Coming Soon: RECOIL - Pardon My Fantasy LP

It's been nearly two weeks since I joined the hippest, hottest club to date, the unemployed..
and I have yet to find a decent gig. To while away my time, in a semi-constructive sort of way, that also doubles as an excuse to get up from bed, a good friend of mine lent me his USB turntable, a really snazzy toy that I've hooked up to my PC and commenced on surreptitiously ripping volumes upon volumes of seemingly long lost vinyl lying around the house; I say long lost coz the last time I've heard some of these records, were twenty years or so ago. And with the advent of the compact disc, some of my vinyl have been lying dormant for over a decade now.
It is only now that I've unearthed them once again.
Recoil is just one of them.

Led by keyboardist extraordinaire Pat Coil, Recoil's short tenure as a band lasted for only two albums, this one Pardon My Fantasy a little known release and its even lesser known followup The Fantasy Continues. Gimme a minute and this upload will be in full effect.
This one's dedicated to the vinyl's original owner, Angelo "Kulot" Santos aka Bobot.
This one's for you, bro!

Blind Item

As Marvin Gaye once said "..I heard it through the grapevine.."
I heard this tidbit from a err.. little bird, so to speak.
Can someone be someone else at the same time?
I mean, like, you're you and you're also, like, another you?
Vague? Okay, okay.. sorta kinda mejo maypagka like in a comicbook parallel universe.. you're you here in this reality, and you're also still you in an alternate reality. Not making sense, huh? Okay, how about this.. could you possibly be a uhm.. DJ on one station, and be a DJ in another? Ooohh.. is that humanly possible? Does the KBP allow this? Or even the stations?? Can someone.. anyone do that?
Perhaps if you were a so-called "student DJ.."
Maybe.
Wow.
The gall.

R . I . P . Campus Radio

With the unceremonious termination of 97.1 Barangay LS's on-air staff, comprised of former Campus Radio Air Force crew members The Triggerman (Boseramo), Jimmy Jam (Atong Bomb), John Hendrix (Johnny Baby), Joe Spinner (Boy Tisoy), Braggy (Barako Jones), Master T (Tito Papito), Jaybee (Istrowberi) and May-Anne (Mystery Girl), the complete and utter demise of Campus Radio 97.1 WLS-FM is official.

The abovementioned staff chose to remain at WLS, even after the equally unceremonious reformat of Campus Radio into Barangay LS, in spite of massive changes the station underwent, swallowing their pride and marching on like the professional troopers they are. With an all-new, all-sucky, all-masa format, replete with all-tagalog adlibs and mediocre jokes ala WKC, they bravely followed suit and performed their tasks to the fullest of their abilities, which brought the fledgling new format from its #6 rating position in early 2007 to #4 by the end of that year. Not bad for a station that did not offer big prize giveaways nor large cash prizes as come-ons to listeners, but merely by the music and its new personas. Not bad for a bunch of broadcasters not really like what they had to do, but did it all anyway.
But it was all for naught.

By now it's all moot point, decisions have been made and plans have been executed,
and though January 16, 2008 marked the end of an era in Philippine radio history, it is just that.. history. It is now chalked up as another one for the ages. But history is the past. And it is meant to be left there, in the past. For there is still the future to look forward to. A very bright, promising and better future ahead. Much like the legendary Phoenix, which dies a fiery end, much like Campus Radio did, shall rise from its ashes, to live once again.. so shall Campus Radio.
In time.

Atong Bomb diffused R . I . P .

As of last Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 97.1 Barangay LS's Atong Bomb (formerly known as Jimmy Jam), together with Boseramo (the former Triggerman), Barako Jones (who used to be Braggy), Johnny Baby (John Hendrix), Boy Tisoy (originally Joe Spinner), Tito Papito (Master T), Istrowberi (Jaybee) and Mystery Girl (May-Anne of Campus Aircheck) were terminated from active on-air duty by RGMA SVP for Radio Operations Mike C. Enriquez, who cited the staff's "inability to attain #1 in ratings with its current organization." Station Manager Alfredo Cortez, as well as two DJs, Churvelyn (Hot Lips Leeza) and Mr.Dreamboy (Dan The Man), have been retained, to be joined by a new staff. This move officially and systematically kills Campus Radio, the Pop incarnation that Enriquez himself reformatted and burned down nearly a year ago last February 14, 2007.
No eulogies. Omit flowers.
Rest in peace, Atong Bomb and company. Rest in peace, Campus Radio.
You may be gone (for now).. but certainly not forgotten.

Tuloy Ang DLigaya!

Where there's a will, there's a way!
Pissed as fuck coz you can't find the *4!%^*%$^ing download button next to those
oh-so-downloadable files uploaded by **eherm** me..?
Here's some savvy info for seeders and leechers.. every shell has its crack, so here's one.
Good for BOTH WINDOWS and MACINTOSH SYSTEMS.

