All That I Want

In 1998, Philippine female singer Vina Morales released her third album All That I Want. Morales's first album, 1995's Easy to Love contains dance-inflected tunes and pleasant middle-of-the-road fare. Her second album, 1996's Look at Me Now, also contains adventurous songs, but the middle-of-the-road fare was more sophisticated than before.

This time, Morales leans heavily on the sophisticated material and, aside from one song, foregoes the upbeat tunes. Morales possesses an excellent, emotive voice, and with each album she becomes more self-assured. Her handling of All That I Want, for example, is confident and suave; she injects meaning and passion into the lyrics. Side one of the cassette is especially well-done, and the warm sophistication of the opening "Cherish" sets the pace.

Importantly, the material given Morales on All That I Want is much better than the lackluster material of her previous album. Songs here such as "Cherish," "It's Gonna Be Lonely," "All That I Want," "One Last Cry," and "I Cried" are excellent vehicles for Morales' passion and depth. The one upbeat number, "La La Lab Kita" (trans: La La I Love You) is nicely done, but seems a bit out of place, and the entire album could be more balanced, leaning heavily as it does on ballads (albeit ballads performed nicely). The songwriting of "Sana" (trans: I Hope) and "Ano Man Ang Iyong Nakaraan" (trans: Whatever Is Your Past") on side two of the cassette isn't as strong as the rest of the material, but Morales makes the songs sound better than they should. She is, after all, one of the best singers in the Philippines.