The best of Janno

Judging from what we have been hearing about him in the gossip venues lately, we can probably say that Janno Gibbs has been a very bad boy. Ok, perhaps not really bad, but just naughty, the way boys usually are and the way he has been all these years, often rash, unthinking, candid, overly honest for his own good.

Bad though is a word I will never use as far as his music is concerned. Not also rash, or unthinking. Honest perhaps or better yet sincere. Janno has been a singer for almost 20 years. He has already recorded seven albums and each one has shown his unerring ear for what works best for him. He is often faulted for taking a long time with his recordings but the talks stop as soon as his albums are released because the results are always worth the wait.

And none more so than his latest entitled Little Boy. It follows Seven from about two years ago which produced the hits Fallin’ and Pinakamagandang Lalaki Sa Mundo. Expect more hits from Little Boy, which I believe is Janno’s best work ever. It fully captures the light rock vibe that goes so well with his style and shows him at his best as a singer and songwriter.

Now, Janno is better known as an actor and singer who would from time to time venture into composing. For Little Boy though, Janno came up with seven originals and each one has a hook-filled melody, just the right words and sentiments many can relate to but that are also very Janno. His wife Bing Loyzaga might want to pull my hair for saying this but if those unsavory talks about his love life drove him into writing these songs then I say let us have more of them.

So if you are looking for the most beautiful love songs by a Filipino artist at the moment, check out Little Boy by Janno Gibbs. Pinakamamahal, Ikaw Lang at Ako and Let Me Be the One, a duet with Jolina Magdangal stand out from the rest and are sure to go big with ballad-loving Pinoys. But Walang Kadala-dala, Little Boy, You are to Me and Sexy Mama featuring a rap bit by Andrew E., bring out Janno’s sense of humor and are charming in their own way.

Completing the album are Moments of Love, a duet with Jennylyn Mercado and very well-chosen covers of two Rey Valera classics Kung Tayo’y Magkakalayo and Ako Si Superman.

Pinoy Dream Academy’s edge

From the mail: Raymund Francisco of Pag-asa, Quezon City wrote inquiring about TV ratings and record sales:

"A week ago, GMA 7 published the 20 highest rating TV shows for 2006. It showed Pinoy Pop Superstar as the top-rater of all local talent searches. That means Philippine Idol and Pinoy Dream Academy are non-raters.

"What about record sales? Who’s the big winner among the CDs of Pinoy Pop Superstar (Gerald Santos and company), Philippine Idol and Pinoy Dream Academy?"

Thanks for writing Raymund about topics that I’m sure a lot of people are also wondering about. How reliable are the ratings? I do not think anybody really knows. A lot of factors are taken into consideration during surveys and lay people like us are not informed of those. Maybe Pinoy Pop Superstar was indeed the top-rater.

From my point of view, I can say that it was. This is because Philippine Idol turned out to be a big dud because the interesting entries were booted out early in the competition and Pinoy Dream Academy started picking up big late in 2006.

As for record sales, nobody also really knows for sure which one among those albums are the top sellers. This is true not only among the talent shows’ albums but for all music releases. We will only get the truth when we get Soundscan out here.

But if I were to consider airplay and market feedback, I would say Pinoy Dream Academy has the edge because of Yeng Constantino’s Hawak Kamay and we have not heard anything about what hits were produced by the others.

I honestly believe that viewers have started to lose interest in talent shows. Maybe this is not really the fault of the networks. Trends change and the band explosion certainly affected the rise of aspiring solo talents. Besides, the talent searches have not really discovered anybody of true star material these past few years.

Relatively speaking Yeng Constantino seems to be the most successful, but should we now consider her a star? I will answer that after she comes up with a second or better yet a third hit song.