I've been blessed with more contemporary Hawaiian music lately, this time it's Rob Mehl's Taste and See album from 1980 . I've been wanting to hear "House on the Rock" for a long, long time. Here it is today.
Taste and See is a Christian-inspired album, with lots of AOR sounds, some light funk and California sunshine. As a whole, Taste and See is a breezy, gentle album to listen to — a real joy that this Hawaiian music blog has sorely needed for a while. Mehl continues to perform, not in Hawaii but in California.
From the information on his official website, it looks Mehl lives in North San Diego and loves doing house shows. Most recently, he's done a couple in Washington State. Two months ago I came across the album cover/jacket for this LP. Someone had crossed out 'Rob Mehl Taste and See' and penned (in big fat, blue permanent marker) 'OLOMANA OLOMANA'. I took the jacket anyway, for the sheer sake of liner notes. An excerpt from the brief notes:
"This one's for George Nasif and John Elliott. Without their love I'd still be hanging out on a beach somewhere in the South Pacific."
Taste and See was recorded in Los Angeles and El Cajon, California. Cover Illustration and Design by Mike Lemos. Arranged and Produced by Gerry Limpic. Engineered and Mastered by Ron Compton.
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3483250632/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://robmehl.bandcamp.com/album/house-on-the-rock-b-w-taste-and-see-ags-7006">House On The Rock b/w Taste And See (AGS-7006) by Rob Mehl</a></iframe>
