Open Heart

Mark Chang

Taiwanese newcomer Mark Chang has often been compared to Dick And Cowboy’s Lau Tieh as they both have manly husky pipes. But Chang has gone the pop route instead of following the older man’s rocker ways.

Album opener Fall In Love And Go Under is a fairly typical emo ballad but it does play to his strengths as a singer.

The delicate ballad The Wind Is Still Blowing, composed by Chen Hsiao-hsia, also leaves an impression.

The runner-up of season four of the One Million Star singing competition shows us different sides of himself on the breezy Loneliness Convenience Store and the disco-tinged Human Shaped Standee.

But for all that, it never quite feels that he is opening up his heart to us in the music.

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Port Entropy

Shugo Tokumaru

Joy is such an elusive emotion to capture on record – which is why Japanese singer- songwriter Shugo

Tokumaru’s (below) last full-length album Exit (2007) is so precious.

His gee-whiz multi-instrumental DIY wizardry remains intact in Port Entropy, if in a less exuberant form. Tracks such as Lahaha and the bucolic yet buoyant Rum Hee come closest to conjuring that sense of playful happiness. The latter is definitely a highlight here, though fans would have heard it already on the Rum Hee EP released in 2009.

Elsewhere, the animated Drive-thru sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a cartoon, while Tracking Elevator offers a smooth ride by pairing his clear unblemished vocals with the sweet strum of guitars and a back-up chorus.

The tempo slows down on Linne and the toy piano-backed Orange, with Tokumaru evoking a more contemplative and ruminative mood in these.

Poised between the lyrical beauty of his debut album Night Piece (2004) and the giddy glee of Exit, Port Entropy occupies a place that is still enchanting and wondrous.

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A Chinese Ghost Story

Wilson Yip

The story: The young official Ning Caichen (Yu Shaoqun) is sent to Black Mountain to help solve

the village’s water woes. He meets and falls in love with a beautiful spirit, Nie Xiaoqian (Liu Yifei), not knowing that she is under the control of the 1,000-year-old Tree Demon (Kara Hui). Meanwhile, demon hunter Yan Chixia (Louis Koo) is out to vanquish the evil monster.

At its entertaining best, Hong Kong cinema offers genrehopping fare which merrily mashes up comedy, romance, fantasy and action.

Prime examples include Stephen Chow’s A Chinese Odyssey (1994) and Ching Siu Tung’s version of A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), which is loosely adapted from a classic tale in the 18thcentury Pu Songling collection, Strange Tales Of Liaozhai.

Similarly varied, director Wilson Yip’s take on the latter is an enjoyable offering, even if it does not hit the giddy heights of those films.

The arc here is largely similar to the 1987 movie: Boy meets ghost, boy falls in love with ghost, boy seeks to free ghost. Yip’s twist is to have the demon hunter fall for the lovely spirit even before the scholar enters the picture.

While this adds tension to the movie, it dilutes the pure love story between boy and ghost, one of the main reasons the earlier version remains ingrained in the memory of those who have watched it.

Ching’s casting was pitch-perfect: Leslie Cheung was the handsome and timid Caichen, Joey Wong was the ethereally beautiful Xiaoqian and Wu Ma was the gruff and righteous ghost-catcher.

Indeed, the film was responsible for boosting the popularity of both Cheung and Wong.

In the new version, Yu Shaoqun, so memorable in the Mei Lanfang biopic Forever Enthralled (2008), makes the role of the scholar his own.

The pretty Liu Yifei, last seen in the disastrous romance comedy Love In Disguise (2010), is less convincing when she has to play coquettish, but she and Yu do make a cute couple.

In comparison, the relationship between Liu’s Xiaoqian and Louis Koo’s demon hunter seems a little out of place, particularly towards the end.

The 1987 flick is also indelible for Lau Siu Ming’s high camp portrayal of the Tree Demon, which seemed to be both male and female as its voice swung between a rumbly growl and a flirty squeal.

Kara Hui has fun in the arch villain role as well and the voice modulation remains intact.

Perhaps where the US$20-million (S$25-million) remake has an edge is in the use of special effects and the epic finale is a glorious showdown of flying fabric, flying swords and flying hair.

And there is nothing quite like it in Hollywood movies.

