Bruce shows several styles and dispositions here — the medium-tempoed rock tune "If I Could Fly," the rockaballad "You Could" and the "down" moment of "Bits and Pieces," which is a reassuring example of how life's experiences can be channeled into a song. "I Lied," a melancholic ballad about the pangs of separation, is easily the mini-CD's best track, with inevitable real-life connections for listeners.

The Brothers Shimabukuro make the finale, "Tokada," an instrumental 'ukulele jam, with the swift fingerings that have hurled Jake into uke superstardom. Though the uke is not Bruce's primary instrument on the CD, this track is a viable candidate for his all-uke product down the line.

This CD, curiously, is his first; the songs play like fragments of his life, written over the past three decades, with a heavy dose of the hippie movement-suggested folk, rock and blues idiom. K'ang tackles a spectrum of themes and see-saws from reflective to reactive, mostly to better the world. His Island ties are the basis for " 'Til the End," where the shores, skies and more remain a positive memory; "Darling" is a flashback ditty about love found on Maui and the Big Island; "By the Sea" infers that children are our future; "Little Boy Joe" is a dark lament ("stop the killing").

The trio, of course, features Lake on his trusty left-handed baritone 'ukulele; his brother, Tommy, on bass; and Al Machida, on guitar. All three sing in alternating registers, from falsetto to baritone.

The tunes are like hand-picked fruit from a tree laden with ripe mangos, composed by some of the stellar old-time pros like Maddy Lam, Alice Namakelua, Mary Kawena Pukui and Charles E. King. "Pua Lililehua" (a Lake collaboration with Pukui) is a classic that still resonates with a delicate and distinctive delivery; "Hu'i E" is a vintage hula fave with a measure of swing; " 'A'ole La" and "Pili Me 'Oe" are still other examples of K-Lake's inimitable interpretations.