In Taiwan's sugar-saturated pop music scene, it's refreshing to hear Joanna Wang, who did nearly everything right on her debut album Start From Here. Signing Wang must have been a no-brainer for her label Sony-BMG: her mature voice belies her 20 years of age, and her songwriting skills show promise.
Wang's music is classic mellow pop. Her love of the Beatles comes through clearly, so there are few musical surprises, but the album isn't boring. Wang's rich, velvety voice and top-notch studio musicians keep your attention with catchy grooves and hooks.
The album's sound borrows from the Norah Jones book of warm, earthy tones: on many tracks, the Wurlitzer organ, electric and acoustic piano, and understated guitars compliment Wang's vocals. The production is slick, but not heavy-handed - Wang's quiet singing is never overpowered by the lush arrangements, and the lyrics always come out clearly in the mix.
Most of the songs are unabashedly romantic, but Wang's delivery is thoroughly convincing on each track. Vincent DeGiorgio's songwriting lets her take some risks, particularly with Now. And Wang's own songs hold their own: Lost Taipei is pleasantly quirky for its lyrics and whimsical rhythm changes, and Stages of Flying treats the act of saying goodbye in a playful, satisfying way.
Wang, who grew up in the US, sings mostly in English, but the album has an EP-length CD with Chinese versions of five songs, which are as strong as their original counterparts. All in all, the album's hit status proves that talented artists in Taiwan don't necessarily need to follow the Mando-pop formula. On the Net: http://www.sonybmg.com.tw/pop/joanna/web/p1.php
- David Chen
This compilation of songs is a historical sketch of singer and former activist TC Yang (楊祖珺), but it also gives us a glimpse of Taiwan's democracy movement in the late 1970s and 1980s, as seen through the eyes of Taiwan's folk musicians.
But why do a bunch of folkies matter in Taiwan's recent history? Yang's classic rendition of Formosa (美麗島) inspired the title of an influential dissident magazine, which in turn was a major influence on the dangwai (outside the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT) movement.
And Yang's story is part of larger one. Taiwan's folk music scene was changing: singers started to write and sing in Chinese and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), rather than only performing folk standards from the West. Spearheading this movement were Yang and her peers Paiwan singer Kimbo Hu (胡德夫), and Li Shuang-ze (李雙澤), who wrote the music to Formosa.
The songs may not immediately grab listeners unfamiliar with Taiwanese history or Chinese-language popular music. But the album is an opportunity to learn about Taiwan's earliest "underground" music scene, which was in part a reaction to the popular music of the time. Eric Scheihagen did a nice job on the English liner notes and translations of the lyrics, which give a full picture of the formative years of Yang's music and life.
Yang is commonly portrayed as a loud, bold voice among Taiwan's dissident figures. But what is often overlooked is that Yang is a great singer, in terms of technique and self-expression - she would have held her own if had she taken the manufactured pop music route. Let's be glad she didn't.
- David Chen
Julie Su (蘇芮), better know to most fans by her Chinese name Su Jui, has been one of a number of older-generation Taiwanese rockers whose fan base has been resuscitated through her songs being selected by the contestants on the "reality" pop idol television show One Million Star (超級星光大道). This has seen her 2003 release of a 20-year anniversary album make it back prominently onto record store shelves. This album is particularly worthy of attention for the quality of the sound, which has benefited from mastering by Stephen Marcussen, one of the great artists of musical post-production. The double album includes one album of Chinese songs and one of English songs, as the consummate pub singer of her generation shows off her confidence in both languages. She also covers a huge variety of styles, from Mando-pop lyricism to Taiwanese ballads, hard-driving rock and a number of covers of Western classics. Of these last, some work better than others: a kitschy rendition of Sophisticated Lady is an absolute delight, a version of Unchained Melody is a tad embarrassing.
While most of the English-language disc is taken from live recordings, with the rough sound, small, slightly tinny orchestra and even the clatter of plates or glasses in the background providing the appeal, the Chinese disc is made up largely of precision-crafted studio recordings, which showcases the excellent lyrics of these classy Mando-pop songs and Su's excellent handling of tone, though they lose something of the raw passion of her live performances. The one live recording is of The Same Moonlight (一樣的月光), which is a glorious piece for nostalgia buffs, with ripping electric guitar solos bring back those gloriously kitsch days of the early 1980s.
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