Spotify just wrapped up Rivermaya's year.... to astounding numbers!

 

Online Digital Music Streaming platform Spotify just released their annual summary of Rivermaya's streaming numbers. And it shows impressive numbers and proof that people still can't get enough of Rivermaya after close to 30 years in the business. I've also recently discovered that Rivermaya CDs (and cassette tapes) are selling at exorbitant prices on the collector's market. With a complete catalogue being sold at more than P100,000 for the interested collectors. While the migration to digital music could no longer be slowed down, the downside of Rivermaya's back catalogue is that not all allbums are available on Spotify. So avid Rivermaya fans will have to go back to hunting those old CDs and Cassette Tapes to fully experience the whole Rivermaya aural journey. And that is if you could also find the hardware to pop those CDs and Tapes into. The muddled rights issues with their whole catalogue is a huge hindrance for Rivermaya to fully take hold of everything, and earn from it. Such is the dilemma of artists back in the day. Digital Music Streaming has became a boon to artists as they get paid around $1 per 250 streams on my estimate. So with Rivermaya's streaming numbers, that's roughly 10.5 Million pesos in revenue for the year 2021 alone! So if you are a music fan and loves to listen to music, then keep on streaming those music on digital music platforms and help your favorite artists earn something from it. Music is Free nowadays (or at a certain fee for premium subscribers). So what's stopping you from listening to them?

Also, while we are at it, why limit your listening to Rivermaya? Let's also include the other artists who had became a part of the Rivermaya Family! Follow and like this playlist I made..... which I call Rivermaya.... Noon at Ngayon. Which included all of the artists that once became a part of Rivermaya!

Rivermaya Noon at Ngayon the Spotify Playlist!

Recently, I decided to explore Spotify because I just uploaded my own band Thoughts And Notions' songs to its digital music streaming app. I was scouring Spotify for songs/albums that I still don't own in CD format and came up with an idea. How about creating a playlist devoted to various songs of my all-time favorite band Rivermaya, plus all of the solo efforts or other albums done by former members of the band prior and post Rivermaya. Which is also actually the idea why this blog exists. While other Rivermaya fans are pushing and pleading for a reunion concert. I would rather have a concert that features everyone that had been a part of Rivermaya and Rivermaya itself. Together sharing the stage with their respective bands. Probably jam with each other in some songs, specially in a song that a certain line up is most recognized with. I think that is the dream Rivermaya concert that I would want to watch. That's one concert that could really make a very worthwhile show.... so much BIGGER than an Eraserheads reunion concert (Rivermaya > Eraserheads, so sue me LOL). I've been a huge fan of Rivermaya since from their initial inception. I've followed their careers from Bamboo to Nathan's return with the band. And I definitely see them more than just a band. You see, I always treated everyone that had been a part of Rivermaya as forever a part of one big Rivermaya Family. Bits and pieces of their artistry and talent, once shared with Rivermaya, but forever immortalized in the songs that they built together. Then further explored in their solo careers or other bands. There's such a beauty about it if you come to think of it. How this varied musical talents are explored in various musical endeavors with or without Rivermaya. And like I've said before, since I've been following everyone that has been a part of Rivermaya. I decided to come up with this blog to chronicle their respective careers. And as an extension, I'm giving you a glimpse of what these guys were able to do with their respective careers. Thus, I decided to come up with a playlist, a soundtrack if you will. Composed of one song  (all that I could find on Spotify) per artist/band and album. It's a sampler. I can't possibly come up with a playlist that composes all of the songs in their discography. There's just too many of them. But with this sampler, it can lead you to discovering them yourself. So that said, let's make a roll call shall we. Of the names of all the artists that were once a part of Rivermaya (and where they are now) and the artists with Rivermaya as it is currently composed now. And as an added treat, allow me the opportunity to share my Rivermaya Family CD collections as well. I might have missed out some CDs. Please let me know what those are so that I can hunt for them.

