It is regrettable but also a fact that there will come times in our lives wherein some words of wisdom from a song in the musical Chess will be proven true. “Nothing is so good it lasts eternally/perfect situations must go wrong.” I do not know if the situation was perfect among the members of Orange & Lemons but the band certainly had it good for quite a while. Then recently, the Orange and the Lemons all went sour.

The group is composed or maybe I should say, was once made up of Clem Castro on electric guitar and vocals, McCoy Fundales on acoustic guitar and vocals, JM del Mundo on bass guitar and Ace del Mundo on drums. Clem and McCoy are the main songwriters.

They all come from Bulacan and were once quoted as saying that they were here to provide the right sort of musical nourishment to today's listeners.

The nourishment turned out to be most welcome. The band was introduced successfully with Love in the Land of Rubber Shoes and Dirty Ice Cream. Hit singles like Hanggang Kailan (Umuwi Ka Na Baby), Abot Kamay and Heaven Knows (This Angel Has Flown) came out of the second album Strike Whilst the Iron is Hot. Then they struck big time with the most played and most remembered song of two years ago, Pinoy Ako from the first season of the voyeuristic TV series Pinoy Big Brother. After that was up, up and away for Orange & Lemons.

Thanks to those hits, Orange & Lemons got to do a shampoo commercial with Abot Kamay. They were also asked to sing the theme from the movie Blue Moon. That one caught a lot of people by surprise because they were able to do it in their own way a well-loved standard composed by the great Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Even better was the group's take on the Manila Sound classic Yakap sa Dilim, acknowledged by many as one of the best cuts in the tribute album to the music of the Apo Hiking Society.

Then a week ago, there came the much-awaited follow-up to Strike Whilst the Iron is Hot. Titled Moonlane Gardens , it is another lyrical exercise made up of 14 new originals, most of them composed by frontman Clem, who also did the lead vocals. As before, Orange & Lemons sticks to its pop approach to its materials. Admittedly, the style sometimes seems too sweet for fans of local bands. But it sounds great and is actually a relief from all the direction-less rock music we have lately been getting.

The album does not have another Pinoy Ako but the first single release Ang Katulad Mong Walang Katulad shows a lot of promise. I also detect big selling potentials in the songs Eleven Minutes, Buhay at Pag-ibig, Ode to Love and the title cut. Efforts were also made to experiment with the arrangements most noticeably in the use of unconventional instruments like the banduria and the octavina. Moonlane Gardens is a well-produced album that is a whole lot better than the stuff being dished out these days by most local bands.

Then came the shocker. Clem is no longer a member of the band. The rift was caused by artistic differences. On the same day that the album was released, Fundales also issued an announcement. “This part of the story must come to a sudden end. Someone has to fade. It's almost time for a new day after all.” Then came an even bigger shocker. Clem claims that he is still very much a part of Orange & Lemons, despite having missed some gigs.

By a strange coincidence, one of the songs in Moonlane Gardens is titled The Story Must Come to a Sudden End. Very prophetic. It was composed by Clem and McCoy. Has the story of Orange & Lemons ended? We do not have the answer. But maybe, bands can take a cue from what happened. Next time they pick a name for themselves, it would perhaps be wise to take into account the power of suggestion. Orange & Lemons does go sour after a while and that is just what these ones did in a big way.