Bamboo - The Singles LP

Slowly, local bands and record labels are getting back into pressing their music to vinyl, and PolyEastRecord's first dibs was Bamboo - The Singles. This is the first ever, after so many years, commercially pressed and designed towards consumer due to it's price tag, this vinyl is priced correctly at 950 pesos a pop.

So let's break this blog post to two - First the quality of the vinyl package from album cover to the quality of wax. Second will be the choice of tracks and the sound quality.

The Package

The album cover came in elegant non-glossy black with very minimal design. The front cover only contains the Bamboo The Singles record title and the album art from 2004 album As The Music Plays. At the back they added the track listing and what i liked the most was that they included the artist who wrote and made the song to give separation to the solo artist Bamboo versus the defunct band Bamboo. There's no lyric sheet inside or any other form material entertainment.

The wax was pressed in black wax and the label contains the art cover but without track names they only put a Side A and Side B marker. The wax weighs at 150 grams, chubbier than the regular vinyl. From what I know, the wax was pressed and printed in Czech Republic and shipped back to Manila. The first batch were only 500 copies and I've heard from PolyEast that they will not do a 2nd pressing, I just wished they could put up a hand written number (5/500) on each LP to make it more collectibles.

The album cover and the wax were both perfect for me, although I saw some scratches on the wax, this was maybe because of the super tight white paper inner sleeves. There's also a lot of paper dust so be sure to run a good first sweep before you put it in your turntable.

The Sound Quality

Digitally remastered pressed on thick slab (150g) - what should I expect? To begin with this is the first Vinyl so this is the first pressing and nothing to compare with, although we can use the CD format but I doubt it would be an apples to apples comparison. I'm a positive person, I know it was digitally remastered so I don't expect a lot and I am already happy by owning a Vinyl Format of Bamboo! Yeah, Owning a vinyl copy of this album is already rad! I saw someone bought the record even though he does not have a turntable.

There are ten tracks on this album, 5 on each side.

Side A	Side B
Noypi	Probinsyana
Mr. Clay	Tatsulok
Masaya	Kailan
Hallelujah	Last Days on a Cruise Ship
Peace Man	Kalayaan

I know PolyEast Records had a hard time choosing the tracks, but they did a good job on selecting the singles from each album of Bamboo, although I'm still complaining why F.U. was not included but hey you can only squeeze a few songs on vinyl! So maybe there'll be a second volume coming in since tons of good songs are still left out.

Now how does it sound? Is it any good? spectacular? mind blowing? So-awesome-my-friend-who-does-not-own-a-turntable-is-now-buying-one-after-hearing-this-vinyl? Well it sounds good, nothing really special. The slab is flat and I did not hear any surface noise. This is not the kind of vinyl that you will use to show off your turntable system's awesomeness, I bought this for the music and for my support on this initiative to bring back the vinyl records to life by our local musicians.

Side A have a very strong tracks but I was a bit disappointed with how the Noypi and Mr. Clay sounded. I barely hear the sound of the drums and bass guitar when the Ira Cruz stars ripping the power chords, sounds like the instruments cannot breath. Maybe it' just me or my gears but it's muffled. Hallelujah sounds the same but this track is more tolerable than the first two. Masaya and Peace Man are both exceptional! The separation of the instruments are superb, these are the two of my favorite tracks in the album.

Side B started with a strong track, Probinsyana and then followed by Tatsulok which both felt the same in terms of sound texture. My fav tracks for side b are undoubtedly Kailan and Last Dayz on a Cruise Ship. I would say Side B sounds better than Side A tracks.

Conclusion:

My 950 pesos was well spent on this record. Bamboo The Singles are priced below 1000 which in my opinion is border line expensive for OPM record. I saw two more new local band (OPM) that was pressed in Vinyl and priced at 1200 and 1500. It's expensive according to my wallet. I have not heard both so I don't know how to justify the 1200 and 1500 price tag. If the Bamboo Vinyl went above 1k, i might have thought twice before buying it.

Most of the record stores that i went to have them on display. Astroplus SM Aura and Trinoma have them. If you cannot find them in any store you can search PolyEast Records in facebook and drop them a message.

If you see one, pick it up, pay for it, and start spinning. Your 950pesos is worth spending on this wax. Plus it's a good display and you will often get this from your friends - "really?!? Bamboo on Vinyl??"

If you own this album, let me know what you think, did you like it? did the sound passed your taste? Do you like the singles selection? Do you hate it? Does it sound so bad? Lets us know and use the comment box below!

- Vinyl Grimes. Album Review. Keep Spinning.