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The Seeds Of Hope

Yang Pei-an

Late-bloomer Yang Pei-an is proof that the seeds of hope will eventually flower.

In 2006, the Taiwanese singer released his debut record at the age of 35, wowing listeners with his soaring vocals on his breakthrough hit I Believe.

No wonder he is optimistic on his fourth full-length album.

Titles such as Dreams Start From The Heart, Fiery Phoenix and The End Of The Rainbow give you a good idea of the songs’ never-give-up theme.

The lyrics, too, reinforce the message of striving to achieve one’s goals. He sings on Dreams: “Every step is filled with unwavering persistence, only I can write my own exciting story.”

On the Phoenix track, a collaboration with Chemical Monkey Band, the rocker exhorts: “Not afraid of shattered bones or staggering along/Be brave and take a risk, let life be filled with limitless light.”

Even a ballad such as Moonlight is anchored by the same sentiment.

You know where to head the next time you need a pick-me-up.

The Next Me

Aaron Yan

Taiwanese boyband Fahrenheit are not particularly known for their singing prowess, so a solo effort from member Aaron Yan does not have one exactly trembling in eager anticipation.

The singing is passsable and the title track is a tuneful offering with lyrics about the contradictory ambitions and emotions of a young man: “The next me/What role will I play/Loving gently on one hand/Hating passionately on the other/How many hearts can I have.”

Yan also teams up with Singapore singer Olivia Ong on Just One Look for an obligatory duet between label-mates. He covers Hong Kong singer Karen Mok’s Suddenly as well, but his version seems less deeply felt.

Still, the disc has already topped the album charts in Taiwan for two weeks.

As for Yan's next role, it's a case of the record company knows best. Despite rumours of them disbanding, Fahrenheit are reportedly attempting to heat up the charts with another group album.

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Norwegian Wood

Tran Anh Hung

The story: Tokyo college student Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) encounters a dead friend’s former girlfriend Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) in the city and the two strike up a tentative relationship. At the same time, he is also drawn to Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), a free-spirited girl who is the opposite of Naoko in temperament. Then tragedy strikes again. Based on Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s 1987 novel of the same name.

This was never going to be an easy book to adapt for the big screen.

Haruki Murakami’s breakthrough novel was a deeply intimate portrayal of youthful melancholy, uncertainty and desire and how they all dissolve into one another.

Toru Watanabe is figuring out his identity and exploring his sexuality in a rite of passage that most young adults go through.

But for him, the shadow of his best friend’s unexplained suicide looms over everything.

In the book, we are privy to his thoughts and events are seen from his point of view. In the film, he comes across as more of a cipher.

In one scene, what is attributed to Toru in the book is said by Naoko in the film when she muses that it would be better if people went back and forth between 18 and 19 instead of growing older.

He merely reacts to what she says and we lose that little bit of insight into what makes him tick.

This idea of a passive Toru is reinforced by him constantly saying “Of course” in conversation. Co-scriptwriter and director Tran Anh Hung also portrays him walking through campus, almost oblivious to the student protests erupting around him in the tumult of the late 1960s.

It could be argued that the film-maker intends the passivity as Toru’s way of coping, but it also makes it more difficult to feel for the character.

The film also feels more intensely oppressive. Little touches of humour that leaven the mood in the book, such as the comic episodes involving Toru’s roommate whom he nicknames “Storm Trooper”, have been excised.

What keeps the movie watchable are the performances. Kenichi Matsuyama, best known as the detective L in the Death Note adaptations, imbues the character of Toru with a degree of vulnerability despite his passivity.

Rinko Kikuchi seems to have an affinity for emotionally volatile roles. Feral in Babel (2006), she is touchingly fragile here.

Model-actress Kiko Mizuhara’s sunny charm is the perfect counterpoint to Kikuchi’s darker allure.

The protagonists unfold their drama amid beautifully framed outdoor vistas, a signature of Tran’s also seen in The Scent Of Green Papaya (1993) and Cyclo (1995). In a powerful scene set in a desolate spot with thunderous crashing waves in the background, Matsuyama telegraphs raw and overwhelming grief as Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s sweeping score builds to a climax.

By the end, we care enough that Toru seems to be taking a step in the direction of life and healing, even if he is not completely out of the woods.

