Weibird Debut Album

Weibird Wei

Another TV talent show winner, another debut. But there is nothing perfunctory about Weibird Wei’s record. Instead of immediately cashing in after emerging triumphant in the campus singing contest of the Taiwanese variety show Happy Sunday in 2007, he opted to concentrate on his studies first.

But he continued to write songs, for the likes of Rene Liu (Still The Same), Angela Chang (Again) and Claire Kuo (Understand).

The release of an EP in March last year whetted appetites with that distinctive refrain in Keep Waiting. While the syncopated R&B and slurred delivery seemed overly familiar at first, he managed to make the song his own.

With the long-awaited release of his first album, he proves that he is a singular talent to contend with.

Care has been taken from the song-writing through to the CD cover, a whimsical and classy black-and-white cut-out design that meshes well with the album’s vibe.

Opening number Did You Or Did You Not slows down the tempo and turns a simple question into a plaintive cry. It also seems to hint at Wei’s confidence as he urges you to “turn off the radio”.

Besides affairs of the heart, there is also the sense of a young man engaged with life on songs such as Stories and Reasons.

His is an appealing brand of unfussy guitar pop, one that complements the youthful wistfulness of his vocals.

When you have a stack of albums to be reviewed and there is one that you keep wanting to return to, that’s as good a sign as any that Weibird is doing something right.

Fu Good

Della Ding Dang

No, the “Fu” is not a misspelling nor is it meant to be a rude title. It’s simply the corrupted Taiwanese variant of Feel.

More importantly, the track works as a slice of chirpy dance pop. Just as well, since it is the only new track in this best-of package from the Taiwan-based Ding Dang. Also included are songs spanning her three album releases from idol drama Autumn’s Concerto theme song I Love Him to her love duet with Mayday’s Ashin, Fireworks.

A collection of hits boosted by one or two new tracks is usually just an excuse to milk more money from fans though in this case, the offering is more substantial.

There is an additional disc of material which sees Ding Dang covering both Mandarin and English numbers such as Chao Chuan’s I’m A Small, Small Bird and Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You.

Bird is a great song, as sung by Chao. Yes, Ding Dang has the vocal range to sing it but that aching vulnerability is gone, replaced by subtlety-free showboating.

And that does not make me feel good.

(ST)

City Under Siege

Benny Chan

The story: While searching for gold, a group of circus performers stumble upon an old cache of Japanese biochemical weapons. By chance, Sunny (Aaron Kwok, far right) manages to purge most of the poison from his body and ends up with superhuman qualities. The other four become freakishly powerful, mutating into creatures with claws and coloured hair. Predictably, both Sunny and the lead villain Tai Chu (Colin Chou) fall for a newscaster named Angel (Shu Qi, right).

The superhero film gets the Asian treatment but unfortunately, the end results are unlikely to be saving anyone’s day.

For a while though, it seems as if producer, director and co-writer Benny Chan is on the right track.

His “creation” myth is plausibly rooted in history, imagining that the Japanese conducted wartime experiments in Malaysia to develop killing machines.

After the exposition accounting for how Sunny and company end up with their powers, the action shifts to Hong Kong. Tai Chu and his gang are now wreaking havoc on the city with their outrageous criminal exploits and only Sunny is able to stop them.

This could have worked as a tight superhero versus supervillains flick. Unfortunately, Chan, who last helmed the action thriller Connected (2008), then proceeds to throw everything and the kitchen sink into the film.

There is the romance angle between Sunny and Angel and the spanner in the works, Tai Chu, who develops an infatuation with the pretty newscaster as he grows ever more hideous and lonely.

Then there is Sun Hao (Wu Jing) and Hua (Zhang Jingchu) of the special police, who are bent on taking down the criminals.

It is never explained how the two know about the mutants’ condition or, more problematically, why they are not immediately pulverised in combat with them.

And we are not done yet. There is also a cynical satire of the media and advertising industry when Angel gets herself appointed Sunny’s sole agent and proceeds to market the heck out of him.

This would have worked better if it was not crowded out by all the other elements, making the film sprawling and unwieldy.

The relationship between Sun Hao and Hua is supposed to be touching but we barely spend enough time with them to care. There is more time devoted to the Sunny and Angel tie-up, but Kwok, once again, is trying too hard and you can see the effort in his acting.

And then 90 minutes into the film, we get a treading water interlude of Sunny being trained by Sun Hao and learning how to deal with the mutants.

It does not even set one up for the final showdown with Tai Chu since there does not seem to be anything particularly specific or difficult that Sunny has to do.

Ultimately, there is simply too much going on and while the action sequences are competent, the pace slackens every time Chan chases after another sub-plot. Not even Superman can pull all these disparate threads together.

(ST)

White Soliloquy

Toy Factory

Esplanade Theatre Studio

To commemorate its 20th anniversary, Toy Factory has chosen to pay tribute to veteran stage and television actor Bai Yan, now 91 and retired.

At first glance, this seems like a strange choice given that he does not have a particularly strong association with the theatre company. But the playwright, Toy Factory’s artistic director Goh Boon Teck, has used Bai’s lifelong career as an actor to broach broader themes about acting and the state of the performing arts in Singapore.

In contrast to its other current production, the musical December Rains, White Soliloquy – a translation that plays on the Mandarin characters for Bai Yan – is intimate in set-up. The only props on the stage are a large dirty mirror and a few empty wooden chairs, while the weight of the show rests on Nelson Chia (above), the only performer seen on stage.

Yet the scope of what this play tackles is epic. There is the narrative arc of biography, beginning with how China-born Yan Boyuan was mesmerised by the travelling Yin Yue Music And Dance Troupe and then taken in by them after being roped in as a stand-in.

Chia, dressed all in white, is an engaging performer as he tells the tale, alternating between the roles of narrator, Bai and an assortment of other characters ranging from a dedicated fan in Penang speaking Mandarin with a Malaysian accent to a director on the set of a MediaCorp series with a strong Hong Kong accent.

What comes through most strongly is Bai’s unflagging spirit, which is mirrored in Chia’s indefatigable performance. Bai ekes out a living through the years of the Japanese Occupation, loses his savings in an investment after the war and then starts afresh, performing at several venues a night in order to support three families – his own in Singapore as well as his parents and his in-laws in China.

Through it all, he perseveres, holding on to the mantra that a man’s back must shoulder immense burdens before he can soar. The problem, though, is that Bai ends up seeming too saintly to be true.

Goh and director Jalyn Han also weave in vignettes ruminating on various aspects of the actor’s life. It was telling that some of these scenes provoked a bigger reaction from the crowd than when the story was simply about Bai, suggesting the biography portion could have been further tightened.

One such interlude was about a MediaCorp (or perhaps it was TCS then) A-lister, Cao so-and-so, throwing his weight about on set and generally behaving disgracefully. It certainly piqued interests and ears pricked up.

At one point, Chia started reflecting on his own experiences as an actor, adding yet another facet to the piece. What was rather jarring however was the diatribe against clueless bureaucrats and the constant struggle to justify spending on the arts. While the tirade did raise a few laughs, it ultimately felt out of place.

One caveat for those planning to catch the production. It is largely in Mandarin, with snatches of song and dialogue in other provincial dialects, and there are no English surtitles.

If you are caught off-guard, Chia’s musing about whether an actor’s dialogue is all in vain (bai le yan yu) will end up being unintentionally ironic.

(ST)

Hey!

Tuzi

Every Touching Moment

Stefanie Sun, Tanya Chua, JJ Lin, A-Do

JJ – A Night of Love and Music Live in Taipei

JJ Lin

Still on a patriotic high after the National Day festivities? Then lend your support to the local music scene by checking out these discs from home-grown talents.

Tuzi, meaning “rabbit” in Chinese, won the Channel U talent show SuperBand in 2008 and have taken the indie route in coming up with their debut album.

The indie vibe extends to the music as well, with definite influences from the British and American lo-fi, alternative scene.

Opening tracks Living Things and Forgot About It leave the strongest impressions while Little King works in a topical reference: “2010, everyone’s saying: ‘The outlook’s not good, everything’s not good.’/Furrowing brows, at a loss/How pitiful/What a bother!”

Overall, the vocals need more work and they are a little raw but that’s part of the charm here.

In contrast to the scrappy DIY vibe of Hey!, Every Touching Moment is a glossy, no-expense-spared production.

What better way to promote Singapore at Shanghai Expo 2010 than by getting our top Mandopop exports, from different labels no less, to collaborate on one song? Composed by JJ Lin with lyrics by Billy Koh, Taiwanese Eric Lin Chiu-li and the mono-monikered Venus, Every Touching Moment is a tuneful effort that does not overdo the sales pitch.

And that is certainly something to be thankful for. Okay, so it does work in the Chinese erhu and ethnic drums to slip in that multicultural Singapore message but nothing too jarring here.

At points, though, this feels more like a love song: “Don’t let love melt like an iceberg/Too late to turn back/With our perseverance/Embrace every touching moment in our hearts.” Even more subversive is the line which goes: “Watching the skyscrapers rise ever higher, my heart gets lonelier.”

Subversive is good but as a single, the accompanying 100-page photo book and DVD detailing the making-of process feel like overkill.

While he has to share the spotlight with Stefanie Sun, Tanya Chua and A-Do on the single, the stage is all his on the final Chinese pop offering this week as a dapper-looking Lin serenades a Taiwanese audience in an intimate setting.

Singaporean fans of the singer-songwriter will probably go green with envy after seeing this as a relaxed Lin natters away in between numbers, including Go! and Back To Back from his latest album 100 Days.

During the song Soy Milk And Dough Sticks, his supporters present him with a homemade cruller stuffed toy and even some soya-bean milk. Now that’s dedication.

Lin sounds great live and also takes on songs he wrote for others – A-mei’s Remember, Claire Kuo’s Wall In Your Heart and Cyndi Wang’s When You.

The DVD thoughtfully comes with piano sheet music for 18 songs written by him so that you, too, can stage your own cosy evening with Lin. It will have to do until his next concert here.

(ST)

Love In Disguise

Wang Lee Hom

He can write songs, he can sing and he has improved in his acting from the espionage thriller Lust, Caution (2007) to the period action-comedy Little Big Soldier (2010).

