LEE HOM

MAVIS HEE

WILLIAM SO

DANIEL CHAN

 NA NA

A MEI

Impossible To Miss You

 Review 1996-1999

 Love Someone Is So Hard

Guy Is Like A Wind

Remedy

Can I Hold You

JIANG MEI QI

FANN WONG

ALEX TO

VARIOUS

 CO CO

YUKI

I Love Faye Wong

 Missing You

99 Lover

Super Live

Today Till Forever

Angel

KELLY CHAN

E JUN

CANDY

AARON KWOK

DICK & THE COWBOYS

WAN FANG

LOVE KELLY

You Love Her So Much

Socks

Ask For More

Legend

No Change

Lee Hom's widely-anticipated new release is produced by Chen Wei, Jim Lee and the guy himself.

Having clinched the Best Vocal Male Performance and Best Record Producer awards for his previous album "Revolution" in the prestigious 1999 Taiwanese Golden Melody Awards, one would expect Lee Hom to follow up on his success by producing the title track. However surprise, surprise - Track 2 "Impossible To Miss You" is in fact composed and produced by Chen Wei. It's a catchy and heavily Western influenced number, but there is no awe or surprise after listening to it - it's definitely not another "Revolution". 

For those who're still breathing an air of disbelief over Lee Hom's Best Male Singer award, they should tune in to Track 3 "Crying Hand / Heart". A nice ballad which begs for repeated listening, Lee Hom's heartfelt vocals and falsettos shine throughout the piece.

I don't know about you guys but I've always been irked by songs which bring reference to someone's name, they become too personal and I feel that listeners who have no real life connection to the names can never really immerse themselves into the songs. There are not one but two promising pop tunes here which are unfortunately spoilt by the use of names : Track 4 "Julia", a dance track whose arrangement is brought to life by an unforgettable violin accompaniment and the last Track 11 "Mary Says", a re-arranged English version of "Crying Hand/Heart".

It's always a tough act to follow up after a previous album has been so successful both commercially and musically, but me thinks Lee Hom's new release has held itself up nicely. True, this album "Impossible To Miss You" does not bring about the refreshing feeling that I got after listening to the predecessor "Revolution" but the former boasts more radio-friendly tunes that should keep his fans happy and satisfied. 

Now, I'm just waiting to see whether David Tao (or Tao Zhe) who incidentally won the same awards as Lee Hom in the previous 1998 Golden Hits Awards can top what Lee Hom has done so far. (Latest Update on 8 Dec 1999 : David Tao's new release "I'm OK" is scheduled to come out on 10 Dec 1999)

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However some glaring misses in the CD include "Lost And Confused" from her album "People Who Return Late At Night", "Might/Should" and "Turning Back", both of which are from her last album "Happiness is Guiltless". But the MTVs for "Lost And Confused" and "Might/Should" can be found in the bonus VCD which comes together with the album CD. The MTV for the new track "The Cigarette That You Smoke" is also included in the VCD.

As with most compilations albums, this one is not to be missed either.

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Even the light-tempo numbers, of which there aren't a lot, are largely forgettable. 

The first single Track 1 "I'm Sad For You" is the Mandarin version of William's Cantonese jackpot song "Sadder With Every Kiss" - no originality here either.

On the whole, there's nothing exciting about this album. Hopefully William can try to be a bit more adventurous in his music for his next Mandarin project. But I think the people who lapped up his "Too Nice" compilation hungrily will no doubt do the same for this current release which comes with a bonus VCD containing two live Cantonese tracks "Sadder With Every Kiss" and "Don't Want To Be Happy By Myself" and two karaoke tracks "Sadder With Every Kiss" and "Old Love Is Still The Best" . On a final note, I'm glad to say that the production team has at last stopped abusing the word "Nice" for the album title.

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It is widely acknowledged that Daniel belongs to that "rare" idol pop-star category which possesses both good looks and vocal techniques. In this album, he sounds at ease with both the ballads and the fast tracks.

A disappointment comes from the fast tracks : while there are not many here, the majority of them have a strong feel of Hong Kong Cantonese music style, they do not sound quite right when translated into Mandarin versions. Track 1 "Agent" and Track 4 "Best Boyfriend" are such examples - not surprisingly both are composed by a HongKonger. An exception is Track 7 "Frivolous" which is nice and catchy, plus it's made in Taiwan.

