Romantic tunes boost new recordings
KRALL. Unique mix of jazz and vaudevillian tunes from the roaring ’20s and ’30s.
It’s hard to get curmudgeonly about love, especially during the Valentine season—unless you’ve had your heart broken! As they say, love makes the world go round.
In her 10th album, the 13-track “Glad Rag Doll,” Diana Krall sings about love and uses her sassy contralto to add warmth to a unique mix of jazz and vaudevillian tunes from the roaring ’20s and ’30s—like the ukulele-and-bass-fueled country swing of the catchy “There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth the Salt of My Tears,” and her rockabilly cover of Betsy James’ “I’m A Little Mixed Up.”
‘Kahit Konting Pagtingin’
If you’re torn between two lovers, the soundtrack of the afternoon TV series, “Kahit Konting Pagtingin,” just might help you decompress! Plus, you can even sing along to its minus-one versions if you choose to do away with the vocals of Angeline Quinto, Sam Milby—who performs Jonathan Manalo’s “Hindi Kita Iiwan”—and Paulo Avelino, who turns in a “safely” rendered performance of Emmanuel Abalazo’s “Hiling.”
Luckily, Quinto gets to do most of the singing, and she does best in Myrus Ramirez’s delightfully radio-friendly “Pusong Lito,” which captures the petit
LEWIS. Knocks her challenging tunes out of the musical ballpark.
e singer-actress’ voice at its most effortlessly buoyant. Her peppy “Tanging Ikaw,” Raizo Chadeldin’s catchy “Nobody” knockoff, will get you moving to the dance floor.
Of course, the collection wouldn’t be complete without its pièce de résistance—Levi Celerio’s enduring “Kahit Konting Pagtingin.” You’ll surely have your fill of the popular romantic tune, because it comes in three versions—Quinto goes solo in its Pinoy ballad and reggae-fied incarnations (arranged by Gino Cruz), then adds her improvisational trills to Milby and Avelino’s disparate singing styles!
Leona Lewis
AVELINO, QUINTO AND MILBY. Sing in the soundtrack of TV series
Leona Lewis also tackles love and heartbreak in her third studio recording, “Glassheart.” In her more musically textured repertoire, the former “X-Factor” champ makes full use of her sturdy, four-octave pipes and seamless technical precision to knock challenging tunes out of the musical ballpark.
“Glassheart” has a hefty lineup, led by our top picks: “Trouble,” “Shake You Up,” the anthemic “U Love Me,” the Celine Dion-channeling ballad, “Fireflies,” and the bonus recording, “Collide,” her controversial collaboration with Avicii, who initially claimed that the track—Lewis’s first single to top Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs chart—plagiarized his song, “Penguin.” To make everybody happy, the studio decided to release the song as a collaboration. —All’s well that ends well!
