The Cascades’ song for Manila

It’s a sign of the times. When the economy is in bad shape, people go back to the tried and tested. It’s the safest route to take because it means less risks, less losses. Look at the resurgence of cover songs, retro bands and nostalgia concerts. It all says one thing: let’s stick to the fail-proof ways of the good old days.

This, the group behind the concert of The Cascades is banking on, now that all is set for the singing quartet’s third concert in Manila on Sept. 9 (8 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum) and on Sept. 10 (dinner show) at Manila Hotel and Sept. 11 at Waterfront Lahug in Cebu.

Old songs never die, they just come back in nostalgia concerts and CDs that parents play and replay at home until their children know them by heart. Members of the Internet-surfing, cyberspace-happy Gen X may not know the names of The Cascades guys. But they are familiar with their songs, Shy Girl, Punch and Judy, The Last Leaf and Rhythm of the Rain.

Rhythm of the Rain hit the Billboard charts at No. 80 and jumped 20 points at a time until it made it to the Top 10. It was also the ninth most-produced song in music history and was the third largest-selling record in the world in 1963.

No wonder The Cascades’ show at the Araneta Coliseum and at Hard Rock Café last April was sold out. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo even showed up unannounced at Hard Rock, thus surprising fellow Cascades fans.

The group’s first show in the country in the ’60s, when The Cascades came up with one hit after another, was also just as successful.

"The Filipinos would have parties on Saturday nights and sing along to our music. I remember seeing them come to our show with a list of our songs and putting a check mark beside each one of them every time we’d sing one of those in their list," says Gab Lapano.

This has earned for the Philippines the endearing tag "our second country" among Gab, Chuck Crews, John Gummoe and Tony Grasso. And they’re not just paying lip service to the Philippines. They’re proving it through song: a ballad called Warm Manila Nights Gab wrote and composed just for Filipinos. Not to be outdone, Chuck made My Manila, again a tribute to his second home.

"The songs were inspired by our last visit to your country (April this year) which we really enjoyed," the R&B group chorus.

They will perform Warm Manila Nights for the first time in their upcoming shows here, where they will be backed up by Area One and Moy Ortiz’s The CompanY. "The musicians of Area One are excellent. John Lesaca did the arrangements of Warm Manila Nights. They’re so easy to work with," The Cascades members agree.

Their impressions were confirmed when The CompanY went up front during the presscon and performed an impromptu a cappella number.

"Do we want to perform after that number?" one of The Cascades members replied when someone from the press urged them to render one of their familiar songs this time.

They did – an a cappella version of Shy Girl. Their voices are as mellow as ever – unchanged through the years. They remind you of a bygone time when women were shrinking violets, waiting for the man of their dreams to come up to them and make the first move.

Yes, those were the days. And The Cascades will bring them back, one mellow song at a time, all over again.