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Tanya & The Cities 2011 Live Concert

Singapore Indoor Stadium

Last Saturday

Before we saw her, we heard her.

The concert opened with the first stanza of Breathe, local singer-songwriter Tanya Chua’s first-ever Mandarin single from 1999. It seemed to echo the song’s music video where her face could not be seen. Yet it still became a hit on the strength of the track and her unusual, lightly husky vocals.

Twelve years and seven Mandarin records later, Chua finally holds her first major concert on home territory. Clearly there was demand for it as more than 90 per cent of the 5,500 tickets were sold.

It is such a pity then that it was largely an underwhelming experience.

There appeared to be some problem with the microphone at the beginning, which led to fluctuations in the pitch and volume, and some words were swallowed up entirely.

Some of it could have been due to jitters as well. Chua admitted that she was nervous as she was singing to an audience which included primary school pals, relatives and family.

It did not help that much of her repertoire comprised ballads and mid-tempo songs and too often it seemed that the choice was to go even slower when giving songs a new spin.

The static staging contributed to the sluggish pace as well. She was rooted to one spot for long stretches, with the only movements restricted to her left hand checking her earpiece – something she repeated throughout the night.

Things improved with the first costume change when she appeared in a pink frock and projections transformed the bare black stage into lamp-lit alleyways.

One-third into the three-hour-long show she finally seemed to find her groove, in the India segment.

She told the audience that she had hit a bottleneck in 2005 and had eventually found her passion for making music again in India, where she had gone to practise yoga.

Looking relaxed, Chua played the guitar and was accompanied by the sitar as she took on Rihanna’s Umbrella and Lady Gaga’s Poker Face. It finally set off a ripple of excitement in the subdued crowd.

Another high point was when guest star Kit Chan strolled on stage as Chua sang the National Day song Home. After this stirring duet, Chan proceeded to steal the show. She demonstrated how one should take a sip of water on stage – slowly and with style – before taking on Leslie Cheung’s Cantonese hit Chase.

At her best, Chua breathed life into beautifully emotive songs about love with elegant metaphors such as evolution theory, cold-blooded creatures and projectile motion (on Darwin, Amphibian and Projectile). While she managed to deliver these on stage, there were not enough of these moments.

She has always composed much of her own material but it is on her last two albums, Goodbye & Hello (2007) and If You See Him (2009), that she came into her own as a lyricist with songs such as When You Leave, Blank Space, Who and If You See Him.

Unfortunately, it was not clear at the concert if she had a stronger affinity for these songs because of the inconsistent nature of the sound and her singing. And for a two-time Golden Melody Award winner for Best Female Vocalist with a rich body of work, that was disappointing.

(ST)

Singapore Movies

Free for iPhone, not available for Android phones and BlackBerry

Singapore ranks among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of cinema attendance per capita, so there is definitely demand for information about what is playing where right at your fingertips.

There is no one single app that will meet all your requirements but the good news is that many such apps are free, so narrowing down the field to two or three should cover most bases.

Singapore Movies has a comprehensive listing of films in alphabetical order, and it includes Tamil and Hindi titles. Also, digital and 3-D versions of movies have their own separate entries which include a short synopsis and the venues and times of screenings.

However, there is no search function and when you make a booking, you are taken out of the app and directed to the cinema operator’s website.

The US$1.99 version (S$2.50, Singapore Movies Plus) comes with a tab for Cinemas, useful if you want to know what is playing at a specific cinema rather than where a specific film is showing, and one for Days, which lets you know what is playing where up to six days in advance.

Angry Birds Rio

US$0.99 (S$1.25) for iPhone and free for Android phones, not available for BlackBerry

There are plenty of movie tie-in game apps and some are even free, including that for the animated film Hop (2011).

The smartest and most fun tie-up, though, has to got to be between the animated avian adventure Rio and the gaming phenomenon that is Angry Birds.

The popularity of the original game ensures that this app will outlast the movie. Already, Angry Birds Rio is lodged on the list of top 10 paid apps in the iTunes store, along with the original version.

Beyond offering fans of the game new levels to conquer, Angry Birds Rio has also cleverly worked in elements from the film, such as carnival music and more detailed backdrops, to distinguish it from Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons.

