MICHELLE PAN

 KAREN MOK

WU YIN LIANG PIN

VARIOUS

LANDY

LIN ZHI XUAN

The Only Pan Yue Yun

It's Karen Mok

Take Care

BMG Happy Family

Sixth Sense

Single Love Song

This is a two-CD collection released by Michelle Pan's (or Pan Yue Yun) former record company, Rock Records (note : she has since went on to the now defunct UFO Group and then to the most recent Primal Beat Creations Corporation where she released her latest "It's Alright" album earlier this year).

Containing a total of thirty-one tracks, most of her greatest hits from her earlier singing career can be found here such as "Blue Sky" (or Tian Tian Tian Lan), "Song Without Words" (or Wu Yan De Ge), "In The Eyes" (or Yan Kuang Zhi Zhong), "Old Love New Love" (or Jiu Ai Xin Huan), "Thanks For Loving Me" (or Xie Xie Ni Ceng Jing Ai Guo Wo) and "Am I The One That You Are Most Fond Of" (or Wo Shi Bu Shi Ni Zui Teng Ai De Ren).

A comprehensive compilation that A Pan's fans should not miss.

Refer below for the complete song listing in Big5 Chinese.

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MUSIC STYLE : VARIED (BIG BAND JAZZ / TECHNO DANCE / ROCK / FOLK / BALLAD)

OVERRIDING THEME : LOVE

Karen's (or Mo Wen Wei) last album "You Can" released in April is a certified best-seller, thereby prompting Rock Records to churn out her fourth brand new album before the year draws to a close.  

This new release is produced by a few top-notch musicians from Taiwan and Hong Kong such as Jeff Chia (or Jia Min Shu), Lin Wei Zhe, Beyond member Paul Wong, singer Anthony Wong, Black Box member Zhang Jia Tian and Lin Jian Hua (note : some glaring producer-misses include Zhang Hong Liang and Jonathan Lee, but the latter is reportedly going to take charge of Karen's next album project which is targeted for release sometime in mid-2000).  This current offering also embodies a rich variety of music (refer Music Style description above) and is arranged in such a way that it starts off with a string of fast numbers with the pace slowing down in the second half of the album.

The first single Track 8 "Suddenly" is a folkish sentimental number which brings back memories of the Taiwan 921 earthquake.  Part of the lyrics goes like this "All of a sudden, there's darkness, there is suddenly nothing left in the world ........".  Karen reportedly did the recording in a very, very small studio so as to attempt to grasp the fear and tension of being trapped within the debris.  "Suddenly" is composed and produced by Lin Jian Hua (the same guy who wrote Alex To's 1999 hit "Lover").

Anthony Wong produced two tracks here, namely the light-tempo Track 6 "A Tale Of Two Cities" which has Karen doing a whistling tune at the opening and the sad love track 7 "I Want Love".  However they represent a minus in music originality to me since these two songs are actually covers of her recent Cantonese numbers "Cold Rain" and "Back" respectively and are found in her EP "Back".

Black Box member Zhang Jia Tian has written quite a few tracks for Karen before in her past releases (like "Let's Fall In Love" in her second album "I Say" and "Lonely Dandelion" in her last offering) but this is the first time that he's writing and producing for her at the same time.  His work Track 10 "Cold" is a nice mid-tempo number with a laid-back country-folk feel.

Like Zhang Jia Tian, Beyond Member Paul Wong (or Huang Guan Zhong) has written for Karen before (note : his song "Just Say Good-Bye" was included in "I Say") but is also producing for her for the first time here.  His produced Track 5 "Oh Heaven" is a retro-rock song which features drum-playing by Hong Kong singer cum Takeshi Kaneshiro look-alike Jun (or Gong Shuo Liang who released his first Cantonese EP "Here And Now" earlier this year).

As for long-time collaborator Will Lin Wei Zhe (gossip note : he's Faith Yang Nai Wen's beau and producer), he produced three tracks here.  They include the big band jazz flavoured Track 1 "If You Love Me, Raise Your Hand" - kudos to Karen for bringing out the fun and liveliness required of this song.  Will Lin also produced an elegant piano ballad Track 11 "Do Not Love Me".

Another musician that Karen has collaborated with before is Jeff Chia who produced three numbers here, including the Korean-cover disco-rap Track 2 "What Is The Day Of Today".

I've long held the view that Karen is one of the very few Asian female singers around who can afford to be versatile and still sound natural & appropriate in a whole wide range of music.  The current offering from her helps to reinforce this belief of mine.  (Side-Note : another versatile side of Karen lies in the record number of male artistes that she has sung alongside with in these few years, they include Zhang Hong Liang, Emil Chau, Wu Bai, Richie Ren and Huang Pin Yuan.)

All in all, an album which sustains my listening attention from the beginning to the end.

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So it's finally official : Victor & Michael, the duo known collectively as Wu Yin Liang Pin or Guang Liang Pin Guan, are going separate ways.  Both Victor (or Pin Guan, the guy with specs) and Michael (or Guang Liang) plan to develop their solo singing careers as well as continuing their behind-the-scene jobs of music writing and production.  Before they part, they've released this remembrance collection album aptly titled "Take Care".

