Covered

A pleasant surprise came in the mailbox today. It was a letter from my friend in Manila, and it included a copy of Regine Velasquez's new CD "Covers 2." I remember having the copy of her first "Covers" CD and found most of the songs nice. Particularly, her version of "Ikaw ang lahat sa akin" was so heartfelt and haunting. Plus, it was in Melvin's iPod so I heard it a couple of times last weekend.

This CD doesn't look as vibrant and colorful as the first one. But it did have a lot of interesting songs. Surprisingly, not one was Filipino, unlike its predecessor. Her choice of songs from this album ranged from 60s icons The Beatles, 70s rocker girl Debbie Harry of Blondie, the magnificent ABBA and disco diva Donna Summer, 80s icons Hall and Oates, Prince and Sheena Easton, and 90s angst poster child Alanis Morrisette. It was interesting to hear how she would lend her vocal expertise with such a range.



After listening to the album once, which is my normal ritual, I began picking out favorite songs that i'd load on my iTunes. Hands down, my favorite in this album is her rendition of "Kiss is on my list." Her voice while singing "So Much in Love" is also fantastic, but the rapping part was a tad bit too distracting. "Come Together" was quite a risk because I love the original version from the Fab Four, but yes, she pulled it off quite well, and i'm loving her version as well.

But the most wonderful surprise among the lot is her rendition of Olivia Newton-John's iconic "Xanadu". This song brings so much memories: from childhood stories back in our house in Morato, to those impromptu broadway numbers by Xtine and Shash in Adformatix. Then there's that scene from the movie where rollerskating girls wearing gold hot pants are rushing out of a billboard. It's practically "Spinning Around" meets "Lucky."

Xanadu is such a happy, magical song. And it leaves an effervescent, happy feeling each time you listen to it. It's pretty much like Perkaset, only in music form. It's good that she remade this song, so the newer generation can appreciate something from the 70s-80s. Regine did an excellent job singing this song, but i'd say ONJ's version is in a class of its own.



OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN:
A place where nobody dared to go
The love that we came to know
They call it Xanadu

And now
Open your eyes and see
What we have made is real
We are in Xanadu

A million lights are dancing
And there you are
A shooting star
An everlasting world
And you're here with me
Eternally

Xanadu, Xanadu,
(now we are here)
In Xanadu
Xanadu, Xanadu,
(now we are here)
In Xanadu

Xanadu, your neon lights will shine
For you, Xanadu

The love
The echoes of long ago
You needed the world to know
They are in Xanadu

The dream
That came through a million years
That lived on through all the tears
It came to Xanadu

A million lights are dancing
And there you are
A shooting star
An everlasting world
And you're here with me
Eternally

Xanadu, Xanadu,
(now we are here)
In Xanadu
Xanadu, Xanadu,
(now we are here)
In Xanadu

Now that I'm here
Now that you're near in Xanadu
Now that I'm here
Now that you're near in Xanadu
Xanadu...