Skabeche perfect for fiestas

Skabeche

“Table For Ten”

Viva Records

Skabeche’s distinctive fiesta sound incorporates an assortment of horns, guitars and percussion, and has already been featured in various compilation albums.

Its debut CD, “Table For Ten,” released in 2010, is a welcome accomplishment for a band whose invigorating beat and good-humored showmanship has earned it a niche in the Filipino ska and reggae pantheon.

The 13-track album features all original Filipino and English songs, and includes the lively “Table No. 10,” the celebratory “Good Day,” the energetic “Kaibigang Hangin” (extended version), the dreamy “Turuan Mong Umibig Ang Mga Bata,” the anti-trapo hit single “Lamok” (new version), the vigorous “Kaba,”  the joyous “Awit,” and the rocking “Pagbabago.”

Carole King, James Taylor and more

“Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter”

MCA Music

This documentary DVD about the legendary singer-songwriters of the 1970s curiously opens with an off-the-wall, riotous “Kick Out The Jams” by MC5, the equally legendary bad boys of the Detroit music scene.

Juxtaposed images of social turbulence in the United States, including archival footages of the Vietnam War, LBJ, the Black Panthers and Charles Manson, produce a sensory blitz that sets the tone for the gentleness and healing intimacy that “Troubadours” engenders.

Premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, “Troubadours” interweaves the recollections and commentaries of a wide cast of characters to give a warmly personal peek at the early careers of future music legends, including Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, The Eagles, Elton John, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, groundbreaking comedians Steve Martin and Cheech & Chong and many other gifted young artists of the period.

The docu’s connecting thread is a quirky club in West Hollywood called the Troubadour, which in those volatile, heady days served as a nexus for a new genre of music that blended rock with folk.

The focal point is the incredible musical connection and enduring deep partnership that formed between King and Taylor, a symbiotic bond that has transcended time and place and defies description. The real heart of the docu is a heartwarming scene showing the two best friends (40 years later) playing again at the Troubadour as they reminisce about their musical odyssey and personal struggles—Taylor with substance abuse, and King balancing career with motherhood. What a true gem it is seeing them up close like they were our old friends catching up on old times.

Although so much is compressed in 90 minutes, director Morgan Neville comes up with a moving portrait of a remarkable era and a deeply personal, poignant homecoming.