Goodies for the shopping cart

It is the season for shopping and we now have the best excuse to do so. It is almost Christmastime, which means lots of giving to do. I have always liked giving CDs. Music is a gift that keeps on giving, nearly eternally, and I have discovered, more so this year. This is because given the hard times, CDs have now become a luxury for many of us. Why splurge on a CD when there are more urgent needs?

So wouldn’t you feel great if somebody else does the splurging and gives you the CD you want as a Christmas gift? That would be really nice. And if you can, you should start dropping hints now. If you are too shy to do that, I can do the hinting for you here. So now, to all you givers out there, here are some great new titles you might want to consider for the dear ones in your shopping list.

Nina Diamond Greatest Hits 2002-2010. A four-disc collection with 36 hits, 23 videos and 18 music minus-one tracks for you to sing along with contained in a big box that resembles the LP jackets for only P650. This is the big treat for fans of soul siren Nina or for anybody who likes his sounds, sweet and soothing and performed by a pretty girl.

Cuts include Heaven, Love Moves In Mysterious Ways, 2nd Floor, Through The Fire, Jealous, Constantly, Foolish Heart, I Love You Goodbye, Loving You, Burn featuring Christian Bautista, The Closer I Get To You featuring Thor, Make You Mine, Someday, Shoo-bee-doo, I Can’t Make You Love Me, I Didn’t Mean To Make You Mine, I’ll Always Stay In Love This Way, Love Is Contagious, Smile, Somewhere Down The Road, What If, If I Should Love Again, I Don’t Want To Be Your Friend, I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing, I’m Never Gonna Give You Up featuring Joe Pizzulo, There You’ll Be, I’ll Always Love You, Love Will Lead You Back and The Christmas Song.

Lea Salonga …Your Songs. For only P510, you get selected numbers from Lea’s Your Songs concert held last year at PICC. The show was made up of requested songs that had Lea performing out of her comfort zone. Think Ang Huling El Bimbo by the Eraserheads with Salamat by Dawn plus Rehab by Amy Winehouse and Poker Face by Lady Gaga. The result was fun and a huge success. Particularly riotous was Lea with Ai-Ai delas Alas. They sang Banana, Basang Basa Sa Ulan and Halik. Then as always her rendition of Broadway show tunes was a showstopper.

Here now is the souvenir package, the live recorded CD which I must add comes with a bonus DVD of the show. Also included are If You Leave Me Now, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All, Now And Forever and Open Arms in the Power Ballads Medley; Kahit Isang Saglit, Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal, Mahal Kita Walang Iba, Sana Maulit Muli, I Don’t Love You Anymore and Sometime Somewhere in the Pinoy Love Songs Medley with Richard Poon; I Dreamed A Dream, On My Own, Memory, Electricity and Defying Gravity in the Musical Theater Medley, Bayan Ko and others.

I’ll Be Seeing You by Richard Poon. The latest by crooner Poon comes in a Limited Edition version that sells for P395. Then depending on which one you like better, Poon or the songs, it is a 2011 Photo Calendar with lots of Poon’s pictures, of course, with CD or it is a CD that comes with a free calendar. No matter. Any which way you think, what is important here are the songs and I like to think this one is Richard’s most daring, lots of surprising song choices, to date.

Included are All The Way, L-O-V-E, I’ll Be Seeing You, Fever featuring Nina, The Way You Look Tonight, Call Me, That’s All, My Eyes Adored You featuring Sitti, Teddy Bear, Beyond The Sea and an OPM classic, Panalangin by the Apo Hiking Society.

I Love Acoustic 3 by Sabrina. You all know Sabrina. She takes titles from current hit charts then interprets the tunes as light, intimate pop ballads. She sells big and last I heard has also recently conquered Singapore. Selling price is only P280 and included are Baby, Telephone, Love The Way You Lie, California Gurls, Never Say Never, Pyramid, OMG, Need You Now, What Do You Want From Me, Solo, Hey Soul Sister, Tik Tok, Whatcha Say, Billionaire, Gotten and Airplanes.