Jazz Channel
Yoga Lin
While most cover albums by Mandopop singers seem like a lazy way of cashing in, this two-disc offering from Taiwan’s Yoga Lin is happily different.
He is a singer of some sensitivity and interpreting the material here – including a wide range of English songs from jazz standards such as As Time Goes By to Bonnie Raitt’s ballad I Can’t Make You Love Me – in a lightly jazzy idiom prevents this from sounding like a karaoke session. But his less-than-perfect English enunciation is a little distracting at times.
The Mandarin covers work better, whether he is taking on the Teresa Teng chestnut I Only Care About You or Sandee Chan’s regret-filled Not In Time. He even reworks two of his own tracks – Gone With The Wind and Fairy Tale from Senses Around (2009) – to good effect.
In particular, Gone is sparer and more haunting as Lin sings: “I play this song for you on a sunny day/I fall deeply asleep on a cloudy day/And you’re gone.” Tune into Jazz Channel when you want to soak up the blues, but not if you want to chase them away.
(ST)