*** Islands

ISLANDS.html

(Putumayo World Music)

This pleasant musical excursion is a collection of lulling, upbeat songs from various islands around the world. Tropical islands, you'll be glad to hear. Putumayo has built up a successful catalogue of safe and friendly world-music compilations, but this one is classy enough to please more adventurous listeners as well. From the rough growl of Tito Paris's nostalgic, Cape Verdean lilt to Quito Rymer's Marley-esque roots reggae from Tortola, these are great tracks. They're shot through with terrific acoustic string picking, like the elegant guitar in Kali's acoustic zouk from Martinique and Hapa's lush, Hawaiian slack-key layerings, chiming cuatros from Cuba and Puerto Rico, and even Gambian kora mixing it up with Malagasy valiha in a mesmerizing, harp-laden groove from Madagascar's Tarika. Out of 10 tracks, there's just one dud -- a stiff, cheeseball number from Bobby and Angelo of Tahiti. If this is typical, no wonder there's not yet a Tahiti section at Tower and HMV. Still, with all the silly compilations floating around these days, it's nice to find one that works.

-- Banning Eyre