About the AUDIO & VIDEO TRACKS found on the opening screen:
Trouble and Blues To Keep Me Warm are originals on LAMPANO ALLEY's forthcoming album
All of the video clips are
originals
except Stay, Go by Robert Cray.
Ain't Got Dough [Mark Ford] and Got My Mojo Workin' [Muddy Waters] are from an unauthorized bootleg recorded without the band's knowledge during a club gig.
A local music critic got hold
of
a copy and wrote a review:
"Great Pinoy music you can't find
in record bars."
More video clips are available in the "Hidden Treasures" folder, which you can find via the Browse button.
READ another review:
Today, "They're Bluesmen, Dammit,"
Bert B. Sulat, Jr., 25 March 1999
Metro Magazine, "Funk meets the blues," Howard Borja:
"Binky and Lampano Alley are in a class of their own."
PhilMusic covered Lampano Alley's
last gig before the band takes
a short break while Binky & Tom
explore opportunities for the band
in the US and Europe.
THE BLUES MENU:
As an added attraction for blues clubs, the band places the Blues Menu on each table -- and fans may take it home as a souvenir.
TO
BEGIN WRITING this article this writer needed some inspiration. She
thought Jimmy Witherspoon singing "Nobody knows you when you’re
down and out" could do it. Nope. Not even leafing through old
articles on the band could hasten the muse. She blames her writer’s
block on Binky’s delayed text regarding Tomcat’s contact numbers. Or
maybe it’s the lack of lunch. Then maybe, just maybe, it’s because she’s
got -- haha! -- the blues.
Apparently, however, living the blues hasn’t slowed Binky Lampano and his Lampano Alley down one bit. On their fourth year as the country’s predominant blues band (meaning they’ve been playing steadily and continuously with all original -- save for one -- members intact), Lampano Alley is preparing for the release of its debut album, the "first all-original blues album ever in the country," writes Tom "Tomcat" Colvin for US magazine Blues Access.
This album courageously put together by the outspoken Binky, "soulmate" Tom (harmonica), and genius instrumentalists Edwin Vergara (guitar), Simon Tan (bass), newcomers Rancis de Leon (sax) and Paolo Manuel (who has replaced Jojo Lim on drums), is the product of a year’s worth of work. "It’s almost finished, we need about two weeks till it rolls out," Binky says. "Then it’s out. Selling time. Time to approach the labels and whoever’s interested."
He also adds -- rather uncharacteristically -- that he’s real excited about it. Binky with his dry humor may not strike one as ever being hit by the giddy, slap-happy sort of enthusiasm expected from someone who’s about to come out with a major feat. But perhaps the fact that he has self-produced the work will convince you of his passion.
"It cost us a lot of money, but we got lots of friends," he smiles.
"To tell you the truth," comments Tom -- who left a high-paying position at the Asian Developemtn Bank in 1997 just so that he could follow his dream of "going back to music" -- "I’ve sort of been aggravated on how long it was taking, but Binky has taken just a long time to make certain that it comes out being his best work, and it’s strong, from start to finish."
Hopefully, the band’s friends and luck will likewise lead them to close a deal with an international label. "Actually, we’ve been laying the groundwork for a couple of years now," adds Tom. "Then we’ll approach labels in the US and Europe. Who knows, it’s a longshot, but Binky is such a remarkable talent and the album is turning out to be so strong, and I think that there’s a chance that a blues label may just pick it up."
The album will include about 10 songs, all written by Binky except for one, which is Simon’s work. It will even feature a Filipino song. Do we expect a new genre of blues here? Pinoy blues perhaps? "I don’t want to use ‘Filipino’ or anything," Binky demurs about attaching any names. "It’s just blues. I wish I could justify that, but it’s racially blind. I find no reason to attach racial property rights, you know, it’s just music."
Tom, as "independent" highlight of the band ("I come and go"), and as such, most in the position to critique the new album, is all praises: "It’s going to be an album that has no weak link in it. I sort of take an outside view of looking in and I’m really impressed by what Binky has pulled off. The songs are very strong, the lyrics are not throw away lyrics -- they are lyrics that are significant. And each song has its own quality to it which really stands up, so it’s not going to be an album where there’s one or two good songs, and the rest are throwaway that are written in a hurry."
Habitues of the Hobbit House, that old bastion of folk, rock and blues on the corner of Mabini and Remedios in Manila, may not realize it, but they are privy to Lampano Alley’s original opi everytime they drop in for a gig (Saturdays, 9:30 p.m.). Songs like "Losing You," "Trouble," "Hold on Me" (who says the blues can’t be romantic?) and "Blues to Keep Me Warm" blend in seamlessly with covers of Robben Ford, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Brook Benton. All are indeed what Binky describes as "closest to easy listening as it can get," paired with breath-catching solos from Edwin, Rancis and Tom. The Tagalog original, which this writer had the privilege of hearing at an acoustic gig at Inca a few months ago, is peppered with Binky’s subtle humor. Written from the soul, married with the solid talent of the band’s musicians, the songs are delivered tight and sensitive and -- yes, to borrow Tomcat’s word, for one can’t describe them any other way -- "strong."
Perhaps this album, plus Lampano Alley’s participation in two blues festivals in the US next year (We invited ourselves," Binky jests) will make the local labels sit up and take notice of the increasing demand for blues in the country. The media showed mighty support last year with the first Manila Blues Festival, and new audiences are discovering its flavor -- and liking it. "The rock bands are having a hard time getting bookings," discloses Tom. "Not so with blues. The blues bands are getting gigs five times a week."
The great thing about blues is that it is never in danger of over-exposure or over-saturating the market -- it is difficult to "just play" the blues. One has to be gifted with a certain maturity, knack for feeling and expressing nuances and translating them into song and music. Anyone can do the light, bouncy disco tracks overfilling the airwavess and club scene today, but not just anyone can play "Born Under a Bad Sign" or "Walk on the Wild Side" if your disposition (not that you have to be perpetually in a rut) or talent doesn’t permit it.
Tom describes Binky’s talent as "truly awesome, and in the blues field, there are lots and lots of singers, and there are a handful whose voice quality is electrifying and memorable -- Binky is one of them. He’s got it."
Binky, though, remains modest. As far as he’s
concerned, he’s just a "blues person." "It’s nothing
really. I would appreciate being out in the papers doing something more
substantial than what I’m doing now, but I guess my life is meant to be
like that, you know. Some lives are meant to be like the Eraserheads,"
he adds with a grin, "and some lives are meant to be like mine.
Whichever way, you just go about it and do it."