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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 02/02/2008 : 01:55:29 AM
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I have noticed a great disparity among what constitutes "liner notes" for the various recordings that we have. Many give lyrics to the songs. Most tell you who played what instrument, or who sang lead or harmony. Some just tell you what a swell person it is who recorded the music and why it is a swell recording for you to buy. I have noticed a lot of slack key recordings tell you what tuning was used on each song. That is very friendly -- actually sharing the tunings!
I also have noticed that the Na Hoku awards gives an award for Best Liner Notes. What criteria is used to judge that category? What are they looking for? I see that Puakea Nogelmeier has won a couple for that category.
As a consumer you know what I would like:
a. Lyrics (and English translations, if needed).
b. Who played what, sang what
3. The story behind the mele, or what caused the artists to record that song.
4. Perhaps just a little general talk story and little gossipy tid-bits.
5. Type large enough for us old futs to be able to read.
And also -- how the heck are you supposed to get them danged CDs open without calling Mythbusters to blow up something????
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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RWD
`Olu`olu
USA
850 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2008 : 05:43:42 AM
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It would be nice if all liner notes included those elements, wouldn't it!
For opening CD's, I think they should standardize on something we are all familar with. Maybe a pop-top  |
Bob |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2008 : 06:09:43 AM
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George Winston made this the standard for Dancing Cat CDs and we've all benefited from his dedication. But most recordings are made by part-time musicians who can barely afford to make recordings at all. Most are not language or music scholars, so even if they could afford a booklet insert, they may be hesitant to write out Hawaiian lyrics and song histories lest they are in error. Keali'i Reichel has always assembled an impressive insert for his CDs and that's why there is a liner notes category in Na Hoku Hanohano awards.
Jesse Tinsley |
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markwitz
`Olu`olu
USA
841 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2008 : 07:47:31 AM
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Two recent examples of good and bad liner notes:
"Bill Ali`iloa Lincoln, Hawaii's Falsetto Poet". Done by Cord International.
It has a tremendous amount of information about the man and the songs along with period photos. Ten pages of solid and interesting information. It helps put you back into the life and times of this great artist.
"Raiatea Helm, Hawaiian Blossom". Please don't get me wrong here. I just simple adore her music. I'm in total awe of how she preforms and I just love the way she pays homage to all the great singers she has learned from.
Her liner notes may even be good.....If I could just read them.
The idea of using purple print, on a black background, just caused me great difficulties in being able to just simply read them. I started going cross eyed after a few tries and just gave up. The photo, however, it's suitable for framing!!
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"The music of the Hawaiians, the most fascinating in the world, is still in my ears and
haunts me sleeping and waking."
Mark Twain |
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hwnmusiclives
`Olu`olu
USA
580 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2008 : 07:51:40 AM
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The problem with including all of the elements is not only the added expense of each additional page of booklet, but just as it costs the artists to perform and record every song, it costs them additional to print the lyrics and translations.
And Raiatea's liner notes - purple on black - are symbolic of everything she is - hot! The inside picture would be suitable for framing if it didn't have all the creases in it from folding it to fix the jewel box. Pity...
(That reminds me... Whatever happened to the Amy Hanaiali`i calendar? Damn. Have I been single too long?)
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Join me for the history of Hawaiian music and its musicians at Ho`olohe Hou at www.hoolohehou.org. |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2008 : 09:12:55 AM
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Because they're often the only source of information about personnel and composers on older albums I need to write about, I've become something of a connoisseur of liner notes. The notes produced by George Winston and Jay Junker are first-rate, but they're not without precedent. In the period just before Dancing Cat got going, the best notes were on Panini projects, which often included lyrics (Cracked Seed and Cane Fire) along with very nice photos--and on the Gabby Band albums, details of who took which solo. Cyril's first solo album and the Sandwich Isle Band LP have good, detailed notes, too. A few years before that, Keola's early Music of Polynesia LPs, solo and with Kapono, offered nice backgrounders on the tunes and arrangements, and I'm guessing that was Keola's doing. The champion of the LP era, though, has to be the excellent Jean Sullivan on Hula Records: early Sons of Hawai`i, Eddie Kamae, Charles K. L Davis, Sunday Manoa, and Auntie Alice, among others. (She also did notes for some Makana releases.) She is still around and was able to recall personnel details of the late-60s "Kani Ka Pila!" LP when I sent a query to Hula. If I were able to get back to Hawai`i for more in-person research, she's one of the people I'd pester mercilessly.
In case there's anyone not aware of it, George Winston has posted the liner notes to the whole Dancing Cat catalog on the label's website--including corrections and updates to the printed versions *and* expanded notes for "Pure Gabby" and the GW/Junker/Harry Soria, Jr. notes for the Cord "History of Slack Key Guitar" anthology. These, along with downloadable-abridged and HTML versions of his freebie slack key history/discography (AKA the blue book), are pretty important resources.
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Edited by - Russell Letson on 02/02/2008 09:14:26 AM |
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markwitz
`Olu`olu
USA
841 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2008 : 10:59:08 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hwnmusiclives
And Raiatea's liner notes - purple on black - are symbolic of everything she is - hot! The inside picture would be suitable for framing if it didn't have all the creases in it from folding it to fix the jewel box. Pity...
