If I were in a CD shop looking for something to buy and picked up a recording whose song list, I soon learned, featured titles like "I Dreamed You," "Sweet Surprise" and "Found the Love," I would put it back into the racks with as much haste as I could muster. I would feel vaguely embarrassed that I had been foolish enough to be curious about it in the first place.

I didn't have to pay for this disc, but at least it served to reassure me that the old instincts are as sound as ever.

Cecilio Rodriguez is a Hawaiian pop singer whose taste runs to treacly romantic songs, in this instance self-penned ones. If your tastes run in that direction, as opposed to away as fast as they can run, maybe you'll like this. Otherwise, it'll sound like a Hawaiian variant of the annoying soft rock you hear burbling in the background while you're looking over the produce at the supermarket.