Hawaii Five O

5CD box set anthology of the legendary instrumental rock band including their greatest hits, covers from Japanese pop bands like Southern Allstars and The Spiders, film music and live recordings from their Japanese tour!

Hawaiian swing masters Big Kahuna & the Copa Cat Pack entertain you on 14 great songs that span the musical style spectrum. Included are the theme songs from the television series Hawaii Five-O and I Dream of Jeannie, each with new arrangements by Matt Catingub, and such priceless standards as Duke Ellington's 1932 hit "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" and "Avalon." This well-organized ensemble of professional instrumentalists outlines melody and harmony in swinging rhythmic arrangements and jams freely on such rousing numbers as "Shake Those Hula Hips" and "Fever." Joined by such great vocalists as Rosemary Clooney, Debby Boone, and the Waters (Julie, Maxine, and Orrin), and with Jennifer Lovejoy on baritone saxophone on selected titles, Big Kahuna & the Copa Cat Pack will have you up doing the lindy hop or just listening to the great instrumentalists.

It's compilations like this that make one wish she or he lived in some other country where Universal does business because the U.S. gets the last consideration when it comes to reissues. The Japanese and Europeans come first and second, then Brazil and Latin America, then the United States, and this Music Club issue of jazz versions of spy movie music and thriller TV themes is a prime example. Take a gander at the track list: from Basie doing the theme from M-Squad and Lalo Schifrin's original Dirty Harry theme to the James Taylor Quartet's acid jazz reading of the Starsky and Hutch theme, the strange, spacy reading of Isaac Hayes' "Theme from Shaft" by the Alfred Hauser Orchestra, and Sammy Davis, Jr. wailing on "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow" for the Baretta TV show, this set is all killer, no filler and highly recommended…

The series was revived as "AM Gold" in 1995, with a different cover design (early volumes had an artist's drawing of a pocket transistor radio, with later volumes bearing a "gold record" with the year or era spotlighted emblazoned over the top). The first 20 volumes were re-titled issues of volumes from the former "Super Hits" series with identical track lineups, while new volumes covering the mid- and late-1970s (including individual volumes for each of the years 1974-1979) were included.

The series was revived as "AM Gold" in 1995, with a different cover design (early volumes had an artist's drawing of a pocket transistor radio, with later volumes bearing a "gold record" with the year or era spotlighted emblazoned over the top). The first 20 volumes were re-titled issues of volumes from the former "Super Hits" series with identical track lineups, while new volumes covering the mid- and late-1970s (including individual volumes for each of the years 1974-1979) were included.