On How They Jammed with The Eraserheads

It’s around a couple of weeks now since the Eraserheads tribute album Ultraelectromagnetic Jam was released. It’s a collection of renditions of selected Eraserheads’ songs, performed by today’s popular local bands.

I had the chance to listen to the songs. I was very impressed, so I bought my own copy of the album. Today, I’m going to review the songs in this post. As an avid fan of the Eraserheads, I will do the review in light of the original songs’ musical style and composition.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with the Eraserheads, it’s a local band consisting of Ely Buendia on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Raimund Marasigan (or Raymund Marasigan) on drums, Buddy Zabala on bass, and Marcus Adoro on lead guitar. Raimund and Buddy can also play keyboards and generate sound effects, and Ely can also play bass. All of them I think can play the guitar; I read that each of them played a guitar part in the song Toyang. Collectively, the Eraserheads became the Beatles of the Philippines with their immense popularity, songwriting and musical style; they were also the inspiration of many other bands. They debuted in 1993 and disbanded in 2002.

As for the tribute album itself, the title "Ultraelectromagnetic Jam" is a reference to the Eraserheads’ first commercial album, Ultraelectromagneticpop (1993). The tribute album has seventeen songs in all. And best of all, all of the Eraserheads members themselves even participated in the album! But each of them participated in only one song, individually. My minor complaint is that it’s pretty expensive. I bought it for P300 in a record bar. In contrast, the Pinoy Big Brother four-DVD original package costs only P299. But the outstanding quality and performance of the songs is definitely worth it.

The album begins with the hugely popular song Alapaap, performed by 6cycle Mind. I’m very impressed with the band’s rendition, along with vocalist Ney Dimaculangan’s lively, aggressive singing. A lead guitar riff was added to the familiar arpeggiated G Major 7th bass riff in the intro. Cool. The song itself, according to the album credits, was produced by "H. Zabala", which I believe is none other than Buddy Zabala himself (whose real name is Hector Zabala).

Next comes another Eheads hit song Magasin, performed by Paolo Santos. Here’s one good example of Paolo breaking his acoustic tradition of doing music, because he’s into band music nowadays. (But in fairness to Paolo, he still handled some acoustic guitar in the background.) I still like Ely’s original vocals better. But at least Paolo’s song stayed loyal to the original in terms of the song’s key, which is Key of B. Most likely, Paolo and his band tuned their guitars a half step lower than the standard guitar tuning, which was what the Eraserheads exactly did. (I.e., whenever they strummed, say, a C chord, they produced a B sound instead.)

The next song is Spoliarium, one of my personal Eheads favorites. It’s performed by Imago. According to the album credits, one of this song’s producers is Raimund Marasigan himself!. As for the song, I’m very pleased with the band’s rendition, especially Aia De Leon’s gentle, soaring vocals. She definitely put emotion into the song, and the song fitted her very well. They also added choppy chord voicings at the chorus of the song, which I find cool and Beatlesque. (It also reminds me of another Beatlesque song Beetlebum by the British band Blur.) Unfortunately, Aia got short of breath as she was singing the repetitive phrase near the end of the song, but hey, so did Ely in the original. Overall, I’m very impressed with the rendition.

The fourth song is Overdrive, performed by Barbie Almabis outside the cradle. It almost feels as if the Eraserheads performed with Barbie as the vocalist, except that the original song’s key is a half step lower. Even the "spaceship going to the moon" sound effect was almost replicated there. But I still like the original ending harmonies ("Mag-draa…a-ah…a-ah…a-a-ive") better. I also like the original’s funny "shawarma, Offspring, itlog ng kabayo, chili con implant, ginataang gata…" line (spoken by Marcus Adoro, who is Wency Cornejo’s voice-alike when speaking), which was omitted in Barbie’s version. But I’m still pleased with Barbie’s song.

Next is the song With A Smile as performed by one of the country’s top pop/Rn’B band, Sound Border. As expected, their rendition of the song has an Rn’B feel. You can hear additional instruments such as the piano, synths and some percussions which are not present in the original. But they stayed true to the original’s key; they performed the song in Key of G Flat. A pleasing version for me, but I still like the original better, which has a simpler feel.

The sixth song in the album is Tikman, the Burger Machine’s jingle, performed by Sugarfree. Ebe Dancel’s vocals did fine in this song, as well as the vocal harmonies, but I find their version "noisier" than the original because of the heavier guitar distortions and lots of snare drum beats. And yet, there’s lesser guitar solos in the song compared to the original. Sugarfree’s version is in Key of A, while the original is in Key of G Flat, a whole and a half step lower. But overall, their version is pretty good.

Ligaya is a wonderful rendition by Kitchie Nadal. She gave a new and refreshing interpretation to this very popular song, giving the song a lively, spunky mild rock feel compared to the original’s swing feel. This, despite Kitchie’s candid laughing while singing at the middle of the song. (Yes, she actually laughed right at the middle; maybe someone made a funny joke right beside her or something. I find her laughing cute.) I’m definitely impressed.

