John Rendez, out of rap

Time to forget John Rendez. Also gone is Metal Dog. The actor/rapper has changed his sound and also his name. John now wants to be known by his real name, John Robert Porter, Jr. And with that comes the introduction of a new, more conventional image via his latest album. Aptly titled Crossroads, it showcases his new sound, which is pop, light and very easy.

I do not know what circumstances brought about the change. A natural, intelligent rapper, John as Metal Dog, had a niche among hip hop followers that even the popular Andrew E. is unable to fill. But there comes a time in everyone’s life when change is inevitable and that is what John acknowledges with the release of his Crossroads.

Produced by John himself for his own Metal Dog label, the album is one more contribution to the currently flourishing revival trend. It spotlights John’s own version of pop favorites by big named artists from the past 40 years. These are Elton John’s Skyline Pigeon, Wild World, Hard Headed Woman, and Father and Son by Cat Stevens, Whiter Shade of Pale, by Procol Harum, I’ll Never Cry, by Alice Cooper, I Started a Joke, by the Bee Gees and Easy by the Commodores.

Old tunes though are not all that he has to offer. John also took time out to write two new songs for his launch as a pop singer. These are Why Can’t We Ever Get Along, an insightful look at difficult relationships and Kontrobersyal where he reveals a lot about himself and the difficult trajectory of his showbiz career.

I feel sad seeing the rapper go but John Rendez has chosen to take another road. Let us wish John Robert Porter, Jr., well. Revival albums maybe dime a dozen nowadays but there is always room for one more, especially a collection made up of timeless tunes like Crossroads.

The songs of Michael Ball

Here is good news for all those who inquired about British singer Michael Ball, who figured prominently in the BBC1 survey of the greatest voices of the century. Here is your chance to check out what he sounds like. I finally came across an album that features a few of his songs. Unfortunately, it is not his own album, none of which, I think, is available in the local shops, but it is a very good compilation of songs from the stage and the movies and Ball has three excellent cuts.

Titled Magic of Stage & Screen, the album combines Shirley Bassey with Boyzone with Michael Ball. It also brings together James Bond with Lord of the Dance and Titanic. The combinations do not always ring right but they all share the common denominator of being songs that originated either from the stage or from motion picture soundtracks and should delight anybody who enjoys musicals. And plus, plus, it has a sample Catherine Zeta-Jones singing!

Ironically, Ball, who scored big in London’s West End when he took on the lead role in Phantom of the Opera does not perform any song from the famous musical. He instead sings Love Changes Everything, from Aspects of Love, another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables and the wonderful With One Look from Sunset Boulevard also by Lloyd Webber. The Glenn Close version is still the best but Ball is not bad at all.

Aside from the songs by Ball, the album includes No Matter What from Whistle Down the Wind by Boyzone; How Deep is Your Love by the Bee Gees, which is from Saturday Night Fever, I Don’t Know How to Love Him by Sharon Campbell from Jesus Christ Superstar, Oh, What a Circus from Evita by David Essex, Goldfinger from the James Bond movie of the same title by Shirley Bassey, What a Feeling from Flashdance by Irene Cara.

True Love Ways from Buddy by David Essex and Catherine Zeta Jones, Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera by David Willetts, Take That Look Off Your Face from Tell Me on a Sunday by Sharon Campbell, My Heart Will Go On from Titanic by Celtic Spirit, Don’t Cry for Me Argentina also from Evita by Campbell, All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera by Lesley Garrett and Chris Corcoran, Lord of the Dance from the musical of the same title by Ronan Hardiman and Memory from Cats by Lesley Garrett.