Various - On The Beach At Waikiki

Rating: * * * *

Turn it up. Not because you have to for optimum impact, but because some of these recordings date back to the 1910s.

While they might sound scratchy, fragile, and decrepit, they are utterly enchanting

and take you back to another time and place.

This compilation, subtitled Hawaiian guitar from the teens to the fifties, is lo-fi before lo-fi was even invented.

Released by Folkways - the record label of the national museum of the United States which took over control of the recordings from Folkways founder Moses Asch who died in 1986 - it brings together 14 of the best guitar recordings in the traditional slack and woozy Hawaiian style.

These days, and ever since Asch started Folkways in 1948, the aim has been to "preserve the songs historical and aural integrity".

And they do a mighty fine job if a song like Smiles, Then Kisses is anything to go by

because it's so scratchy it almost drowns out the tune itself - and that's all part of the charm.

Opening track Indiana March shows off the skill of these virtuoso guitar players as it trundles along merrily; it doesn't get more wild than Hilo-Hawaiian March, with its high, squeaky notes that sound more like a baby's rubber hammer than a guitar; and on Roses of Yesterday, there's a complete change of pace with its sentimental mood.

This album rides the emotional spectrum, from downbeat and dejected on Drowsy Waters to joyful and delighted on the title track.

It's truly charming, and these songs wouldn't sound out of place on a beach near you this summer.

Scott Kara