MANILA, Philippines - It had all the elements of a made-for-TV special?production numbers, costume changes, scripted spiels? but one that stretched a bit too long with so many tunes and segments crammed in.

Fortunately, the cleverly crafted encore saved everything and captured the essence of the concert?s theme.

At the Music Museum last Friday, the first of the two-night show dubbed ?Greatest Hits of the ?80s? featuring Louie Heredia, Raymond Lauchengco, Gino Padilla and Randy Santiago tried to relive a decade with songs that swayed between upbeat R&B and an abundance of English OPM that tended to get mushy, with lots of British and American new wave hits thrown in for good measure.

Opening with Lionel Richie?s ?All Night Long? and El Debarge?s ?Rhythm of the Night,? the four singers tried to keep up with the songs? bouncy beats, but with Padilla?s vocals sounding tentative and Heredia having difficulty finding his dance groove.

Script failure

On the third number, ?Dancing in the Street,? one of the show?s faults became apparent?a failure of the script to mention that this song first came out in 1964, originally recorded by the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas (curiously, co-written by Marvin Gaye), although it was covered by Mick Jagger and David Bowie in ?85.

Another classic Motown tune, ?You Can?t Hurry Love? by The Supremes circa ?66, didn?t get the proper credit, even if the four headliners were apparently interpreting the ?82 Phil Collins version.

A succession of ballads that paid tribute to women singers Joey Albert, Iwi Laurel, Jam Morales, Pops Fernandez, Jamie Rivera, Sharon Cuneta and Kuh Ledesma was heartily applauded, although this was also the portion where the thinness of Santiago?s singing voice became noticeable.

An attempt to end the slow numbers with Zsa Zsa Padilla?s ?Mambobola? sounded strange, with male vocalists mouthing lines like, for instance, ?Huwag akong ligawan...?

Among the spot numbers that came out fine were Heredia?s ?Nag-Iisang Ikaw??his voice still sounding like the original recording; Padilla?s signature song ?Closer You and I? and his ?Let the Love Begin? duet with Rachelle Ann Go; and the latter, as a special guest, belting out Harem Scarem?s ?Honestly? with power and confidence, while her lithe body was mounted on five-inch stilletos.

The next segment was a blast. It highlighted the featured performers? acting abilities as Lauchengco emerged dressed as Menudo?s Robby Rosa and singing ?If You?re Not Here,? Padilla as Michael Jackson in ?Beat It,? Heredia as Culture Club?s Boy George in ?Karma Chameleon? and Santiago as Prince in ?Let?s Go Crazy.?

Humor, spoof

It was easy to appreciate the humor in these numbers, but sadly they were done in a spoofing manner that downplayed the songs? influence in their heyday. Santiago was the funniest, exaggerating how he put socks in his crotch to avoid the embarrassing flimsiness of his purple costume.

Of the four, Lauchengco was the best-applauded in the segment that spotlighted their past hits as OPM balladeers. It could be that, aside from his theater-trained pipes, his songs? lyrics, though not exactly awesome, were most affecting (?I may be miles away/But here is where my heart will stay?).

There were spotty, unnecessary portions like the movie soundtrack themes and solo numbers, not to mention simple spiels that Padilla and Heredia flubbed.

It was also a pity that nobody informed a couple of male dancers that the T-shirts they were flaunting had faces of the band Kiss, which rose to prominence in the ?70s.

Dance time

But nobody was prepared for an encore that encapsulated, partially at least, the happy, sensitive, quirky, simple but rocking appeal of ?80s music. Everyone stood up and danced to a succession of wonderful stuff including those by General Public, Van Halen, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Billy Joel, A-ha, The Go-Gos, Billy Idol and Jefferson Starship, from which one phrase spelled the kind of sound that mattered most: ?We built this city on rock ?n? roll.?

Well, never mind if there were no Clash (whose ?London Calling? album was widely considered as the best album of 1980), no Bruce Springsteen (?Dancing in the Dark? to add to the many ?dancing? tunes that night), no Blondie (?Call Me? could?ve suited Heredia fine since he did a mean falsetto in A-ha?s ?Take on Me?), no Police, no U2 and so on. Maybe next time, if we are to believe Santiago?s remark that the promoter, Viva Concerts, intends to bring the act to Pinoy communities overseas.

As a whole, the gig was fun and lived up to what one of the spiels described it: like a high school reunion. In which case, the four boys acted like each of them was one of these: the class nerd/genius (Lauchengco), tough guy (Padilla), drag queen (Heredia) and clown (Santiago).

If the latter wasn?t exactly an excellent singer, at least he wore really great-looking jeans and boots.