Last year, we reported that Frank Luna, of Luna Recorded Archives, planned to put Ernie Menehune's records in digital format. (See post here).

Luna stopped by Weekly World Central recently to let us know that he restored Menehune's first record, Back to Aloha Land. It's now on sale at all Zia Records locations for $10.

"I didnt want (Ernie's) recordings to be forgotten like other Tucson artists," says Luna. He is restoring the albums in chronological order and says, "One down, six to go!"

Luna took great strides to reproduce the exact sound as on the original recording. "This comes from the master tape, not the LP. I made sure that what I put on digital was the exact same as what came out in 1964."

When you listen to the first song, you hear Menehune snapping his fingers and counting "one, two, three." Luna did not want to remove that from the CD and also says he "stays away from auto processing." The result is the same sound but on newer technology.

For more information about Ernie Menehune, read what Tucson Weekly music scribe Gene Armstrong wrote about him here. And to contact Frank Luna, email him at fluna1030@yahoo.com.