The RIVERMAYA FAMILY

Bamboo Manalac (1994-1998 Lead Vocals) - Rivermaya, Bamboo (the Band), Bamboo (solo)

Rico Blanco (1994-2007 Lead Vocals/Guitars/Keyboards/Synths) - Rivermaya, Rico Blanco (solo) )(still hoping to get that Asian Released Your Universe album and the Kahit walang aminin repackaged CD. Missing it was a bummer)

Perf de Castro (1994-1995 Lead Guitars) - Rivermaya, Triaxis/Solo (I don't have the Triaxis CD)

Nathan Azarcon (1994-2001, 2016-Present Backing Vocals/Bass Guitars) - Rivermaya, Bamboo, Kapatid (2 CDs are with my Bro, hence no pic), Hijo

Mark Escueta(1994-Present Drums/Guitars/Backing Vocals) - Rivermaya (I included the singles and the best ofs CDs under Mark since he is the longest serving Rivermaya member)

Mike Elgar (2001-Present Lead guitars/keyboards/backing vocals) - 7 foot Junior (I don't know if there was an album released), Rivermaya

Japs Sergio (2001-2012 Bass Guitars/Backing Vocals) - Day Dream Cycle, Rivermaya, Japsuki, Peso Movement

Kakoi Legaspi (2001-2004 Guitars) - Rivermaya, and various bands like Barbie's Cradle 

Jayson Fernandez (2007-2011 Lead Vocals/Guitars)- Rivermaya, (Solo)

Norby David (2011-2016 Guitars/Bass/Co-lead Vocals) - Overtone, Rivermaya

Ryan Peralta (2011-2018 Drums/Keyboards) - Ascension, Rivermaya

Key take aways. While people always talks about the "ORIGINAL" Rivermaya, Mike Elgar has served with Rivermaya longer than any other members except for Mark Escueta and Rico Blanco. Japs Sergio is also in the running too. While most Rivermaya fans are loyal to the Bamboo era, personally, the Rico Blanco led Rivermaya line up along with Japs, Mike, and Mark is still my all time favorite iteration of the band. This is mainly because I am a huge fan of singer/songwriters as they can express their songs so much better than having it interpret by a vocalist. So anyway, I'm attaching the Spotify playlist below. Hope you could save and add them to you Spotify account. Also please indulge me as I include one song of ours on the playlist. Just to sample one of our songs. The heavily Rivermaya influenced track that I wrote with my band :)

P.S. I also included in the playlist some songs that I don't have in CD, like Nathan's Kapatid songs and Japs' Pinoy Pop album not released in CD format. 

The curious case of the rare "The Best of Rivermaya Album"

So in my previous blog entry, I thought that I have finally unlocked the mystery of the bootlegged Best of Rivermaya in my collection. But unfortunately, I was dead wrong when I tracked down Leo Givero, a Rivermaya completist/fan and asked him if he could send me photos of the album in his possession. It seems the Discogs uploader where I got my source from mistakenly uploaded the wrong album cover. This version of "The Best of Rivermaya Album" is probably their first Best of International Album as the track listing of the album consists mostly English songs from their first album up to the It's Not Easy Being Green Album plus three tagalog songs that were considered to be their biggest hits thus far. I say First "Best of" International album because if you recall, way back in 2005, Rivermaya was launched to the "Asian" audience after their highly successful MTV Asia Awards appearance that wowed the international community with their live performance of their massive hit You'll be Safe Here with the Thai Royal Symphony Orchestra. Back then, it was thought that this was the initial attempt for Rivermaya to break into the Asian Market which was released by Warner Music, at that time the label Rivermaya was signed to. But the existence of this rare "Best of" album speaks otherwise.

