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In which I admit I don’t understand Chinese t.v. among other things

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

If the Mayday NFL program is broadcasting anywhere at any time, I haven’t found it yet. But here are more behind the scenes videos, and here’s another article with pictures of the trip. (I think my favorite part of that video is the bit where they get the posters from the Redskins Cheerleaders. