Been thinking of a way, apart from counting breaths, to take my mind off some stressful things these past few days. Luckily, I chanced upon Charles and his Heartache with Hard Work blog. Unfortunately, the guy beat me to the Beatles list. Which is just fine as I don't think I'm competent and stout-hearted enough to take on such a colossal project. So, have to content myself with a smaller and more local undertaking. At one point during the height of their popularity, fans and reviewers referred to the Eraserheads as the Pinoy version of the Fab Four. I've been an avid follower of the E-heads since their Ultraelectromagneticpop days. And I have copies of almost all their albums (except the Fruitcake EP; but there's always the internet for that). So last night, coming from another nerve-wracking encounter with an ex-partner, turned on my computerized "jukebox" and started listing down my favorite Eraserheads songs.
The materials
The countdown hopes to include all tracks from the 10 albums released by the band from 1993 to 2003. I've recently acquired a bootlegged copy of the indie-released Pop U, so I've decided to include the songs there as well. I don't have the Fruitcake EP (anybody out there who's willing to sell me an original or even a bootlegged copy?), so I will be basically relying on information from the internet and from my own memory of the songs in the EP as they were played on the radio almost 10 years ago in 1996. I've included BMG's Dekada '90 Singles compilation as it has the band's own rendition of that Ryan Cayabyab song popularized by Basil Valdez. And finally, the countdown will also include songs from the 2-disc Anthology (2004) that have not been previously released in the other albums. Nope, I have not included songs from the Please Transpose EP with Kris Dancel on vocals. Sorry guys, but I'm one of those irritating purists who consider the original foursome of Ely, Raymund, Buddy, and Marcus as the real E-heads. Neither have I considered tracks from other compilations like that Philippine Centennial release, that tribute album to the Hotdogs (a popular Pinoy band in the 70s), or that Nescafe concept album that had the guys performing APO songs. So, if I'm not mistaken, that would be 140 songs, avoiding overlaps (except in the cases of Walang Hiyang Pare Ko and Pare ko which are counted as two songs, and of the two versions of Fruitcake) and including fillers (thanks to tabulas and to highfiber's E-heads Project for the info).
The method
I've previously selected 75 of my favorite Eraserheads songs from all of the materials mentioned above and saved them all as wma files in my pc jukebox. I'll start ranking these songs first. Then I'll move on to the other songs not included in the list. This is a personal list, and thus very subjective. Other E-heads fanatics may rank these songs very differently. And as Charles pointed out, one's personal choices could change drastically through time. My number 1 song today may not be so tomorrow or a few days from now. Songs can move up or down the list depending on a lot of factors including my stress level, my sex life, the book I happen to be reading at the moment, whether or not Mike Defensor's recent antics have again caught the headlines, and of course, the weather (I'm only happy when it rains). I'll try to do at least three songs per post. And as I couldn't afford to be depressed all the time, I may have to write on less serious things in-between my posts for this countdown.
The standards
I am not really a music expert. So, I'll try my best to consult The Free Online Dictionary when using some of those musical terms. Beyond that, I have to apologize for any inaccuracies or objectionable points that may appear in the review. The melody is usually what initially catches my attention in a song. Then I examine the lyrics. Sometimes I go over the album's jacket for production information. At this point, I then usually begin to notice the instrumentation. I could then do research on some interesting trivias about the song. Finally, I take note of my overall impressions, reactions, thoughts and associations in relation to it. So, these are probably some of the things that would go into my review (not necessarily in that order).
The materials
The countdown hopes to include all tracks from the 10 albums released by the band from 1993 to 2003. I've recently acquired a bootlegged copy of the indie-released Pop U, so I've decided to include the songs there as well. I don't have the Fruitcake EP (anybody out there who's willing to sell me an original or even a bootlegged copy?), so I will be basically relying on information from the internet and from my own memory of the songs in the EP as they were played on the radio almost 10 years ago in 1996. I've included BMG's Dekada '90 Singles compilation as it has the band's own rendition of that Ryan Cayabyab song popularized by Basil Valdez. And finally, the countdown will also include songs from the 2-disc Anthology (2004) that have not been previously released in the other albums. Nope, I have not included songs from the Please Transpose EP with Kris Dancel on vocals. Sorry guys, but I'm one of those irritating purists who consider the original foursome of Ely, Raymund, Buddy, and Marcus as the real E-heads. Neither have I considered tracks from other compilations like that Philippine Centennial release, that tribute album to the Hotdogs (a popular Pinoy band in the 70s), or that Nescafe concept album that had the guys performing APO songs. So, if I'm not mistaken, that would be 140 songs, avoiding overlaps (except in the cases of Walang Hiyang Pare Ko and Pare ko which are counted as two songs, and of the two versions of Fruitcake) and including fillers (thanks to tabulas and to highfiber's E-heads Project for the info).
The method
I've previously selected 75 of my favorite Eraserheads songs from all of the materials mentioned above and saved them all as wma files in my pc jukebox. I'll start ranking these songs first. Then I'll move on to the other songs not included in the list. This is a personal list, and thus very subjective. Other E-heads fanatics may rank these songs very differently. And as Charles pointed out, one's personal choices could change drastically through time. My number 1 song today may not be so tomorrow or a few days from now. Songs can move up or down the list depending on a lot of factors including my stress level, my sex life, the book I happen to be reading at the moment, whether or not Mike Defensor's recent antics have again caught the headlines, and of course, the weather (I'm only happy when it rains). I'll try to do at least three songs per post. And as I couldn't afford to be depressed all the time, I may have to write on less serious things in-between my posts for this countdown.
The standards
I am not really a music expert. So, I'll try my best to consult The Free Online Dictionary when using some of those musical terms. Beyond that, I have to apologize for any inaccuracies or objectionable points that may appear in the review. The melody is usually what initially catches my attention in a song. Then I examine the lyrics. Sometimes I go over the album's jacket for production information. At this point, I then usually begin to notice the instrumentation. I could then do research on some interesting trivias about the song. Finally, I take note of my overall impressions, reactions, thoughts and associations in relation to it. So, these are probably some of the things that would go into my review (not necessarily in that order).
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