''Rivermaya'' (stylized as ''RiverMaya'') is the self-titled debut studio album by Filipino

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Rivermaya Rivermaya is a Filipino alternative rock band. Formed in 1994, it is one of the several bands that spearheaded the 1990s Philippine alternative rock explosion. Rivermaya is currently composed of original members Mark Escueta and Nathan Azar ...

, released in November 1994, by Musiko Records & BMG Records (Pilipinas), Inc. The album received positive reviews from critics, who praised the songwriting of keyboardist

Rico Blanco Rico Rene Granados Blanco (born March 17, 1973) is a Filipino singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor, endorser and entrepreneur. He began his career as one of the founding members, and served as the chief songwriter, ...

. The album sold well upon release, due to its hit singles like "214", "

Ulan Ulan may refer to: Places *Ulan, New South Wales, a town in Australia *Ulan County, in Qinghai Province, China *Ulan District, eastern Kazakhstan *Ulan, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province People * Ulan, politician from Inner Mongolia, China Mil ...

", and "Awit ng Kabataan". ''Rivermaya'' has been certified triple platinum by the

Philippine Association of the Record Industry The Philippine Association of the Record Industry ( Filipino: ''Kapisanan ng Industriya ng Plaka ng Pilipinas'', abbreviated as PARI) is a non-profit and private trade organization, that represents the recording industry distributors in the Phi ...

(PARI). With 120,000 copies sold, the record is one of the best-selling albums in the Philippines.

Background

Xaga formed in 1994, and were managed by Lizza Nakpil and

Chito Roño Chito is a given name or nickname that may refer to: * Chito Calvo (1903–1977), Filipino basketball player, swimmer, and coach * Chito Garcia (1924–2015), Mexican baseball outfielder and manager * Chito Gascon, Filipino lawyer, civil organiz ...

. The band's original lineup consisted of Jesse Gonzales on vocals,

Kenneth Ilagan Kenneth Ilagan is a Filipino musician who was the guitarist for the rock band The Dawn (band), the Dawn. Before assuming guitar duties for the Dawn, Ilagan also played guitar for Violent Playground, True Faith (band), True Faith and Xaga (who th ...

on guitars, Nathan Azarcon on bass guitar, Rome Velayo on drums, and

on keyboards. In the process of grueling practice sessions, Gonzales and Velayo were respectively replaced by

Bamboo Mañalac Francisco Gaudencio Lope Belardo MañalacVIDEO: "It's Francisco, that's my great-grandfather, then Gaudencio, that's my lolo, then it's Lope, then it's Belardo Mañalac." / (; born March 21, 1976), popularly known as Bamboo Mañalac or simply ...

and

Mark Escueta Mark Edward Penabella Escueta (; born 9 January 1976) is a Filipino musician and one of the founding members of the Filipino rock band Rivermaya. Escueta has been the only constant member of Rivermaya since its inception in 1994. Early life E ...

, both of whom were invited by Azarcon to join. Ilagan had also left the band for personal reasons concerning his studies;

Perfecto de Castro Perfecto "Perf" de Castro (born August 15, 1974) is a Filipino musician currently based in Los Angeles, California best known for having been a celebrated fixture in the Philippine alternative rock scene during the 1990s. During the course of ...

was added to fill in his role. Shortly thereafter, Xaga disbanded to form a new group that came to be Rivermaya.

Release and promotion

''Rivermaya'' was released in November 1994 on

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

and CD format. A few months after the album was released, the band released the album's first single, "

/ Awit ng Kabataan". The two were separate songs (tracks 5 and 10 on ''Rivermaya''), but were released together as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

single. It was then followed by "214", the second single. It received heavy radio airplay and achieved massive popularity, and remains as one of the band's most memorable hits. The last single from the album was "Bring Me Down".

Reception

Critical response

The album received generally positive reviews from critics. David Gonzales of AllMusic gave ''Rivermaya'' four stars out of five, calling it a "self-assured debut effort". He praised the tracks "Revolution" and "214", and noted that it encompasses the band's sound. He also commented on "20 Million", remarking the track is an "elaborately produced vehicle", containing piano and a wonderful string section. Gonzales enjoyed the album's melodic nature as well as Rico Blanco's songwriting, saying: "The plaudits must go to keyboardist Rico Blanco, who wrote six of the album's ten songs, and participated in the writing of the other four songs."

