No ordinary lovespeak

Harried reviewer gets a CD. Title is No Ordinary Love Lovespeak with Ryan Agoncillo, the TV host and actor, who is now the boyfriend of Judy Ann Santos. Why, it’s nice to know Ryan also sings and he’s got this two-volume CD with expensive packaging that includes a booklet filled with love notes. Great.

The first cut sets the romantic mood. Ryan speaks, Love and friendship may run deeper than anyone can imagine…. a simple act of friendship or a loving gesture may dramatically change the course of our lives…. Next comes the first song Don’t Know What to Say (Don’t Know What to Do) and I am impressed. Why, he even sounds like Ric Segreto or even Raymond Lauchengco in Early Morning Lady.

The giveaway came with the third song. You’re The One and it is by someone who sounds like Sharon Cuneta. I then took another look at the CD cover and found out it was indeed Ric and Raymond, not Ryan, and later Sharon who were singing. I realized what Lovespeak really is. It is a collection of old love songs held together by romantic quotes from Ryan.

Nice concept and so apt nowadays when Ryan is known as the lucky guy who won the love of the until recently elusive Judy Ann. I believe he wrote the love notes he recites in the album and these got me wondering if he wooed Juday with these sweet nothings. One goes like this: In the end, I believe that what the heart remembers, the heart can never displace – and here’s the ultimate test, listen! When love sings its best and purest song, everything is in place and the gates of heaven open. Wow!

Then there are the songs. The nice thing about compilations like Lovespeak is these usually include recordings that are not available anymore on regular release. These are not hit singles but cuts from albums that have been phased out and I was happy to find some in this one. There is Sharon’s charming You’re the One, overshadowed for years by the more popular To Love Again but now shines on its own. There is also the magical duet about discovering true love in Di Na Muling Mag-iisa by Basil Valdez and Pat Castillo.

I am sure you will also be able to find your own favorites in the album from among Loving You by Segreto; How Can I by Martin Nievera; After All by Gary Valenciano; Maybe This Time by Zsa Zsa Padilla; Hold On by Side A; How Did You Know by Aiza Seguerra; I Will Always Stay in Love This Way by Tux; Umagang Kay Ganda by Martin and Pops Fernandez; Lagi Na Lang by Panjee Gonzales and Joey Generoso of Side A; Isa’t Isa by Sharon and Rowell Santiago; Could We by Gary V. and Zsa Zsa; She by Paolo Montalban; You Should Know by Now by Nyoy Volante and the Mannos; With You by Basil; What Would They Say by Raymond; and two versions of No Ordinary Love, one a solo by Judy Ann and the other a duet by Juday and Ryan.

This final cut makes the album a declaration of love between Ryan and Judy Ann and admit it, this CD is the sort of souvenir that carries loads of memories. Now Juday is one of my favorite girls in showbusiness. She is a loving daughter, sister and friend, a hardworking actress who remains self-effacing despite success. She deserves lots of happiness.

Many years from now, when she comes across Lovespeak, I wish with all my heart that she will smile and be thankful as she remembers the early days of true love. Sigh! I knew then that he was the one. If that will not be the case, then she should be able to laugh and amusedly wonder. Was it really like that? Yuk! Hopefully, it will not be, How could I have been such a fool?

MYX’s Top 20 hits

MYX is busy getting ready for the first MYX Music Awards in June. But that does not mean the weekly countdown of hits has come to a stop. The regular voting for the top videos goes on and here are those that made the Top 20 for the week ending today.

Jeepney by Kala; I Care by Rachelle Ann Go; Minamahal Kita by Ogie Alcasid; Direction by Slapshock; The Ordertaker by Parokya ni Edgar; Dahil Ikaw by True Faith; Toll Gate by Hale; 24 Hours by Cueshé; Jesus, Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood; Walk Away by Kelly Clarkson; Truth by Bamboo; Jeepney by Spongecola; Say Something by Mariah Carey; Beep by Pussycat Dolls; S.O.S. by Rihanna; One by Mary J. Blige and U2; For You I Will by Teddy Geiger; Move Along by All American Rejects; Perfect World by Simple Plan; and Dani California by Red Hot Chili Peppers.