★★★★★
Beamer's unassuming voice and uninspiring English-language lyrics push this toward the generic, but there's still a lot to like. The arrangements and backing instruments seem more concerned with widening this slack-key legend's appeal to a mainstream audience than presenting him in the optimal solo setting per the Dancing Cat label's Slack Key Guitar Masters series...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
Keola Beamer is one of the top names of Hawaiian slack-key guitar, since the death of the old masters. On his seventh solo album, he freely mixes original and slack-key classics, generally working alone (several tracks feature overdubs), while duetting with label head George Winston -- better known for his piano work, but playing guitar here -- on "Na Hala O Naue...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
Produced by new age artist George Winston, Moe'uhane Kika: Tales From the Dream Guitar is among the Hawaiian-oriented guitar albums that came out on the Windham Hill-distributed Dancing Cat label in the 1990s. Because of the Winston/Windham Hill connection, some listeners might wonder if Moe'uhane Kika is a new age release. But this instrumental CD isn't really new age...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
An album of high-quality ki hoalu from Keola Beamer, one of a small group of slack-key players since the '70s to consistently stay at the top of the genre. Taking his love for nature as inspiration, Kolonahe focuses on the wind. Most of the songs present on the album deal in some way or another with the wind, either directly or in musical reference. The fare is standard in comparison to Beamer's other albums, but that isn't to say that it's sub-par...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28