The Era
Jay Chou
Album No. 10 is a major milestone by any measure but the stakes are even higher when you are the reigning king of Mandopop.
When each of Jay Chou’s releases is feted as the saviour of the ever-shrinking music market, it is little wonder that he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders.
On the wryly titled first single, Superman Can’t Fly, he looks back on his decade in the business and vents his frustrations: “I don’t know when I turned into an example for society/Have to be magnanimous and not raise my middle finger when I’m snapped by the paparazzi.”
Regrets, too, he has had a few: “Can CNN wait till my English is better before doing an interview/Can the cover for Time magazine be retaken?”
Speaking of covers, you can tell how much things have changed with him by looking at how his album sleeves have evolved over the years.
On his 2000 self-titled debut, the cover is of a fresh-faced 21-year-old wearing a pair of headphones and totally grooving to the music. Ten releases later and it is a much manipulated and fussed-over concept picture with Chou as a vampire.
He will have you know that it is still all about the music, though. On opener The Era, which offers a by now familiar blend of rap, graceful piano phrases and pulsating beats, he serves up the lines: “Don’t need to be worshipped/This beast-like tragedy/Only surviving for this eternal melody.”
While it seems he is behind the curve with this vampire makeover, he has a point to make about wanting his work to straddle the ages and to never grow old.
And don’t forget that fantasy and role-playing have always been a big part of his music. It is no coincidence that his breakthrough second album was named Fantasy (2001) and the title of his creative rejuvenation after the ho-hum November’s Chopin (2005) was Still Fantasy (2006).
He has morphed from ninja to man-machine hybrid to cowboy and that playfulness and restlessness have given us hits such as Nunchucks, The Orcs and Cowboy On The Run.
The problem for a while was the predictability of his records. Ode to gongfu track a la Nunchucks? See Dragon Fist and Double Sabre. China-style ballad a la East Wind Breaks? See Hair Like Snow, Chrysanthemum Terrace and Blue And White Porcelain.
To be fair, it didn’t matter when the offerings were as stellar as Chrysanthemum Terrace. The gripings were over the lesser efforts.
So how does The Era compare to his previous body of work? From a couple of spins and given his high standards, this feels like an above-average Chou record but one which does not hit new highs.
For starters, it is less frenetic and frantic than the jokey Capricorn (2008). One of the highlights here is Long Time No See, which slips between Mandarin and the Minnan dialect in a smoothly effortless mid-tempo number.
Chou wrote both the tune and lyrics here though, as much as The Era marks his 10 years in the business, it also marks the decade-long partnership between him and his lyricist, Vincent Fang.
The two work their magic once more on Fireworks Cool Easily, an elegantly elegiac track which could have done with a more evocative vocal performance. Diary: Fly For Love is a less successful work, reminding one too strongly of Sunshine Otaku.
Regardless of how one feels about the songs on record, it’s a whole other ball game when Chou is up on stage and performing them. Little wonder then that his three dates at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in July sold out in a matter of hours.
A more recent collaborator is Huang Jun-lang who penned the lyrics for Cowboy On The Run. Here, he contributes the cheeky lyrics to Free Tutorial Video, musically a sequel of sorts to Cowboy’s old-school rock ’n’ roll crossed with hillbilly blues. There’s even a wink and a nod to the perils of being a pop idol: “Rock ’n’ roll is not to get girls but to realise my dreams/Of course, since I’m irresistible, I can’t help it if others fall for me.”
He also dishes out the advice: “If you want to be a rocker/Then you first need a guitar.” Take away the magazine covers, the blah movies and the celebrity status, and this joy of making music has always been what it’s about.
Ten years on, it is clear that Chou is beginning to think about his musical legacy and it is heartening to see that he still has ambitions. Hopefully that will sustain him, and, in turn us, for a long time to come.
(ST)
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Echoes of the Rainbow
Alex Law
The story: Life is full of adventures for eight-year- old Big Ears (Buzz Chung) growing up in Hong Kong in 1969. He is left pretty much to his own devices as his cobbler father Mr Law (Simon Yam) is busy making a living and his mother Mrs Law (Sandra Ng) has chores aplenty to attend to. He worships his athletic high-schooler elder brother Desmond (Aarif Lee) and the family gets by, even if they are not well-off. Then tragedy strikes.
