Customer Reviews

Eraserheads - Anthology (2 CD) - Philippine Music CD

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Ok....I know what your thinking, if you read this: good Lord, he's really comparing them to the fab four!!???!?! and the answer is yes. I will explain as we progress......

My wife is Pinay (for those of you that dont know that means Filipino), and after we got married, she let me listen to a compilation of Filipino artists; some R and B; some acoustic soul and then halfway through the CD, over the phone one night (before we were even married) she puts this one song on called "with a smile". she told me "this one's in english and ya might like it".

I LOVED IT and though WHO THE FU** ARE THESE GUYS AND WHY ARENT THEY SELLING MILLIONS OF RECORDS!!?!?!?!??!
that was only the beginning...

The Eraserheads, take their weird name from an even weirder mid 70s' David Lynch film of the same name. legend has it, that one day one of the band members opened up a magazene and saw that movie in some ad and it struck him as very original; so they took the name. I believe they all met in college and were all top of the class music students.........

soon after we married, I ordered the 2 disc set straight from the Philippines and was HOOKED! which is nuts because I dont speak fluent Tagalog but this band was the shining example of MUSIC BEING A UNIVERSAL; EVEN IF YA DONT SPEAK/UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE, good music is good music, period!!

what I found as I delved deeper into the two cds was one of the greatest bands EVER. from their emotional depth of their lyrics in EITHER language to the pop laden hooks, to their funky styling' and their heart, this band ROCKS, folks.

out of the 30 some odd songs, only 3 or 4 are in english but they are well worth the price. "with a smile" is one of the sweetest pop ballads ever written. "Julie tearjerky" has a nice 60's pop beat pattern and humourous lyrics. "Fruitcake" is a song EVERYBODY IN EVERY COUNTRY SHOULD LISTEN TOO. its take on so-called "Merry Christmas" makes ya wanna laugh and cry at the same time. ...."its the season for being happy....but the reason is dead and gone.."

the first time I heard that I couldnt believe it.....its sadly very true in these United States for many people.

but back to the point; the CD glides through from song to song some of my favorite Tagalog language songs have to be the opener, "Ligaya", which means joy/happiness, off of their first album. you can tell from listening, this band was going to be big, ushering in the new 90's generation of Pinoy rock. They effortlessly sing straight from the heart and add their own brand of humor for good measure.

"Minsan" is pretty good too; I like how it starts off in the intro slow; then picking up to a nice medium rock pace while the lead singer gives a passionate performance. "Masehag bahaghari" (emotional rainbow),is VERY NICE SONG. no one that Ive let listen to it has disagreed. its a very emotional song, up there with Crowded House in its music and lyrics.

as with all best of's there are a few clunkers; "Police Woman" is a weak foray into Reggae off of the "Run Barbie Run" movie soundtrack; the band ,I think, even appeared in the movie; it wasnt that good and it wasnt one of the bands' finer moments.
and another song called "Hokbu batchi?" that sounds very jazz/lounge-like with flutes. they just repeat the songs' title WAY TOO MANY TIMES. lol

for the most part I believe the two Cd's are chronilogical so you can listen and hear how the band was progressing...unfortunately towards its demise. Arguments within the band over musical direction and "where to go next" led to the lead singer, Ely, bailing on the band; then they replaced him with a chick singer which didnt make it any better (in my opinion) before the band, as it was, finally broke up for good.



but all in all, Eraserheads left a truly great legacy of music, for generations to come. DEFINATELY check this band out! its very worth it. you dont have to know the language, to love the music. and coming from a person/musician that cant usually get into music in a language I dont know, that says alot!
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!



also, check out RiverMaya, Bamboo, Sugarfree, Parokya ni Edgar to name a few......

I give cheers and honors to the best Filipino band I knew since the early 90s! The E-heads are just magnificent in both terms: music & lyrics. This anthology is not really everything I expected, I wish that they added a couple more songs on disc 1 because I was a great fan from their earlier works. "Cutterpillow" & "Fruitcake" were the last albums that I had from this great band. I recommend this CD to all Pinoy music enthusiasts/collectors!

3 words to describe E-heads' lyrics: HONEST, SIMPLE, & POETIC.

thanks to whoever produced this album. It will be in my car stereo, cranked up, driving around edmonton. i cant wait till i finally have it. will certainly help me savour my youth. wild and free. am planning to bring them here in edmonton to have a show. I will call it "Reunion sa Edmonton". i still remember this line by the great Ely "mabuhay ang noypi".

eraserheads, in my opinion, is one of the top bands ever. this anthology is a collection of their songs from the past decade. i would recommend this to anyone who likes real tagalog songs because their work is always a filipino masterpiece.

The 'E-heads' as they are sometimes called, is one of the best Philippine rock has to offer. After over a decade of great original, funky and creative alternative pinoy music, they have unfortunately disbanded.

The album contains a sampling from their past albums. Song selection is pretty good. It has all of the best from their earlier material like 'Alapaap', 'With A Smile', 'Ligaya', 'Pare Ko' etc.. as well as their funky newer ones (Fruitcake, Julie Tearjerky) It also has the cover of the classic 'Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka" as well as a previously unreleased song 'Sa Tollgate'.

I would say that their songs would be a mix of radio friendly pop, very creative and original (not necessarily Filipino) alternative rock music, as well as some ballad-esque and sentimental ones. I also like that some of them are very Filipino in terms of the lyrics.

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Actually, the lyrics are not necessary since this is a compilation album, and these are not new songs. But I would agree that since this IS an anthology album they should have put more goodies in the sleeve.

Also checkout a compilation of Eheads covers by different Filipino bands/artists - "Ultraelectromagneticjam"

The Eraserheads is the most important, most original, most groundbreaking band to come out of the Philippine music scene in decades. Enough said. If only for this you should get this anthology. It contains almost all of the Eraserheads' critical and commercial hits.

If you need more persuasion (huh?), consider this. Even long after the Eraserheads disbanded (it did in 2002), a band is yet to surpass its brilliant string of successes. Its wittily-crafted songs are OPM classics, so uniquely and heartachingly Pinoy they will live on for decades.

My only beef with the anthology is with the insert. The insert just contains the tracklisting and THAT'S IT! The back of the cd already lists the songs. But the insert doesn't even name who the Eraserheads are. Every true blue Pinoy who lived through the 1990s of course know that it's Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Marcus Adoro, and Buddy Zabala. But the insert does not say that. It contains no personal notes from the E-heads, no essay, no anecdotal write up, no lyrics, no nothing. I mean, we know how inserts usually pander to the artist's ego, but this is the Eraserheads! It's an important band that pretty much led a decade (the 1990s) of Philippine music, a "pop-rock" group (a dismissive label, if you ask me) with a solid and indelible contribution to Pinoy culture. So what's with the dismal insert? The record producers should do something about this.