11 songs

There are 11 songs, and 11 songs only in Pepe Smith’s first solo album since the breakup of the Juan dela Cruz band some 30 years ago, and we honestly thought we’d never see Idiosyncrasies in this lifetime. What Pepe, now the grand old man of Pinoy rock, has been doing with himself all this time is anybody’s guess – from appearing in sitcoms and bit roles in movies, to the occasional gigs and session work with the usual suspects – and it seems the kids he once influenced are now all grown men.

It took a long time coming but the wait was well worth it, as Idiosyncrasies – which gathers the old suspects Jun Lopito on guitars and Dondi Ledesma on bass – has Pepe doffing his hat off to influences past and nearly forgotten, while rewriting the hit that started it all. Himig Natin, written in a bathroom at the Luneta one Christmas season during the early martial law years, is here given yet another lease on life through Ihip ng Hangin.

The point-counterpoint compositional phrasing is evident even in the opening number, Heto na Ako which starts as an acoustic blues in the first few bars, then evolves into a full blown rocking blues number complete with Lopito’s slide guitar and Ledesma’s adept programming of the drum machine.

More Stones influences are evident in the next two numbers, Silver Whore and The Blessing, that have Pepe showcasing his best nearly wasted voice, a la Keith Richards. Silver Whore is in fact straight ahead rock and roll, short of becoming a three-chord wonder, with enough raunchy guitar breaks to keep the faithful happy.

The Blessing is indeed blessed with Ledesma’s keyboards for apt coloring, and Lopito’s solos come in handy and understated like a Canuplin rigmarole.

More scorching electric guitar is in store in Midnight Shuffle, a pseudo instrumental save for Pepe’s nonsensical hollering in the background, punctuating the runs up and down the fretboard.

Mescaline Lullabye is a sweet acoustic instrumental reminiscent of the Allman Brothers Band’s Little Martha, while Hi-Tech Babe rips off some chords from Lou Reed’s Sweet Jane, deviating only towards the refrain and chorus.

But we can’t really accuse Mr. Smith of plagiarism, because we can look at these works as samplers, or improvised tunes using samples with Pepe paying tribute to Allman and Reed.

On the other hand, a hard rocking song like Walang Kokontra harks back to Juan dela Cruz, circa Mamasyal sa Pilipinas and Rak en Rol sa Ulan. Rich in hooks and an evil riff, this is the type that could reel in another generation of Wolfgangs and Razorbacks to play the crazy blues.

And just when we thought the band had blown its wad along comes Jueteng Shed, easily one of the high points of the album that is chockfull of them.

Whether Pepe is singing about Chavit or Erap or the Lion King, what’s patently clear is that here is a signal tune of our troubled and confusing times. Again there are flashes of the Stones, circa Exile on Main Street. Maybe even Juan dela Cruz’s Maskara comes full circle.

Spike it Up is the only song written by Lopito, and so serves as a further propeller for his virtuoso guitar work. One may well imagine this to be a potential show stopper, just before the definitely last encore.

Finally the last cut Mighty Great Bighearted Love Song, eases into a melodic phrase, and Pepe himself sounding Mark Knopfler-like with Canuplin Jr. essaying Dire Straits, and did it ever seem possible that we’d one day hear an album of Juan dela Cruz’s drummer that uses a drum machine?

In this day and age anything is possible, even things seemingly anti-music would serve the ends of music.