Pseudo-Eraserheads (Ultraelectromagnetic Jam)

I've always been a fan of the Eraserheads. I first discovered them when my friends from the student press would play their songs. Further on, I learned the chords of their songs and jammed with my friends. "Pare Ko" then was our anthem. I would play rhythm while another would play lead and another would play bass. If my college memories had a soundtrack, it would be songs of the Eraserheads. That's why I was very much excited when I heard that there a tribute album will be released with new artists doing covers of E-heads songs. It was no surprise that the stores ran out of stock a day after the release. I was just lucky that I found the album at an SM Record Bar.

I quickly returned home excited at the thought of listening to my newly bought album. After the first pass, I never noticed that the album was done. All the singers sound the same without me distinguishing who is who. The only recognizable ones are Rico J. Puno (Ang Huling El Bimbo), Radioactive Sago Project (Alcohol) and Brownman Revival (Maling Akala). I also like FrancisM's rendition of SuperProxy, especially the guitars. I read somewhere that the purpose of having a tribute album is for artists to do their own version of the songs infusing their style and sound. But nothing different there.

Some of the songs do not jive with the artists. I'm still not comfortable with the fact that South Border did the "With a Smile" song. They made it sound like a love song! And whyever did Kitchie Nadal sing "Ligaya"? It's one of my favorite E-heads tune and she practically ruined it for me (what's the chuckle for?!). And the "Para Sa Masa" version of Various Artists just sounded so trying hard. Again, only Rico J. Puno was distinguishable from the rest.

Nevertheless, I'm glad that people still remember or want to remember the greatness and genius of the Eraserheads. I was just alarmed that the "younger" generation think that these songs are originals of the artists. I quickly corrected them and let them hear the old songs.

So excuse me while I dig out my CD of Ultraelectromagneticpop and listen to that instead.