This is the semi-autobiographical story of writer-director Alex Law, better known as a scribe for dramas such as An Autumn’s Tale (1987) and City Of Glass (1998). He won a Golden Horse award for Best Original Screenplay for the latter.
While it is a cosy portrait of a family, it is also an affectionate look at Hong Kong at the tail end of the 1960s. The period details extend to the music with Western pop hits such as The Monkees’ I Wanna Be Free playing a key part in the soundtrack.
It was a time when neighbours lived cheek by jowl and dinner was a communal affair. Conversation was a polyglot of accents, from Shanghainese to Cantonese, reflecting the hometown roots of the recent immigrants. Unfortunately, audiences here get the Mandarin version of the movie, and given the context and the setting, some of the flavour is inevitably lost.
While the film intersperses some documentary footage from the era, it does not give a sense of society at large beyond a glimpse or two. Law works in a scene with a Caucasian cop asking for what amounted to protection money but goes no further with it.
Perhaps he was more tied up with scouting for locations as he has said in interviews that it was difficult finding suitable places because much of the city from the 1960s is gone. The nostalgia factor means that Rainbow will echo more strongly with Hong Kong audiences.
That could also account for the clutch of trophies that the film won at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Veteran actor Yam was lauded as Best Actor though really, he has been better in more challenging roles. He is believable as the stoic pessimist whose mantra is working hard. But the character is a little thinly drawn even though Law’s father was a cobbler. Still, Yam is dependable as always and has an easy rapport with Ng, who is his more optimistic other half.
Lee, looking uncannily like singer- actor Wang Lee Hom from certain angles, walked away with the Best New Performer award. Maybe it was because he had to shoulder the movie as it went from feel-good nostalgic jaunt into 1960s Cantonese tear-jerker melodrama mode and did a fair job of it. But it might be the Best Original Song award – Lee sang the theme song Echoes Of The Rainbow – that proves to be the more accurate harbinger of his future, as a pop idol.
It was Chung who commanded much of the attention given that the story was told from his point of view and he managed to be engaging and cute without being irritating.
Law, too, was a winner. He picked up the trophy for best script and the film won the Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in February this year. He certainly found his pot of riches at the end of Rainbow.
(ST)
Alex Law
The story: Life is full of adventures for eight-year- old Big Ears (Buzz Chung) growing up in Hong Kong in 1969. He is left pretty much to his own devices as his cobbler father Mr Law (Simon Yam) is busy making a living and his mother Mrs Law (Sandra Ng) has chores aplenty to attend to. He worships his athletic high-schooler elder brother Desmond (Aarif Lee) and the family gets by, even if they are not well-off. Then tragedy strikes.
This is the semi-autobiographical story of writer-director Alex Law, better known as a scribe for dramas such as An Autumn’s Tale (1987) and City Of Glass (1998). He won a Golden Horse award for Best Original Screenplay for the latter.
While it is a cosy portrait of a family, it is also an affectionate look at Hong Kong at the tail end of the 1960s. The period details extend to the music with Western pop hits such as The Monkees’ I Wanna Be Free playing a key part in the soundtrack.
It was a time when neighbours lived cheek by jowl and dinner was a communal affair. Conversation was a polyglot of accents, from Shanghainese to Cantonese, reflecting the hometown roots of the recent immigrants. Unfortunately, audiences here get the Mandarin version of the movie, and given the context and the setting, some of the flavour is inevitably lost.
While the film intersperses some documentary footage from the era, it does not give a sense of society at large beyond a glimpse or two. Law works in a scene with a Caucasian cop asking for what amounted to protection money but goes no further with it.
Perhaps he was more tied up with scouting for locations as he has said in interviews that it was difficult finding suitable places because much of the city from the 1960s is gone. The nostalgia factor means that Rainbow will echo more strongly with Hong Kong audiences.