Commercial performance

''Rivermaya'' received gold certification status a few months after being released. Eventually, sales grew and the album was certified triple platinum by the

(PARI), denoting sales of over 120,000 copies.

Aftermath

The album's success catapulted Rivermaya into one of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

' premier rock bands of the 1990s, along with the

Eraserheads Eraserheads (sometimes stylized as ƎRASERHEADS or ƎRASƎRHƎADS) are a Filipino rock band formed in Quezon City in 1989. The band consists of lead singer and primary songwriter Ely Buendia, guitarist Marcus Adoro, bassist Buddy Zabala, and dr ...

. The band frequently held live performances, appeared in television programs, and embarked on extensive tours around the country. Despite the popularity that established the band's status, it also bought conflict and disagreements to the members and managers. In 1995, Perfecto de Castro left the group, citing creative differences with managers Lizza Nakpil and Chito Roño as the reason for his departure. He went on to form a

power trio A power trio is a rock band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit, leaving out a dedicated vocalist or an additional rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quart ...

called TriAxis. Even with de Castro's exit, Rivermaya decided to forge on, and began working on their second studio album.

Accolades

* denotes an unordered list

Track listing

Personnel

Track numbers noted in parentheses below are based on track numbering. ;Rivermaya *

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

– keyboards,

guitars The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

, co-vocals *

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s, backing vocals *

Nathan Azarcon Nathan Peter Hachero Azarcon (born January 29, 1975) is a Filipino musician, nationalist, songwriter, and producer. He is currently the bassist, vocalist and one of the founding members of Pinoy rock, Filipino rock band Rivermaya. He was also a m ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, backing vocals *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

;Artwork * Dave Yu – design * Mario Joson – art direction * Raymund Isaac – photography ;Additional musicians * Francisco Llorin –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

;Production * Rico Blanco –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

* Perfecto de Castro – production * Buddy Medina – executive production * Rudy Y. Tee – executive production * Arnold Jallores – mixing,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Lizza G. Nakpil –

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

Chito S. Roño Chito Sarmiento Roño (; born April 26, 1954), also known as Sixto Kayko and Chito S. Roño, is a Filipino writer, producer, and director. He is known for his expansive vision and special-effects-heavy films. He came to prominence in the Cinem ...

– management * Vic Valenciano – A&R

In popular culture

* The song Ulan & Halik sa Araw are included in soundtrack of the movie "Pare Ko". * The song "214" was covered by

JM de Guzman Juan Miguel Gob de Guzman (born September 9, 1988), popularly known by his screen name JM de Guzman, is a Filipino actor, mixed martial artist, model and singer. He is currently working as an exclusive talent of Star Magic. Early life and care ...

for the theme song of the 2019

romantic drama Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

film ''

Alone/Together ''Alone/Together'' is a 2019 Filipino romantic drama film written and directed by Antoinette Jadaone. Starring Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil, it follows the love story of Christine and Raf, who cross paths again five years after they broke up ...

''. * The song "214" was covered by

Jeremiah Tiangco Jeremiah "Miah" Christian Castor Tiangco (born August 5, 1997) is a Filipino singer, entrepreneur and actor. He is the second grand champion of singing competition ''The Clash'' in 2019. Tiangco previously competed in the first two seasons of ...

for the theme song of the 2022 TV series ''

Lolong Lolong (died 10 February 2013) was the largest crocodile ever held in captivity. He was a saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') measured at , making him one of the largest crocodiles ever measured from snout to tail, and weighing . In N ...

.'' * The song "214" was covered by

Luke Mejares Michael Luke Mejares (born June 26, 1975) is a Filipino singer and songwriter of African-American descent. Life Mejares was born in Manila, to a Boholana mother, Elvira Porticos Mejares, and an African-American father named Robert Davis. Hi ...

and was featured on the special edition of his Solo debut album "Stop, Luke & Listen". * The song "Ulan" was covered by Janine Teñoso for the theme song of the 2019 romantic drama film of the same name.

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1994 debut albums Rivermaya albums