This Saturday, March 29, I’ll be in SM Makati to perform songs from ‘Full Circle’. Would love to see you there!
Archive for the ‘Album’ Category
Full Circle album tour goes to SM Makati this Saturday
March 25, 2008Going full circle in Bacolod
January 23, 2008I’ll be in Bacolod this Saturday, January 26, 4pm at SM Bacolod for the Full Circle album tour. Hope to see you there!
Full Circle mall tour at Alabang Town Center
January 15, 2008Hey fellow southerners (and non-southerners)!
I’ll be performing at the Alabang Town Center Town Plaza this Saturday, January 19, at 5:30pm (or is it 6?–will check).
Hope you can drop by!
I’ll be in Bacolod next Saturday for another mall show at SM City Bacolod. That’s January 26 at 4pm. Remind me to buy napoleones for my wife, ok? She loves the stuff.
See you at The Block this Saturday
January 7, 2008The Full Circle album tour goes to The Block at SM North Edsa. Show starts at exactly 5pm.
See you there!
A great way to start the year…
January 7, 2008…is by seeing nice things being said about your album on the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Yesterday’s (January 6) issue of the PDI had a special entertainment section called ‘The Year of Living Dangerously’ where a subtitle was titled (redundundant?) ‘…and thank you for the music’. It said:
The country’s biggest rock band and a pop singer from the ’80s showed in 2007 that there are infinitely better ways to revive old songs.
(Can you guess who the ‘pop singer from the ’80s is?)
Then a sub-subtitle titled (redundundant again, I know) ‘Top of the crop’ said:
But as far as covering foreign material was concerned, Raymond Lauchengco’s jazz-inspired “Full Circle: The Big Band Album” (Viva) was tops. It allowed listeners to appreciate, in a new light, a bunch of ’80s pop hits― Jo Boxer’s “Just Got Lucky,” Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go,” Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” etc.― which, in their original versions, might never have appealed to current music consumers.
Thank you to the staff of PDI Entertainment, for this. I hope to meet you all soon.
See the original article here.
See you at the Podium this Saturday!
January 3, 2008The ‘Full Circle’ mall shows resume this Saturday, 5pm, at the Podium.
Hope to see you there!
Upcoming mall shows:
January 12 – The Block
January 19 – Alabang Town Center
January 26 – Bacolod (venue TBA)
‘Full Circle’ review in the Inquirer
December 16, 2007This came out last Sunday, and Mia and I were on cloud nine for days. What we appreciate so much about this review (aside from it being well-written) is that the reviewer saw the hard work we put into the project, was spot-on about how much fun I had making the album, and mentioned the musicians who worked with me (they really are an excellent bunch, and I agree that Vic did a brilliant job). To be honest, reading this makes me feel both humbled and proud.
Delightful work: ’80s hits, big-band style
MANILA, Philippines – The most delightful, surprising record release this year has got to be Raymond Lauchengco’s new CD, “Full Circle: The Big Band Album” (Viva).
Though it’s purely an all-covers set, the concept that gave life to it is so beautifully executed, that this may well be the standard by which succeeding “revival” projects will be measured.
Lauchengco credits his wife Mia for the idea that inspired him to throw himself completely into the project—pick a set of hit tunes from his era, the 1980s, and sing them like they’ve never been heard before, big-band style.
Brilliant
For any such endeavor to succeed, one needs a good musical director and arranger which Lauchengco found in Vic Oria. Remember the name, because his work here has “brilliance” written on it.
Oria, with co-arranger Ronald Tomas and a nine-piece band including himself on piano and assorted keyboards, overhauls all 10 tracks in the album, making them sound like they’re the greatest songs of the ’80s.
No kidding.
Initially, a look at the titles won’t cause a big stir, but the moment they spin on the CD player, every listener who grew up knowing, loving, maybe even loathing these songs will turn up the vol ume.
“Head Over Heels,” recorded by The Go-Go’s at the height of the ’80s new wave craze, is given a swinging jazz makeover. The original version made fans dance; this one will make them smile while dancing.
Dazzling
“Walking on Sunshine” (Katrina and the Waves), a favorite cover tune of many local bands and still an FM radio staple, starts with Lauchengco singing with a lone stride piano on mono effects and then bursts with a rich, orchestral backup. The effect is dazzling—we are prodded to sing along and smile.
By the third track, “Just Got Lucky” (Jo Boxers), one realizes why this album has a special appeal: it seems Lauchengco’s voice has a more energetic lilt now, and his phrasing is so clear, it’s easy to appreciate the beauty of the lyrics.