That could also account for the clutch of trophies that the film won at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Veteran actor Yam was lauded as Best Actor though really, he has been better in more challenging roles. He is believable as the stoic pessimist whose mantra is working hard. But the character is a little thinly drawn even though Law’s father was a cobbler. Still, Yam is dependable as always and has an easy rapport with Ng, who is his more optimistic other half.
Lee, looking uncannily like singer- actor Wang Lee Hom from certain angles, walked away with the Best New Performer award. Maybe it was because he had to shoulder the movie as it went from feel-good nostalgic jaunt into 1960s Cantonese tear-jerker melodrama mode and did a fair job of it. But it might be the Best Original Song award – Lee sang the theme song Echoes Of The Rainbow – that proves to be the more accurate harbinger of his future, as a pop idol.
It was Chung who commanded much of the attention given that the story was told from his point of view and he managed to be engaging and cute without being irritating.
Law, too, was a winner. He picked up the trophy for best script and the film won the Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in February this year. He certainly found his pot of riches at the end of Rainbow.
(ST)
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Once A Gangster
Felix Chong
There is no question that the overwrought Hong Kong gangster flick is ripe for a send-up.
But Felix Chong, who last helmed the slickly executed Overheard (2009) and was also the scribe for the Infernal Affairs trilogy, is not the right man for the job. He cannot quite decide if he wants to gently skewer Infernal Affairs or have an over-the-top parody. So what the audience gets is a jumbled mess.
Still, there are some moments to be savoured.Ekin Cheng (as Sparrow) and Jordan Chan (as Roast Pork) are two gang members set up to be rivals but the irony is that neither of them wants the post of top honcho. Sparrow wants to enrol in university and study economics after his release from jail while Roast Pork just wants to run his chain of restaurants.
The in-joke is that the two actors had starred in the Young And Dangerous series of hit gangster flicks and the title is actually name-checked here.
Despite the sly casting of the leads, it is the supporting performances that make a bigger impression. Wilfred Lau is a hoot as Yan, the world’s most incompetent undercover cop, who survives only because his triad boss is even more clueless.
And Candice Yu On On, one-time Mrs Chow Yun Fat, chomps the scenery whenever she appears as the drug-addled harridan who is Sparrow’s power-hungry mother.
(ST)
Felix Chong
There is no question that the overwrought Hong Kong gangster flick is ripe for a send-up.
But Felix Chong, who last helmed the slickly executed Overheard (2009) and was also the scribe for the Infernal Affairs trilogy, is not the right man for the job. He cannot quite decide if he wants to gently skewer Infernal Affairs or have an over-the-top parody. So what the audience gets is a jumbled mess.
Still, there are some moments to be savoured.Ekin Cheng (as Sparrow) and Jordan Chan (as Roast Pork) are two gang members set up to be rivals but the irony is that neither of them wants the post of top honcho. Sparrow wants to enrol in university and study economics after his release from jail while Roast Pork just wants to run his chain of restaurants.
The in-joke is that the two actors had starred in the Young And Dangerous series of hit gangster flicks and the title is actually name-checked here.
Despite the sly casting of the leads, it is the supporting performances that make a bigger impression. Wilfred Lau is a hoot as Yan, the world’s most incompetent undercover cop, who survives only because his triad boss is even more clueless.
And Candice Yu On On, one-time Mrs Chow Yun Fat, chomps the scenery whenever she appears as the drug-addled harridan who is Sparrow’s power-hungry mother.
(ST)
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Journey
Shota Shimizu
In the pop culture sweepstakes, Korea has edged ahead of Japan in the past few years with its slick music groups and idol TV dramas.
But as all things Korean seem ever more manufactured and overwrought, it is Japanese singer-songwriter Shota Shimizu who blows in like a breath of fresh air with his second album Journey.
You can practically feel the wind on your back in the breezy titular track as the 21-year-old likens life’s journey to hitting the road.
As metaphors go, this is as old as they come, but he makes it sound earnest and affecting when he croons: “Journey, even though I’m tired/It’s okay if I can sing along with someone by my side.”
The folksy vibe to his R&B is a most welcome touch here though some of the other songs, such as Cream, tend to be cast in a more conventional mould.
The album hit No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon weekly chart and also includes Forever Love, a hit duet with urban artist Kato Miliyah.
It would be a pity if the record fails to find a wider audience simply because it happens to be in Japanese and not Korean.
Shock Of The New Era
B2ST
Leap For Detonation
ZE:A
Where’s the shock? Where’s the animal ferocity for a band also known as Beast?
The six-member B2ST dons leather threads and eyeliner for that goth-rock look but really, they are just another Korean boyband playing dress-up.
This Asian version release collects all 10 tracks from their first two EPs Beast Is The B2ST and Shock Of The New Era.
At least the synthesizer- propelled Special has silly lyrics: “Atom bomb is coming/Oh oh oh/Bounce me oh oh oh” and the group could do with more of such moments.
ZE:A served up one such instance with Mazeltov on their recently released debut EP.
Tinkering with the dance vibe of that first effort, they go for more of an R&B sound here and the follow-up offers two new tracks, All Day Long and Man 2 Man.The CD, however, almost feels like an afterthought tucked away at the back of the photo booklet which thoughtfully includes individual poses by all nine members.
The disc includes the music video for All Day Long, which plays like a Korean version of the high-school-is-a-battlefield Japanese series Crows Zero, with prettier boys getting prettily bruised.
For all the glossy sound and fury, there is nothing explosive here.
(ST)
Shota Shimizu
In the pop culture sweepstakes, Korea has edged ahead of Japan in the past few years with its slick music groups and idol TV dramas.
But as all things Korean seem ever more manufactured and overwrought, it is Japanese singer-songwriter Shota Shimizu who blows in like a breath of fresh air with his second album Journey.
You can practically feel the wind on your back in the breezy titular track as the 21-year-old likens life’s journey to hitting the road.
As metaphors go, this is as old as they come, but he makes it sound earnest and affecting when he croons: “Journey, even though I’m tired/It’s okay if I can sing along with someone by my side.”
The folksy vibe to his R&B is a most welcome touch here though some of the other songs, such as Cream, tend to be cast in a more conventional mould.
The album hit No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon weekly chart and also includes Forever Love, a hit duet with urban artist Kato Miliyah.
It would be a pity if the record fails to find a wider audience simply because it happens to be in Japanese and not Korean.
Shock Of The New Era
B2ST
Leap For Detonation
ZE:A
Where’s the shock? Where’s the animal ferocity for a band also known as Beast?
The six-member B2ST dons leather threads and eyeliner for that goth-rock look but really, they are just another Korean boyband playing dress-up.
This Asian version release collects all 10 tracks from their first two EPs Beast Is The B2ST and Shock Of The New Era.
At least the synthesizer- propelled Special has silly lyrics: “Atom bomb is coming/Oh oh oh/Bounce me oh oh oh” and the group could do with more of such moments.
ZE:A served up one such instance with Mazeltov on their recently released debut EP.
Tinkering with the dance vibe of that first effort, they go for more of an R&B sound here and the follow-up offers two new tracks, All Day Long and Man 2 Man.The CD, however, almost feels like an afterthought tucked away at the back of the photo booklet which thoughtfully includes individual poses by all nine members.
The disc includes the music video for All Day Long, which plays like a Korean version of the high-school-is-a-battlefield Japanese series Crows Zero, with prettier boys getting prettily bruised.
For all the glossy sound and fury, there is nothing explosive here.
(ST)
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Together
Rene Liu
It is spring, the flowers are all a-bloom and Rene Liu is pensive.
Perhaps the Taiwanese singer-actress is mulling over the fact that it has been 15 years since the release of her debut album.
Nostalgia runs through the first two tracks, To The 15-Year-Old Me and We’re Not Together, and the lyrics on the former go: “Now I love to recall/Think of the you who refused to back down then.”
Even when she sings I Don’t Miss by Ashin, a clear strain of yearning mixed with regret lingers on. She also covers China folk singer Lao Lang’s You At The Same Table, which reminisces about an old acquaintance.
There is a grounded, down-to-earth quality to her voice that doles out comfort even as she sings about past relationships with a certain ruefulness.
But before you start to feel sorry for her, she has a defiant riposte ready in Don’t Send Flowers To Me: “Don’t think I’m lonely/Don’t look at me wandering by myself/And think I’m waiting for someone.” Touche.
