

Links can be re-uploaded or deleted on request. Mahalo.