By Errol de Cruz

FANS of singer Azman Warren would be thrilled to know that he's got a new Malay pop-rock album in the pipeline.

And if he's true to his word, the new album will be a good follow-up to his solo debut, Karma, which earned him two nominations - Best New Artiste and Best Rock Album - at the Anugerah Industri Muzik Malaysia in 1998.

"It's a purely commercial album," he said, at the Backyard Pub and Restaurant, a family-type venue in Sri Hartamas, KL, where he performs every Friday night. "... love songs, songs about our society ... nothing deep."

The new album, yet untitled, is going to be quite different from Karma, which was a progressive rock effort. Though nominated for the two AIM awards, the album didn't sell well because of the economic downturn.

This time around, Warren has recruited the talents of Australian guitar wizard Jaime Wilson and Malaysia's Raymond Lim who plays both guitar and keyboards.

While nearly all the songs were self-penned, there is one cover Aishah - a song composed by Nigerian artiste Khalid in Arabic and French. Warren, of course, will be covering it in Malay and later, on the English album he's planning.

Warren first came to the attention of Malaysian music buyers when he was featured on the four Ikhlas albums produced by Roslan Aziz Productions in the 90s.

Prior to that he had spent 17 years in Australia, where he worked heavily on a government programme for schoolchildren, a programme which extolled the good values in life and decried the ills of society, especially drug abuse. And it's something he would like to start here, provided he can find the right people to back him.

Now at the Backyard, Warren works three sets after 9, every Friday evening.

And quite a repertoire he has there, too.

Guitarist Viji, who used to run Concept in Medan Damansara until recently, watched Warren perform last week and commented that it was a tough job, doing a solo gig with nothing but a guitar for company.

"You rely very heavily on your vocal delivery," he explained, referring to the fact that Warren is essentially a rhythm guitarist who doesn't stray into instrumental solos. "That takes a lot of guts, man."

But Warren isn't phased by any of this, and it's obvious from his presentation that he enjoys his craft very much, joking quite naturally with the patrons as he chugs steadily through his sets.

It's easy to sit through three, even four, sets of Azman Warren because he's got a trove of diverse material, ranging from the evergreens of the 50s and 60s through the rock hits of the 70s and 80s and sometimes even something from today's charts.

The requests he gets are sometimes pretty tough ones, but Warren is ready to hit them, with nary a songbook in sight.

And from the response he gets from his audience, it's a sure bet that he'd be a popular feature there for more than the two months he's been signed for.

* The Backyard Pub and Restaurant is located at Jalan Sri Hartamas 8, Sri Hartamas, KL. For more information, call 03-6510318 after noon.

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