Not only is her album selling like hot cakes in Taiwan, she is also credited as the first artiste to knock current hot-fave Stephanie Sun Yan Zi's "My Desired Happiness" from the top of the album charts.

Nai Cha's (her nick - literally translated as tea with milk) current offering is produced by a host of popular musicans such as Paula Ma Yu Fen, Jonathan Lee, Huang Pin Guan (the bespectacled guy formerly from the duo Wu Yin Liang Pin), May Day (or Wu Ye Tian), Yuan Wei Ren and Chen Jian Ning.  Most of the tracks here consist of easy-listening pop ballads.

Reversing her previous trend of doing covers of the works by the Japanese female duo Kiroro, her latest  first single is an original composition of Chen Xiao Xia titled "Aside".  It is a mid-tempo ballad with a folk-country flavour.  The second single "Abandoned City" is a ballad written and produced by Yuan Wei Ren.  

Other note-worthy mentions :-

- The title track "Those Were The Days" (note : its Mandarin name "Nian Hua" is the same as the album title) is a catchy light-rock work of May Day's lead singer Ah Xin.  The whole band also provided the music accompaniment for the song.

- She did a cover of her mentor Chen Shen's past work "The Boy I Once Loved" (or Wo Ceng Ai Guo Yi Ge Nan Hai), originally sung by diva Tracy Huang in her 1993 album "Believe" (or Ning Yuan Xiang Xin).  The track is produced by Big Brother Jonathan Lee.

In what seems to be a new-found trend of Rock Records' releases, Rene's album CD also comes with a bonus Power CD which allows her fans to watch the MTV of her first single "Aside" as well as to access other exclusive multimedia privileges online via her offical website.

Those Were The Days  年華 --------  

BACK TO TOP

Starting with the singles CD first, it contains three vocal tracks.  If you have bought his debut Cantonese EP "Love You 24 Hours Everyday", you would already have heard two of the songs, the Cantonese number "Love You 24 Hours Everday" (a light-tempo number with a Western-retro flavour) and its Mandarin counterpart "Take Your Time".  The third song "Love My Song" is a newly-included Cantonese ballad.

On the other hand, the VCD contains eleven video clips, namely ten music videos (including the new MTV of "Take Your Time") and a short snippet of the making of "Take Your Time".  The rest of the nine music videos include some of his hits like "Revolution" (or Gong Zhuan Zi Zhuan), "Crying Palms" (or Liu Lei Shou Xin), "First Day Of Forever" (or Yong Yuan De Di Yi Tian), "Loving You Is Loving Me" (or Bu Ke Neng Cuo Guo Ni) and "Julia".  You may want to know that the MTVs are not karaoke-enabled.

To top it up, a fifteen-page photo-booklet of Lee Hom is enclosed with the whole package.

BACK TO TOP

Containing a total of ten vocal tracks, the album is produced by Xiu Xiu, her beau Pepsi Beast, Huang Yun Ling, Liu Tian Jian and Xu De Chang.  Most of the songs are mass-appealing mid-tempo pop tracks.

The first single "Love Is Left With One Second" is a ballad composed by Guo Wen Xian and written by Adam Hsu Chang De.  Personally I do not take a fancy to it as the starting melody sounds a bit dated and the lyrics are corny and overly-dramatic.  The second single "Can't Bear" fares better.  Also a ballad, it is easy-listening and is written by Zuo An An.  

Other recommended tracks by the record company include the R&B-work of Ching (or Liu Qin) titled "Deep Valley" and an Annie Lennox-style ballad "I'd Rather Love You" with lyrics written by Lin Xi.  A note-worthy mention is that she did a jazz re-make of producer Huang Yun Ling's hit "Christmas Without You" (or Mei You Ni De Shen Dan Jie). 

Besides Ching, Lin Xi and Zuo An An, other prominent song-writers who contribute their works include Tanya, Jonathan Lee, Guo Zi and Chen Wei Ling.

The album CD comes with a bonus VCD which contains a half-hour-long, behind-the-scenes look into the making of "Hua Kai" album.  It also features the historic moment of Xiu Xiu's haircut done by a highly-sought Japanese hairstylist.

I'd Rather Love You  寧願愛你 --------  

BACK TO TOP

Coming back to the EP, it contains a total of three tracks.  The first single is the title-track ballad "Everytime That I Think Of You" composed by Chen Jian Ning and written by Lin Li Nan.  

There is also the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" serial's ending theme-song "Tomorrow Is The Last Day" which is produced by Chris You Hong Ming.

The album EP comes bundled with a photo booklet of Peter, which includes snap-shots of his role in the TV serial.

BACK TO TOP