Instead of launching the incensed fowl at greedy pigs, the aim is now to rescue birds trapped in cages and to mow down mischievous marmosets.

And that is just in the first two stages revealed thus far. One of the best things about game apps is the constant updates and there are at least four more stages to come for Angry Birds Rio. It is enough to make you do the samba in glee.

IMDB Movies & TV

Free for iPhone and Android phones, not available for BlackBerry

Who was that actress in the comedy Bad Santa? You know, the one who was in the TV series Gilmore Girls? Instead of being driven up the wall as you rack your brains for the answer, the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) app whips up the answer as fast as you can type “Gilmore”. There she is, Lauren Graham. This app version of the comprehensive Internet website also gives movie trailers, entertainment news and US box-office results.

This is a treasure trove of trivia no movie buff will want to be without.

Runpee Mobile

Free for iPhone and Android phones, not available for BlackBerry

You have your supersized serving of soda, your snacks, your sweater – you are all settled in for a movie. But then the film turns out to be longer than you expected. And your bladder is beginning to protest.

It is RunPee to the rescue as this app handily pinpoints the less-than enthralling bits so that you can duck out to the toilet and back without missing anything essential. It tells you when it is safe to go by indicating how far into the movie the scene is, as well as visual and audio cues that should tip you off.

The app also indicates how long you can afford to be away and offers a summary of what you would have missed. It tells you whether there is anything worth staying on for after the end credits, a most useful feature since so many movies tack on bonus scenes at the very end.

So how accurate is the app at identifying the dud intervals? Frankly, if the movie is bad in the first place, feel free to walk out at any point. If the movie is good, you would not want to miss any of it.

Showtimezz (Singapore)

Free for iPhone, not available for Android phones and BlackBerry

Compared to apps such as iGV, which offer only information pertinent to a specific cinema chain, Showtimezz and Singapore Movies provide across-the-board listings.

In addition, the convenient thing about this app is that it allows you to book tickets within it rather than having to switch between the app and the phone’s web browser.

However, the listings are not as comprehensive as those on Singapore Movies.

The layout could also definitely be improved. The newest movies are added to the top but that is not very helpful if you are looking for an older release.

You have to scroll through the list until you find, or do not find, what you want as there is no search function.

Also, tapping on the movie name takes you to the YouTube page which lists the search results for the title. You have to tap on the less eye-catching “Showtime Information” bar in order to access the screening times.

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Empty Handed

Chang Chen-yue

With the dissolution of Super Band, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Chang Chen-yue has gone back to producing solo material. Frankly, it’s a relief to have A-yue sounding like A-yue again rather than as part of a not-always-convincing group.

For this five-track release, he ransacks his trove of unused demos, which happily betray no smell of mothballs.

Title track Empty Handed is irresistible and, with its thumping beat and cheesy synth line, could become a getai staple.

The Mandarin lyrics go: “Oh life, has always been a dream/A beautiful dream, then I wake up empty- handed/Oh love, hopefully it bears fruit/Wipe those tears away, there’s still tomorrow ahead.”

Such endearing optimistic underdog persona was all but buried beneath the glitz and hype of Super Band, which also included Wakin Chau, Lo Ta-yu and Jonathan Lee.

Chang’s versatility as a musician can be seen on the other tracks. He raps on the cheeky and witty OK 2010, while the ballads Perplexed, One Day and Blues show his more sensitive side.

Empty Handed is a satisfyingly filling offering.

Love And FanFan (CD/DVD)

Fan Wei-chi

Congratulations, FanFan. Next month, the Taiwanese singer-songwriter is finally tying the knot with her long-time boyfriend, TV host and actor Blackie Chen. What better opportunity to celebrate love and commitment than on her new album?

The Most Important Decision, written by Chen Hsiao-hsia and Daryl Yao, seems to encapsulate how the bride-to-be is feeling: “You are my most important decision/I’m willing to wake by your side every morning/Even quarrelling is satisfying, not icy/ Because true love is not about winning or losing, there’s only intimacy.”

Her soothing vocals are a natural fit for ballads and there are plenty of them here. The uptempo Loss Of Conscience, by sodagreen’s Ching-feng, however, marks a welcome change of pace and has her rocking out convincingly.