Here, pop idol Wang Lee Hom takes the next step and directs himself. Unfortunately, Love In Disguise is just one long self-indulgent exercise. This interminable cringe fest makes fellow popster Jay Chou’s directorial debut, Secret (2007), look like a cinematic masterpiece.

Wang’s alter-ego in the film is Du Minghan, a pop idol who mixes R&B grooves with traditional Chinese instruments and calls it “chinked-out music”. What a stretch.

Du falls for a music student Song Xiaoqing (China rising star Liu Yifei) because he sees CGI butterflies when she plays the guzheng (Chinese zither). He then disguises himself as a country bumpkin and gets into the music school where she is studying. He realises that she has a crush on another student Mu Fan (Qiao Zhenyu) and tries to help her get his attention.

Let the wincing begin.

The movie is at pains to point out, more than once, there is nothing as vulgar as romantic or sexual attraction between Du and Song. Rather, their bond is a matter of finding one’s soulmate. Even that half-hearted explanation does not justify the zero chemistry between the two leads.

Wang also seems eager to use the film as a vehicle to rebut criticisms and rumours. For example, there is the self-aggrandising ending about Du/Wang taking Chinese music to a new high. More pointedly, characters question if Du/Wang is gay to which he responds with an outburst of “Bulls**t!” at one point.

Like everything else, the moment strikes an awkward, false note. The only moment of truth comes when Du/Wang says: “I think I messed things up.”

(ST)

SINGFEST 2010 (DAY 1)

Fort Canning Park

Of the music festival’s line-up over the three days, Tuesday’s certainly takes the cake for being the most international. There was saucy Katy Perry from California, pop rock band Tokio Hotel from Germany and pop group Wonder Girls from South Korea.

Not every act left a good taste in the mouth, though.

After local singer Inch Chua, alternative rock band The Like and singer-songwriter Orianthi from Down Under warmed up the crowd, the five Girls came on around 8.30pm in an assortment of short dresses. They proceeded to underwhelm with their singing which sounded rather shrill and ragged.

They were also dwarfed by the size of the stage and could easily have done with another, say, five back-up dancers. Or perhaps they could have a live band instead of singing to a minus-one track as if this were a karaoke session.

When they disappeared for a costume change, a music video of theirs played on the screens. It was not a good sign that they sounded considerably better then.

Reappearing in matching denim outfits, they urged the crowd to sing along for Tell Me before ending with their big hit, Nobody.

Their moves were smoothest here, but then again, they have been doing the same routine to this track for two years now so they certainly have had plenty of practice.

Tokio Hotel were up next and while some might dismiss them as goth-lite, they definitely got the crowd going. Next to them, the Wonder Girls seemed like rank amateurs.

In his all-black get-up, lead singer Bill Kaulitz looked like a tall and gangly dark angel with out-of-control shoulder pads. The boys revved things up with their radio-friendly brand of pop-rock and even hauled a motorcycle onstage.

They also knew how to turn up the drama, so Dark Side Of The Sun came complete with jets of flames.

Perry is certainly no wallflower either and she raised temperatures up a notch when she bounced on stage in her two-piece floral bikini and launched into the cheeky I Kissed A Girl.

The party vibe was unmistakable with the large plastic beach balls, the inflatable sea creatures and the glitzy palm trees. Her band and back-up singers were also togged out in a riot of colours.

Knowing that she was the closing act after a long night, she teased the crowd: “Did you save yourself for me?” The answer was a resounding yes.

While the energy level dipped a little when she performed a couple of slower numbers, the mood perked right back up with the catchy hit Hot N Cold.

She picked a “sweaty young boy” and a woman in a blue wig to “dance your pants off” on stage and ended the number by kissing a boy – and a girl.

The bright-eyed party girl also showcased material from her upcoming new album. She strutted about for the in-your-face Peacock and ended the night with the sexy and sunny California Gurls.

The musical feast was over by midnight, leaving fans hungry in anticipation of the treats still to come.

(ST)

Let's Not Grieve Anymore

Wan Fang

Has it really been eight long years since the singer’s last release, The Chance Of Love? Meanwhile, lesser singers with prettier packaging churn them out at an indecent rate.

Not that the 42-year-old Wan Fang has been twiddling her thumbs. She has been productive on the small screen and on stage, including an excellent turn in Stan Lai’s The Village for The Esplanade’s Huayi festival in February last year.

But this album proves that Wan Fang, who released her debut album in 1990, is still a force to be reckoned with as a singer.

She serves as a producer for the first time and also has a hand in writing several tracks, including highlights such as the gently heartbreaking Seeing Happiness Smiling At Me and the delicate titular track.

Her voice is like fine porcelain – there is a porous quality to it that lets light through – and time has not diminished the beauty of its translucence.

Loving You

Mei Xin

This is vintage packaging, the likes of which has not been seen since, oh, the 1980s. It is hard to imagine who this is supposed to appeal to except, maybe, for remote parts of China isolated from the rest of the world and the Internet revolution.

Listening to the album then comes as a surprise – it is better than what you would expect. The local singer has a pleasant voice and her debut album has worthy contributions from veterans of the music scene here such as Chen Jiaming and Jim Lim. Mei Xin herself composed one track, Because I’m Loving You.

She even goes back in time with a perky version of Yi Chuan Xin (literally, A Strand Of Hearts).

Now that is the kind of retro that is acceptable on an album.

2010 GREATEST LOVE

Waterman

This has definitely got to be one of the stranger routes a recording company has taken to release an album. Waterman was actually dreamt up by an advertising agency to promote a brand of bottled water. To create buzz, an album was launched under Waterman’s name.

It did well enough for the enigmatic masked crusader, whose motto is “Drink more water”, to release a second record.

Greatest Love is filled with messages about the power of love and the need to protect the earth and proceeds from album sales reportedly go to World Vision Taiwan’s Child Health Now charity campaign.

Still, it is hard not to think of a track like More Water as an advertising jingle: “Water More Water, even the dolphins are crying out in thirst, only water can quench this parched universe.”

(ST)

Aftershock

Feng Xiaogang

The story: On July 28, 1976, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck the Chinese city of Tangshan in Hebei in the wee hours of the morning. Reportedly, 655,000 people perished. Those who survived had their lives torn apart and one mother Li Yuanni (Xu Fan) has to live with the consequences when she is forced to make a choice between her seven-year-old twins – saving her son Fang Da or saving her daughter Fang Deng.

Adapting Zhang Ling’s novel Aftershock, China director Feng Xiaogang gives audiences both the tremors of the physical phenomenon as well as the emotional devastation wreaked by the earthquake.

Living in a geographically stable country, it can be hard to imagine the full force of nature’s fury when it is unleashed. What Feng has accomplished here is to convey the sense and the scale of the destruction – elemental, terrifying and absolute.

But unlike blockbusters such as The Day After Tomorrow (2004) where the shock and awe of the special effects scenes are often an end unto itself, here, it serves as a set-up to a far more moving story.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Yuanni’s husband is killed and her two children are trapped under two opposite ends of a beam. Lifting the beam at one end would save one child and kill the other; not making a decision would result in both dying as precious seconds ticked away.

Xu Fan’s excellent performance makes you feel the full weight of the impossible decision facing her and you ache with her when she finally picks her son over her daughter. She never forgives herself for that choice and regret and guilt seep into her life.

That fateful decision haunts Fang Deng as well. She hears her mother’s decision, but then miraculously survives and turns into a solemn little girl (played by Zhang Zifeng). She is later adopted by a couple from the People’s Liberation Army who are sent to Tangshan to help with rescue efforts, but she has to live with the knowledge of her mother’s choice.

Fang Da, too, is marked by the earthquake as his arm was crushed and he also has to deal with the weight of his mother’s expectations and hopes.

No one is left unscarred and yet, the film holds out the possibility of healing and reconciliation.

The story then moves to Sichuan when it is struck by an earthquake in 2008. Fang Da (Li Chen) and Fang Deng (Zhang Jingchu) both join in the aid efforts and end up meeting each other.

Feng adroitly refrains from showing us the recognition scene, effectively packing the heartwrenching reunion between mother and daughter with an even bigger emotional wallop.

This reviewer has not been so completely wrung out from a film since Isao Takahata’s classic anti-war classic Grave Of The Fireflies (1988).

Aftershock then ends with an actual survivor paying his respects at the earthquake memorial in Tangshan. It seems a bit abrupt but also makes the point that the upheavals experienced by that one family was multiplied hundreds and thousands of times.

Author Lung Ying-tai once said of a book she wrote that it was a literary joss stick offered to the millions who were killed during the Chinese civil war.

This 10-hanky weepie is Feng’s cinematic joss stick to those who died during the Tangshan earthquake as well as his tribute to those who went on with the business of living despite having their lives shattered.

(ST)

Au Revoir Taipei

Arvin Chen

The story: After his girlfriend Fay leaves for Paris, Kai (Jack Yao) regularly parks himself at a bookstore to learn French and soon catches the attention of salesgirl Susie (Amber Kuo). When Fay breaks up with him over the phone, he decides to borrow money from gang boss Brother Bao (veteran singer Frankie Kao Ling-feng) in order to fly to France. In return, he has to pick up a package, setting off a chain of events that leads to several wild chases all over Taipei.

Writer-director Arvin Chen’s debut feature is a sweet and charming ode to Taipei’s varied night life. The ubiquitous 24/7 convenience stores, the night markets with their delicious street food and thronging crowds, the aunties doing their mass-dance routine outdoors – they are all here.

The details do not call unnecessary attention to themselves though and instead serve as unobtrusive backdrops to an engaging caper that stands on its own merit.

Kai runs into his friend Gao (Paul Chiang) before picking up the package and they head off to the night market for a farewell meal where they bump into Susie. Meanwhile, Bao’s nephew Hong (Lawrence Ko) wants to get his hands on the package as well. Detective Ji Yong (Joseph Chang) stumbles into the picture, chasing after the package while nursing a broken heart and a bruised ego.

It seems like an awful lot is going on but Chinese-American film-maker Chen handles things with a light touch and flair. Whenever the film threatens to sag, he injects some fresh momentum into it with another bit of humour or some action.

Accordingly, Au Revoir Taipei has been well received, picking up a Netpac Award for Chen at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival while Kuo, singer and TV drama actress, was named Best New Talent at the 12th Taipei Film Festival earlier this month.

Fresh faces Yao and Kuo are sweetly tentative together as they explore their nascent attraction while trying to rescue Gao, who has been kidnapped by Hong’s henchmen.

The villains though are more comic than menacing. Bao waxes lyrical about his lady love and wants to retire while Hong and gang are all dressed in orange suits, looking like a slightly demented boyband.

The supporting cast nail their quirky roles perfectly and the 1.89m-tall model-turned-actor Chiang steals scenes as the clueless, mild-mannered and good-hearted Gao.

Au Revoir Taipei can be thought of as a companion piece to Hsiao Ya-chuan’s Taipei Exchanges, about a cafe with a sideline in barter trade. Both radiate a gentle youthful whimsy and a very palpable affection for the city of Taipei. Inevitably you wonder: Wouldn’t it be nice to have a film like that about Singapore?

(ST)

Jay Chou World Tour Live in Singapore 2010

Singapore Indoor Stadium

When it comes to a concert by king of Mandopop Jay Chou, his fans are perfectly happy to shell it out. Aside from watching their idol perform live, they are also assured of a top-notch production with no expense spared.

The 31-year-old singer wowed audiences here with a glossy and entertaining show two years ago and he did the same again last Friday, the first of three sold-out nights at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

He first appeared teasingly as a hologram, seeming to float in space, dressed like a mummy with its bandages unravelling. Then a globular screen on stage opened up to reveal Chou inside. He was outfitted in a glittery silver concoction with crazy protrusions on his shoulders, like Elvis in his Vegas best – on steroids.

All this was just for the opening number Dragon Rider – the hologram tent and the globular screen were not seen again for the rest of the night.

Every single element for each song was carefully thought out, from the background visuals to the dancers’ costumes to the special effects which included lasers, jets of fire and platforms which rose and fell.

But was the show over-produced?

No doubt the production was top-notch, but it also felt a little frenzied, too busy moving from point to point to stop and breathe. There was no momentum to speak of in the first few songs as Chou kept disappearing for costume tweaks and changes after each number.

Also, his voice would sometimes disappear into the music and was barely discernible in the mix, particularly when he had to hit the high notes or sing falsetto. His songs are known for their rapid-fire rhythms and tongue-twisting lyrics and they proved to be challenging in a live setting.

The fans did not seem too bothered, though, and were happy to scream and sing along, even when it was just a video clip charting his decade-long career’s milestones in music and on celluloid.

To mark that journey, he covered songs from across his back catalogue, including some of his early hits such as Lovely Woman from his debut record Jay (2000) and Love Before The Century from Fantasy (2001).

Still, the focus was clearly on The Era, his most recent release. He performed eight of the album’s 11 tracks, such as the elegiac ballad Fireworks Cool Easily and the wry track Superman Can’t Fly, in which he lays out the frustrations and regrets he has had in the business. Oddly, he chose to skip album highlight Long Time No See.

A little after the mid-way mark, a nifty black-box contraption appeared on the stage. Different parts of it were visible depending on how it was lit. At the same stage, it took on different looks depending on the images projected upon it. At one point, it even seemed like Chou was exploring the interior of a house.

Very cool, but also distancing in effect since he was essentially singing songs such as the breezy Diary: Fly For Love in a small cubicle behind a panel of glass.

The highlights, for me, were when Chou actually forged a connection with the crowd on Can’t Tell Her, which ended the set, and in the glorious encore finale, Nunchucks.

For all the technical wizardry, the audience broke into the loudest screams when Chou mingled with the lucky fans in the front rows during Simple Love.

The 21/2-hour gig was already nearing its end before the entire audience finally rose to its feet. It did not take some new marvel or glitzy gizmo to do that. Instead, it was something simpler and more powerful – all Chou had to do was ask.

(ST)

DUO Eason Chan Concert Live 2010

Eason Chan

Ahead of his concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Sept 18, check out what Eason Chan served up on his home turf.

The 18 gigs at the Hong Kong Coliseum in March and April were a personal record number for him. Maybe that explains why his voice was not quite up to its usual high standard and he sounded a little strained and tired at points.

Still, this generous three-CD spread takes you through his hits from 1998’s My Happy Era to 2006’s Under Mount Fuji, to this year’s No Man’s Land.

Apart from his own songs, Chan also performed a delightful array of covers including Faye Wong’s Promise, Kay Tse’s Street Of Wedding Invitations, and even a Japanese track, Mr Lonely.

What you won’t get to experience here, though, are the outrageous costumes worn by Chan and his charismatic stage presence. Those will have to wait till September.

Regeneration

Chemistry

The R&B duo Chemistry first created sparks 10 years ago when they won the Asayan talent search variety show, Japan’s version of American Idol.

They have gone on to release several No. 1 albums and singles, with Regeneration being their sixth full-length offering.

While Yoshikuni Dochin and Kaname Kawabata look like chalk and cheese on the album cover – one a sensitive lovelorn soul; the other, a boxer getting ready to do battle – they prove that their chemistry has not fizzled even though the opening number has them singing: “Go alone had to quit ya/On my own, better without ya”. The album includes Period, the opening theme for the hit anime series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

More satisfying, though, are At That Time, which incorporates a rap from Japanese hip-hop veteran Dohzi-T, and the slinky number Dawn.

1st Mini Album

2AM

Once upon a time, there was an 11-member Korean boyband called One Day.

They then split into two groups, 2AM and 2PM. Compared to the diurnal 2PM which went down the route of energetic dance music, the nocturnal 2AM went for a smoother R&B sound, in keeping with the vibe of its name.

The result was that 2PM emerged triumphant in the popularity stakes.

But with a repackaged version of their first album, 2AM have proven that night and day can meet.

Their catchy new single I Did Wrong ups the tempo and comes with an epic 10-minute music video that has group members Jo Kwon styled as a club DJ, Changmin as an ice hockey player, Seulong as a biker and Jinwoon as a basketball player.

The rest of the album, which includes material from their first two singles, slides into a less distinctive, if not unpleasant, groove.

The question, then, is this: If 2AM continue to move in the direction of fasterpaced numbers, what will distinguish them from 2PM? Will they get back together One Day?

(ST)

Old Cow Vs Tender Grass

Fok Chi Gai

It is pretty clear who had final cut approval for the film – the sponsors.

A certain brand of stout is mentioned by name, appears in several scenes with the label clearly displayed and even appears as an actual ad on the side of the cab driven by the lead Henry Thia.

When a China nurse, played by local radio deejay Siau Jiahui, gives some cockamamie spiel about moonlighting as a beer promoter in order to feel better about herself, you wonder if she has had too much to drink.

It all makes sense though, if you think of this movie as an extended advertisement for a handful of products padded out with bland stories.

Despite the slightly saucy title, which appears to reference the real-life older man-younger woman relationships of comedian Marcus Chin and film-maker Jack Neo, the relationship between Thia and Taiwanese newcomer Crystal Lin is supremely chaste. In fact, they sometimes seem to be in different movies.

Thia is recycling his hangdog expressions and sad sack persona from his comedies for the umpteenth time while Lin is stuck in a melodrama that has her trying to recover from some past trauma.

Meanwhile, another uninvolving romance between the nurse and another cab driver (Malaysian deejay-actor Jack Lim) is being played out.

All of this is handled clunkily, with clumsy scene transitions and an annoying soundtrack that hammers in the mood setting for each scene.

This old cow should just be put out to pasture.

(ST)

Just because the World Cup is over and the TV season in the United States is on hiatus does not mean the couch potato has to peel himself off the sofa.

It used to be that this was the time of year for less-than-stellar TV series and endless reruns. But that has been changing in recent years, with cable channels offering more original material and TV networks stepping up to the challenge.

Some things remain the same, though, and “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” continues to be an unshakeable mantra.

Vampires are still making a commercial killing, so series creators are finding ways to work them into the small screen. It is the same with werewolves.

This was probably the thought process that led to The Gates, in which an unsuspecting police chief and his family move into an exclusive community that seems too perfect to be true. Guess who, or what, are among the denizens?

Not that imitation is necessarily a bad thing, the only sin really is imitation that fails to ignite interest.

Hence, Pretty Little Liars, despite clearly taking its cue from Gossip Girl, a TV series about privileged kids behaving badly, will likely prove that nubile young girls mixed up in intrigue, sexual and otherwise, will always find an audience.

Amid all the usual fare, there are flashes of something different in some of these mid-year offerings.

Sure, Unnatural History is a cross between Hardy Boys mystery-solving and Indiana Jones-style adventures, but its wholesomeness is a welcome throwback to a more innocent time.

Bonus points must be given to the creators for making historical facts palatable, just like in the hit film, National Treasure (2004).

The most audacious new show, though, is Huge. Set in a fat camp, it puts the touchy issues of weight and self- worth front and centre.

Life! takes you through eight new shows – also including cop dramas Rookie Blue and Memphis Beat, crime dramedy Scoundrels and mystery thriller Persons Unknown – and sifts out the sizzlers from the snoozers.

There are more new offerings coming for couch potatoes.

Look out for sci-fi adventure series Stargate Universe (Syfy, StarHub Channel 526 from next Monday at 11pm); Haven, a supernatural mystery based on Stephen King’s novel Colorado Kid (Syfy, StarHub Channel 526, from Oct 11, Mondays at 10pm); Shattered, about a homicide detective with multiple personality disorder (Universal Channel, StarHub Channel 512, coming at the end of the year); and Caprica, a spin-off from the critically acclaimed sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica (AXN, StarHub Channel 511). Its air dates will be announced soon.

Pretty Little Liars

In a nutshell: Dead girl sends snarky text messages, presumably from the grave.

What: Move over Gossip Girl, there is a trashier and skankier show in town.

First, the similarities. Liars is also based on a best-selling book series about the woes of the popular “it” girls, by Sara Shepard in this case. It even has a Blair (Leighton Meester) lookalike in the shape of Aria Montgomery (played by Lucy Hale).

Both are about teenagers behaving like hedonistic adults but Liars ups the stakes further. In the first episode alone, one high-school girl is locking lips with a teacher, another is eyeing the boyfriend of her older sister and a third is kissing a girl.

Oh right, the story. There used to be a clique of five girls and then one of them disappeared and was presumed dead. So when the other four start receiving messages from the “dead girl” threatening to spill the beans on a shared dark secret, they will fight tooth and manicured nail to protect themselves.

So much mischief and intrigue, so little time. Welcome to your newest guilty pleasure.

