WAKE UP
Anthony Neely
Taiwanese-American Anthony Neely certainly wakes you up on the title track of his second album. Over a propulsive rhythm, he urges with his rocker rasp: “So come take a ride with your eyes open wide/it’s the time for the time of your life.”
The positive energy courses through This Moment and Letters as well as album ender Awakening: “Want to smile more brilliantly/Want to love more lovingly/ Want to do right by this world’s existence.”
To cover all bases, the radio-friendly ballads are here as well, including A Failed Attempt and Dear Death – the latter, a plea to be spared by Death so that he can love.
As a bonus, the single and music video for the lively and jaunty You Are My Baby are bundled with the album. It is the theme song for his romantic comedy The Soul Of Bread (2012).
Hopefully, Neely will not get too distracted from his musical journey as his career in entertainment opens up.

The Music Room: Concert Live Recording
Kit Chan
After a seven-year hiatus, home-grown singer Kit Chan’s sold-out three-night solo gig at the Marina Bay Sands’ Grand Theater last October was a triumphant return.
She sang, she flirted, she slinked and she owned the stage as if she never left.
Collected on these two discs are the songs she performed then, ranging from her early hits such as Heartache and Liking You to Cantonese musical numbers Waiting and Forget Him. Also included are the snippets of dialogue which segued into the songs.
A number of tracks included here are from her comeback covers album Re-interpreting Kit Chan (2011). While it was a treat to listen to them live, on disc, they are a little too reminiscent of the recently recorded versions.
More satisfying are the inclusion of new covers including Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U and Stephen Sondheim’s Send In The Clowns. The latter – a movingly tender reflection on missed chances – was a definite highlight of the show and it still shines here.
(ST)