Rock n’ roll redux

The great rock n’ roll swindle these days is the repackaged album. The more cynical among us won’t think twice about thumbing our noses and sneering at the blatant display of commercial greed and unfair treatment against the consumer. If one paid good money for an album, one expects to get the definitive article – not just a test run for the heftier product to be release less than a year later. But then, that really isn’t what pisses one off.

If it were a repackaged album, then you’d expect more bang for your buck right? Apparently not – usually the hapless fan gets a gamut of outtakes and insipid acoustic versions of songs already perfect in their current form (which leads to a slight digression disguising a vicious harangue against groups like M.Y.M.P who are the enemy of good, original Filipino music; if you’re going to do an acoustic take on a particular track, make sure you don’t sound as pathetic as you guys usually do whenever we have the misfortune of hearing "your" music – it’s not as if you’re folk singers…).

If an artist wishes to release a repackaged album, make sure your fans don’t feel cheated and despise you afterwards. They’ll make you pay in the end, you’ll see.

Perhaps the best pop group in the country today, The Itchyworms has decided to do what every other pop group – admittedly peers of much lesser talent – is doing: the band is releasing its masterpiece, last year’s best pop album "Noontime Show," in a repackaged format. Strangely enough, no one is sorry the guys did. With the addition of nine tracks painstakingly recorded and put together over a couple of weeks, the repackaged version should serve as an example on how to do it.

First off, it includes three alternate versions of the best tracks on "Noontime Show." Current single Beer is re-christened Beer Lite and rearranged for acoustic instruments. (The key word is "rearranged." Going acoustic is not merely playing chords a la Song Hits that the original song had. It is a well-thought out process that requires skill and talent to pull off real well.) The surprise comes when instead of Chino Singson’s poignant but humorous solo we get hit full on by a saxophone! By the time you get to the more fragile falsetto of Jug Jugueta’s last note in the song, it is clear that you’ve just heard the impossible: a version of Beer that manages to be better than the first.

The same trick is repeated for two other bona fide classics from "Noontime Show." The jaunty Akin Ka Na Lang is reconceived with a piano and does justice to the perfect pop of the original. Buwan though is the real stunner. A favorite track of this column, it surpasses its predecessor and is just – for want of a better word – magical. Listening to the alternate arrangement, one is immediately transported to a lush and much more romantic time and setting – the longing prose of the lyrics made poetic through the evocative beauty of the music. The effect is simply enchanting and one can’t help but wait to have the experience again and again.

The rest of the album does not disappoint. Included in the CD are the band’s catchy anthems like Happy Happy Song, Hello Moto and their latest hit, Kabataang Pinoy – the theme song to Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition. Those who expect nothing less than humor from these boys get a full version of Rodel "Jukebox" Rodrigo’s anthem Grabeng Pagibig, which will surely assuage those who still feel hurt by April Boy Regino’s decision to migrate.

"Noontime Show" is probably one of the greatest Filipino pop albums released in the last 10 years – one that has attracted a variety of fans from Kris Aquino to Jim Paredes. It also contains Love Team, which – in this column’s humble opinion – is the greatest Pinoy pop song of all time. It is one of those rare albums you immediately love the first time you hear it – and the funny thing is you love it even more almost a year later.

I confess I listen to it every day; some songs repeatedly. Now, I fear, it’s only going to get worse.

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Congratulations to guys from The Purplechickens who are launching their video Dream Systems on Jul. 14 at Gweilos Eastwood. Directed by Luna Cruz, it combines live action, 3D graphics and traditional painting techniques. Live performances by Up dharma Down, Narda, We Kick Ass For The Lord, and The Purplechickens at 10 p.m. The concert is open to the public.