Summer Tunes

Totoy kumilos ka, baliktarin ang tatsulok
Tulad ng dukha, nailagay mo sa tuktok
- Tatsulok

I got myself a copy of the second volume of Ateneo's Martial Law series for my usual summer reading a couple of weeks ago. I finished it in two nights. So much for summer reading. To fill the void, I decided to reward myself with a copy of Bamboo's latest offering, instead.

We Stand Alone Together, Bamboo's third album, is a fine mix of covers ranging from the 80s protest anthem Tatsulok (yes, it's not a new song) to Metropop winner Umagang Kay Ganda; from the Carole King classic So Far Away to Pearl Jam's Alive. It is social commentary and romantic ditty, popular and alternative, jazz and rock, old and new, all in one neat package. (One of the OPM remakes, Probinsyana, was written by Alex Cruz of Anak Bayan, the father of the band's guitarist Ira Cruz.)

Note that the album also includes a live version of Sting's Englishman in New York. Don't bother looking for it in the track listing because it's not there. Personally though, I think this song alone, is worth the CD's tag price. There is also a second CD, which you can play if you want to make good music with the band. It has five songs played three times, alternately without Ira, Nathan and Vic.