50 years of Rock 'n Roll

MANILA, Philippines - Four years ago, Ramon “RJ” Jacinto asked my opinion on what type of album he could release for his 50th anniversary in the music business. It was tough because he has recorded so many albums in his entire career, from instrumental to acoustic to rock to folk, and even one with a symphony orchestra. We both were in agreement it had to be a landmark album.

Because he has been doing monthly live duets with all types of artists for a decade, I suggested a duets album with the artists he has worked with and add some international flavor by guesting some international artists I booked. It wasn’t an easy task to do that is why it took RJ a good four years to finish the project. It involved a lot of creativity and rearranging the songs to be featured. 

Of the seven international artists I offered, RJ chose four. John Claude Gummoe, The Cascades lead singer; Bobby Kimball, Toto original lead singer; John Ford Coley of England Dan & John Ford Coley; and two singers of the Buckinghams.

First to record in 2008 were the lead singers of the Buckinghams Dennis Tufano and Marty Grebb who later had a stint with Chicago. The obvious choices were Don’t You Care and Hey Baby that were both No. 1 songs back in the mid-’60s. Dennis and RJ alternated with the lead vocal chores and Marty provided harmony and played sax.

Bobby came a few months later and laid vocals with RJ on the immortal Grammy Song of the Year for 1983 winner, Rosanna. The song was written by David Paich and rumored to be inspired by movie star Rosanna Arquette, whom bandmate Steve Porcaro was dating at that time. The other song Georgy Porgy is from Toto’s 1978 debut album.

(clockwise, from above) Marty Grebb, Jon Claude Gummoe, Dennis Tufano, John Ford Coley and Bobby Kimball

In mid-2009, it was my compadre John’s turn to record. In between John’s busy Asian tour schedule, he took one day off and recorded with RJ both his No. 1 hits with Danny Seals, Nights Are Forever and Sad To Belong. After listening to RJ’s kind of country and Western-flavored arrangement of Nights Are Forever, John commented that the melody has a way of growing on you.

Finally in 2010 when The Cascades returned after doing a farewell tour in 2007, RJ got his chance to duet with John Claude his favorite ’60s song, My First Day Alone. The other Cascades song they did a duet was Dreamin’. First time I heard it, I thought it was an instrumental until the vocal part came in after a minute. RJ performed Dreamin’ live with John Claude in an impromptu session at Bistro RJ last month.

In between the recording sessions with the four international artists, RJ did duets with his favorite Pinoy legends: Jose Mari Chan — Cliff Richard’s Constantly and Joe’s very own ’60s classic Afterglow; Rene Garcia, lead singer-composer of Hotdog — RJ creatively combined his own ’62 hit Take A Trip To Manila and Hotdog’s monster smash Manila to make a killer Manila medley (Bongga Ka Day was an obvious choice as it was a huge dance anthem loved by all); Sitti whom RJ has transformed from exclusively Bossa to Pop Diva — Don’t Let Go and Muli which are RJ basic staples; Nyoy Volante — the classic Jackie Wilson R&B hit, Lonely Teardrops, where both artists not only do voice but guitar duets as well RJ’s ’80s hit Hele Hele; Ely Buendia — Presyo, a song written by Ely and RJ; Richard Poon — a sentimental ’50s Ray Peterson hit Missing You for a taste of nostalgia and an RJ song One and Only; Raimund Marasigan — another legendary member of Eraserheads with his very own composition Ligtas which RJ arranged and another RJ classic Sabi Sabi; Noel Cabangon — Sugat Ng Puso, a song Noel claims inspired him when he was starting his music career; and Aia de Leon of Imago — Nosi Ba Lasi, a monster hit by ’70s female rock legend Sampaguita (a.k.a. Tessie Alfonso of the famous TV show Nineteeners) which was produced in the ’80s by RJ himself. The bonus of the album is from fifth international artist The Ventures (RJ’s all-time favorite instrumental and inspirational group), a live recording of Bulldog and Yellow Jacket from its September 2010 Manila concert.

There are 24 songs in the double album from Universal MCA which is now out in the market. It is not only an assembly of great songs but also an assembly of the great artists. Definitely not to be missed.