Track Listing and photo by Leo Givero

As can be seen in the album's back cover as provided to me by Leo Givero, the compilation consisted of  3 tracks from the self titled debut album Rivermaya, 4 from sophomore album TRIP, 6 from Atomic Bomb (Bamboo's last album with Rivermaya as lead Vocalist), 3 from It's Not Easy Being Green (Rico Blanco's debut as lead vocalist). This was compiled and released by Sony-BMG and it says that it was released in 2007 (There's a Carousell listing for this in case anyone is interested). I find the release date odd as by this time, Rivermaya was already signed under Warner Music Philippines. So apparently this is not the first "Best of" Asian release but actually an attempt by SONY-BMG to cash in on the prior Warner Music Release. As I am writing this, I'm experiencing a mild headache because the chronology of the "Best of" albums' released to the international audience is out of order. The Warner Music released album featured the Rico Blanco led vocals from the time they were signed with VIVA Music Philippines (Warner must have bought the rights to the songs for this release as Rivermaya signed with Warner after they left VIVA). This includes the English songs of the independently released Free album and those English songs from the Between the Stars and Waves album plus the hit single "You'll be Safe Here". No representation from their first VIVA Music Philippines Album Bagong Liwanag as it did not contain any English songs and was a very solid all Filipino sound track. While SONY-BMG's latter release featured the band's earlier works with Bamboo on Vocals until Rico's debut as the band's vocalist. 

The bottom left portion of the CD inlay has a marking that says "Promotional Copy, Not for Sale", so is this a case of a product that never actually made it for public release? Or was this a promotional copy acquired by Leo Givero. He told me he bought it from a Malaysian collector who seems to have bought the product from Malaysia. If I remember it correctly, Rivermaya became a big hit in the South East Asian Market and I've sourced my Warner released copy of their "Best of" from Singapore. I just find it a shrewd business decision that the people at SONY-BMG made to ride on the success of Rivermaya after they left SONY-BMG. I mean this wasn't their first attempt at it. When Rivermaya signed with VIVA Music Philipines, SONY-BMG not long after released a "Best of Rivermaya" album which was a part of their Himig 90's collection of compilation albums. Anyway I think for Rivermaya collectors, this is truly a gem because not only is this rare but this is the only other "Best of" album that featured Bamboo on vocals (the other one being the Himig 90's album). Further "Best of" compilation albums were released by VIVA Music Philippines in 2006 which includes the single Posible written and recorded for the Asian Games, and two other Greatest Hits albums which I call the Red album and the Silver album. But that will be another blog entry for another day.  

So the quest to find this album continues for me.... 

Unlocking the Mystery of a Bootlegged Rivermaya Best of Album

A Mysterious Bootlegged copy of THE BEST OF RIVERMAYA

So years ago in the year 2000, Rivermaya broke free from their parent record company BMG Pilipinas. The band released a supposed new Studio album that was intended to be released under BMG. That album became the industry shattering FREE album, celebrating their FREEDOM and literally gave the album away for FREE to their legion of fans and to the general public during Live Gigs and concerts. It was also during that time, when Rivermaya’s popularity continued to soar. A year after, BMG sought to capitalize on the band’s continued popularity that they released a Greatest Hits CD of Rivermaya called The Best of Rivermaya under the Himig ng Dekada 90 series of compilation albums featuring bands that were signed under them like Eraserheads, FrancisM, Sugar Hiccup, Yano, and Color it Red. Curiously however, the songs from the album It’s not Easy Being Green were left out. (Fun fact: It was the first Rivermaya album that did not feature Bamboo as the lead vocalist of the band). 

The CD with just a simple Rivermaya print on a plain green CD

So while I was strolling around the public market where assorted pirated CDs were being sold, I came across this curiously labeled The Best of Rivermaya CD that offers a different track listing from the officially released one under BMG. In this version, songs from It’s Not Easy Being Green were included namely, Nerbyoso, Shattered Like, and Rodeo. Plus one more track from the Rivermaya Remixed album Kisapmata (Mayhem 98 Mix). I purchased the album out of curiosity and was surprised that the CD was even made of better quality than the inferior bootlegged ones utilizing plain CDRs. It even has a serial number on the CD. I thought I should have this in my collection just for the fun of it. BMG seemed to shortchanged me with their Best Of Release. This CD should make up for it.  

Track Listing

So for years, I always wondered where this Best of Album was based from. Was this an officially unreleased compilation that bootleggers just compiled for selling? (Something that most bootleggers do) Or was this taken from an officially released one that I somehow missed? So being a HUGE! As in HUGE! Fan of Rivermaya, I held that thought in check for years and scoured various information where I can find the answer to this 20 year long mystery. So while interacting with fellow Rivermaya Fans in their Facebook Group, Leo Givero posted a Best of Rivermaya Album that I don’t have. He said that it was not released in the Philippines and was released in Malaysia only. So that kind of burst my bubble as the chances of owning one would be close to unlikely. 