The accompanying DVD is a little odd since it comprises birthday greetings and wedding congratulations addressed to her. On the plus side, you get to hear singer A-mei gushing about FanFan’s warm lips and Blackie getting all mushy.

All together now: Awww.

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Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Johnnie To

The story: Suzhou native Cheng Zixin (Gao Yuanyuan) is working in Hong Kong as a financial analyst. Her boyfriend of seven years dumps her, but she soon finds herself enjoying the attention of two men – financial hotshot Sean Cheung (Louis Koo) and award-winning architect Kevin Fong (Daniel Wu).

Film-maker Johnnie To is better known for his violent crime thrillers such as Election (2005), but romantic comedies are not exactly unexplored terrain for the man.

Without a strong gimmick as anchor, though – say Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng in fat suits in Love On A Diet (2001) – this offering, directed together with Wai Ka Fai, feels scattershot and adrift.

Sure, the cast is easy on the eye. The doe-eyed, fresh-faced China actress Gao reminds one of the pretty Gigi Leung, while Louis Koo and Daniel Wu are no slouches in the looks department, either.

Unfortunately, one is never quite sure why the two men are so besotted with her.

The relationship between Zixin and Sean starts off cute as they work in glass buildings facing each other, and they start to flirt using paper cut-outs and written messages. Inexplicably, he proceeds to stand her up after arranging a first date.

At the same time, she strikes up a friendship with Kevin, who looks like a homeless bum when we first see him but turns out to be a top architect who has lost his way because of alcohol.

These unlikely plot developments never feel plausible because of the ham-fisted script and the hammy acting, particularly from Koo.

Fast forward three years later and Sean is now Zixin’s boss. His idea of courtship seems to be to abuse his position by ordering her around and then trying to buy her affections with expensive gifts. It smacks of harassment, not endearment, and yet she is drawn to this capricious and insensitive man.

Meanwhile, who should move into Sean’s old office but a rejuvenated Kevin, who is still holding a torch for Zixin?

So now the film-makers are juggling two unconvincing relationships and striking one false note after another.

In the final showdown, it feels like Sean and Kevin are simply competing to see who can come up with the grander and more over-the-top declaration of love.

Modern-day romance has seldom seemed so dire.

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Limitless

Neil Burger

The story: Writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is stuck on his novel and then he gets dumped by girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish). Things turn around when he is introduced to a drug that unleashes the brain’s full potential and he winds up brokering a huge financial deal for powerful businessman Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro). Based on the 2001 novel The Dark Fields by Irish writer Alan Glynn.

It is popularly believed that humans use only 10 per cent of their brain’s capacity, so the premise that a pill could tap into their vast mental reserves is a seductive one.

The exhilaration of this state of heightened perception is conveyed by the camera hurtling through the streets of New York and into and through vehicles, neatly illustrating the title concept.

What does the protagonist do with such powers? First, he shows off his newfound prowess by dominating party conversations and picking up foreign languages just by listening to audio tapes.

Then – drumroll, please – he plays the stock market and structures a complicated corporate merger. Pragmatic, but not exactly a gripping tale.

Even when the darker aspects of the wonder drug begin to surface, Morra’s story remains uninvolved, in part due to Bradley Cooper’s (from the 2009 comedy The Hangover) somewhat slick performance.

The loopholes in the plot do not help.

Why does Morra not do a better job of ensuring a safe and steady supply of the pills, given how important they are? He should be smart enough to do that.

What is interesting is the notion that there are others who have climbed to pivotal positions in society on the back of the drug. The film suggests there is a larger conspiracy afoot but it does not fully explore this idea.

Towards the end, the movie veers off into so-bad-it’s-almost-good territory.

When Morra is trapped in his apartment by some criminal goons who are after the pill, he is desperate to get a hit of the drug so that he can transform into super-Morra. Let’s just say there is blood involved and much suspension of belief. In the final scene, he demonstrates his fluency in languages by speaking Mandarin to a Chinese waiter. It is stunningly, howlingly, cringingly bad.

Director Neil Burger had previously done the intriguing period mystery drama The Illusionist (2006), but with his latest work, you wonder if his supply of creative juices is running low. Either that or he has had too much of it.