But of course the band completes the picture—collectively a talented group of musicians, individually delivering the foundations and accents that make each song stand out. They deserve mention here: Kim Lesaca (bass), Jun Austria (drums), Adam Cesante (electric guitar), Ronnie Marqueses (trombone), Ruel Cabrera (first trumpet), Richie Gonzaga (second trumpet), Rancis De Leon (alto saxophone), Torres (tenor saxophone) and lastly, Oria whom Lauchengco refers to as “Manong Genius.”
Hearing the opening bars to Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder’s “Together in Electric Dreams,” it’s easy to understand why Lauchengco had so much fun doing this album.
Totally reworked
Originally written for a film soundtrack, this synth-pop/dance tune is totally reworked as a ballad, a bit more apt to the bittersweet lyrics.
It’s also surprising to see a ’60s pop classic, “Always Something There To Remind Me” (Burt Bacharach/Hal David) included here, but then we remember the synth-based group Naked Eyes doing a dance cover of the song in ’83—whose memory might fade into oblivion after Lauchengco’s version.
We’ll let you discover for yourselves the other delights in this fine musical collection. Okay, just one more teaser: in “Full Circle,” suddenly, Rick Astley and Wham are not so baduy, after all—in case you hated them 20 years ago.
See the original article here.
The Full Circle mall tour begins this December!
November 27, 2007Full Circle’s promotional mall tour begins this December, and I hope to see you!
December 9 – Robinson’s Galleria
December 12 – Trinoma
December 13 – Robinson’s Manila
‘Full Circle’ album launch on October 26 at Shangri-la Mall
October 13, 2007 
Yup, finally, we’re launching ‘Full Circle’ this month!
Hope to see you on Friday, October 26, 6pm at the Shangri-la Mall. I’ll be there to perform cuts from the album with a live band. It’ll be a swingin’, fun evening that I hope you and your friends will attend!
Would love it if you could help me spread the word 
And I hope to see you there so you can let me know what you think of the album!
Raymond with a big band sound
October 13, 2007(Thank you for this, Tita Baby.)
By Baby Gil
From The Philippine Star (October 10, 2007)
I recall many images of Raymond Lauchengco during these past 30 years. A gawky boy in the musical The Sound of Music, an insecure Charlie Brown, the nerd among the kids of Bagets, a budding dramatic actor in Bukas Luluhod Ang Mga Tala, handsome leading man in South Pacific and Rama at Sita and in between these, privately, an insightful photographer whose work just seems to get better and better. But the one thing that strings his many faces together is the music, which covers a truly astounding range.
Think Rodgers and Hammerstein on one side and George Canseco on the other and assorted bits in between. Then you will have a fairly good idea of what Raymond has been singing all these years. But of course, the songs that everybody instantly remembers are the much-loved hits from the ’80s era, a number of them from trendsetting photoplays like Bagets and Hot Shots and memorable melodramas like Saan Darating Ang Umaga, So It’s You, Farewell, Then Maybe, What Would They Say, Early Morning Lady, Kapag Puso’y Sinugatan, Standing in the Shadow of Time and others.
So hereabouts, any question about cultural phenomena during the ’80s will surely include the Bagets movie among the answers. And when you say Bagets, you recall the boys launched to stardom with the picture, Herbert Bautista, Aga Muhlach, JC Bonnin and Raymond. And when you think of Raymond and Bagets you cannot help but think of the music and songs like So It’s You. And oftentimes you also remember those songs, which Raymond did not record but are also part of the Bagets memories like Joe Boxer’s Just Got Lucky.
Some months ago, Raymond found a way to marry songs he did not get to sing but are usually associated with his Bagets period with music he recently came to love. These are the swinging standards, the kind that Sinatra and his Rat Pack did so well and which gave birth to the expression ring-a-ding-ding. Along with producer Alwyn Cruz, musical director, arranger and pianist Vic Oria, Raymond chose 10 pop hits from the ’80s which were then rearranged for an eight-piece swing band and collected in one CD. Leading the line-up is, of course, the not to be missed Just Got Lucky by Joe Boxer.
The album is titled Full Circle because this is Raymond returning to the ’80s and also because it marks his return to Viva Productions which produced most of his films and is now releasing this new album. The other songs included are Head Over Heels by the Go-Gos, Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves, Let’s Go by Wang Chung Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley, Together in Electric Dreams by Human League, Always Something There to Remind Me by Dionne Warwick, You to Me are Everything by The Real Thing, Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears and Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Wham.
It is a sense of fun, adult and sophistication that hits the listener with the opening bars of Head Over Heels. As the album continues, comes the realization, I’m amazed, didn’t know that these songs could sound this way. And after that, total enjoyment. This is the ’80s coming to maturity through the music. And as should be expected, Raymond’s vocals, versatile, polished and note-perfect finishes up the package.
Check him out as he performs the songs from Full Circle live with his band at the Atrium of the Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Ortigas at 6 p.m. on Oct. 26.
