Reelin' in the Years

Donald Fagen

In the background, Donald Fagen asks:

Are you reelin' in the years? Stowin' away the time?

Then, I can't help but air guitar to Elliott Randall's famous solo.

As Steely Dan's debut album Can't Buy a Thrill progressed to track 7, "Fire in the Hole," I took a quick sip of coffee.

Caught a glimpse of my image in the mirror. I sighed and said: "Jeez..."

Hair and mustache now showing streaks of gray, face all wrinkled and a bulging midsection to boot. Worst of all, there's my failing health staring right at me i.e. impaired vision, hypertension, hemorrhoids, heartburn, back pains, spasms, etc.

Where have all the years gone?

Well, you better believe it old man, the 80's were long gone!

There was a time I detested being called "kid" by everyone. Thirty years later, everyone's calling me "sir." Good thing I haven't been offered a seat yet while standing inside a bus or a train. That'll be a hoot, oh yeah!

I'm definitely reelin' in the years but very thankful at the same time for all the blessings that have come along the way. The least I can do is say thanks and give praise to God.

Now, back to the chorus.

"Are you reelin' in the years?"

Well, Donald my man, you should know better!

Best of Friends

Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina

School year 1982-1983 was about to end.

My friends and I were on our senior year. All we had to do is pass the final exams and we're gonna be graduates.

Not so fast lads. There's another requirement to fulfill - a play for our Public Speaking class.

Instead of joining other groups, we reached a consensus to keep ours intact.

Just the six of us. Nobody else but us.

An all-male group?

Why not?

We'll base our play off a short novel from our Filipino class, translate the title and dialogues in English, task the biggest guy to play the father's role, the youngest as the black sheep and the rest as brothers.

Piece of cake. We got ourselves a play.

I came up with the initial scenes and then allowed the others to develop it further. We then retreated to a friend's house to finish and rehearse our pre Quentin Tarantino opus. For inspiration, we have Rainbow's "Temple of the King" blaring in the background.

As I was going through a stack of tapes, I noticed a few LPs on a shelf like Elton John's 17-11-70, The Jackson Browne led No Nukes and Loggins & Messina's Best of Friends.

I stopped playing the Slow Rock compilation tape and then cued up the Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina album on the turntable.

As soon as that all too familiar acoustic guitar intro of "Danny's Song" came to life, I was on cloud nine. Before the tune could fade out, I hurriedly lifted the tonearm and gently dropped the needle once more on that very same mark.

Then again, again and again.

Could've gone for hours replaying the same tune but my friends were already yelling in unison as I almost forgot about the damn play!

Pinoy Jobim

Last year, I took it upon myself to buy some CDs that have been in the backburner for the longest time.

One: Some great jazz albums. Check.

Two: OPM albums. Check.

The artist at the very top of my OPM wishlist is local jazz legend Bong Peñera. However, the hunt for his elusive album A Samba Song ended up as a mere exercise in futility.

Good thing I was able to snag his self-titled album. That's a whole lot better than being left totally empty handed, right?

To be honest, the name did ring a bell. Faintly. I can vaguely recall his tunes being played on the radio. I was even under the impression that he used to perform classical music.

The first musician that came to mind the moment I heard this album was the late Antonio Carlos Jobim. The gentle keyboards, chiming guitars and seductive bossa nova beat were almost identical to the likes of "Aguas De Marco," "Wave," and "One Note Samba."  

Copycat? Well, if Mr. Peñera openly wears his heart on his sleeves in admiration of such a great artist, who are we to complain? Who didn't turn to their contemporaries for inspiration?

Go ahead and read about how the Beatles' Rubber Soul inspired Brian Wilson to create Pet Sounds and vice versa when the Liverpool lads came out with the landmark Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Didn't Bob Dylan echo the works of Woody Guthrie in his early recordings?

The excellent musicianship is on full display here. There's passion, soul and not just some virtuoso showing off technical skills. And if you think the album's Jobimesque tracks are the only highlights, you're sadly, sadly mistaken.