Overall, this release contains mostly radio-friendly but competent pop material. On a last note : there's even a Hong Kong package for this Mandarin release - not only is the photo cover different (refer below for the Hong Kong cover), it also includes two extra Cantonese songs. Seems like a good idea to buy the Hong Kong version rather than the Taiwanese one.

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Sad to say, it's still the usual Na Na-style ballad love songs that stand out in this album and there are not a lot here as only the first three tracks fall into this category. They are Track 1 "Sad Border", the title Track 2 "Remedy" and Track 3 "You, I". In particular, the chorus of Track 1 "Sad Border" sounds a bit like Denise Ruan's (or Ruan Dan Qing) second album title track "Faithful Words", this is not too surprising when one considers that both are composed by the same person, namely Xue Zhong Ming.

Another good song is Track 8 "Pet" which is a light-rock number. It is refreshing to hear Na Na tackle such material. 

To be fair, Na Na sings really well throughout, however the existence of numerous weak material in the album makes it a not-too-enjoyable listening experience. I've definitely heard better works from Na Na before and hopefully I can get more of that in the future.

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On the other hand, unlike her previous album "Holding Hands", this new album does not have much memorable fast tracks. Besides the Sprite song "Give Me Feeling", the only other songs worth listening to are Track 2 "When I'm Beginning To Think Of You Secretly" written by the late Zhang Yu Sheng and Track 3 "What's The Big Deal About Love" co-written by David Tao (or Tao Zhe). The latter track comes as a surprise becos instead of being a R&B number that we've come to expect from David Tao, it's actually a rock number - A Mei's wild and let-it-all-loose vocals do justice to the song. One disappointment comes from the uprising composer Ah Guai (who's behind hits like "Holding Hands" and "Open Your Eyes" by A Mei and the recent "Like" by Leo Ku) : the dance track that he wrote for A Mei in this album "Three Days Three Nights" (Track 8) sounds like a dated and frivolous disco song, which basically revolves around getting people to get high for three days and three nites, duh.

One other highlight : A Mei sings her first Japanese song competently in this album. Track 4 "Thinking Of Seeing You" is actually a Japanese version of Track 11 "Don't Care About Him" - does this imply that A Mei is getting ready to enter the Japanese market?

All in all, unlike her previous album "Holding Hands", this latest release provides more satisfaction than disappointment. Furthermore, the sensational vocals of A Mei makes it a good enough reason to buy this album already.

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Why the album title? Well, Faye Wong is an idol of Jiang Mei Qi, so she unabashedly used Faye's name in the title. But don't expect to hear the airy, ethereal trademark of Faye in Xiaomei's voice. The most striking similarity that comes to me (besides the fact that both their albums are distributed by EMI) is that both lasses have the word ATTITUDE dripped all over them. I'm not promoting violence here but Xiaomei even punched a guy's nose until it bleeds in her MTV video "Be Nicer To Me".
Look at what Xiaomei has to say in her album sleeves. "My songs' music style .... ? I really don't know what to say. As long as you like the songs, why bother to come up with so many names to label the songs?" And just listen to her voice. It packs an unpolished raw punch that just draws me inextricably. The voice is confident and firm. Not what you would normally expect from a teeny-bopper.
Kudos also to the album's producers for providing her with strong materials - Jim Lee (who produced Lee Hom's "Revolution" album), Chen Wei and Chen Hui Yang. A very promising debut indeed.

(Reviewed by Chris)

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To be fair to Fann, she has improved in her diction and singing since her last outing. That is commendable. A word about her album cover and design. Fann looks really cool with her bright smile and "well-ventilated" dress. But a big NO NO to the blue background. One word to describe the latter - "ORBID" (or morbid, if you don't understand what that means.) The pull-out pages in the album are irritating. Why can't they just put everything in a nice little booklet and save us all the trouble of unfolding the annoying stuff?

(Reviewed by Chris)

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The title track "Lover" is also a good pop ballad which should go down well with his fans. Alex sounds equally at ease in both the slow and fast tracks : for the ballads, one can't help but be drawn to his soothing and R&B-style vocals while the dance tracks ooze the right amount of life and energy.

On the whole, an album that contains mostly radio-friendly but competent pop songs and one that doesn't disappoint after such a long wait.