Rookie Blue

In a nutshell: New cops learn the ropes.

What: No offence, but another cop show, really?

Cop shows have been done to death and pretty much from every conceivable angle. But while Rookie Blue does not break new ground, it does offer a promising mix of drama from both solving cases as well as the characters’ lives and loves.

In other words, this show is more like Hill Street Blues than CSI.

In the first episode, the personalities of the different cops are quickly and deftly sketched out. Also, by having them take on different assignments, the viewer is given a quick overview of the various duties in a precinct’s police station.

As this is a Canadian series, most of the fresh-faced cast might not be familiar. The exception is Gregory Smith, whom viewers saw grow up on the drama series, Everwood.

Following a new series can be a bit like starting a new relationship and there is always the risk of rejection, that is, cancellation, after you commit. Good thing that Rookie Blue has already been picked up for a second season by the ABC network.

Scoundrels

In a nutshell: Can small-time crooks go straight?

What: When Wolf West (nice to see David James Elliott of JAG playing scoundrel instead of saint) is handed a longer-than-expected jail sentence, it is up to his wife Cheryl (Virginia Madsen) to straighten out the West clan.

With its kooky family members, including a pair of twins played by Patrick Flueger (from sci-fi thriller The 4400) – one a lawyer, the other a lunkhead criminal – this comes across like a less nutty take on Arrested Development.

Based on the New Zealand series Outrageous Fortune, the premiere is snappily paced and Madsen is fun to watch as a harassed mother trying to hold it all together.

She came to fame in the 1980s with teen flicks such as Electric Dreams (1984) and is also remembered for her turn in the slasher film Candyman (1992).

Her career was resuscitated with an Oscar-nominated performance in the wine country drama, Sideways (2004), and this should cast her in the limelight once more.

This is the second time ABC is attempting to retool this series for an American audience. A 2008 pilot named Good Behaviour was not picked up. Guess bad behaviour is always more attractive when it comes to entertainment.

Persons Unknown

In a nutshell: Seven abducted, to what end?

What: It is always a good sign when a series poses interesting questions because that means viewers will want to stick around for the answers.

The set-up here is intriguing: Seven people, seemingly unrelated, are abducted from different places and then brought to what looks like an abandoned film lot.

Why have they been kidnapped? Who is monitoring their every movement? And why are they being served food in a Chinese restaurant?

The obvious reference here is the recently concluded sci-fi thriller Lost, in which a group of people marooned on an island have to figure out why they were brought there. There is even a close-up shot of an eye opening, echoing the very first scene of Lost.

Will viewers have the patience for another drawn-out mystery, though? Cast-wise, this series also lacks the draw of familiar names. Hopefully, the title will not turn into a bad joke about the series’ audience.

Huge

In a nutshell: Big – and proud of it.

What: If there is one group that is under-represented in the TV land of beautiful people, it is overweight people.

No wonder when Camryn Manheim won an Emmy in 1998 for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her work on the legal drama, The Practice, she exclaimed: “This is for all the fat girls!”

Perhaps spurred by the success of the reality series The Biggest Loser, there is now a scripted series where the overweight folks are front and centre.

Star Nikki Blonsky is best known for her role as Tracy Turnblad in the film version of the musical Hairspray (2007). She brings a deliciously acerbic zing to the role of Willamena Rader, who is bundled off to fat camp by her parents. Will, as she prefers to be called, is big and sassy and refuses to be ashamed of her size.

At the end of episode one, she decides that she wants to stay on at the camp, and it should be interesting to see how she will continue to rock the boat.

Unnatural History

In a nutshell: National Treasure – high-school edition.

What: Henry Griffin (Kevin Schmidt) is not your typical teenager. He has travelled all over the world and gone on all sorts of adventures. And then his parents decide to send him to a regular high school in Washington DC.

All that esoteric knowledge he has gathered comes in useful, however, when he decides to solve the mystery of the death of his godfather, aided reluctantly by his cousin Jasper Bartlett (Jordan Gavaris).

If Pretty Little Liars feels like poison to parents, then this wholesome adventure and mystery series packed with factoids should be the perfect antidote.

The Gates

In a nutshell: Vampires and werewolves in suburbia.

What: Plus-sized folks are near invisible on the goggle-box but the undead are getting overexposed.

The Twilight juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down while The Vampire Diaries and True Blood are carving up the audience share on TV.

The Gates wants a piece of the action but there is too much going on and it ends up feeling scattershot.

Nick Monohan (Frank Grillo, right, in green T-shirt) is the new chief of police in an exclusive gated community and it seems like the American Dream come true for him and his family. Cue alarm bells.

First day on the job and he has to deal with a missing person, last seen outside his new neighbour’s house. Meanwhile, his teenage kids have problems of their own to tackle at school.

There is the sinister adult conspiracy and a teenage romance angle, except that it all seems too familiar, like a cut-and-paste job of other series.

The Gates could well be shut out of viewers’ affections for all things undead.

Memphis Beat

In a nutshell: Maverick cop sings the blues.

What: Good news – Jason Lee (right) is starring in a new series right after the redneck comedy, My Name Is Earl, ended last year.

Bad news – Memphis Beat is not very good.

The title and opening credits promised a sense of place, the American South, and there was some of that but the pilot simply was not very compelling.

Dwight is the old-hand detective used to doing things his way and inevitably, there is a clash between him and the new lieutenant (Alfre Woodard). So far, so predictable.

It was also not clear whe- ther the fact that Dwight literally sings the blues in a pub was a one-episode gimmick or a recurring element of the series.

Whatever it is, things need to click and soon, or Memphis will be taking a beating in the ratings.

(ST)

agoodday lian-lian-kan festival

Various artists

For a compilation album, this record feels remarkably coherent.

Maybe it is because it features the roster of artistes from a single label – A Good Day Records. The line-up ranges from up-and-comer Dadado Huang, who released his debut album in 2007, to stalwarts such as Ze Hwang, whose first commercial release was back in 1998.

The indie set-up started in 2003 and made its name with its first record: singer-songwriter Cheer Chen’s debut single, Sentimental Kills.

There are standouts aplenty, including Dadado Huang’s insouciant To Myself, NyLas’ distinctive brand of child-like pop on Lovely Times and Smokering’s laid-back contribution. And that’s just the first three tracks.

We then take a detour into the territory of sombre and atmospheric pop a la Mazzy Star with two English numbers, Hwang’s Soak and Ciacia’s haunting A Dialogue Between Me & My Ghost.

Natural Q’s A Good Day (Fine Weather) closes the set with a slyly breezy number on the vagaries of weather and love.

This is a snapshot of the state of indie pop in Taiwan today and it is a good day indeed.

Guardian

Y2J

Duets are often obligatory in albums and Mandorock falls into cliches. Yet, against the odds, duo Y2J have become commercially viable based on their mainstay of rock duets.

Comprising Yuming Lai and Jane Huang, both finalists from the second season of the star-making machinery One Million Star, the duo had their first album Live For You out in 2008. It earned them a nomination for Best Vocal Group at the Golden Melody Awards.

Beyond strong, powerful vocals, Y2J’s dynamic is powered by the “are-they-or-aren’t-they-a-couple” undertow. On Forgiving, he wails: “Your tears leave me helpless” and she answers: “Do you know I’ve endured humiliations for love/Striving to learn forgiveness/Can’t bear for our love to die halfway”.

The title track features a guest turn by aboriginal singer Biung Wang and has Huang urging Lai: “Please be my guardian, hold me/Help me quietly rediscover the true colour of love”.

For star-crossed lovers everywhere.

We Hold Each Other Happily

Yuki

There is a joyful innocence to the series of black-and-white photos in the lyric booklet which shows the Japanese singer-songwriter with her arms stretched out in an embrace. Except there is no one there.

Despite that slightly unsettling stance, the former member of the now-defunct punk rock band Judy And Mary has come up with a kookily optimistic album that can be hard to resist.

Present chugs along on guitar riffs as her voice swoops from the lower registers to a child-like squeal, Look Of Love gets jazzy, while “just life! all right!” has her intoning solemnly in English: “Baby corn and carrot/tomato, onion, green beans and spinach/cream cheese and LOVE”.

The disc is bookended by the tracks Morning Comes and Night Comes, lending a sense of symmetry to the musical journey.

(ST)

The Fantastic Water Babes

Jeffrey Lau

The story: After getting publicly humiliated by her boyfriend’s new squeeze, Gill (Gillian Chung) wants to get back at her by winning a swimming relay competition. There is one snag – she cannot really swim, so she kidnaps champion swimmer Chi (Alex Fong) to train her.

You could completely disregard the plot and it would not make much of a difference. The movie is really just a series of gags and the only question is whether the hit-to-miss ratio is high enough.

Answer: Not quite.

Still, there are some funny sequences such as when the entire island of Cheung Chau colludes to convince Gill that she has superpowers and her friends and neighbours end up having to do all kinds of ridiculous things. There is also a nicely executed mahjong scene about arcane local rules – essentially a standalone skit.

This is all familiar territory for writerdirector Jeffrey Lau as he had also helmed farcical movies such as Just Another Pandora’s Box (2010) and The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993), in which a bunch of A-listers from the two Tony Leungs to Maggie Cheung gamely make fools of themselves.

The star wattage here is dimmer.

Gillian Chung, one-half of Cantopop duo Twins, seems to hold back and does not quite throw herself into the whole zany enterprise.

Professional swimmer-turned-actor Alex Fong (Chi) fares better but it is Stephen Fung who proves he is gungho enough to do anything for a laugh.

When the director decides to shove Gill and Chi into some grand romance, the result is underwhelming. It is difficult to be emotionally committed to cardboard characters who have been manipulated for yuks all through the movie.

Even more bewildering is the CGI-heavy finale, which further distances the viewer from the story. It is as though, after all that onscreen craziness, Lau finally goes off the deep end.

(ST)

Eric Moo Moments 2010 Asia Tour

Singapore Expo Hall 8

Last Friday

The concert did not start off promisingly. Malaysia-born and Singapore-bred veteran singer Eric Moo is known for his big emotive voice but he had trouble with the high notes from the get-go.

The 47-year-old kept passing the buck to the 5,500-strong audience during the chorus of songs such as Can’t Forget The Past (Yi Wang Guo Qu) and Love Puppet (Ai Qing Kui Lei).

