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Date Posted: 09:45:55 11/02/04 Tue
Author: By Baby A. Gil
Subject: Old songs are raking it in

Old songs are raking it in
SOUNDS FAMILIAR By Baby A. Gil
The Philippine Star 11/03/2004

Is this a sign of the times? I grant that we are indeed in a bad way and the future is so uncertain but Filipinos have never been known to shy away from enjoying themselves. Have we become so nostalgic for the glories of the past that all we want to listen to today are the old songs? Are we not anymore looking forward to the round of celebrating that comes with the Yuletide Season? Year in and year out until now, the hit sounds of the last quarter of the year usually included party sounds to dance to.

Not this year though. I hear the Hot Babes singing Kikay in the tiangges and the enduring Ray Conniff recordings of Christmas carols in the malls. No dance tunes. And take a look at what even the younger singers have recorded. Rachelle Ann Go has Don’t Cry Out Loud and Christian Bautista has Hands to Heaven. As for the biggest selling albums by Filipino artists at this moment, these are Covers by Regine Velasquez, Anthology by Side A and Unforgettable by Martin Nievera. These are all made up of old songs.

Covers, the latest album from Regine turned Platinum barely a week after release. That means over 30,000 copies sold. It is now number one in the hit charts of the leading music outlets, Tower Records, Odyssey and Music One and lots of people are buying more copies. They buy because they enjoy listening to Regine. They also buy because they want to check out what she has done with the old songs she covers.

Covers is made up of cover versions of works popularized by male Filipino artists and written by Filipino composers and listening to them really makes you proud. Filipinos do have this gift for beautiful melodies and meaningful lyrics and I am glad that these songs have been successfully revived and will draw attention to other works by local artists.

The songs included are Each Day with You and Ikaw ang Lahat Sa Akin which were first recorded by Martin Nievera; Hang On and Di Bale Na Lang by Gary Valenciano; Minsan Lang Kitang Iibigin by Ariel Rivera; Araw Gabi by Nonoy Zuņiga; Forevermore and Only You by Side A; Ako’y Iyong-iyo by Ogie Alcasid; Paalam, Say That You Love Me and Kailan by Basil Valdez; Perfect by True Faith and Mahal Na Mahal Kita by Archie D.

Check out the videos of Minsan Lang Kitang Iibigin and Say That You Love Me both directed by Avid Liongoren and featuring award winning actor Raymond Bagatsing, who is so swoony in his first music video appearance.

I recall that sometime in 2001, I carped that The Platinum Collection, a compilation of hits by Side A released by Warner Music was incomplete because it failed to include the early hits that the enduring pop group recorded for Ivory Records and Vicor Music Corporation. Well, three years later we finally have the complete Side A collection. Well, almost complete because this new compilation does not include any cut from the Titanium album recorded for Universal two years ago. But who cares, we finally got all our favorite Side A tunes in this two-disc set.

Among these are Windows of Our Souls, Hold On, Time to Let Go, Tuloy Pa Rin Ako, Sana Naman, So Many Questions, Set You Free, Forevermore, By Your Side, I Believe in Dreams, This Girl is So Right for Me, Endlessly, Let the Pain Remain, Will I Ever, If Only, All This Time, a duet with Sharon Cuneta, Think It Over, also a duet with Zsa Zsa Padilla, Ang Aking Awitin, Got to Believe in Magic and others all guaranteed to remind you of Side A evenings at the Music Hall that used to cause massive traffic jams at the Annapolis in Greenhills.

As for Martin, he is channeling the swinging Sinatra era with his Unforgettable album. Recorded entirely live with musicians led by musical director and arranger Gerard Salonga, this one has hits made popular by Sinatra, of course, plus Johnny Mathis, Paul Anka, Nat King Cole, Frankie Valli and others. Among the cuts are Misty, Let Me Try Again, The Way You Look Tonight, All the Way, Someone to Watch Over Me, Unforgettable and the first single release, The Times of Your Life.

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