Jay-R's Holiday of Love album

It is heartening to see that despite the hard times and particularly the dwindling cd sales Filipino artists are still determined to do their bit for the Christmas celebration with new albums. Martin Nievera and Claire de la Fuente got the bandwagon started. Then recently we got Jay-R’s Holiday of Love.

2008 turned out to be very special for Jay-R. His Soul in Love did not only sell a lot of cds. It also proved what an extraordinary vocalist he is. Listeners not only found his singing expressive, Jay-R was also able to achieve the difficult feat of giving his own spin to time tested soul ballads.

The experience of having a hit album while other artists are struggling to sell must have felt so rewarding that Jay-R decided to give something back. So he took out his Christmas cd from two years ago, Christmas Away From Home. He remixed and remastered the tracks. Then he added some new ones, did new packaging and put it out as Holiday of Love.

Do not make the mistake though of thinking of this as just some marketing gimmick to generate sales for an old product. Jay-R went out of his way to make the cd special. After all he made the time to arrange and record and do whatever he had to in between tapings for his comedy series LaLola and other commitments. Then he decided to donate proceeds from sales of Holiday of Love to GMA 7’s Kapuso Foundation.

Now that is what I call taking the true spirit of Christmas to heart. So all of you out there who will surely enjoy Jay-R’s a cappella O Holy Night, or his jazzy versions of Do You Hear What I Hear, Give Love On Christmas Day, Sleigh Ride, or White Christmas, or his originals Tito Reny and Spread The Love or those tunes from Christmas Away From Home, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, O Christmas Tree, Winter Wonderland, The Christmas Song, This Christmas, Santa Baby and The Little Drummer Boy, your purchase of the cd will help make somebody happy this Christmas.

More Christmas albums

As for Christmas cds by other local artists, now also available are Lani Misalucha’s The Gift of Christmas and Pasko Natin ‘to by The Beatles-sounding young band the Bloomfields.

Lani’s first Christmas album is pretty much the usual standard stuff. Lots of traditional carols, Silent Night, Do You Hear What I Hear, When A Child Is Born, some recent favorites, The Christmas Song, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve and Martin’s Christmas Won’t Be The Same Without You. Having beautiful songs definitely helps sell a cd but Lani’s is also a case wherein people just want to hear her great voice and what she can do with the old songs.

It looks like the Bloomfields had fun making their Christmas album. They wrote some new songs Ikaw Ang Musika, Santa’s Beard, covered some oldies, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Someday At Christmas, It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, some opm, Tuloy Na Tuloy Pa Rin Ang Pasko and generally put their own ‘60s pop mark on everything. The result is most enjoyable and should keep fans of these boys eager to hear for more of their music throughout next year.

Pinoy MYX’s Top 20

Meanwhile, it seems like viewers of myx still have to get into the Holiday mood. This late in the day, only Martin’s sweet video with Pops Fernandez and their sons is in the Top 20 of the Pinoy Myx listing. I can think of some reasons why. Those interested in Christmas do not vote for hit videos. Those artists with a fanbase, who would most likely to vote like followers of Bamboo, did not release a Christmas cd. And among those who did, only Martin did a video.

Here are the Top 20 titles: Kailan by Bamboo; Selos by Sandwich; Disconnection Notice by Pupil; Puso by Sponge Cola; Now by m.y.m.p.; Yugto by Rico Blanco; Your Universe, also by Rico Blanco; Gusto Na Kita by 6Cyclemind; Captured by Christian Bautista and Sitti; Ligawan Stage by Rivermaya.

There Was You by Cueshé; Die Just A Little by Side A; Freak Out Baby by Itchyworms; I’ll Be There by Sarah Geronimo and Howie Dorough; Leap Of Faith by Hale; Ako’y Babalik by Callalily; Kahit Maputi Na Ang Buhok Ko by Richard Poon; Pasko Na Sinta Ko by Martin Nievera; When I Hear You Call by Gary Valenciano; and Shapeshifter by Taken by Cars.