After a few songs, he explained that his voice was not in tip-top condition because he had been feasting on local delights such as laksa, char kway teow and durians since arriving here from Beijing, where he is now based. The late nights spent watching World Cup matches did not help either.

It did not seem like particularly responsible behaviour, given that his fans were there to hear him sing and not for the staging, which was bare-bones; nor for the costumes, which were kept simple.

They had grown up with his music since the days of xinyao in the 1980s and some had come with children in tow. Moo himself had taken his family along as well. His wife and two young daughters were seated in the front row.

Still, the audience was won over by the chatty entertainer as he reminisced about his salad days and bantered with his daughters from time to time: “Daddy’s working, okay?”

There was also no denying that he has accumulated a large body of work and many of his songs were part of an indelible soundtrack for those who grew up in the 1980s.

It was nice to rediscover some of them, such as Love Hidden Inside My Heart (Qing Yi Cang Xin Di), over the course of the evening.

While his voice was ragged at the edges, it retained its sonorous power in the more forgiving lower registers. And one had to give the man credit for still going through with an almost four- hour-long show.

His vocals gained some strength over the evening, no doubt helped by his many asides and the parade of guests. They included Radio 100.3 deejay Charmaine Yip, the singer’s younger brother and producer of the concert, Allan Moo, and fellow singer-songwriter Roy Loi.

Most incongruously, film-maker Jack Neo, 50, who was mired in scandal earlier this year when it emerged that he had an affair with a 22-year-old woman, also showed up on stage. He bantered with Moo for a bit and then apologised once more for having strayed. The crowd seemed forgiving but really, it was neither the time nor place for it.

Happily, the focus shifted back to the songs after that episode as Moo took on favourite tracks such as Those Days (Na Yi Duan Ri Zi), Life Is But A Dream (Hong Chen Lai Qu Yi Chang Meng) and the Minnan number Call My Name.

The set ended with Too Foolish (Tai Sha), one of Moo’s biggest hits and a track that is notoriously difficult to sing. Once again, he got his obliging fans to sing the difficult parts.

Fittingly, one of the songs during the encore was You Are My Only One (Ni Shi Wo De Wei Yi). The crowd sang with gusto: “Perhaps you don’t believe I am satisfied with this outcome/Although you are my first/Although you are my last/Although you are my only.”

It was a love song from his fans to Moo, ragged voice and all.

(ST)

Tone

Tai Ai-ling

There are ballads and then there are slow-burn torch songs. And Taiwanese singer Tai Ai-ling shows that she has the chops to pull off torch tunes.

Coming a year after the release of Love Sign, Tone is reportedly Tai’s break-up album. The first two cuts, Close Eyes and the title track, feature languorous stanzas that build up to power choruses.

Her voice is deliberately pushed to breaking point as she belts out: “Close my eyes and love till despair comes/I’m still waiting for that heaven you spoke of/Use memories, to heal, to gaze, to resist the waves beating on my chest”.

The electropop of Gone and indie rock stylings of Left-Right offer a welcome change of pace but Today, with its rap by Matzka, is an uneasy fit with the rest of the disc.

Only One

U-Kiss

Image-wise, the seven-member Korean boyband U-Kiss tend towards the fey side of the spectrum, probably using more eye- shadow than the entire cast of Glee combined.

Not that it matters once you put on the headphones because they sound just like any other boyband. That said, Only One is a consistently listenable and energetic album. The opening cry of “Are you ready?” on Binggeul Binggeul (Round And Round) is no routine boast as the lads serve up one slick slice of dance pop after another. Binggeul Binggeul has topped Radio 1003’s singles chart, one of the rare Korean tracks to do so.

Even better is Bang Bang Bang with its rhythmic rat-a-tat chorus as they proclaim: “I wanna rock”.

The album also includes remixes of their previous singles such as Man Man Ha Nee, Not Young and Talk To Me.

Sparklers

Amber Kuo

Cutie-pie Amber Kuo recently starred in the well-received romance Au Revoir Taipei. Which means that she has a back-up option in showbusiness should her singing career fail to take off.

On her third album, she veers between being bland and cute, her thin voice trying desperately to do justice to tracks such as the titular cut.

Things hit a nadir on Cartoon Life, a cover of Mika’s Lollipop. She goes for childish whimsy while mouthing nonsensical lines such as: “My God My God Oh, the world is so big/M’Car M’Car, the world has become so big with you”.

And Sparklers fizzles out.

(ST)

Despicable Me
Chris Renaud

The story: Gru (Steve Carell) is a big bad villain and for his next dastardly deed, he plans to steal the moon. First, though, he needs to get a shrink ray back from rival villain Vector (Jason Segel). As part of his plan to do this, he adopts three little orphan girls who go door to door selling cookies. Soon, Gru finds that his priorities begin to change.

Despicable Me is a kiddy flick. Which is to say that those who will enjoy it most are likely to be from the under-12 set. They will dig the bright, cheery colour palette, the literal humour and the fact that Gru is really not a very scary villain.
Early on, to establish his despicable credentials, the audience is shown Gru jamming his air-polluting oversized vehicle between two cars – and then front- and rear-ending them. He steps into a coffee shop and uses his freeze ray to jump queue. Evil just ain’t what it used to be.
He is supposed to be a master villain but somehow you sense that his heart is not quite in it.
Comic actor Steve Carell from the sitcom The Office voices Gru with vaguely east European-accented English and the thought of him hamming it up in the recording studio is enough to raise a smile.
To aid him in his nefarious doings, Gru has an entire army of minions – excitable, quarrelsome little yellow creatures who talk with cutesy voices in an incomprehensible language. That is, until the DVD or Blue Ray comes out and includes the decoding of the high-pitched tittering as an extra.
Another major sidekick is the hard-of-hearing evil scientist Dr Nefario (comedian Russell Brand) who hears “dart gun” and invents a fart gun.
Meanwhile, Gru’s nemesis, the nerdy and cocky Vector, who has been stealing the limelight with more showy shenanigans, is prone to inventing guns which shoot resigned piranhas and bemused squid.
This is pretty much the level the film is pitched at and when it tries to be snarky, the change of tone feels out of place. When Gru attempts to get a loan from the Bank Of Evil, underneath that title is the punchline “Formerly Lehman Brothers”.
However, Despicable Me is not so much interested in coming up with zingers on topics of the day as it wants to warm the cockles of your heart. The audience learns how Gru desperately sought approval from his mother (Julie Andrews) as a child but nothing he did impressed her.
It is not hard to see where the story of Gru and the little orphan girls will end up. You just wish the entire process was a little less manipulative.
Stay on for the credits as a trio of irrepressible minions make a welcome return. They compete to see who can stretch out furthest into the audience, a nice little scene that also showcases the 3-D effects. Sometimes, it is the simplest gags that tickle the funny bone, regardless of one’s age.
(ST)

Love You No Matter What
Erica Chiang

I Am Not
Elisa Chen

Winding Road
Lu Yao

This week, we have three debut albums from three women. Say what you want about the state of the music business, it remains a magnet for those with music in their blood and stars in their eyes.
Erica Chiang took the tried-and-tested route of entering a singing competition and swung into the top four in the first Super Idol in 2008.
On her debut, the former golf caddie offers up a mix of original material and covers. She has a big voice but she is in no hurry to show it off, unleashing it only during the chorus of opener Unicellular.
The title track is unabashedly commercial: “I love you no matter what/Even if it means turning my back on the whole world/If there’s a happiness worth striving for/It’s to be with you”. No great shakes lyrically but Chiang imbues the song with warmth and sincerity.
Even on the covers such as Chiang Mei-chi’s Beloved, Why Aren’t You By My Side and Sandy Lam’s Weathered The Cold Wind For You, her voice, honeyed and slightly nasal, makes the songs her own.
Image-wise, she has gone for an understated androgynous look, wearing shirts and jeans and sporting a hat.
Meanwhile, Elisa Chen has gone for an all-out rocker-chick look complete with electric guitar and attitude on the CD cover. But her voice lacks that oomph such an image conjures.
In fact, my favourite track here is not a rock track but the ballad Ever Since. Over a piano-driven chorus, she croons: “You’re the greatest thing that’s happened to my life/Finally understand why life is worth waiting for”.
Bonus points to her for composing all the music and co-writing several tracks on her album even if the songs do not quite reflect her storied musical background. She was a music producer at 24, a member of a jazz group and had worked with local bands in the United States.
In contrast, Lu Yao’s background was in modelling. This is not the most promising of signs but the Harbin native has a set of passable pipes. She fares better on the slower numbers such as Crossing The International Date Line though her voice feels a tad thin on Regretful Beauty.
What makes listening to her album a trying experience is the fact that it has been put together with no regard for thematic unity or emotional continuity.
On Super Lover, an urban track trying uber hard to be hip, she goes: “Honey Honey I want to conquer your heart from the runway”.The next number, I Do, has her in the mood for mellow romance: “I do, I’m willing/This love will never forget/Even if I grow old one day”.
She has nailed one thing though. The road to success is indeed a winding one, and not everyone is going to reach that destination. With so many debuts jostling for attention, only those who offer a spark of something different are going to make it to the next stage of the journey.
(ST)

Triple Tap
Derek Yee

The story: After winning a competition, sharpshooter Ken (Louis Koo) drives off – right into an ongoing robbery. He kills the perpetrators, save for one who gets away. Meanwhile, the traffic cop who responded to a distress call ends up in a coma. The case lands in the lap of detective, and fellow shooting competitor, Jerry (Daniel Wu), and he decides to charge Ken with illegal possession of firearms.