(ST)

Natali

Joo Kyung Joong

The story: At an exhibition by sculptor Hwang Joon Hyuk (Lee Sung Jae), art critic Jang Min Woo (Kim Ji Hoon) turns up and insists on buying the piece titled Natali. The nude sculpture is modelled after the enigmatic Oh Mi Ran (Park Hyun Jin), who is Hwang’s former student and Jang’s former classmate.

Let’s just get straight to the sex scenes. After all, it is the first erotic film in 3-D to open in Singapore since Avatar (2009) made the technology popular and it does open with a series of love-making sequences between sculptor Hwang and his muse Oh.

The coital displays are carefully art-directed. There is the use of soft-focus lighting, sensuous background music and strategic draping of bedsheets.

Unlike the more explicit Lust, Caution (2007), where the sexual power play is integral to the story, here it is pretty much sex for the sake of sex. Conveniently, Hwang is a horny artistic type who also gets it on with the curator of the exhibition.

One could say that it was to the credit of writer-director Joo Kyung Joong that the use of 3-D was restrained and there were no body parts protruding out of the screen.

On the other hand, it also meant that the 3-D effects were not adding to the eye-popping quotient of the carnal episodes. In fact, it was often easy to forget that one was watching a 3-D film.

If anything was being thrust in our faces, it was the sometimes ungrammatical Mandarin and English subtitles. Mind you, this is not a post-conversion 3-D movie, where a producer decides to cash in on the craze after a film has already been shot in conventional 2-D, in the case of the fantasy adventure Clash Of The Titans (2010). Here, the decision to cash in was made right from the start.

Plot-wise, there is supposed to be some tension generated by the fact that the sculptor and the art critic have slightly differing versions of what happened between Hwang and Oh.

But since none of the characters is particularly interesting, the film ends up being a slow-moving talkfest. The critic makes some melodramatic revelations towards the end but the effect is more laughable than moving.

There is an unintentionally funny flashback scene, where Jang is shown scrubbing clothes on a washboard by the stream as he gazes loving at Oh. Have these people not heard of a washing machine?

Or maybe the film’s producers ran out of budget after using it up for the muted 3-D technology.

(ST)

Miss November

The Girl And The Robots

Effervescent electronica, brassy accents, playful vocals - it’s all there on the opening track Hello Girl, Hello Robots!.
It is the perfect introduction to Taiwanese trio The Girl And The Robots, comprising female vocalist Riin and programmers Jungle and Chuck.
But the group also show that there is more to their brand of electronica, packing into the album the sinuous synth lines of 2½-inch Dance Tune, the pop-rock-edged Regrets, You Don’t Know and the mid-tempo languor of Do As You Please and Yesterday.
The lyrics, mostly by Riin, don’t stray far from affairs of the heart and the dance floor. On Robot Lover, she purrs for you to push her buttons.

Pairing kittenish female vocals with electronica is nothing new in Western pop – think Nina Persson in Swedish band The Cardigans, or Inara George in Los Angeles-based duo The Bird And The Bee – but it is still something of a novelty where Mandopop is concerned.

While Riin’s voice is not quite as distinctive as Persson’s or George’s, this remains a debut to groove to.

After an unrelenting diet of ballads and K-pop-wannabes, the attempt by the group to break the mould is itself laudable – even if these Robots could still do with an upgrade.

Face

Benjamin Lin

Behind this debut album is an inspiring tale.

Once upon a time, Taiwanese Benjamin Lin was a rebellious teen who got himself involved in gangs. But his interest in music was kindled when he came across an old piano in a church – paving the road to his salvation. Encouraged by a fellow Christian, who later became his agent, Lin spent two years writing, arranging and even producing the tracks on offer here.

While one hardly expects a gangsta rap album from the 23-year-old, it is disappointing that there is practically no trace of his colourful past in his music.

Instead, he seems content to sing about love and sexy girls. Lyrics, however, are not his strong suit, and they sometimes come across as generic and bland. On the ballad Sorry, he warbles: “Sorry, I love you, I hurt you/Sorry, I’m too careless and don’t know your heart.”

Good thing, then, that he is a better composer than he is a lyricist. The musical arrangement is interesting, with its blend of stringed instruments such as violins and cellos and more contemporary touches such as R&B rhythms, best exemplified on the title track which even throws in some vocoder effects.

Still, Lin, how about facing up to the past the next time around?

(ST)