Two new songs are enclosed in this two-CD compilation, namely "I Want To Fly" and "Love Will Never Disappear".  In particular, "Love Will Never Disappear" is composed by Lee Hom (or Wang Li Hong) and is an inspirational ballad to encourage people whose lives have been affected by the Taiwan 921 earthquake. 

As for the old recordings, there are eighteen of them.  They include some of her most memorable hits such as "Sisters" (Jie Mei), "Release" (or Jie Tuo), "Listening To The Ocean" (or Ting Hai), "Thinking Of You" (or Yi Xiang Dao Ni Ya), "Holding Hands" (or Qian Shou), "I Don't Mind" (or Wo Wu Suo Wei), "Can I Hold You" (or Wo Ke Yi Bao Ni Ma), "Don't Pour Salt On The Wound" (or Bie Zai Shang Kou Sa Yan) and the duet with the late Zhang Yu Sheng "The Most Loved One Hurts Me The Most" (or Zui Ai De Ren Shang Wo Zui Shen).

However there are some unforgivable misses in this collection.  Hits such as "So You Don't Want Anything At All" (or Yuan Lai Ni Shen Mo Dou Bu Yao), "Cut Love" (or Jian Ai), "Can't Cry Out" (or Ku Bu Chu Lai) and "Blue Sky" (or Lan Tian) are nowhere to be found here.  On the other hand, some lesser-known tracks are included like "Sweet Talk" (or Tian Yan Mi Yu), "Blue Watery Tears" (or Shui Lan Se Yan Lei) and "Can't Take Back Love" (or Ai Dao Bu Neng Shou).  What a pity cos being A Mei's first compilation release, it should be merited at least a four-star rating.

Refer below for the complete song listing in Big5 Chinese.

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Whatever it is, EMI has finally give this concert album the green light after close to one year.  This is a two-CD live recording containing a total of twenty nine tracks.  Don't expect to find any songs from her latest offering "Lovers & Strangers" since it was released long after the concert has ended.

Refer below for the complete song listing in Big5 Chinese.

(Side-Note : You can get more news on Faye Wong on one of the Fayenatics' websites by clicking here.)

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MUSIC STYLE : R&B

OVERRIDING THEME : LOVE

This new offering is produced by the same batch of people responsible for "99 Lover", namely Jeff Chia (or Jia Min Shu), Chen Zi Hong and Wang Pei Ren (note : the latter is a Korean musician who's also the head of the Rock Records branch in Korea).  It's no surprise to learn that the music style here is still mainly R&B as it is this music genre that has made Alex such a hot commodity, there's no more of those techno-disco songs that he used to sing a few years back.

The first two singles are truly bona-fide hits.  The first single is a catchy R&B Track 1 "Passion Returns" while the second single is the R&B ballad title track 2 "Be With Me Forever" written by Pan Xie Qing.  It is note-worthy to mention that "Be With Me Forever" has also been selected as the Taiwan supporting theme-song for the Singapore-made TV period serial "Hero Of The Times" (or Xin Fang Shi Yu) starring Chiu Mun Chiok (or Zhao Wen Zhuo) and Liu Xuehua.  

Alex also collaborated for the first time with singer Zhang Zheng Yue by singing his R&B composition Track 3 "Requirement", however while the song starts off promisingly, it sounds quite plain when it reaches the chorus part.  A personal fave is Track 7 "Change" which is a Korean-composed R&B ballad executed to perfection by Alex.  

On the whole, his latest offering should have no problem attracting the same batch of listeners who whipped up his "99 Lover".  This is yet another satisfying mainstream R&B pop album which sounds good to play any time of the day.

(Side-Note : The limited-edition CD package comes bundled with some goodies : a set of bookmarks which feature Alex's shots in New York and a bonus VCD which contains three MTVs of his old songs which are found in his last album "99 Lover", they are "Lover" (or Qing Ren), "To Hide You" (or Ba Ni Cang Qi Lai) and "To Spoil You" (or Ba Ni Chong Huai).)

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The producers include Jim Lee, Zhou Shi Hui, Jonathan Koh (or Xu Hua Qiang from S'pore) and Anthony Wong (or Huang Yao Ming from Hong Kong).  Quite a few songs here lean towards the folk-pop genre.

The first single is the light-tempo folkish-feel title track "Love At Second Sight" composed by, er, Li Xiao Long who's from China and written by Yao Qian.  The second single is the ballad "How I Envy You" composed by Zhang Hong Liang and written by Yao Qian.  There are two versions of "How I Envy You" : the unplugged version (i.e. with guitar only) and the full mix (i.e. full music arrangement) version.  The third single is a folk-rock song "Vitamin" which is written by the lead singer of the group Luan Tan, Chen Tai Yang.

Other song-writers who contribute to this eleven-track album include Sky Wu, Lin Xi, Zhang Zheng Yue and Huang Guo Lun.

The album is actually CD Plus format which means it doubles up as a VCD which features Xiao Mei singing two live cover versions : "Write A Song" (or Xie Yi Shou Ge) originally sung by Shunza and "I'm Willing" (or Wo Yuan Yi) by her idol Faye Wong.

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MUSIC STYLE : MOSTLY LIGHT-TEMPO POP

OVERRIDING THEME : LOVE

This made-in-Singapore album is produced by Wu Jia Ming and a group of newbies whom I've personally not heard of before.  These same group of music people are also the song-writers for most of the tracks here.  Besides Wu Jia Ming, the only other familiar composer who contributes his work here is Calvin Ho.

Essentially there are only eight new songs in this ten-track album as the remaining two numbers are remixes.  

The first single is the light-tempo Track 1 "Break Up Adjustment" which I feel does not sound like a strong contender for a first single.  On the other hand, the second single ballad Track 2 "Resolved" starts off promisingly enough but too bad the weak chorus part fails to live up to expectations.  There's also a disco remix of "Resolved" found in Track 9.  

Personally I'm quite disappointed with the way the album music turns out.  While most of them are light-tempo and made easy-listening, but they sound like B-grade tunes (coupled with the somewhat out-dated music arrangement in many of the songs) which fail to leave a deep impression.  

On the brighter side, Kym more than lives up to my expectations as a singer.  This throaty beauty with her slightly hoarse vocals scores with her natural & confident repertoire and her strong rhythmic sense in the fast numbers.

The album CD comes with a bonus VCD which contains the music videos for the first two singles, "Break Up Adjustment" and "Resolved".  Kym specially flew to Taiwan to film the MTVs and the director is Taiwanese Chen Yi Jun whose past credits include the music video of Sandy Lam's "Wounded Scars" (or Shang Heng).

Finally another letdown comes from the unstylish design of the album cover and sleeves.  The pics look to me like they were crudely taken - what a waste since they have such a photogenic subject in their hands.  Come to think of it, even the cover pic of the collection release  "Fallen For You" looks better in comparison.

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