Pisces Love
Huang Pin-yuan
Another veteran with a new release is Taiwanese singer-songwriter Huang Pinyuan, who marks the 20th anniversary of his first record.
With his profile raised from the Three Good Men series of concerts with fellow stalwarts Bobby Chen Sheng and Phil Chang Yu, Huang has struck while the iron is hot. This is his first album in four years and the lead number is written by local composer Jim Lim with lyrics by Huang, who had a hand in writing all 10 tracks.
But it is not until track five, the dance-inflected New Old Friends, that I paused. The album briefly flickers to life and it continues with the lilting Tao Hua Yuan (which refers to a utopian land).
Alas, the rest of the album does not leave much of an impression. Looks like he will still be known as the guy who sang How Can You Bear To Make Me Sad and Hsiao Wei, his best-known hits from yesteryear.
Believe In Jane
Jane Zhang
Of the various Super Girl singing contest finalists, mainlander Jane Zhang has the greatest potential for crossover success. It is no coincidence that the doe-eyed lass looks like a model on her latest record.
It is not just about looks, though. On her fourth album, she contributes to several numbers including I Believe.
Unfortunately, this offering is simply too long at 17 tracks. Even above-par songs such as the ballad Jiu Zhe Yang Hao Le (Just Let It Be Then) and the bouncy I Do get lost in the shuffle.
Zhang has a rich, expressive and versatile voice but some of the love songs are so generic, right down to the rote music videos, that it is hard to get excited about them.
If she wants to make it, she has to give us something more to believe in, and not just expect blind faith.
(ST)
Rene Liu
It is spring, the flowers are all a-bloom and Rene Liu is pensive.
Perhaps the Taiwanese singer-actress is mulling over the fact that it has been 15 years since the release of her debut album.
Nostalgia runs through the first two tracks, To The 15-Year-Old Me and We’re Not Together, and the lyrics on the former go: “Now I love to recall/Think of the you who refused to back down then.”
Even when she sings I Don’t Miss by Ashin, a clear strain of yearning mixed with regret lingers on. She also covers China folk singer Lao Lang’s You At The Same Table, which reminisces about an old acquaintance.
There is a grounded, down-to-earth quality to her voice that doles out comfort even as she sings about past relationships with a certain ruefulness.
But before you start to feel sorry for her, she has a defiant riposte ready in Don’t Send Flowers To Me: “Don’t think I’m lonely/Don’t look at me wandering by myself/And think I’m waiting for someone.” Touche.
Pisces Love
Huang Pin-yuan
Another veteran with a new release is Taiwanese singer-songwriter Huang Pinyuan, who marks the 20th anniversary of his first record.
With his profile raised from the Three Good Men series of concerts with fellow stalwarts Bobby Chen Sheng and Phil Chang Yu, Huang has struck while the iron is hot. This is his first album in four years and the lead number is written by local composer Jim Lim with lyrics by Huang, who had a hand in writing all 10 tracks.
But it is not until track five, the dance-inflected New Old Friends, that I paused. The album briefly flickers to life and it continues with the lilting Tao Hua Yuan (which refers to a utopian land).
Alas, the rest of the album does not leave much of an impression. Looks like he will still be known as the guy who sang How Can You Bear To Make Me Sad and Hsiao Wei, his best-known hits from yesteryear.
Believe In Jane
Jane Zhang
Of the various Super Girl singing contest finalists, mainlander Jane Zhang has the greatest potential for crossover success. It is no coincidence that the doe-eyed lass looks like a model on her latest record.
It is not just about looks, though. On her fourth album, she contributes to several numbers including I Believe.
Unfortunately, this offering is simply too long at 17 tracks. Even above-par songs such as the ballad Jiu Zhe Yang Hao Le (Just Let It Be Then) and the bouncy I Do get lost in the shuffle.
Zhang has a rich, expressive and versatile voice but some of the love songs are so generic, right down to the rote music videos, that it is hard to get excited about them.
If she wants to make it, she has to give us something more to believe in, and not just expect blind faith.
(ST)
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