The compilation details their hits from 1995 to 1999 and also contains two new recordings called "Friend" (written by Chen Xiao Xia and produced by Guang Liang) and another aptly titled "People Say We Will Separate" (composed and produced by Guang Liang).

Fourteen hits are enclosed here and they include, among others, their first jackpot song "Palm" (or Zhang Xin), "Many Hearts" (or Duo Xin), "Incoherent Thoughts" (or Hu Si Luan Xiang), the duet with Huang Jia Qian "Guess" (or Cai Che), "Have You Changed?" (or Shi Ni Bian Le Ma), "Hope To See You" (or Xiang Jian Ni), "Destined" (or Zhu Ding) and "Sad Train" (or Shang Xin Di Tie). (Refer Below For Complete Chinese Song Listing)

This is one collection album which their fans should buy since it puts a full-stop on a wonderful collaboration but at the same time marks a new beginning for the two guys.

(Side-Note : Adopting the same anti-piracy tactics as Emil Chau's latest album "Now", Rock Records is offering lots of goodies to fans who buy their super-deluxe album (only 10,000 in stock) : a bonus VCD which contains four music videos of their old hits plus footages of their recent photo/MTV taking sessions; a stationery set consisting of specially-engraved pencils and a note-book; a photo album containing their pics; a bag; a scarf; and finally a large millennium calendar poster which shows the duo posing at 25 different train stations around Taiwan.  For the more budget-conscious fans, they can opt to buy the normal deluxe album which contains the afore-mentioned bonus VCD.)

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A compilation album containing twenty-seven past hits from BMG artistes such as Andy Lau, Jacky Wu, Julia Peng, Jordan Chan, Lawrence Chau, Ekin Cheng, Wallace Zhong Han Liang, Anita Mui, SBDW, Vivian Hsu, Black Biscuits, Ke Shou Liang, newcomer Wancy, China model-singer Ju Ying, Qiu Hai Zheng and ex-BMG artiste You Hong Ming.

There's also one new group track called "123 Woody" sung by all present BMG singers.  Refer below for the complete Chinese song listing.

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A ten-track debut album from newcomer Landy Win.  First heard her when she appeared in Jacky Wu's (or Wu Zhong Xian) surprisingly tasteful album "You're Happier Than Before" in which she sang two duets with him, among which is the hit "Rooftop" and there's no doubt that this gal can sing.  

Produced by Jacky Wu, the album contains mostly ballads, intermixed with a few fast beats here and there.  The first single cum title track "Sixth Sense" is an easy-listening ballad with lyrics co-written by Jacky Wu.  However as a first single for a newcomer, "Sixth Sense" sounds a bit boring and personally I don't think it will make a strong impact on listeners.

Other recommended tracks by the record company include :

- the light-tempo dance track "You Will Get My Heart" composed by uprising song-writer Zhou Jie Lun (note: in fact, half of the album's tracks are composed by Zhou) and written by Landy herself;

- an Oriental-sounding ballad "Cat In The Alley" composed by Zhou Jie Lun and written by Fang Wen Shan.

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Another compilation album, this time it's by Lin Zhi Xuan (the ex-member of the duo group Ukulele or You Ke Li Lin).  

This is a two-CD collection.  The first CD contains two new tracks as well as nine of his old works.  The two new tracks sound kinda dated to me, they include the slow-rock feel title track "Single Love Song" which also sounds like a Power Station number (but I guess it's a new music direction for Lin Zhi Xuan) and "Sentence".  As for the collection, the more popular hits among them are "Let's Break Up" (or San Le Ba), "Mona Lisa's Tears" (or Meng Na Li Sha De Yan Lei), "Understanding" (or Dong Shi), "Give You Some, Don't Give Some" (or Gei Ni Yi Xie, Bu Gei Yi Xie), "Now I Think In This Way" (or Xian Zai Wo Zhe Mo Xiang) and the male-duet "Some Women Cannot Be Touched" (or You Xie Nu Ren Bu Neng Dong).  It even includes his very first Ukulele hit "Admit Wrong" (or Ren Cuo).

The second CD is more interesting, it contains seven previously unreleased live tracks recorded directly from his concerts in Taiwan.  They are all cover versions and include A Mei's "Open You Eyes", Na Ying's "Conquer" (or Zheng Fu), Faye Wong's "I Also Don't Want It This Way" (or Wo Ye Bu Xiang Zhe Yang), Zhang Zheng Yue's "How" (or Zen Mo Ban) and the English hit "More Than Words" by Extreme.

Finally the limited-edition collection album comes bundled with a third bonus CD which contains a new group-track called "An Appointment With The Future" sung by Sony singers such as Coco Lee, Lee Hom, Harlem Yu, Jeff Chang, Lan Xin Mei, Tolaku, Lin Zhi Xuan, You Hong Ming, musician Huang Zhong Yuan, Xu Qian Wen who has not released any new album for ages and finally a newcomer from Singapore by the name of Michelle.  The track is composed by Chen Yao Chuan and written by Yi Jia Yang.

Being Lin Zhi Xuan's very first compilation after so many years of solo singing, it's something that his fans will deem worth buying.  As for those uninitiated, this collection album is also a good way to get in touch with the music of a brilliant singer.

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