Some of those old Beatles records: 1st Live Recordings, Decca Tapes & Tony Sheridan

I cannot remember what film I saw about the Beatles where the song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" was played. Of course, I know that song as a kid. Who didn't? 

What I or maybe even many do not know it evolved out of a Scottish folk song from the 1700s. 

Now back to the Beatles. As a young fan, I thought I knew all their songs and albums. It was only later in the early 1990s when I saw a compact disc of Tony Sheridan and the Beatles that I finally got a copy of the recorded song by the Fab Four. 

I love these early pre-fame songs of the Beatles. There's a child-like innocence about their rock 'n' roll music unlike the more popish fare they recorded when they exploded into the stratosphere.

Now, I got the vinyl editions of the Tony Sheridan and the Beatles songs, the Decca Tapes from their audition for that famed London label, and the 1st Live Recordings from the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany (with Ringo Starr on drums).

As someone who owned the original first UK pressings of all the Beatles albums from their Parlophone and Apple years (I lost them during a fire that burned down my house four years ago), these were welcome additions to my Beatles collection. Regarding my records lost in the fire -- well, I have decided not to replace them because they are not only hard to find but they are pricey. I just have the compact discs with a few of the re-mastered vinyl records.

The Beatles records with Pete Best on drums! 

Pinoy prog rockers, Anhura, take you on voyage beyond imagination

Pinoy prog rockers, Anhura, take you on voyage beyond imagination

by rick olivares

Progressive rock music has been somewhat in the local limelight recently with the news that Fuseboxx was in search for a new vocalist while American act, Dream Theater performed to a highly-acclaimed show in Manila.

Now Anhura, that six-piece band featuring Monika Preysler on vocals and flute, Darwin Venus and Mark Ryan Malalay on guitars, Christian Igna on bass, Dimson Venus on samples, and Don Rodriguez on drums recently released their independent third album, Illnity – A Journey Within.

Illnity – A Journey Within is modern prog rock and like any good band worth its salt, features a high fantasy theme of an empire facing annihilation from an evil threat. In the album’s storyline, the Empress Geidel is under assault from a dark lord, Xarthos. And answering the call for succor of Geidel is the warrior, Uldveg. If you were weaned on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings epic, this is right up that alley except its told in song.

The album is basically one long track that clocks in at close to 64 minutes. This long track is broken down into eight stand-alone tracks that tell of the coming storm and the climactic battle that nearly tears apart the entire reality. Yet, it seems nebulous at the end, and possibly, Xarthos and Uldveg are mere figments of Geidel’s imagination and sub consciousness. Shades of the late great American prog rock band, The Mars Volta whose second album, De-Loused in the Comatorium, tells the story of a man in a drug-induced coma battling the evil side of his mind!

It’s ambitious and brilliant. But definitely, this one is acquired taste and definitely not mainstream.

As a fan of prog rock, I think the genre makes one truly focus on the entire album from the vocals to the performance and to the lyrics. Having listened to Illnity – A Journey Within several times, I like how Anhura brings an operatic and neo-classical bent to their brand of prog rock that at times reminds me of goth metallers, Sirenia and Nightwish. I believe though that having a second vocalist will provide a counterpoint to Preysler’s operatic pipes. I think for the themes they sing; a second vocalist definitely works.

Speaking of works, if you are into progressive rock and waiting for the next Fuseboxx album is like waiting for Godot (Fuseboxx’s Abby Clutario and Eric Tubon make a guest appearance on track two, “Prologue to an Odyssey”), you should check out Anhura’s Illnity – A Journey Within. It’s grandiose, epic, and well, darn interesting. Even the album artwork, illustrated by Preysler and Darwin Venus is fetching for its line art and distinctly Filipino fantasy.

The album is on compact disc form and can be availed of from the band’s Facebook page. It is also on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify.

Listening to Indonesian band Speedkill and French grindcore act, Fatal Nunchaku

Here are a couple of CDs, I have been listening to these past few days.

Buas by Indonesian metal band Speedkill

The Jakarta outfit’s second album – with a somewhat different line-up -- was released in 2016 (San Hitam Records) nine years after their debut album, Metallium A.D. was released in 2007!

Despite being sung in Indonesian, I can appreciate the band’s music. It’s thrash metal all right with those buzzsaw guitars played at breakneck speed. I don’t think the seven-track album slows down at all.

Paving Stone Under the Beach by French grindcore band Fatal Nunchaku

This is the third album from this trio from Tolouse, France that was released in 2011 by a consortium of labels (mainly from Indonesia). The songs – 18 of them – are short, fast, furious, and violent. Not really crazy about this kind of music. I get a kick laughing at the lyrics when you’re hard pressed to understand what the fuck they are growling about. According to the band, their lyrics are political and have vegetarian issues. Right.

Gigs to go to...

Pinoy Rock Radio Online provides a voice for the underground and the extreme

Pinoy Rock Radio Online provides a voice for the underground and the extreme

by rick olivares

If you spot this chap wearing a grey baseball cap and a vest filled with band patches and pins holding up a phone and fiddling with a laptop all the while videoing or streaming a live performance, chances are that’s Paulo Tamayo Legaspi.

Paulo is the man behind Pinoy Rock Radio Online, a 24/7 independent online radio that plays mainstream but also a healthy chunk of independent, underground, and extreme music from bands throughout the entire Philippine archipelago.

Legaspi travels the club and bar circuit to stream performances – when allowed – and every single day sets a playlist for his online streaming station. Sometimes, he goes to at least two shows a night such as last weekend when he first attended the Full Blast Pinoy Super Bands concert at the Cuneta Astrodome before moving to Mulligans in Makati to catch American death metal band, Devourment. “I know it’s tough, but this is a commitment to music and showing everyone that we have a healthy music scene,” explained Paulo.

“Hindi ko naabutan ang DZRJ nung kalakasan niya,” he added. “The stations that picked up the baton for rock music -- NU 107, XB, LA 105  - they are all gone. Meron pumalit yung 88.3. Pero kulang. Marami pa rin banda na hindi napapakinggan’. So I decided to create a music streaming station that consists of mainstream, underground, and extreme bands from not just Metro Manila but all over – Cagayan De Oro, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod and more.”

Over Pinoy Rock Radio Online, the programs range from all the sub-genres of rock – metal, punk, New Wave, rockabilly, classic rock, blues, ethnic, ska, and so forth.

“My tastes were already wide. But doing this broadened my horizons,” he bared of his passion.

Initially, Paulo, who works in a IT company, digitized his cassettes and vinyl records then added the music of his own compact discs to a central server. Then he scoured the band circuit for independent and underground releases. “Right now, I spend about 15 thousand a month to maintain and run the station. Plus, I also spend on buying compact discs and records of new bands. I sometimes get freebies but I mostly buy a lot. Support na rin yan sa kanila.”

Since Pinoy Rock Radio Online went live on the 1^st of January, 2013, the reception has been fantastic. With some 8,000 listeners from all over the country, it has provided a means for other bands to be heard.

“You would think that with the internet, bands have a venue to be heard pero marami pa rin clutter,” noted Legaspi. “This is an opportunity for them to be heard.”

Right now, Pinoy Rock Radio Online doesn’t make money. Hopefully, it will, wished Legaspi. “I just do it for the love of music especially Original Pilipino Music.”

For those interested in listening to Pinoy Rock Radio Online, try this link. http://pinoyrockradio.listen2myshow.com