Here's another way of downloading the songs on a playlist.
You need to use The Mozilla Firefox browser and install an add-on called "Unplug"
You can get the add-on at: http://unplug.mozdev.org/
You need to have your Mozilla Firefox open when installing the "Unplug" extension.
After installing "unplug", just click on the "unplug" icon on the Mozilla Firefox browser,
or right click on the page and click "unplug", or go to Tools, then click unplug.
It will show all the songs on the playlist, where you can download them individually.
If you dont have Mozilla Firefox browser yet, you can download it free at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/?from=getfirefox

Also, an uploading tip. You may have noticed Multiply has limited the number of files you can upload at one time to just four. Frustrated? Don't be.
Just upload four first, then save your folder as a draft.
Then post again, but instead of a new playlist, go back to your previous playlist,
and keep on adding files, ad infinitum/nauseaum, whichever comes first.
Happy now?

Seals & Crofts now on CD

For those who love the music of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts, owned their albums on vinyl and enjoyed their music on the radio, but live with the fact that their catalog remains unavailable on CD format, well, don't wanna sound too cliche, but the long wait is over. Two three-letter acronyms immediately come to mind.. like, WTF.. and OMG.. in this case, used in conjunction with one another and in varying succession.
Someone must have put something in the water at the stateside head offices of Warner, coz someone savvy finally grew a brain and some gumption and reissued Seals & Crofts entire back catalog on compact disc(insert OMG and/or WFT here).

From their eponymous self-titled 1969 debut album, it's completist's heaven. Long, seemingly lost gems that forged S&C's intricate and by now trademark guitar/mandolin interlays, such as Down Home to studio versions of "Cause You Love" and "Sudan Village" from 1972's Year Of Sunday, to the duo's breakthrough album Summer Breeze of that same year, featuring the well-loved classics "Hummingbird," "East Of Ginger Tree" and "Summer Breeze." It's as if aural snippets of our musical past have been retrieved for us to enjoy all over again.

I recall one late night in 1973, sitting in my room listening to an album feature on the radio (yes, they played whole albums on-air back then, uninterrupted), it was Seals & Crofts' Diamond Girl, an album indelibly etched in my musical memory, not just for the catchiness of the title track that immediately pulls you right in, nor for "Ruby Jean And Billie Lee" and the anthemic "We Will Never Pass This Way(Again)" but for the album cuts, like "Jessica," the frolic of "Dust On My Saddle" and the somber tones of "Wisdom." A piece of my youth has just been gratefully handed back to me.



Sporadic Seals & Crofts CDs were available once in the 90's, much to our chagrin, very few though; most of which were inevitably deleted from production, for newer and more popular titles. Now, long sought after S&C albums are just a plastic swipe away from the completist's grubby little paws. Albums such as the soundtrack to one of Pinoy culture's long lost gems.

One On One.




Music and basketball.
For us Pinoys, the marriage was perfect.
At least, for those of us who grew up in the 70's.
Before ESPN, before Extreme Sports, before the NBA permanently entrenched its foothold on Philippine soil via cable, even before cable, for cryin' out loud, there was the PBA. Pinoys love basketball. Everyone plays it. Pinoys love music, too. Everybody is a singer, by his or her own estimation. Ergo, we loved the 70's movie One On One, coz us Pinoys love to watch movies, too.

Remember Robbie Benson?
Of course you do. If you're old enough to remember, he's the star of One On One.
If you remember him in Blue Balloon, you're really old enough. Together with Annette O'Toole, he is Henry Steele, smalltown High School basketball phenom turned big city scholarship cager, who doesn't quite fit in. Very Pinoy. From its storyline, its sport, its protagonist, and its music. Soundtrack by Seals & Crofts.
"This Day Belongs To Me."
"Love Conquers All."
"My Fair Share."
Long-lost Pinoy faves now on CD.
Need I say more?

But let's not digress.
Lest this becomes an unintentionally movie synopsis.


I'm just euphoric that Seals & Crofts is finally on CD. All of it.
Specially their 1978 album Takin' It Easy.
The album holds special intangible significance, meaning the songs aren't linked to a certain person, like most music I love. Its link lies in the era. The late 70's was a great time for music. So many genres, so much music. Sonic overload. This album only added fuel to the fire. The title track's lilting guitar riff, the quirky pace of "Breaking In A Brand New Love" and the soaring "You're The Love."

It used to be, S&C fans, such as I, would quell our love for their music by way of their one and only Greatest Hits disc. It's the record company's way of cutting down on import costs, as well as shelf space. They would rather push crap like Paris Hilton instead of this, but.. that's another story.

It's been said that an artist is worth more than his or her hit singles.
Seals & Crofts is certainly the case in point here. It's never too late to go back and listen to the great stuff we missed the first time around. Now, more so, with these significant and time reissues, there's no excuse. That's the beauty of music. It has no expiration date; no deadline. It's timeless. Much like the music of Seals & Crofts.
Timeless.