I know she was making some sort of statement....I just wish I could have read it! |
"The music of the Hawaiians, the most fascinating in the world, is still in my ears and
haunts me sleeping and waking."
Mark Twain |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2008 : 11:01:16 AM
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| Gentlemen...ahem....she is a mere child! |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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hwnmusiclives
`Olu`olu
USA
580 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2008 : 01:58:23 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
Gentlemen...ahem....she is a mere child!
a) She is more than quite legal.
b) Tell her 40+ year old boyfriend. (Her choice.)
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Join me for the history of Hawaiian music and its musicians at Ho`olohe Hou at www.hoolohehou.org. |
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Auntie Maria
Ha`aha`a
USA
1918 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2008 : 09:58:26 AM
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Wanda, to answer your question about what criteria is used to judge Best Liner Notes for the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, I've been told it's everything -- from mele details, to composer info, to graphics, to font style and size.
And ditto to what has already been posted about "why aren't liner notes always complete?" I can tell you that many labels and/or musicians feel that including lyrics and translations is one of those "danged if you do/danged if you don't" situations -- always fraught with after-the-fact complaints about a missing diacritical mark or mis-spelled word. Bravo those who include 'em -- the few, the brave!
As for opening CDs -- which I do, often! -- to remove the shrinkwrap, use a sharp blade (or, like me, a strong fingernail) to slit from top to bottom on the left side where spine meets cover. To remove CD from the case itself, PRESS THAT BUTTON in the center as you gently pull off the CD. Nothing worse than cracking that new CD before you even get to play it...
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Auntie Maria
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keoladonaghy
Lokahi
257 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2008 : 6:42:57 PM
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Maria is correct that all of the items that Wanda mentions (and others) are considered. The category is adjudicated, so a committee vets the entries, and finalists placed before the membership. There are no written guidelines (as I have been told) for the category - each judge can chose what aspects they wish to emphasize or deemphasize when they judge the notes.
Doing them well is a matter of commitment in terms of both effort and money. Harry Soria and I worked for months on the John Almeida release. I did all of the interior layout work as well as researching the lyrics and doing the translations so that he/Cord did not have to pay someone to do that, that the formatting and columns came out right, and to be certain that the diacritics printed properly. Same for Kenneth Makuakane's CD. Cost is also a consideration - laying out and doing the design work for and printing a 16 page booklet, almost a necessity with Hawaiian releases when you want to include lyrics and translations, is not cheap.
Pali Ka'ahue (Pali) and I headed a committee for the HARA board of governors late last year that weighed how digital releases would be eligible for the various awards. We had considered allowing digital-only releases to be eligible for graphics and liner notes, but after a very thoughtful email from a Hawai'i distributor we decided not to. His point - that allowing digital-only releases to be eligible for these two awards may actually result in people not printing of detailed liner notes. So we decided, for the time being, not to have digital-only releases eligible in those categories. Perhaps in the future when digital-only releases are more ubiquitous. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2008 : 02:23:48 AM
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Auntie Maria and Keola - thank you for sharing what actually goes into the Na Hoku awards.
Seems to me that if an artist/recording company would want widest possible sales of the recordings, they would consider that many more people than those in Hawai`i would want to purchase the recordings. Not being a native Hawaiian speaker, it really makes a big difference to me in what the lyrics mean. I do not want to sing a song in a different language just because it sounds pretty, only to find out that I was actually saying something rude or inappropriate for a hillbilly haole woman in Ohio to say. Like for instance Lai Toodle. The melody is so sweet and beautiful. I never woulda thunk what it was really about, but am certainly glad I had the translation. Or like learning what Wahine `Ilikea was all about...the poetic imagery that Dennis used, made the song even more dear to me and provided impetus for me to learn the words properly.
I realize it costs money to do so -- money that is in such short supply when it comes to trying to do these things on a shoestring budget. If the artists approach this subject like any other business, the first rule is to give the customers what they want. From my perspective, I believe the customers want better liner notes. I know I sure do...and I need to have the type be maybe a wee bit larger, even when I am wearing my reading glasses. Its the old presbyopia thing, you know. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2008 : 11:05:27 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hapakid
But most recordings are made by part-time musicians who can barely afford to make recordings at all.
All the more reason I tell musicians who are planning their first recording projects to "budget for a Producer." Let the Producer be responsible for all of this.
(Now, the fact that I have been the Producer on a small number of albums has nothing to do with my suggestion, mind you. Yeah - right.) |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2008 : 12:32:44 PM
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I agree, Retro. A very small number of self-produced/self-recorded albums have been of high quality. A producer makes all the difference to an artist who is not a studio veteran or an amazing instrumentalist and arranger.
Jesse |
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markwitz
`Olu`olu
USA
841 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2008 : 1:02:31 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
If the artists approach this subject like any other business, the first rule is to give the customers what they want. From my perspective, I believe the customers want better liner notes. I know I sure do...and I need to have the type be maybe a wee bit larger, even when I am wearing my reading glasses. Its the old presbyopia thing, you know.
Seems like Wanda and I are in the same boat on this point. It doesn't mean a thing about how creative liner notes may or not be, if they can't be read, it's an opportunity lost in trying to convey a message or information the consumer might appreciate. |
"The music of the Hawaiians, the most fascinating in the world, is still in my ears and
haunts me sleeping and waking."
Mark Twain |
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