The opening track "Sa Dako pa Roon" and its reprise featuring that kid on lead vocals will give shivers down your spine. The jazzy "Love Notes" with Pat Castillo lending her pipes could very well be mistaken as a long lost Joni Mitchell song or an outtake from Court and Spark. "Sinta" and "Melancholy Dreams" are a couple more excellent tracks in this all killer no filler album.

It's quite unfortunate that the guy's music has been buried knee deep in the marshes of forgotten OPM luminaries. It's quite unfortunate that his genius will forever remain a mystery to most of our countrymen who were either too young or too naive when he first burst into the local music scene.

If by any chance you'd be able to dip your hands on this CD or LP somewhere, go ahead and you won't be disappointed. 

The Digging Duo

The two of us with a great find - Cream's Disraeli Gears.

Once in a while, my long time buddy now based in the middle east and I would catch up with one another whenever the former's back in the country vacationing.

We met way back in the early 90's. Used to work for an Aussie owned hotel in Manila but got closer during our tenure in a small hotel in Makati. Upon discovering a common passion in music, we became even tighter.

I started down the perfect sound forever path first and then bugged the poor guy endlessly about the wonders of this thing called compact discs.

A month or two later, he bought a boombox. And from then on, just like me, he was doomed. The never-ending search for all those elusive and essential recordings was on.

Even though our salaries were just a tad above minimum wage, we were able to buy all those discs and would scour every record bar in sight like CD Warehouse, Landmark, Odyssey, Music Nook, Radio City, SM, M1, Tower Records and even those stalls in Quiapo.

Back in the days when the then Polycosmic Records had clearance sales in the parking lot, we were always there. At Save A Lot's buy one take one sale, we were there as well. Name the record bar or bargain jaunt and chances are great that we've been there before.

There are times when one of us had to draw faster than the other because a particular album could be the last one in stock. I can still remember that Emerson, Lake & Palmer compilation in an Odyssey bargain bin that he plucked out the moment he laid his eyes on it while I was looking some place else. Deep inside I felt bad and cursing but luckily, there's another copy lying idle in the stockroom.

Our respective collections grew considerably through the years. We switched career paths. Both of us transferred to other companies. His family got bigger. I tied the knot. Our hunts became less and  less frequent, few and far in between but everytime we had the chance, we'd set aside an hour or two just to be able to roam around CDlandia again.

By the time the new millennium beckoned, he was able to secure a beat-up turntable and that signaled the start of his analog journey. I followed suit but had to give it up not long after. Why? I destroyed my turntable that was only supposed to be tweaked. Well, so much for my DIY skills or rather the lack of it!

One time, we went to the Cubao Expo for the "Kagatan" which is a quarterly meet for vinyl lovers to check out some records. Even though I'm still officially out of the vinyl loop, I had a whale of a good time crate digging.

Among the many rows of records for sale, we decided to check out the hundred peso crates first. Yes, we're cheap but we take pride in finding gems hidden in one of those God forsaken bins. And there it was, Genesis' Abacab and Jeff Lorber's minty looking In the Heat of the Night.

When we moved to another crate, there was Rickie Lee Jones' eponymous debut album and Seals & Crofts' Summer Breeze. Told ya, seek and ye shall find!

A sudden attack of nostalgia hit me upon seeing Billy Squier's long out of print 1984 album Signs of Life. The sleeve was still in very good condition but I didn't bother to check out the grooves. There's no use since I don't have a freaking turntable (yet).

More than a couple of hours later, we decided to call it a day and headed off to the nearest mall for a quick bite. I jokingly said: "Let's find dear old French Baker and we've gone full circle."

I'm referring of course to the popular bakeshop that we used to frequent once we're done with our CD hunting. It was the only place we can afford then after emptying our pockets.

Needless to say, he didn't oblige and instead yanked me to a nearby burger joint.