The term triple tap is used when a marksman is so skilled that he is able to fire three on-target shots and leave only one hole. It is not a description that would be applicable to this film since it veers wildly off the mark in its concluding third.
A pity since the set-up is actually intriguing. Ken seems to be the unwitting everyman who is reluctantly thrust into the role of citizen hero but there is more here than meets the eye. Is it really coincidence that led him to the robbery taking place on a deserted stretch of highway? Does he really have nothing to gain?
The more one learns about Ken, the more one gets the feeling that something is not quite right. He is a high-flyer in the financial world but he seems like the kept man of his territorial female boss (Li Bingbing). At the same time, he has a girlfriend (Charlene Choi), who happens to be a nurse at the hospital where the traffic cop is being monitored.
Director and co-writer Derek Yee (Shinjuku Incident, 2009) doles out the information in dribs and drabs and tosses a couple of red herrings into the mix.
But after all that work, the script seems to have exhausted itself. When Jerry (above left) asks a more senior officer Miu (Alex Fong) for help, the last thing this reviewer expected was a re-enactment of the crime scene so that Fong could somehow telepathically get into the head of the criminal. It came across like the rejected premise for a show that crosses the psychic TV show Medium with the FBI profiler series Criminal Minds.
Also problematic is the casting of Koo who is grim and glum throughout. As in Accident (2009), he has to shoulder a central role of great ambiguity and once again, he is less than fully engaging.
Those who have seen Double Tap (2000) might be even less enthused since the concept of sharpshooter versus cop is taken straight from there. Yee was co-writer but did not direct that earlier film while the late Leslie Cheung was the marksman to Fong’s CID officer.
Triple Tap can in fact be seen as a “sort of” sequel as Fong reprises the role he played, but the focus has moved on to a new pair of adversaries.
Yee strains to give the Ken-Jerry rivalry an epic feel as they try to outwit each other. Unfortunately, the relationship between the two is more contrived and bland rather than electrifying and grand.
The final shootout is a wildly ludicrous affair in which the measured ambiguity of the beginning has no place and any semblance of plot coherence is utterly blasted to bits.
(ST)

Immortal Tour
Cheer Chen

This handsomely packaged box set is the complete audio-visual keepsake of Taiwanese indie darling Cheer Chen’s Asian tour last year.
There is no denying her sincerity and charm in a live setting but the recording of her last concert tour Poses (2007) made her sound rather reedy. Recorded by famed mixer Dave Yang and produced by her beau and regular collaborator Tiger Chung, there is a richer quality to her vocals in this release.
The material spans her entire output from 1998’s Let Me Think to 2009’s Immortal. Her last album was a breakthrough of sorts as she moved away from musings on relationships to embrace broader concerns about the people and the world around her.
As if to mark that turning point, it was a grittier Chen fans saw at the gigs – a rocker girl with one arm covered in tattoos and who stood her own in a live Guitar Hero segment.
All of that is captured on the DVD. Other highlights include Chen mingling with the audience and happily taking pictures during 1234567, being moved to tears during Travel Is Meaningful and singing her encore right in the midst of all those adoring fans.
For the dedicated fan, the second DVD offers peeks of her in rehearsals and on the road, as well as interviews with members of her live band.Short of being there, this is as good as it gets.

Goodbye Prince
katncandix2

The title of the Taiwanese duo’s second album is a reference to Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s fable about innocence and loss, Le Petit Prince.
Given that vocalist-lyricist Hsiao Chiu and composer-producer Shen Sheng-je frequently deal with youthful themes of dreams and growing up, the association is entirely apt.
Musically, the vibe here picks up where their debut album Little Flight (2009) left off. The mood is breezy and light – even their melancholia is sunny – with Hsiao Chiu’s slightly raw vocals adding to the folksy feel.
It came as a surprise then to find out that she is an incorrigible chatterbox during live performances. Those who went for their unexpectedly lengthy and endearing gig at the Esplanade in January would have heard the new track, 22.
Together with songs such as Goodbye Prince, we get to see a more contemplative side of katncandix2. Hsiao Chiu muses on Prince: “The child always speaking of forever/Slowly grows up/Uses tears to water the seed which will grow into happiness.”
On opener Nice Day, however, we get a glimpse of the cutesy singer. It could easily be irritating in anyone else’s hands but hearing it, you cannot help but wish that youth and innocence be held on to just that little bit longer for her and, maybe, even for us.

KEEP!
Tay Kewei & Lee Ein Ein

Local lass Tay Kewei is stepping out from the shadows of singing back-up for Mandopop’s big hitters such as David Tao.
She has a lovely set of pipes and gives a loose-limbed and jazz-inflected rendition of the English track Come Closer, which she penned.
The other two songs are the Mandarin numbers That’s How I Am and A Love Song, both composed by her musician friend Lee Ein Ein.
The accompaniment is kept simple – a guitar, a piano – all the better to showcase the voices, in harmony or solo. Lee takes the lead here and her clean and emotive voice works well for the plaintive tracks.
My interest is certainly piqued and the teaser EP has done its job of whetting one’s appetite for more.
(ST)

Dennis To plays Ip Man in the prequel while Donnie Yen donned the robes twice as the wing chun master.

Acting chops
To: Brings a stoic gravitas to the role of Ip Man
Yen: Brings a stoic gravitas to all his roles

Looks
To: Resembles Donnie Yen
Yen: Resembles Dennis To

Romantic scorecard
To: Has two women falling for him and even more impressed by his skills. Generates some chemistry with co-star Huang Yi. He’s the man.
Yen: Maintains a polite distance between him and Lynn Xiong who played his wife in parts one and two. Was her alleged beau Aaron Kwok lurking around the set?

Relationship to Sammo Hung, who appears in different roles in the prequel and in part two
To: Would have called Hung master if To had played Ip Man as a child
Yen: Calls Hung a thorn in the side at first and later embraces him as a true friend. Yes, Ip Man 2 had character development.

Fighting skills
To: He is the winner of various international martial arts competitions and is well-versed in different forms of martial arts including wing chun and taiji. But he lost to an 86-year-old Ip Chun in the film. Tsk.
Yen: Jet Li was a fellow disciple – they both trained under master Wu Bin at the Beijing Wushu Academy. Woe to anyone who tries to mess with him.

Body tally
To: Assorted bullies and riffraff fall by the wayside
Yen: Assorted bullies and riffraff fall by the wayside. Multiplied by two films

Patriotic index
To: Obliterates the nefarious Japanese agents trying to infiltrate China
Yen: Annihilates the Japanese karate expert Colonel Miura in part one and an arrogant British boxer in part two. Take that, Dennis.
(ST)

Ip Man: The Legend Is Born
Herman Yau

The story: As children, Ip Man and his adopted brother Ip Tin Chi (played as adults by Dennis To and Fan Siu Wong respectively) are sent to learn wing chun martial arts in Foshan, China. Years later, their lives and loves are played out against the historic backdrop of Japanese encroachment into mainland China in the 1910s.

Wing chun has certainly come a long way. No longer is it likely to be greeted by that cry of erroneous recognition: “Wang Chung? The group which sang Everybody Have Fun Tonight?”
The fact that the prequel is striking less than two months after Ip Man 2, starring Donnie Yen, hit screens here is as good a measure of its popularity as any.
Legend is being billed as a semi-biographical account of the youth of Ip Man, teacher of action superstar Bruce Lee. The key word here is “semi”.
Despite being based on an actual person, the various elements in the film feel mighty familiar.
The two brothers grow up fighting alongside and getting into mischief with Li Mei Wai (played by CJ7’s Xu Jiao and upcoming actress Rose Chan). No prizes for guessing that the set-up leads to romantic entanglements down the road.
When Ip Man takes on a bully and impresses the well-off Cheung Wing Shing (a spunky Huang Yi) and later stands up to a mocking Caucasian while studying in Hong Kong, it all seems like requisite checkpoints on the road to deja vu.
There is a missed opportunity when Ip Tin Chi’s poignant tale of sacrifice and emotional conflict is eventually revealed. Alas, it is quickly glossed over perhaps because it would have taken the focus away from Ip Man.
What keeps the film watchable is the graceful fluidity and excitement of the close-quarter hand-to-hand combat. The competent action scenes are courtesy of Tony Leung Siu Hung who, together with actor Sammo Hung, won last year’s Golden Horse and Hong Kong Film Award gongs for Best Action Choreography for Ip Man (2008).
Instead of action star Yen though, moviegoers get newcomer Dennis To who had small parts in the other two Ip Man flicks. The physical resemblance between the two actors ties the films together and To’s competition-winning martial arts skills certainly come in handy.
Director Herman Yau (True Women For Sale, 2008) steps in for Wilson Yip who helmed the first two instalments and he could have done a better job with the episodic and choppy pacing.
Legend also boasts a turn by Ip Chun, eldest son of the real-life Ip Man. The 86-year-old gives a cheekily spirited performance and gets to put the reel-life Ip Man in his place.
With auteur Wong Kar Wai reportedly working on a movie on the same subject matter, one wonders if this is going to be a case of overkill. The day could well come when the mention of wing chun is met with: “No thanks, I’d rather Wang Chung tonight.”
(ST)

Man In The Mirror
Eric Suen

The Hong Kong-born Eric Suen first found fame as a teeny-bopper Mandopop idol back in 1993 with his debut album It’s So Nice To Know You. But the pressures of the industry got to him and his popularity fizzled out after a few years. He remade himself as an actor and then returned to the music scene in 2007, this time in his native Cantonese. Then came a nasal operation and complications with his vocal cords.
It is enough to make a man look in the mirror and take stock of his life.
Hence tracks such as My Story (Part One) and 36, a reference to his age when he wrote the song last year. He bares his emotions on the former, “I’ve cried silently before, suddenly afraid of losing it in a moment”, and gives a humorous spin on his search for love in the latter.
Still, he can take comfort in the fact that he is no washed-up has-been but has instead survived the vagaries of the entertainment business for almost two decades.
It bodes well for his career that Suen had a hand in crafting all 11 tracks, including the hits If Life Still Has A Song and Walled Hometown, a contemplation on urban alienation.
He can definitely look his reflection squarely in the eye.