Torpedo by Isha and The Look is also a refreshing rendition. It begins with Isha’s soft, soothing voice, then followed by a piano intro. (In contrast, the original song begins with an acoustic guitar intro.) Then during the chorus, the beat speeds up and synths are everywhere. I’m definitely very pleased with the rendition, although I still like the original’s drum beats and the guitar and bass riffs better. Also, I think it would be better if the band retained the background vocal harmonies and the C - D/C - Dm/C - Fm/C - C chord progression near and up to the end of the song. Together, the vocal harmonies and the chords create a "heavenly" harmony feel like that in the original (although the original is a half step lower in key; the blissful harmonies credit goes to Rico J. Puno’s rendition of Ang Huling El Bimbo). Rather, in Isha’s version, the ending vocal harmonies are not that noticeable, and the chord progression ends in C - G/B - Am - G - F. But to her band’s credit, they changed the lyrics a bit, from the dated "tumutunog na ang beeper mo" into the contemporary "nagri-ring na ang cellphone mo".

Superproxy2k6 is FrancisM’s louder, heavy-metal version of the Ehead’s Superproxy, with crunchier guitar riffs and an alkaline guitar solo, combined with turntable-scratching from the hip-hop world. Beautiful. Definitely impressive. And most of all, according to the album credits, Ely Buendia himself participated in the song! He did some background vocals over FrancisM’s melody during the chorus. Near the end of the song, FrancisM did a rap solo longer than his rapping in the original. (Yes, FrancisM was also involved in the original song.)

The next song is Huwag Kang Matakot, performed by the big brothers in alternative music, Orange and Lemons. Clem Castro’s mellow vocal works plus the extensive use of acoustic guitars gave their rendition a gentle, wooing, "harana" feel. Their version also gave references to Julie Tearjerky (via guitar melody licks) and Tikman (via vocal harmonies), both Eraserheads songs. I’m very pleased with their rendition. (Update: The band’s other vocalist, Mcoy Fundales, is the one who sang the hits Hanggang Kailan and Pinoy Ako.)

Next song on the list is the Eheads classic Pare Ko, performed by Sponge Cola, the recent band you might have been crazy for. I’m glad that they did Pare Ko and not Walang Hiyang Pare Ko, the Eheads’ cleaned-up version of Pare Ko. The original, profane and cussed up version is better and more expressive than the cleaned-up version. Yael Yuzon’s raw vocals did sufficient justice to the song, though their version is "noisier" than the original. Also, I like the original guitar solo better. Overall, Sponge Cola’s version is pretty okay.

Huwag Mo Nang Itanong is a very good acoustic rendition by MYMP. You can hear lots of piano and acoustic guitar in the song, as well as bits of clean electric guitar tunes. Juris Fernandez gave a very good, gentle and mellow vocal treatment on this song. Their version of the song carries a melodramatic and nostalgic feel. I love it.

The next song is Hard To Believe, performed by Cueshe. Jay’s and Ruben’s outstanding vocals did pretty well in this song, though I feel that much of their precious vocals were somewhat wasted. I think that the band somewhat overdid it; their rock version lost the simplicity and the Beatlesqueness of the original. The extra rock "noise" also made the lyrics somewhat harder to hear, considering the beautiful message of the lyrics. But overall, I find their rendition pretty okay.

Alcohol for me is the most fun part of the album. It’s performed by the Radioactive Sago Project, the alternative band that loves to narrate, courtesy of Lourd De Veyra’s "vocal" antics, socio-political stuff over a jazzy musical background filled largely with horns and various mambo percussions. They did perfect justice to the song, I say. Lourd’s cussing in the song is even more solid and "malutong" than Marcus Adoro’s in the original, and it added to the fun. Overall, they gave an in-your-face, humorous narrative treatment to the song. Love it.

Maling Akala is already a popular reggae rendition by Brownman Revival. The band also did perfect justice to the song. It seems that their version of the song in the album is longer than their other version played on the radio nationwide. It features Ely Buendia’s voiceover in the latter part of the song, taken straight from the original Maling Akala. Great song.

Ang Huling El Bimbo, the second to the last song, was performed by the legendary singer Rico J. Puno. The rendition has a country feel mixed with lots of tom-tom and snare drum beats plus some piano and synths. It also features blissful vocal harmonies in the chorus; it reminds me of the harmonies in the Beatles song, You Won’t See Me. As usual, Rico J. Puno poured out his emotion all over this song. A very good rendition, I’m impressed.

Finally, the last rendition is a collaborative effort of all the artists I mentioned above. It’s entitled Para Sa Masa, an anthemic song of the Eraserheads. The mood of the song is much more slower and melodramatic than the original, and features stringed instruments such as violins. You get to hear South Border sing first at the beginning of the song. As a bonus, according to the album credits, some of the guitar parts were performed by Marcus Adoro himself! It’s really a good rendition; my only comment is that the vocal parts were not evenly distributed, as all the ladies came to sing only near the end of the song. But overall, the song’s definitely okay.

And so, that’s my review. Anyway, I wish there would be a part two to this tribute album. If it happens, I hope that the following songs be included there:

Toyang
Shake Yer Head
Shirley
Sembreak
Minsan
Kamasupra
Waiting for The Bus
Poorman’s Grave
Tuwing Umuulan At Kapiling Ka
Harana
Andalusian Dog
Kaliwete (with a reference to Rico J. Puno!)