Album Review by John Berger (Island Mele column at www.honolulupulse.com)
...an engaging and frankly honest body of work...
Ho and his writing partners — Faith Rivera, Hope Mayo, Corwin Hee, Siena Lee and Toast Tajiri — excel at crafting lyric hooks and coining memorable phrases. The lyric images of a bad relationship as a card game (“Dear Jane”) or of a relationship where things don’t seem to fit (“The Best That I Can”) are two good examples. The free-form narrative of “The Holy Road” with its traces of sophisticated slam poetry is another.
It’s easy to image Ho singing these songs in a coffee shop with only an acoustic guitar for accompaniment. His careful use of several instruments (piano, ukulele and various guitars), and the work of guests on bass, drums and backing vocals, adds depth and variety. Although he may always be best known for his work in Hawaiian music this album reminds us that he is a competent pop artist as well.
Credits
Daniel Ho: vocals; steel string, classical and requinto guitars;
piano; ‘ukulele; electric guitar (track 3); shaker, wind chimes (track 8);
recording; mixing; and mastering
Siena Lee and Toast Tajiri: background vocals
Randy Drake: drums
Steve Billman: bass (tracks 4, 6, 9, 10, 11)
Dean Taba: bass (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8)
Lydia Miyashiro-Ho: photography and graphic design
Daniel Ho endorses YAMAHA guitars,
KoAloha ‘Ukulele, Universal Audio, and Bose.
Special thanks to Hokkaido Hotel,
Obihiro, Japan (photo shoot location)
Catalog number: DHC 80098
UPC: 644718009827
Release date: March 28, 2012
-
1.Coolest Drop of Rain (3:50)
-
2.I Am Invisible (4:33)
-
3.Dear Jane (5:14)
-
4.When I Close My Eyes (4:27)
-
5.The Holy Road (3:32)
-
6.Suspended On Air (3:18)
-
7.The Best That I Can (3:31)
-
8.Nobody Else (4:05)
-
9.My Nature, My Heart (3:05)
-
10. Peace of the Ocean (3:36)
-
11. Soon It Will Be Christmas (3:42)
Song List
This Dream Begins
Daniel Ho
The culmination of over two decades of musical endeavors: from composing and arranging, to engineering, producing and performing. The start of a new artistic direction.
This Dream Begins CD - $15 (includes shipping)