Your Friend
Claire Kuo

Surprisingly, Claire Kuo’s Singing In The Trees, from her previous album, has been nominated for Best Song Of The Year for the 21st Golden Melody Awards.
No doubt it has its charms but it just seems too slight for such a weighty category. Which rather sums up how I feel about the sweetie-pie Taiwanese lass.
The opener Encore La La, used for a lingerie ad no less, has her declaring: “See sexy back/We r the sexy mama.” But neither she nor the music has the conviction to carry off such a line. Throughout her fourth album, what could be light-hearted breeziness merely comes across as bland inoffensiveness, a fate that befalls the ballads as well.
I don’t think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Can't Not Love
Eddie Peng

This atrocious trend has to stop right now. First Joe Cheng, now Eddie Peng. What is it about pretty-boy actors that makes them think that they can hack it as singers as well?
Peng flits from the dance pop of Can’t Not Love to balladry for That Is I Love You to rap on Chameleon and manages to come up with duds across the board.
If you are a fan of the 28-year-old with the sunny good looks, check out the drama Hear Me instead, the highest-grossing local film in Taiwan last year.
And boys, leave the singing to the professionals.
(ST)

Thanks Your Greatness
Yen-J

This fresh jazzy debut from Los Angeles-born Taiwanese Yen-J sounds different from what is out there, no small achievement given how conformist much of Mandopop is.
Little wonder he was bewildered at first by the scene. Stuck In Taipei recounts his initial frustrations: “From a college student to a wanderer with no job/I feel more and more guilty spending my family’s money... I begin to doubt myself and wonder if I’m doing something wrong?”
He questions in the hip-hop track Saviour: “Didn’t think there would be no one who would be accustomed to my music in Taipei/I can’t catch up with what’s popular... or have I gone ahead of it?”
He makes a good case for the latter. Chasing After opens with the tinkling of ivories and then segues unexpectedly into a tongue-twister of a stanza, followed by a chorus that has fun with word sounds. It’s a heady mix of youthful exuberance but it’s one that works.
On the deliciously playful Love Is Curry, he samples the jazz standard Take The A Train and revs it up with Mandarin, Minnan and English lyrics.
The title track Thanks Your Greatness though reminds me of R&B diva Alicia Keys’ No One. It’s a rare misstep in an album in which even the love songs are sweet rather than saccharine. Smile along as he croons I Like (No, I Love) and Summer Romance.
It is all the more impressive given that the 22-year-old wrote and arranged the material and also played the keyboard parts.This is indeed a great start worth giving thanks for.

No. Eleven
Hins Cheung

There is a modernist feel to Guangzhou-born Hins Cheung’s 11th release. He sports a sculpted, cropped hairdo and dons deconstructed clothing while posing with cut-out shapes of translucent blue and red.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the music. While the Cantopop singer shines on ballads such as Zero Degree Celsius, where his delicate vibrato suggests a forlorn man shivering as love grows cold, he is let down by dated arrangements elsewhere. The retro vibe is perfect though for his take on the Paula Tsui classic, Behind The Wedding Gown.
The album has already spawned two chart-toppers – the melancholy Spring Autumn and the sprightly Tea Meditation Song. Which means to say that there will certainly be a No. 12 on the way.
(ST)

Go South
Super Band

Four veteran musicians, one limited-edition super-group.That was the conceit which brought Lo Ta-yu, Jonathan Lee, Wakin Chau and Chang Chen-yue together in 2008.
It resulted in them touring for 10 months and playing to more than one million fans, and also led to the release of two EPs, North Bound and Go South.
I have never found them fully convincing as a band, however. There are a handful of tracks on which they come together as a cohesive whole, including Desperado from North Bound and Coming Home from Go South.
The rest of the time though, be it on stage or on disc, it is about each singer-songwriter doing his own thing. And hence Hand Holding is very Lo Ta-yu, Art Of Love is very Chang Chen-yue, There’s Light is very Wakin Chau and Jonathan’s Song is, well, very Jonathan.
Sure, they wrote songs for one another but that is a form of collaboration that could easily have taken place outside of the framework of this grouping.
They have since officially split up, but is this really the last we’ll see of Super Band? I wouldn’t bet on it.

55:38:7
Serene Koong

We all know how important that first impression is and newbie Singaporean singer Serene Koong gets it right with opener Charlie. A jaunty piano riff, a breezy cascade of whistling and then a voice that swings: “I like your Chaplin-esque black humour/ I’m about to burst into flames like a poem”.
The tune was composed by Koong, a contestant in the inaugural Singapore Idol in 2004, while Xiao Han wrote the lyrics. There is a lightly quirky vibe and welcome sense of playfulness to their collaborations which also include Voodoo Doll and Like A Freak.
The TV drama theme songs such as Knowing and Protected are more conventional but, to Koong’s credit, the album is consistently listenable thanks to her inviting pipes.
Despite it being a jingle for a soda, Lala, the duet with label-mate Wu Jiahui, is effectively effervescent. I prefer it to her ballad with Jaycee Chan, To:, even though that too has its charms.
All in all, a promising debut. One suggestion though – ditch that Lolita-esque styling.
(ST)

The Era
Jay Chou

Album No. 10 is a major milestone by any measure but the stakes are even higher when you are the reigning king of Mandopop.
When each of Jay Chou’s releases is feted as the saviour of the ever-shrinking music market, it is little wonder that he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders.
On the wryly titled first single, Superman Can’t Fly, he looks back on his decade in the business and vents his frustrations: “I don’t know when I turned into an example for society/Have to be magnanimous and not raise my middle finger when I’m snapped by the paparazzi.”
Regrets, too, he has had a few: “Can CNN wait till my English is better before doing an interview/Can the cover for Time magazine be retaken?”
Speaking of covers, you can tell how much things have changed with him by looking at how his album sleeves have evolved over the years.
On his 2000 self-titled debut, the cover is of a fresh-faced 21-year-old wearing a pair of headphones and totally grooving to the music. Ten releases later and it is a much manipulated and fussed-over concept picture with Chou as a vampire.
He will have you know that it is still all about the music, though. On opener The Era, which offers a by now familiar blend of rap, graceful piano phrases and pulsating beats, he serves up the lines: “Don’t need to be worshipped/This beast-like tragedy/Only surviving for this eternal melody.”
While it seems he is behind the curve with this vampire makeover, he has a point to make about wanting his work to straddle the ages and to never grow old.
And don’t forget that fantasy and role-playing have always been a big part of his music. It is no coincidence that his breakthrough second album was named Fantasy (2001) and the title of his creative rejuvenation after the ho-hum November’s Chopin (2005) was Still Fantasy (2006).
He has morphed from ninja to man-machine hybrid to cowboy and that playfulness and restlessness have given us hits such as Nunchucks, The Orcs and Cowboy On The Run.
The problem for a while was the predictability of his records. Ode to gongfu track a la Nunchucks? See Dragon Fist and Double Sabre. China-style ballad a la East Wind Breaks? See Hair Like Snow, Chrysanthemum Terrace and Blue And White Porcelain.
To be fair, it didn’t matter when the offerings were as stellar as Chrysanthemum Terrace. The gripings were over the lesser efforts.
So how does The Era compare to his previous body of work? From a couple of spins and given his high standards, this feels like an above-average Chou record but one which does not hit new highs.
For starters, it is less frenetic and frantic than the jokey Capricorn (2008). One of the highlights here is Long Time No See, which slips between Mandarin and the Minnan dialect in a smoothly effortless mid-tempo number.
Chou wrote both the tune and lyrics here though, as much as The Era marks his 10 years in the business, it also marks the decade-long partnership between him and his lyricist, Vincent Fang.
The two work their magic once more on Fireworks Cool Easily, an elegantly elegiac track which could have done with a more evocative vocal performance. Diary: Fly For Love is a less successful work, reminding one too strongly of Sunshine Otaku.
Regardless of how one feels about the songs on record, it’s a whole other ball game when Chou is up on stage and performing them. Little wonder then that his three dates at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in July sold out in a matter of hours.
A more recent collaborator is Huang Jun-lang who penned the lyrics for Cowboy On The Run. Here, he contributes the cheeky lyrics to Free Tutorial Video, musically a sequel of sorts to Cowboy’s old-school rock ’n’ roll crossed with hillbilly blues. There’s even a wink and a nod to the perils of being a pop idol: “Rock ’n’ roll is not to get girls but to realise my dreams/Of course, since I’m irresistible, I can’t help it if others fall for me.”
He also dishes out the advice: “If you want to be a rocker/Then you first need a guitar.” Take away the magazine covers, the blah movies and the celebrity status, and this joy of making music has always been what it’s about.
Ten years on, it is clear that Chou is beginning to think about his musical legacy and it is heartening to see that he still has ambitions. Hopefully that will sustain him, and, in turn us, for a long time to come.
(ST)

Echoes of the Rainbow
Alex Law

The story: Life is full of adventures for eight-year- old Big Ears (Buzz Chung) growing up in Hong Kong in 1969. He is left pretty much to his own devices as his cobbler father Mr Law (Simon Yam) is busy making a living and his mother Mrs Law (Sandra Ng) has chores aplenty to attend to. He worships his athletic high-schooler elder brother Desmond (Aarif Lee) and the family gets by, even if they are not well-off. Then tragedy strikes.

This is the semi-autobiographical story of writer-director Alex Law, better known as a scribe for dramas such as An Autumn’s Tale (1987) and City Of Glass (1998). He won a Golden Horse award for Best Original Screenplay for the latter.
While it is a cosy portrait of a family, it is also an affectionate look at Hong Kong at the tail end of the 1960s. The period details extend to the music with Western pop hits such as The Monkees’ I Wanna Be Free playing a key part in the soundtrack.
It was a time when neighbours lived cheek by jowl and dinner was a communal affair. Conversation was a polyglot of accents, from Shanghainese to Cantonese, reflecting the hometown roots of the recent immigrants. Unfortunately, audiences here get the Mandarin version of the movie, and given the context and the setting, some of the flavour is inevitably lost.
While the film intersperses some documentary footage from the era, it does not give a sense of society at large beyond a glimpse or two. Law works in a scene with a Caucasian cop asking for what amounted to protection money but goes no further with it.
Perhaps he was more tied up with scouting for locations as he has said in interviews that it was difficult finding suitable places because much of the city from the 1960s is gone. The nostalgia factor means that Rainbow will echo more strongly with Hong Kong audiences.
That could also account for the clutch of trophies that the film won at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Veteran actor Yam was lauded as Best Actor though really, he has been better in more challenging roles. He is believable as the stoic pessimist whose mantra is working hard. But the character is a little thinly drawn even though Law’s father was a cobbler. Still, Yam is dependable as always and has an easy rapport with Ng, who is his more optimistic other half.
Lee, looking uncannily like singer- actor Wang Lee Hom from certain angles, walked away with the Best New Performer award. Maybe it was because he had to shoulder the movie as it went from feel-good nostalgic jaunt into 1960s Cantonese tear-jerker melodrama mode and did a fair job of it. But it might be the Best Original Song award – Lee sang the theme song Echoes Of The Rainbow – that proves to be the more accurate harbinger of his future, as a pop idol.
It was Chung who commanded much of the attention given that the story was told from his point of view and he managed to be engaging and cute without being irritating.
Law, too, was a winner. He picked up the trophy for best script and the film won the Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in February this year. He certainly found his pot of riches at the end of Rainbow.
(ST)

