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ALBUM TITLE: Music From The Buffet Table
RELEASE YEAR: 2000
RATING: Excellent
There is this dreaded phenomenon in music known as the sophomore jinx. Oftentimes, the second album release of an artist that had earned previous accolades for its debut work does not quite meet the standards of an exacting music industry and fan base, and, thus, falls victim to critical and commercial failure.
Luckily, �Music From The Buffet Table,� the sophomore release of folk-pop-rock group Barbie�s Cradle, lives up to the pressures expected from its stellar self-titled debut. Barbie Almabis, Rommel de la Cruz and new drummer Wendell Garcia are in fabulous form, both musically and lyrically, and the effort is nothing short of pure listening pleasure.
Craftily designed and produced, �Music From the Buffet Table� is delicious in every aspect. The album opens with �How Long,� a mid-tempo track in which Barbie asks a paramour of exactly that - how long until she is loved. That rather depressing frame of mind carries over into �Shiny Red Balloon,� a stand-out track where she sings of keeping affairs in books and shiny red balloons that spoil everything. A little bit of optimism sneaks its way into �Boat,� where she invites, �sail my way, you can come as you like�� Interesting part at the near end: I imagine �row, row, row your boat� sung by little gremlins, but it�s probably just Rommel and Wendell tapping their testosterone reserves. [Little birdie says it�s a slowed-down Barbie.]
�Belinda Bye Bye,� a track she wryly says her mother told her to keep off the album, is a no-holds barred look at lesbian repression, although it can pretty much be interpreted as repression of anything. �Dear Paul� follows; it is easily one of the most heartfelt and painfully short pieces on the LP - a bitter letter to an old grade-school crush. �Hello� brings back the underlying theme of healing after low points.
Another stand-out track, �Money For Food,� follows this. Any person who�s sacrificed many things for his or her art will relate to this track, and, if only for the chorus, where one gets the chance to �sing all you like,� one must get the album. �It�s Dark And I Am Lonely� and �When The Bough Breaks� both sound rather dark, although the latter is rather encouraging, as Barbie sings �it�s time to write desperate songs, now it�s time to mourn, and I swore that you came for all the times that I prayed for peace.�
The smarties over there at Warner know their stuff, and add the three singles of the previous album, �Goodnyt,� �Tabing Ilog� and �The Dance� to the mix. A hidden track (pssst! Number 21!) also lies buried somewhere in the CD. The only song with Filipino lyrics, and, strangely, a remake is also available, as Barbie�s Cradle redoes Hotdog�s �Langit Na Naman.� It�s a faithful cover, yet it is awkward, jarring, more of novelty than anything else. Strangely enough, the album passes by before you even know it, clocking under less than an hour, The emotional roller-coaster that Barbie�s Cradle will grab you by the neck in a painful choke hold and won�t let go. But hey, it�s a buffet table, right?
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