The Adult Storybook Live Concert
Joanna Wang

In last year’s album, Joanna & Wang Ruo-lin, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Joanna Wang decided to stretch herself. She covered oldies such as Don McLean’s Vincent on one disc and delivered kooky original compositions including Adult Crap on the other with her band New Tokyo Terror.
This concert album contains recordings from her Asian tour which saw her perform in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei. Her husky throatiness sounds just dandy in a live setting and she fully does justice to her own songs.
The choice of covers, though, leaves much to be desired. She leaches the campy fun out of Dead Or Alive’s You Spin Me Round and drains the brash sexiness from Olivia Newton-John’s Physical.
Disappointingly, the DVD does not add much to the release. One gets to see quirky costumes and whimsical sets, but she is not the most engaging of entertainers. Her phrasing seems a bit rote too, but then she is just 21. She might sound like an old soul, but is far from one.

The Recording Diaries
Crowd Lu

At 50 minutes long and retailing for about $30, this DVD about the making of Taiwanese singer-songwriter Crowd Lu’s latest album Seven Days, out last year, is strictly for fans.
We get to see how the lyrics for Oh Yeah!!! were written on the fly and also his very first performance of the song where he urged the audience to forget about it after hearing it. Unfortunately, there is footage of only the first few lines included here.
Still, the writing and recording process is largely not a very exciting one and there is little light shed on his creative process. But you do get to see the key role producer Tiger Chung plays in this enterprise.
The scenes of Lu singing his new songs for his parents and younger sister at home are quite sweet and heartwarming. The cheerful, idealistic and optimistic young man you see on stage is the same person off it, and that is the most heartening thing about watching these diaries.

Nayuta To Fukashigi
Sukima Switch

Japanese jazz pop duo Sukima Switch hit the ground swinging with third album opener Double Star Prologue.
Core members Takuya Ohashi and Shintaro Tokita handle vocals and various instruments including guitar, harmonica and keyboard, with studio musicians chipping in when needed.
The jazz influences can be seen in the use of brass instruments on a couple of tracks and in a strong sense of rhythm but the sensibility here is undoubtedly pop.
Not surprisingly, Niji No Recipe and Golden Time Lover, from the popular anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood were both top five hits on the Japanese singles chart.
It is also impressive that Sukima Switch write, arrange and produce all of their material. They certainly are a winning combination.
(ST)