Once A Gangster
Felix Chong

There is no question that the overwrought Hong Kong gangster flick is ripe for a send-up.
But Felix Chong, who last helmed the slickly executed Overheard (2009) and was also the scribe for the Infernal Affairs trilogy, is not the right man for the job. He cannot quite decide if he wants to gently skewer Infernal Affairs or have an over-the-top parody. So what the audience gets is a jumbled mess.
Still, there are some moments to be savoured.Ekin Cheng (as Sparrow) and Jordan Chan (as Roast Pork) are two gang members set up to be rivals but the irony is that neither of them wants the post of top honcho. Sparrow wants to enrol in university and study economics after his release from jail while Roast Pork just wants to run his chain of restaurants.
The in-joke is that the two actors had starred in the Young And Dangerous series of hit gangster flicks and the title is actually name-checked here.
Despite the sly casting of the leads, it is the supporting performances that make a bigger impression. Wilfred Lau is a hoot as Yan, the world’s most incompetent undercover cop, who survives only because his triad boss is even more clueless.
And Candice Yu On On, one-time Mrs Chow Yun Fat, chomps the scenery whenever she appears as the drug-addled harridan who is Sparrow’s power-hungry mother.
(ST)

Journey
Shota Shimizu

In the pop culture sweepstakes, Korea has edged ahead of Japan in the past few years with its slick music groups and idol TV dramas.
But as all things Korean seem ever more manufactured and overwrought, it is Japanese singer-songwriter Shota Shimizu who blows in like a breath of fresh air with his second album Journey.
You can practically feel the wind on your back in the breezy titular track as the 21-year-old likens life’s journey to hitting the road.
As metaphors go, this is as old as they come, but he makes it sound earnest and affecting when he croons: “Journey, even though I’m tired/It’s okay if I can sing along with someone by my side.”
The folksy vibe to his R&B is a most welcome touch here though some of the other songs, such as Cream, tend to be cast in a more conventional mould.
The album hit No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon weekly chart and also includes Forever Love, a hit duet with urban artist Kato Miliyah.
It would be a pity if the record fails to find a wider audience simply because it happens to be in Japanese and not Korean.

Shock Of The New Era
B2ST

Leap For Detonation
ZE:A

Where’s the shock? Where’s the animal ferocity for a band also known as Beast?
The six-member B2ST dons leather threads and eyeliner for that goth-rock look but really, they are just another Korean boyband playing dress-up.
This Asian version release collects all 10 tracks from their first two EPs Beast Is The B2ST and Shock Of The New Era.
At least the synthesizer- propelled Special has silly lyrics: “Atom bomb is coming/Oh oh oh/Bounce me oh oh oh” and the group could do with more of such moments.
ZE:A served up one such instance with Mazeltov on their recently released debut EP.
Tinkering with the dance vibe of that first effort, they go for more of an R&B sound here and the follow-up offers two new tracks, All Day Long and Man 2 Man.The CD, however, almost feels like an afterthought tucked away at the back of the photo booklet which thoughtfully includes individual poses by all nine members.
The disc includes the music video for All Day Long, which plays like a Korean version of the high-school-is-a-battlefield Japanese series Crows Zero, with prettier boys getting prettily bruised.
For all the glossy sound and fury, there is nothing explosive here.
(ST)

Together
Rene Liu
It is spring, the flowers are all a-bloom and Rene Liu is pensive.
Perhaps the Taiwanese singer-actress is mulling over the fact that it has been 15 years since the release of her debut album.
Nostalgia runs through the first two tracks, To The 15-Year-Old Me and We’re Not Together, and the lyrics on the former go: “Now I love to recall/Think of the you who refused to back down then.”
Even when she sings I Don’t Miss by Ashin, a clear strain of yearning mixed with regret lingers on. She also covers China folk singer Lao Lang’s You At The Same Table, which reminisces about an old acquaintance.
There is a grounded, down-to-earth quality to her voice that doles out comfort even as she sings about past relationships with a certain ruefulness.
But before you start to feel sorry for her, she has a defiant riposte ready in Don’t Send Flowers To Me: “Don’t think I’m lonely/Don’t look at me wandering by myself/And think I’m waiting for someone.” Touche.

Pisces Love
Huang Pin-yuan
Another veteran with a new release is Taiwanese singer-songwriter Huang Pinyuan, who marks the 20th anniversary of his first record.
With his profile raised from the Three Good Men series of concerts with fellow stalwarts Bobby Chen Sheng and Phil Chang Yu, Huang has struck while the iron is hot. This is his first album in four years and the lead number is written by local composer Jim Lim with lyrics by Huang, who had a hand in writing all 10 tracks.
But it is not until track five, the dance-inflected New Old Friends, that I paused. The album briefly flickers to life and it continues with the lilting Tao Hua Yuan (which refers to a utopian land).
Alas, the rest of the album does not leave much of an impression. Looks like he will still be known as the guy who sang How Can You Bear To Make Me Sad and Hsiao Wei, his best-known hits from yesteryear.

Believe In Jane
Jane Zhang
Of the various Super Girl singing contest finalists, mainlander Jane Zhang has the greatest potential for crossover success. It is no coincidence that the doe-eyed lass looks like a model on her latest record.
It is not just about looks, though. On her fourth album, she contributes to several numbers including I Believe.
Unfortunately, this offering is simply too long at 17 tracks. Even above-par songs such as the ballad Jiu Zhe Yang Hao Le (Just Let It Be Then) and the bouncy I Do get lost in the shuffle.
Zhang has a rich, expressive and versatile voice but some of the love songs are so generic, right down to the rote music videos, that it is hard to get excited about them.
If she wants to make it, she has to give us something more to believe in, and not just expect blind faith.
(ST)

Grown Up
BY2

Twin sisters Miko and Yumi are now all of 18 and old enough to, um, cradle a giant apple from the looks of the album cover.
Despite the clumsy reference to forbidden fruit, Grown Up actually pulls back from the jail-baiting sexiness of their second album Twins (2009).
Opening track Take Me Away, by the memorably credited Dr Moon, is sweetly escapist: “Suddenly want you to take me away, leave this dust, find a region with no smoke/A sky full of starlight, will make all wishes come true.”
After that highlight, alas, the rest of the album fails to deliver.
Do check out Moon’s lyrics on What Do U Want though. Comparing the dance floor to a farm, the lyrics go: “Your vegetable has run off with someone else.”
Label mate JJ Lin lends a hand by composing and rapping on Get Together but the bouncy tune is let down by mundane lyrics – it is never a good sign when they have to resort to spelling out their name in a song.
The girls try their hand at composing and writing lyrics for This Is Love, which is supposed to be about the thrill of falling in love but fails to convey it.
Perhaps, they need to grow up even more before their efforts bear fruit.

The Drifters
The Drifters

This new Taiwanese duo comprise Darren and Yannick, both of whom have backgrounds in visual art and, fortuitously for them, both have ties with Mandopop star and label boss Jay Chou.
Darren got to know Chou through another singer friend, Alan Kuo, while Yannick was the son of Chou’s high school music teacher.
It just goes to show the importance of knowing the right people in the music business, as it was Chou’s brainwave for the two to come together and form an act.
His shadow hangs heavily over this debut album. The sing-song-rap of You Are My Band-Aid is reminiscent of his style, and he also contributes a couple of tracks. The Drifters even have a pointless remake of the Jay Chou-Vincent Fang-penned hit Where’s The Promised Happiness?. A pity, for there is a light breezy vibe to the record that can be quite pleasant.
If the indication of who sings what in the lyric book/calendar is right, then Yannick could well be channelling the laid-back groove of surfer-singer Jack Johnson in Paris Lovers while Darren’s voice is slightly richer and more evocative.
Still, there is not such a big difference between the two that a song like, say, Miss You And I Write A Letter, needs to be parcelled out between them. And no thanks for burying this memorable Chou-Fang collaboration right at the end of the album.
For the moment, The Drifters are getting publicity for the Jay Chou connection but they will need to come up with a more distinctive sound if they want to stick around.
(ST)

The Voice
Chyi Yu

From Buddhist chants to Christian hymns, veteran Taiwanese singer Chyi Yu has certainly got things covered on the religious front.
After releasing three EPs of sutras in 2004 and another in 2006, she is crooning Amazing Grace and Christmas carols such as Silent Night and Joy To The World on her new English album.
Her light, soaring vocals make it all sound quite pretty but while pleasant on the surface, nothing is deeply felt and the album comes too close to being bland. The inclusion of hoary chestnuts such as You Light Up My Life do not help in upping the excitement level either.
I would much rather she release another album of original material. It has been 13 years since Camels, Flying Bird & Fish (1997), but that strange and beautiful record still lingers in my mind.
Or maybe it is April and I am simply not in the yuletide mood.

Manifold
Brian

Brian Joo was one half of the Korean R&B duo Fly To The Sky, who split up after eight albums including the No. 1 records No Limitations (2007) and Decennium (2009).
On his second solo offering, Brian continues to groove to the smooth, slick sounds of R&B and signals his ambition of breaking into the international market with the inclusion of three English tracks – Do It, Tears Run Dry and Bullet.
He has a leg up in this respect over former partner Hwanhee, as he is a Korean American and has no problems with enunciation.
The three tracks also show off his ability to go from sensual lover who just wants to “do it, do it, do it, do it, do it/All night long with you” to a man who is “broken, wide open” to a guy who cannot commit and keeps “dodging the bullet”.
Brian is certainly living up to the album title.

ZE:A – Nativity
ZE:A

Talk about mixed messages.
This Korean boyband sound like a sci-fi novel (they are also known as Children Of Empire), dress like a themed challenge from Project Runway (“Design a black outfit that would take a jockey from horse-racing to a night out on the town”) and have a song called Mazeltov, the Yiddish expression to convey congratulations.
Intriguingly, the English bits of that track include “Latin girl, Mexican girl, American girl, Japan girl, Korean girl” and “Mazeltov, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday”. Whatever it is they are celebrating, ZE:A are certainly being all-inclusive.
One message though rings out loud and clear on the three-track danceoriented EP. They sing on New Star: “I wanna be a star.”
Yeah, you and every other Korean boyband out there.
(ST)