IN THE MID-'90S I WAS GIFTED WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW music records for a glossy travel magazine spin-off of a leading English daily which inevitably went defunct considering its confused raison d’etre. The following articles are reprints with edits of two columns on Steely Dan Donald-Fagen Walter-Becker albums that I did for Horizons.
This whole music-critic thing was bound to happen, the wetting of my feet in the music-review biz, that is. While in college, I was similarly honored in Weekly Sillimanian with a review column – Rewind – name-use years ahead of cable’s Channel V nostalgia program.
My debut review, of The Cure’s Three Imaginary Boys (per Philippine recording industry methodology, this 1979 LP saw the light of day in these shores more than 10 years after it’s initial international release as the RP buying public started noticing the band), was long-winded but made aesthetically visually attractive with a column logo of a Gilbert-Arbon rendering of a cassette tape with a pencil stuck through the reel. Also, it was probably that school publication’s first attempt at pop music criticism.
This blog is the culmination of a dream-emulation honed reading local music rags Jingle, Moptop, and the “imported” Rolling Stone, Creem, Crawdaddy, and countless others brain cells can’t recall. Those who can, become rock stars. Those who can’t, become critics. As it turned out, it was only the beginning. The Internet was in its infancy. Ten years and some hence, it’s a teenager. Just about the same stage that this age group discovers sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Ego aside, I believe my music-dissecting skills have similarly grown. Watch this teen rebel.
Let’s Get It On! I mean – Rock On!
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