It is obvious that his record company is retaining the music formula that led to his previous successes.  As such, there are many karaoke-friendly songs here that will no doubt be lapped up by the Bengs and Lians, such as the first four singles "Sleep Till Twelve O'Clock" (a light tempo track written by a nineteen year-old newcomer Hu Jun Yi), "Angels Are The Same", "Can't Reject" (written by Xiao Chong who was responsible for one of his biggest hits "Heart Too Soft" or "Xin Tai Ruan") and "Brothers" (written by the duo Liu Zhi Hong and Liu Si Ming, it sounds suspiciously like another of his big hit "Sad Pacific Ocean" or "Shang Xin Tai Ping Yang").

The ten-track album is produced by Jeff Chia (or Jia Ming Shu), Xiao Chong, the duo Liu Zhi Hong/Liu Si Ming and Richie himself.

In order to fight piracy, the original CD comes equipped with a Power CD enhancement function which allows his fans to listen to a brand new track "Little White Face" (which is not found in his album CD) via accessing his official website.

Angels Are The Same  天使也一樣  --------  

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The album also marks Zhang's debut effort as a producer.  All the fourteen songs (including four instrumental music pieces) are written by himself and arranged by him and his band "Free Night".  They are a mix of band sound, rock, techno and folk.  After singing about the woes of today's teens in his last few albums, he has shifted his focus to the troubles facing the mature working adults today.

Some song titles are quite attention grabbing, like the first single "Bull Shit" and "Dog, Man & Woman" (translated literally from the Chinese name which means "Shameless Couple").  Even the lyrics may raise a few eyebrows such as "Trouble" which contains words like "..... you got the fxxking trouble .... fxxk you ...." and "Dog, Man & Woman" which contains sexual references.

For those who prefer his more soothing tracks such as his previous hit song "Love Me, Don't Go" (or Ai Wo Bie Zou), they will definitely take to his new  work "At Dawn" which is the only mid-tempo number that you can find here.

In another form of beating music piracy, the original CD comes with a bonus Power CD which allows his fans to access exclusive multimedia privileges (MTVs, downloads) from A Yue's official website.

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Although she can't journey across Taiwan to promote her works (becos she's from the mainland), many Taiwan musicians and artiste have paid tribute to her, including, Valen Hsu, Alex To, Rene Liu, Yuan Wei Ren, Huang Zi Jiao, Chen Xiao Juan, Chen Zi Hong, Paula Ma Yu Fen and Chen Jian Ning.

If you like her debut effort "Light", it is most likely you will take to her new offering as it offers lots of R&B pop ballads, with a few techno dance tracks thrown in to spice up the album.  All the songs are written by her and they revolve around a central theme "Loneliness".  She also did many of the arrangements herself.  I personally consider Ching to be one of the few China song-writers who can churn out non-dated sounding pieces.

The first single cum title track "You Did Love Me" is an elegant ballad with a classical touch.  The second single "Swamp" is a radio-friendly R&B ballad.  The Hong Kong chart-topping R&B Toni-Braxton style hit "Raining Night" is included here.  The album also contains the preview EP track "But I Hate You".  However the demo version of Valen Hsu's "New World" (or Xin Shi Jie) found in the EP is absent in her full-length CD.

While her vocals exhibit a heavy dose of Sandy Lam in her first release,  she has conspicuously lessened that effect in her latest album, which is a good thing.  On the other hand, I feel that she has picked up traces of Mariah Carey's vocal style in some of the songs here, such as the second single "Swamp".

In order to beat piracy, the first batch of limited-edition CDs comes equipped with Ching's first album "Light".  Yup, you can now buy Ching's two CDs for the price of one.  It's really good value for money,  especially for those who want to get acquainted with all her music at one shot.

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I'm sure local listeners may remember these two guys as they are previously known as Nian Shao Zhi Dao.  Their debut album in 1998 was quite well received in Singapore because of their hit "Duo Dreams" (or Shuang Ren Xiang Meng).  Their second album "Rain" in 1999 was a certified best-seller in Malaysia although it barely caused a ripple in Singapore.  In 2000, they signed on to Rock Records and came out with their album "Don't Wanna Leave You" in July.  It was only released in Malaysia and not in Singapore - refer below for the cover pic.

"Don't Wanna Leave You" (Malaysian Release - July 00) (From Left : Fang Qiong Bin, Huang Qi Ming)

Four months later, Rock Records officially released "Don't Wanna Leave You" in Taiwan, complete with a new visual packaging.  The Taiwan version also includes one additional track.

The album was wholly produced and recorded in Malaysia.  The first single "Departure" is a thumping light-tempo track while the second single cum title track "Don't Wanna Leave You" is a nice ballad which is written by Wang Wei Sheng, the same guy who discovered Island as well as produced the entire album.  Fellow Malaysian Pin Guan also composed a friendly ballad "Write To Myself", with the lyrics written by singer Rene Liu Ruo Ying.  One of the members, Fang Qiong Bin also contributed three of his works here.

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