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Coming back to my first thought, so what are the interesting songs in this album? There's Frans doing a Celine Dion's "To Love You More", Daniel doing a Hokkien number "Who Can Compare With Me", Tanya covering two songs by Na Ying and Faye Wong, "Day Doesn't Understand Night's Darkness" and "Red Bean" respectively, Ronald Cheng's rock version of Sylvia Chang's "Childhood Years", an English duet of "Killing Me Softly With His Song" by Ronald and Tanya and finally a finale song by all the four singers "Create Romance" (an original duet between Ronald and Kelly Chan). Among these, I particularly like two of them. One is Daniel's Hokkien song "Who Can Compare With Me"; even my mom who listens to Hokkien songs likes his version. The second track that I am drawn to is Tanya's heartfelt rendition of "Red Bean" which is accompanied only by her own guitar-strumming. 

The album comes with a bonus VCD which contains four individual performances by the respective singers plus the finale song "Create Romance". It's really so much better when you can actually watch their live performances (which is basically my second thought). Too bad there's only five tracks here.

Hopefully, the full concert version in VCD format will be released in the near future. It will make a better investment.

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And we mustn't leave out the song that everyone will be interested in : "Perfect" composed by Jonathan Lee. Thankfully it doesn't disappoint. I really like how the song starts off with a short Co Co's Mandarin dialogue inter-mixed with some English sentences before it moves on to the main vocals. Kudos to Mac Chew who's the music arranger. He has done a great job in infusing an irresistible feel of Irish-Folk style into the song.

Of course the album is not without hitches : an attempt by Co Co to do a Thirties' Swing Dance style song "True Words - Big Risk" (Track 11 produced by Chris Babida) turns out to be a dud. It sounds so dated and completely out of place among the rest of the modern tunes in the album. In addition the album is too heavily-Western influenced that I actually miss some of the earlier Taiwanese-sounding hits of Co Co before she joined Sony Music such as "I'm Still Your Lover" and "The Woman Being Loved". But then I guess there's no turning back for Co Co since she's heading for the Western international path.

Overall, a well-produced album and a must-buy for Co Co fans, considering that this will be the only Mandarin offering by Co Co for the whole of 1999.

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The first single "Call Me" is a catchy dance track that should keep Yuki's fans happy.

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This is Kelly's first Mandarin compilation album : there's fourteen collection songs plus two new songs. 

Let's talk about the new songs first. The first track "Can't Help" is a R&B dance track, something that Kelly has not tried before. It's actually taken from sixteen-year-old Japanese pop sensation Utada Hikaru's hit single "Automatic" and Kelly has churned out a respectable Mandarin version of it. The second new song is Track 9 "Say You Love Me", a radio-friendly and nice ballad which Kelly is good at.

Coming to the collection songs, most of Kelly's hits are here like "Three Seconds", "Experience", "South Pole Snow" (duet with Stephen Fung), "Create Romance" (duet with Ronald Cheng), "You're Not The Same", "I Don't Think So" and of course, the English hit single that everyone's talking about at one point "Lover's Concerto".

The special-edition album package also comes with a bonus VCD containing four of Kelly's past MTV hits like "Experience" and "Three Seconds". I was hoping that the VCD will contain the latest MTV of Kelly, namely "Can't Help" but tough luck, it doesn't.

Anyway, being Kelly's first collection album, it's definitely worth buying.

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E-Jun (or Li Yu Jun) is one of those rare "species" in the current Taiwan music scene : she's as popular as ever today even though she belts out songs that sound dated and "Taiwanese" (or "Cheena" in Singapore terminology) while her peers like Gao Shen Mei, Fang Ji Wei, Pan Mei Chen and Meng Ting Wei have kinda "faded" away. If you don't believe how hot this gal is, check this out : in 1998 alone, she has chalked up an impressive 1.2 million sales figures from her albums released last year.

Therefore there is no surprise in terms of musical style from E-Jun's latest Mandarin offering, most of the songs here still sound dated and "Taiwanese". However I think what draws people to E-Jun's songs are her vocals : I have to admit not a lotta singers can be so soulful and touching as she does. Just listen to the title track "You Love Her So Much" and you will understand. In this song, E-Jun sings through the eyes of a girl who loses her boyfriend to another girl and one can really feel her heartfelt rendition. A sure-fire hit..

Other good tracks include Track 2 "Turning Back" which is a duet with Dick & The Cowboys and Track 6 "Surrender" written by Pan Xie Qing . Alas such nice songs are too few to come by in this album cos the remaining numbers tend to lack that "oomph" factor and are in fact forgettable. An attempt to re-do Sam Hui's Cantonese hit "The Dreams of Geniuses and Idiots" turn out to be a dumb idea : some classics, especially those in a different original language, are meant to be left untouched.

At the end of the day, it is E-Jun's strong vocal performance here that provides a good reason to buy this album.

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