On My Winamp Playlist

Basically, what we have from OPM artists these last couple of years are revivals or cover versions. Some were treasures to keep and some were just merely karaoke-versions of the originals, as how Simon Cowell puts it. (Thank heavens to bands, we are serve with different menu!) Revivals, though sometimes could make someone's ears bleed, are not entirely bad (Heck! Even foreign artists do it!), as long as they were arranged to sound as the cover artist's own or the songs being remade are not that common. Susko! Why do some singers rework on songs that are redone by other artists over and over again? Sometimes, we'd also hear two - or three, kung mamalasin pa tayo, interpretations of a particular song in just a couple of months. (Remember Aiza Seguerra's version of Chiqui Pineda's How Did You Know? A few weeks after, Gary V. released his own version for the movie All My Life. Same year, too, we had several versions of Keith Martin's Because of You.)


Among the nine OPM albums I have on rotation in my playlist these days, seven of them are revivals. Two of them are live interpretations: Christian Bautista's Just A Love Song... Live! and Faith Cuneta's Faith Begins The Live Album. The latter stands out between the two. Faith has a diverse selection of songs that ranges from standards (like Nat King Cole's L.O.V.E. which I sing all the time in Magic Sing and Dionne Warwick's This Girl's In Love With You ) to classic '80s (Barbra Streisand's What Kind Of Fool) to pop '90s (Bachelor Girl's Buses and Trains). What is particularly noteworthy about this live album is that she sang songs that are not exactly hits when they came out, but nevertheless good. These are Dusty Springfield's Something in Your Eyes, Brenda K. Starr's Love Me Like The First Time, and Vesta Williams' Suddenly It's Magic. On the other hand, Christian's selection do not vary much. His repertoire are mostly pop ballads from the '80s and '90s. Because the album is thematic, it somehow gets boring in the middle. Even his vocal sounds the same in most of the songs. However, it is something that you'd like to listen to during a lazy afternoon or a night of cozy dinner.

As for the other revival albums, my favorites are 6CycleMind's Home and Jed Madela's Songs Rediscovered. Home has a wide range of rare rock classics like The Beatles' Across the Universe, Edie Brickell's Circle, and The Cure's In Between Days which were given new sounds. Even their first single, The Teeth's Prinsesa, was turned into a rock ballad. Truly a praiseworthy effort from the band. Meanwhile, Jed's album has been released in 2005 yet it was only now that I get to have a copy. Lea Salonga was right when she said that people should get to buy his albums. Forget about the selection of songs. His voice alone could (and should) sell an album! Of course, that is not to say that the songs in the album aren't great. They are arranged well and Jed's voice just breathes new life in them. Galing-galing talaga! My favorite from the album is Your Song (Elton John) and Beauty and Madness (Fra Lippo Lippi).

Lea's Inspired is her newest studio album after seven years. The theme of the album is ballad with some jazzy touch to them, in short, slow. The songs take their time in terms of orchestrations and vocal arrangement. In fact, some songs are too slow that they tend to get boring. Some orchestrations are even over the top that simple songs like Beverly Craven's Promise Me becomes OA. With that, I could say that I didn't like her rendition of the said song. It was slow and the orchestrations were more emphasized than the emotions needed for the song. But it is a very fitting song now that she's gone to Broadway. We'll surely wait for your return.

Overall, Inspired is still a good album but not great. I am glad that she included her cabaret-style and jazzy Sing which I fell in love with in her Tomorrow concert. Aside from Two Words (obviously!), I love Waiting For Love and Land Of The Loving (Diane Reeves).

Lani Misalucha came out with a self-titled album under her new home, Universal Records, last year, 2006. She has been away for quite some time now, performing in Vegas. This is her come back album of some sort. Sad to say, it is a so-so effort. The song choices were too simple for her vocal prowess. Their arrangements and her vocal stylings seemed to not match at all. My favorite tracks are Someone In The Dark (Michael Jackson) - we seldom get to hear this song, and Love Me Again (Patti Austin).


The song that I listen to over and over again lately is Ronnie Liang's Isang Saglit, Isang Tingin. I'm just totally in love with the song, kahit sobrang cheesy. :-) He may have not won in PDA but he definitely has some great vocals. Malinis. Smooth. Unlike Yeng Constantino (Grand Scholar) who sometimes falters in her album. Minsan may paos style, minsan simple lang. Her voice reminds me of Kitchie Nadal's. That isn't exactly original, right? Or maybe it is just the songs she has in the album. They were a cross between pop, rock, and alternative. Ayos naman 'yung iba but could've been better. Some tracks show na minadali talaga 'yung album.

On that note, allow me to focus on another PDA scholar song entitled Miss Kita 'Pag Tuesday. I feel that that is the stupidest song I heard so far! I understand that the song tries to capture one's attention by having some sort of a catch at the end, a twist in the movies kumbaga. But c'mon! Miss kita 'pag Tuesday kasi coding ako?! Hello?! Has he ever heard of public transportation?! Besides, unless you're already married to each other, take a break from one another! It wouldn't kill you to miss each other once in a while.

Lastly, I have a question. How many CDs should an artist come up in order to say that he has THE definitive "best of" album? Apparently, the more the better! Just ask Ogie Alcasid and his numerous song compilations! (Kulang pa ata 'yung nandito!)

Note: Click the title of the songs to listen to them.