Martin in a Heaven Knows mood

Old songs make up Martin Nievera’s new album For Always. Chosen from a list of 200 all-time airplay favorites, they all come from the ‘80s, a time when he was starting his career, getting into relationships and looking into what could be nothing else but a beautiful future. There are 15 cuts and each one is like an open door into a room full of memories for everybody. And that includes Martin.

Some are good as in Jim Capaldi’s Old Photographs. That is just like what he felt while looking at pictures of him, Pops Fernandez and their two boys, then just babies, from many years ago. “The old days when we were a family were really happy,” he says. Some bad. Like Peaches & Herb’s Reunited. This is a duet with Pops and as of now, he knows getting reunited with his ex-wife is something that will never happen. “I tried very hard to keep the family. I begged and groveled. She refused. Well, maybe if I were younger and better looking...”

So there is no Now and Forever by Richard Marx for him right now or something as unconditional as in Air Supply’s Come What May. Truth to tell he says the cut that best expresses how he feels at the moment is Heaven Knows by Rick Price. “Maybe my love will come back someday/ only heaven knows/ maybe our hearts will find our way/ only heaven knows/ and all I can do is hope and pray/ cause heaven knows.”

Heaven knows how much he misses his family. “I asked so many times, God what did I give up?” Heaven knows how much he cried when they broke up. I cried everywhere. I’d wake up sleeping under my desk in my little office because she wouldn’t let me come home and I would cry.” Heaven knows how he still cries when he thinks of Pops and the boys, now young men. “You thought you saw me cry during the show? You should have seen me during the sound check. I broke down completely.”

The show was their recent Valentine concert at the Araneta Coliseum. It must have been nerve-wracking exposing their feelings to the public but it is now cathartic in retrospect. “I am so happy I did it. If we cannot be together then it feels good to go back to what we were before, friends. That is how we started and what we are now, friends. It was also good to be with Ram and Robin in a show. It was the first time they really participated and did a full number. It used to be, ‘Do we have to do it?’ but this time, it was, ‘Can we do this?’”

Martin himself does not know if he will sing Michael Murphy’s Maybe This Time with someone from the past or Survivor’s The Search is Over with a new love for real any time soon. One thing we can be sure of though is that his emotional roller coaster ride is providing him with lots of ammunition to fully express those lovelorn sentiments in the old songs he likes to record.

For Always by Martin also includes All My Life by America; Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill; I’ll Always Love You by Michael Johnson; Everything I Do I Do It For You and Heaven by Bryan Adams; After All by Cher and Peter Cetera; and The Last Time by Eric Benet.

Best of the lot are the dreamy I’ll Always Love You, which used to bore me a lot but not anymore because of Martin’s version; Heaven Knows, with Martin’s rediscovered falsetto; and All at Once by Whitney Houston, where Martin’s vocals is at its best and most expressive.

For Always comes on the heels of his Christmas album from only two months ago. Given the speed with which he records, the CD only took him five sessions, and the number of old songs just waiting to be sung out there, Martin’s fans should be able to count on at least one more For Always before this year is over.

Then perhaps, he might start going back to the originals. Another Be My Lady or You are My Song would make good covers for other artists 20 years from now.