:: Books

      Lavelle Entertainment is the proud owner of the entire musical collection known as “Todd (Tongdee) Lavelle & Thailand”. From Todd’s eclectic first album, the ethno-acoustic cult hit, “Thailand: Inside-Outside” through 10 CD’s (over 200 original songs) of World Music, Rock Opera, acoustic and pop songs to his latest CD, “Back to the Beach”, Todd’s music is what he likes to call S.I.M.M.S. Music (stories in musical settings).
Take a Taste of Todd Tongdee & Thailand in myriad musical colors.

   from a world that was....

 .......to a world that is...

...........for a world that can be...

HIMMAPAN 2nd World

Second World
HatYai World Junction
SlaveKing
Sing Momma Sing

Burma No More
Father of Love
Vigil

www.himmapanworld.com
CD: 200 baht


  

Back to the Beach

Back to Samui

Solace

CD: 200 baht

  

  
  Thailand: Inside-Outside
  In Todd’s first full album, he decided to paint musical pictures of the people and places he encountered in the Thai heartland. When Thai record executives told him nobody wanted to hear such stories, they suggested he change his music. Todd changed companies instead, producing, recording and promoting the album completely on his own. 6 months in the studio, employing 40 traditional Thai instruments, 10 types of acoustic guitars, vacuum cleaners, bottle-tops and other forms of sound, Thailand: Inside-Outside, Thailand’s FIRST album of completely new English songs sold a respectful 30,000 copies.
One critique commented, “Thailand: Inside – Outside is a completely unique piece of historical ethnomusicology. No Thai person would ever dare such a work.”
The original cassette cover was Thailand’s FIRST printed on recycled paper Todd actually carried back on a plane from the US.
The entire original version as well as tracks cut from the original are all included in the reissued CD and book, available only at toddeastwest.com.
CD: 200 baht
CD & Book 250 baht

  Thailand: Inside-Outside

Full Song :

Nakhon Sawan

Sample Song :

Sri Sa Ket

Ayutthaya

Mahasarakham

  

  
Acoustic Life
Todd took the money he made from Thailand: Inside-Outside (not much) and put it all into his Acoustic Life project. The concept of an “Acoustic Life”-i.e. ‘use a little less, give a little more, appreciate what you have’-gathered impetus as Todd made frequent visits to Thailand’s Wildlife Parks and Sanctuaries, especially Huay Kha Kaeng, the biggest. Furious at plans to expand roads into the sanctuary, Todd aimed at the root of such greed and designed a series of songs celebrating the Acoustic Life, recorded live both in the sanctuary itself and in two concerts at the Thailand Cultural Center. The concerts brought PR light to the issues of protection and raised 200,000 baht for musical intruments and eqiupment for the Da Buey Park Ranger Band doing positive PR in villages around the sanctuary.
The concerts themselves featured 9 highly-skilled Westerna and Thai traditional musicians celebrating life and nature in music.
A remastered CD version and video will be available at toddeastwest.com in September.
CD-VCD 300 baht

Acoustic Life

Full Song :

Steady Love

Sample Song :
Open Your Eyes

Open Your Eyes

Cricket and Me EN


     

Rhythm of the Earth
To date, probably Todd’s best-known work, Rhythm of the Earth grew from Todd’s previous musical works and life experiences. Musically, Todd was exploring the rhythms of the Thai countryside and finding many of the village msucians were blind or physically challenged. Coming from a family in the US that raised several special children, including Todd’s deaf-autistic sister, Kelly, Todd chose to celebrate the lives and stories he’d shared in a more electric fashion. The result is over 300 musicans and singers from Thailand’s smallest villages to the biggest cities joined in this “musical gathering of the human race” as the Bangkok Post called it.
Rhythm of the Earth has since been expanded into a 4 book series, a TV documentary series shown on the Discovery Channel and even a series of newly recorded “Colors of the Earth” CD’s of newly recorded traditional music from rare hilltribe chants to the eerie rhythms of Thailand’s Muslim South.
Rhythm of the Earth CD and full-color booklet: 300 Baht
Thai books: 120 baht each

Rhythm of the Earth

Full Song :

Norah's Dream

Sample Song :

Isan Funk

Akhayong


 

Colors of the Earth
Spawned during the recording of Rhythm of the Earth, Colors of the Earth satisfies the desires of those who wanted to hear “the originals”. Here are recordings of National Artists, some who have since died ,as well as interviews and laughter, all recorded in the highest quality combination of Digital-Analog sound. Aside from the main CD, Colors of the Earth is an ongoing project that includes recordings produced or supported by Todd and available as well.
Colors of the Earth CD Collection: 400 baht



     

The Promise
When Boom asked Todd if he wanted to create something “completely crazy?!?”, Todd responded with an idea he’d written of frequently in the past-a Rock Opera based on the lives of Schizophrenics, in particular one patient Todd had focused on as a Pre-Med student at the University of Scranton. Todd spent weeks at Thailand’s Sri Tannya and Nithijithiwate Mental Hospitals interviewing patients and writng their stories into the fabric of his original undegraduate notes.
Written and recorded live in the studio, the Promise was released by Warner Music Thailand with no promotion or fanfare. It became a cult CD and is available in a rerecorded and remastered version only at toddeastwest.com. The CD has received the Able Art Award in Japan and has been performed both as a full concert and stage performance.
Full CD and booklet: 300 baht

The Promise

Full Song :

Love Colling

Sample Song :

the Life

Roachelle

the Intruder

Swan Song


    

You and me
After years of big cultural projects, Todd turned inside and wrote stories of family and friends in the CD “You and me”. The music has a pop-country feel (lots of acoustic and pedal steel guitars) and became Todd’s most mainstream piece. He has just completed recording two completely new songs for the International version which will be available in CD and Concert form in September.

CD and booklet: 300 baht
You and me Concert Video: 300 baht

You and me

Full Song :

Right Now

50 Years

Sample Song :

You & Me

Love Sweet Answer


     

Songs of the Earth
Here are stories of nature’s inhabitants as they live and breathe in Thailand’s forests and seas today. Hornbills, Gibbons, Dugongs and Pachyderms all fly and bounce and swim amongst the acoustic and electric music they inspired. The song Tender Voices has been used in several campaigns to stop the sale of animal parts and the positive Gibbon Dance was the featured song in a Discovery Channel documentary.
CD 250 baht
Concert video 300 baht

Songs of the Earth

Full Song :

Horbill,Yes!

Sample Song :

Gibbon Dance

Tender Voice


  

The Legend of TOJA
Todd took his road band, the VIRUS HIP into the outer reaches of the musical galaxy with this rock opera celebrating earth’s last inhabitant, TOJA, and his search for meaning in the cosmos. The Single CD features 3 tracks fully recorded and mastered as well as footage from live performances of Ecstasy and Love Will Find a Way, TOJA’s Celestial Handbook.
CD Single- 99 baht
Full CD Version available in November: 300 baht

The Legend of TOJA

Full Song :

Ecstasy

Love Will Find a Way

Parting World

Generation Scratch

Black & White

Full Song :

Good Bye

pic.

Sand ‘n Shells
This collection of songs inspired by the sea is the “crafted cousin’ of Back to the Beach. Acoustic beauty and reggae-blues make this a full mini-CD.
6 Song Mini-CD: 120 baht

Sand ‘n Shells

Full Song :

Good Friday

Sample Song :

Spectral Longing