As many as eight producers were roped in to make this album and they are mostly top-notch musicians : Jonathan Lee, Johnny Chen (or Xiao Chong), Jeff Chia (or Jia Ming Shu), Li Zhen Fan, singer Chen Shen, Liu Si Hong, Liu Zhi Ming and Lin Hui Bing (note : the latter may be a bit unfamiliar to some listeners but he has also recently produced Tarcy Su's latest title track song "Lazy People's Diary").

The light-tempo first single "Flowers Blossom In Spring" is written by Richie himself and is reportedly inspired by an unforgettable flower scenery he saw in China where he was filming the Taiwan TV sword-fighting serial "The Condor Heroes" (co-starring Taiwan actress Wu Qian Lian).

The second single is a slow track "Your Teary Face" composed by Chen Xiao Xia.

Other highlights : after lending her vocal dialogue in one of the tracks in Huang Pin Yuan's latest release "Heartless", Karen Mok has again provided the same type of vocal assistance (plus backing vocals) to one of Richie's new slow-rock song "Live" (note : it's not the first time they have collaborated together, both singers have sung in a duet "Very Much In Love" (or Hen Ai Hen Ai) which is contained in Richie's previous mega-seller release "Sad Pacific Ocean").

Besides Karen, another heavy-weight female singer is featured here too.  She is Taiwan's Queen Of Hokkien Pop, Jiang Hui.  She teamed up with Richie in a Taiwan-flavour,  rock-style Hokkien duet song "I'm Going To Sing Tonight".  The light-tempo track is produced by Johnny Chen and is written by an uprising Hokkien male singer Ah Di Zai.  Jonathan Lee also produced a second Hokkien song "Coloured Xi Men Ding".

Singer cum musician Chen Shen produced two tracks here.  One of them is his own work, the folkish and very Chen Shen-style "Xiao Xue" which was recently released as a single in Hong Kong.

The ten-track album CD comes bundled with a bonus CD which contains four theme-songs, three of which belong to the sword-fighting TV serial "Xiao Ao Jiang Hu" which stars Richie and Anita Yuan Yong Yi.  The main theme-song is "Won't Die" which is written and produced by the duo Liu Si Hong and Liu Zhi Ming.  One of the supporting theme-songs is the cover of Hong Kong veteran lyricist Huang Zhan's hit "Cang Hai Yi Sheng Xiao" which was originally the main theme-song for the movie version of "Xiao Ao Jiang Hu" starring Jet Li.

(Side-Note : Like Alex To, Richie has flown specially to New York to shoot his album cover.)

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MUSIC STYLE : ROCK POP

OVERRIDING THEME : LOVE

In Singapore, this new offering was out in record stores on 14 January 2000 just in time for his appearance as guest-star in Power Station's "Power 2000 Live Concert" on the following day 15 Jan 2000 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The album is produced by Lin Ming Yang, Peter Wong, Li Shi Xian and Zhou Shi Hui.  The music style lies in the same genre as that of Power Station, namely, a fusion of rock & pop.

The first single is the karaoke-friendly, slow-rock ballad title Track 1 "I, The One You Don't Love" composed by Lin Wei Wen and written by Shi Fang.  The second single is a light-tempo Hokkien-rock style Track 2 "Ma La Guy" which is a bit over-dated sounding for my personal liking, same goes for the slow-rock third single Track 3 "Number One Sadness Guy".  

One particular number that I like is the jazz-flavoured Track 10 "Don't Care Who He Likes" which is co-written by Lao Die.  It is refreshing to hear him tackle such a piece of work which is mainly instrumental (guitar-playing) during the first two & a half minutes of the song.

The album also contains the main theme-song "Unknown Person" (Track 5) 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.  

Almost all the tracks here are very market-oriented and while they make easy listening, many of them do not leave behind a long-lasting and lingering taste effect.  Compared to his previous impressive outing "Forget Me Or Forget Him", this sequel album lacks punch and comes with a tinge of disappointment.

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The first single is the fast-tempo techno track "Love Is More Important Than Friends" which was released as a single CD just last month in Dec'99 (note : this single CD is sold at the album price and fans who bought it can use the receipt to redeem the album CD).  The second single is another light-tempo and karaoke-friendly track "She's The Best". 

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MUSIC STYLE : BALLADS/FOLK/LIGHT ROCK

OVERRIDING THEME : LOVE

I'm bowed over by many of the tracks here.  The first single Track 2 "Willing" (composed by Chen Guo Hua and written by Yao Ruo Long) is a haunting acoustic ballad that begs for repeated listening.  Another of Chen Guo Hua's composition Track 3 "May Not" is an easy-listening ballad that proves to be poignant by Wu Yu Kang's touching lyrics. 

The cover of Sandy Lam's hit "Heard Love Has Come Back" (Track 7) is a quieter and folkish version but nevertheless stands out on its own, thanks to Julia's brilliant vocals and producer Li Si Song's music visionary of his own work.

Besides her vocals, Julia also amazes me this time with her song-writing skills.  Track 6 "Flirtatious Female Student" is a catchy and lively country-folk number that is composed and written by herself.  

This is the first time that Chen Shen is producing for her.  The light-rock Track 1 "Love Is Mad" is a very Chen Shen-style song that sizzles from the chemistry of their music collaboration.  The same results apply to Track 8 "From London To Madrid", however the latter is marred by the constant repeating of its short chorus portion (which only consists of four sentences) towards the end of the song.

Julia's very first English studio-recorded song "Wondering" (Track 10) sounds like a Barbra Streisand number.  Although her English pronunciation may not be as perfect as those of Chyi and Shunza, however she scores with her heartfelt performance.

From this album, one can see the wide-ranging scope of Julia as a vocalist.  She can be wild (as in "Love Is Mad"), quiet (as in "Willing" and "Heard Love Has Come Back") and mischievous (as in "Flirtatious Female Student") all at the same time.  A true chameleon act.

As Chen Shen writes humorously in the album's inner sleeves (roughly translated as) : ".... I always tell people jokingly 'the relationship between a singer and a producer resembles that of a customer and prostitute (in that order)' .... 'the prostitute (producer) must not let himself fall in love with the customer (singer)' .... however once Julia completed her music work with me, while I am still in one piece, but I think my soul has been taken away by her".  

Well, I think I'm in the same predicament as Chen Shen.

The album is produced by her beau Chen Guo Hua, singer Chen Shen, local musician Li Si Song and Chen Fu Rong.

The first single is a ballad "Willing" (composed by Chen Guo Hua and written by Yao Ruo Long)  whose lyrics are inter-mixed with bits of Hokkien here and there.  Thankfully, it has been given the go-ahead for air-play in Singapore radio stations which are usually restricted by S'pore authorities to play Chinese songs that contained dialects in them (anyone remember the axing of the version of Daniel Chan's hit "Guy Is Like A Wind" which has a brief Cantonese dialogue in it?).

In this album, Julia's fans will get to hear her very first studio-recorded English song "Wondering" which is an original composition.  

Seems like she has a passion for Sandy Lam's songs : after doing a live cover of the latter's hit "Wounded Scars" (or Shang Heng) in her concert release "Julia Live Performance", she has chosen to do a cover of another Sandy's hit "Heard Love Has Come Back" (or Ting Shuo Ai Qing Hui Lai Guo) here.  What's more it's produced by its own song writer Li Si Song - should be interesting to hear how Li Si Song interpret his own composition (as opposed to the Jonathan Lee-produced version by Sandy). 

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