So then I discovered Discogs. So I did a Quick search and lo and behold, the Best of Album that Leo posted on the Rivermaya FB Group appeared on Discogs. So I checked on the track listing and I was surprised to find out that the album is exactly the same with the bootlegged album I bought years ago. So in the album info, it says that it was released by Pisces Recording Company which if you do a quick Google, it would trace you to a Brazilian Record Company that I highly doubt was responsible for this release. Or has Brazilian Bootleggers suddenly became a fan of Rivermaya? Or does BMG even now mean Brazilian Music Group (BMG for Short)? Okay that last one was a joke. Even with Discogs, the only known release from this company is the Best of Rivermaya album. The Discogs info even labels this album as Unofficial. 

The Album Cover of the best of Rivermaya from Pisces Record Company

Comparing the track listing with the BMG Pilipinas released one, omitted tracks from that album were Luha and the 214 (Tripnotic Mix), while adding the aforementioned Green album tracks and the other remixed track from the Remixed album. Comparing both albums, you'd have a sense that this bootlegged one was a more complete "Best of Album" than the the officially released one up to that point in Rivermaya's Discography. BMG might have probably focused on Rivermaya with Bamboo on vocals songs and conveniently omitted the "Green" album. But the Brazilian Music Group (ok another joke!) did them better by adding the "Green" album in this compilation. This by the way is not the only "Best of" or "Greatest Hits" album released by the band and their record companies. A couple more were on the way under different record labels, releasing their own compilations based on the songs released by the band on respective record labels. But that is for another story.   

I also checked my Bootlegged copy's barcode number since it has one and lo and behold, it shares the same barcode number with this one. So the bootlegged copy in my collection is a bootlegged copy of a bootlegged Rivermaya album (now that too many bootlegged has given me a headache!). Now after 20 years, I have finally unlocked the mystery of this (ok no more b word) album. Maybe I can now sleep better and not wait for something as rare as this Brazilian album to fall into my lap lol!

Rivermaya: Sa Kabila ng Lahat Album Review

Rivermaya: Sa Kabila ng Lahat

I finally got a copy of Rivermaya's latest album. This album is quite pretty hard to get because its availability is mostly limited to Rivermaya's mall gigs, online store of Star Music, or get it straight at ABS-CBN store at ELJ building. So I endured a couple of months listening to online streaming sites like Spotify. It has been 2 long years since the band last released an album, and this one is highly anticipated due to the fact that the band's pioneer bass guitarist Nathan Azarcon has returned to the band that first launched his musical career to mainstream music fame. And what more explosive way than to do the lead vocal chores for the album's carrier single "Manila". Easily the best song in this album. If you are quite familiar with Azarcon's body of work with his post Rivermaya bands (Kapatid, Bamboo, and Hijo), Manila is something that you could have easily heard from his old bands if they were still in existence today. The heavy bass leads is pure Nathan and mixed with Mike Elgar's virtuoso guitar leads and solos, well one can't stop head banging until you neck hurts. Nathan would contribute three more songs to the album, but his influence on the musicality of the band is quite telling as his bass lines is more pronounced in the other songs as well. There's also a haunting ballad that only Nathan knows how to write, the song Mula Ngayon has the bro-mance dynamic with his duet partner (and long time Rivermaya member), Mark Escueta, is a "kilig" moment for long time Rivermaya fans because of the message of the song that speaks about love, loyalty, and bond, perhaps a subliminal message that Nathan is going to be with the band for the long haul?

