Tiki Taane/OMC lost tracks

Pauly Fuemana. Photo via Audioculture's OMC page

It was reported a while back that there were moves afoot to release lost tracks from OMC, with tracks being reworked and added to by Tiki Taane, who has been working on the project for almost two years.

From Neil Reid of Sunday News, who updated the story in late October this year: "Almost four years after Pauly Fuemana's tragic death, aged just 40, fellow chart-topping Kiwi musician Tiki Taane is heading a project which is set to see previously unreleased tracks from the creator of global hit How Bizarre hit the airwaves.

Taane is in the process of going through the contents of about 100 CDs - some of which contain up to 30 songs each - of unreleased tracks that Pauly's widow, Kirstine, had asked him to listen to and decide if they could be released.

Taane described some of the songs as "definitely some of the coolest stuff I have ever heard", with the chart-topper currently working on improving the production quality of the tracks....

...Taane said proudly: "With this whole experience, I have kind of discovered this amazing talent, this amazing musician and songwriter who can tell a really amazing story."

Taane said the contents of the discs included songs which were "really progressive and original", "so punk, so gangster and so political . . . it is just awesome." Given the amount of "really amazing" material he had unearthed, Taane said the final release could be in the format of a double CD.

But given most of the songs were recorded by Pauly at his Auckland home, the production quality on the tracks was basic. Taane is currently working on "fattening up" the songs; including adding kick and snare drums and adding additional vocals from other leading Kiwi musicians.

But some of the songs which would feature on the final release needed little, or no, extra production.

"There is a beautiful version of How Bizarre that he has done with an acoustic guitar," he said.

"It is so deep, it is so beautiful and it . . . doesn't need anything at all. It is him, an acoustic guitar . . . and he is singing it in such a way that it is quite sorrowful. This version is like a man singing it 10 years after it has been released, it has made millions of dollars, it has gone around the planet, it has all these people taking from him and pulling him in this direction . . . it is so beautiful and so real."

How bizarre wax

I've wanted a copy of How Bizarre on vinyl for ages. As a DJ, it's one of those great Kiwi tunes that just makes people smile whenever you play it. Like when I drop Slice of Heaven. Dobbo and Herbs, gold.

I finally found a copy recently, floating round in the 2nd hand vinyl bins up at Conch Records. Local DJ Manuel Bundy had had a bit of a clear out and was parting with it (thanks Manny!). Of course Manuel observed the How Bizarre phenomenon firsthand, as he toured the world as part of OMC's live band in 1997.

He talked about that time in an interview with yours truly over at Audioculture - he said “The one thing about Pauly – there was that classic tall poppy syndrome, a lot of people dissed ‘How Bizarre’, a lot of the hip-hoppers – but no one analysed it, and thought 'why was it a hit?' It’s because the way he looked, people didn't know where to put him ... That’s why it was a hit. He was like this Polynesian Elvis from outer space!"

This promo oddity was slung together by some marketing guru at Polygram Canada in 1996. They had the stupendously weird notion that How Bizarre would sit comfortably alongside a Grease Megamix. It doesn't. The flip is two appallingly bad club mixes of How Bizarre.

Simon Grigg (boss of OMC's label Huh!) tells me that they were very unhappy when this promo turned up and Pauly Fuemana was furious.

ADDED: There's plans afoot to remaster/reissue the OMC album early next year, with bonus tracks, hopefully including the acapella of How Bizarre.