Private Corner
Jacky Cheung
On his last Mandarin release, By Your Side (2007), the God of Song flirted with jazz on the track An Unfinished Lesson.
It has proven to be no passing infatuation. For his first Cantonese release since 2004’s Life Is Like A Dream, he has chosen to deliver a full-on jazz album.
Instead of a half-hearted inclusion of a saxophone or piano, Cheung immerses himself in the jazz idiom, singing the blues on Infatuated With You, swinging on the big band sound of Double Trouble and even scatting on In Love With Your Back.
And even though it is not quite the season, he makes the English number Everyday Is Christmas, complete with lyrics about Santa’s sleigh and reindeer, work.
The versatile singer can be smooth as silk as he caresses each syllable or bright and brassy when the number calls for it and proves he is not just winging it.
You have to credit one of popular music’s biggest stars for doing his thing instead of just giving the people what they want. The closest thing to a pop confection here is Not Just Fated, so fans looking to make an easy transition to the new Jacky Cheung should head here first.
As they get drawn into the album, they will soon discover that Cantonese jazz is not a contradiction in terms but a perfectly natural combination.
Snowman
Peggy Hsu
There is a fairy-tale quality to this disc which opens with a story read in French. According to the translation in the lyrics booklet, it is about a snowman who reaches out for human contact but starts to melt as his heart grows warm.
Despite being a little twee, it does set the tone for this autumn-winter companion to the spring-summer release of Fine which Hsu put out in June last year.
On Punk, easily an album highlight, a wild, raging passion is played out against swirling strings and icy beats as she croons delicately. The singer-songwriter then evokes a beautiful picture of doomed romanticism on Cherry Blossom Snow and later serves up chill-out dance track Downfallen Aristocrat: “Elegant crystal ornaments/Covered in spider webs/As if they have wasted their entire lives.”
For all the variety in style and subject, this, Hsu’s third release in 31/2 years, feels remarkably coherent. After being mired in a contractual dispute which prevented her from releasing records for six years, it must be a relief to pour out her feelings again.
It would seem that her journey is mirrored in the snowman’s who, in his darkest moment, finds salvation in music and, in turn, becomes a beacon of hope.
One Two Three
Da Mouth
Taiwanese hip-hop combo Da Mouth want to party and that is just fine.
Tracks such as Rock It, Future Party and Turn Up The Music state their intent upfront and will have you grooving to the electronic beat, while Make Out urges you to “Get it on rite now!”
Skip the shamelessly pandering Happy Birthday My Dear, though, and try not to cringe at the inane lyrics of “Shining shining shining/O U got bling bling/O we got bling bling”.
The futuristic theme is also rather hokey. The use of Auto-Tune does not make a song forward-looking. In fact, 3010 and Back To The Future sound more retro than space age.
More interesting is the commercial tie-up between sports lifestyle brand Puma and Aisa, Harry, MC 40 and DJ Chung Hua. Posters of the foursome togged out in the label’s sportswear are plastered all over town and Puma is prominently mentioned on the album cover.
Is this the future face of music?
(ST)