But while I expected Nathan to take the lead in terms of songwriting for this album, surprise of all surprises, Mike Elgar takes center stage as he sings/contributes four songs in the album. Elgar also takes the center spot in the band's live performances as the pseudo lead vocalist (but this has never been the band's direction in recent years when it comes to having lead vocalists after the past departures of three former lead vocalists). Elgar's song 8 to 5 was released as the second single for the album which is also one of the well written songs in this album. A perfect follow up to for the hard hitting Manila as this song is slower and milder. And as usual, Elgar's guitar solos to these types of songs are such sweet listening to the ears. I actually don't quite remember any songs from Elgar's that aren't hard hitting. Sana Ikaw on the other hand evokes the classic Elgar songs of past, scintillating guitar riffs and solos. The other two (One Step and Sabay Tayo) however lyrically aren't much to my liking but the song structure is still top notch Mike Elgar. Curiously, Mark Escueta only sang/contributed one song (SBN). I mean, Escueta for the past few years have been so active in songwriting and I'm left curious why he only came up with one. SBN is one of those classic Escueta song that we are all familiar with since he became active in writing songs for the band. Feel good easy sounding on a lazy sunday afternoon and the likes. And finally, the last song in the album called Irena totally blew my mind. Penned and sang by Azarcon, the song recalls the fascinating story of Irena Sendler, a polish nurse and social worker who managed to smuggle and saved more than 2,000 infants and children during the World War 2 period in German Nazi occupied Warsaw, Poland.

In totality, I think the album leaves you wanting as it is only contains 8 songs. I have personal issues with albums that contains less than 10 songs, it kinda makes me feel short change. But hey, I guess that's the trend nowadays as recent albums from other artists also contains less than 10 songs. Still, with the advent of online music streaming, we have to be thankful that some of our favorite artists still releases physical albums. Nothing still beats the experience of listening to full albums compared to the "tingi tingi" singles, which more often than not makes music disposable in my own humble opinion. But that's another article for another day!

The new album can be purchased online thru Star Music's Facebook page or you could visit the ABS-CBN store directly to get a hold of the album. But if you are part of the online streaming generation, then Spotify and Itunes are your go to source for this album. You might not want to miss out the ever evolution of Rivermaya.              

Rivermaya set to release New Album, Sa Kabila ng Lahat

Photo taken from Team Rivermaya FB Page

Hot on the heels of their latest single "Manila", Rivermaya is set to release the full album on Digital Formats this week. So far there are no dates yet for the physical album release. But for those who can't wait to listen to their new songs, you could download them on the online music service sites posted above. And coming from those who were able to attend the exclusive listening party for their fans for this album, early reviews have so far been very positive. The band also released their second single last week "8 to 5". Check out the lyric video of the song below.

September 15 is just on the bend. And I know a lot of you guys can't wait for the release. So, soundtrip nanaman sa Friday!

Rivermaya releases new single for their upcoming album "Sa Kabila ng Lahat"!

After inking a recording contract with Star Music, Rivermaya released their new single yesterday over at Spotify and Youtube, and also in various Radio stations. The new single, titled "Manila" unleashed Rivermaya's long held secret for the past few months, the impending return of Nathan Azarcon to the band. Azarcon had been part of the original incarnation of Rivermaya and was last seen/heard with his band Hijo after a bitter break up with Bamboo Manalac (former original Rivermaya vocalist) to put an end to their successful post Rivermaya band Bamboo (the band). Continuing their revolving vocalist policy since losing three lead vocalists in the past incarnations, Azarcon exploded in his vocal debut as a new member of the current version of Rivermaya. Azarcon is no stranger to singing as he used to once in a while sing a couple of songs in the past Rivermaya albums, as well as doing the lead vocals duty in the short lived Hijo project. Azarcon's imprints is all over the song as it gives this version of Rivermaya an edgier sound. What more could you ask, when you combine Azarcon's bass guitars wizardry to Mike Elgar's blaring lead guitar solos. Perhaps, this is the most talented lead guitar partner that Azarcon has ever played with since Perf de Castro! Though this is not a knock on former Bamboo/Hijo lead guitarist Ira Cruz. Cruz was an excellent guitar player too, but he leaned more on acid jazz music than rock. Of course Azarcon is joined by a guitar wielding Mark Escueta (original Rivermaya Drummer) this time and joined in by drummer Ryan Peralta (who is being ribbed by fans for being an uncanny Bamboo lookalike).

Manila's music video brings us to the seedy streets of Ermita, to the red light district capital of Manila. But I can't discuss more of the song here. Because you just got to hear it to believe the hype! Check out the music video below:

Exciting times for Rivermaya ahead! Can;t wait for the new Album!