After All These Years

Album review

In 1992, Philippine male singer Marco Sison released After All These Years. The album is dominated by easy listening and middle-of-the-road ballads, styles of music quite popular in the Philippines. Eight of the album's ten songs are slow, while one song, "Mahal Kita" (I Love You), contains some spirit, and another song, "Miss Manikin," is fully upbeat and also Latin-inflected. Marco Sison possesses a strong, silky voice, well-suited for handling passionate, easy listening balladry of this type. He also handles the upbeat "Miss Manikin" with panache, and it's probable he can handle other adventurous material. However, he isn't given the opportunity to do so aside from this one song. The easy listening songs on side one of the cassette are more distinctive than the easy listening love songs on side two. The songs on side one here are distinctive. Side one's opening, "I Love You So," stands on its own, as do the others, including "Awit Ka Ng Puso" (You Are the Song of My Heart). These songs aren't adventurous by any stretch of the imagination, but at least they're distinctive. Marco Sison handles these songs like a seasoned Matt Monroe. The upbeat, Latin-inflected "Miss Manikin" on side one comes as a surprise and is propelled by elegant percussion and Marco Sison's suave treatment. Side two sounds redundant and doesn't sound much different than side one. At least half of this album is worthwhile.
© David Gonzales /TiVo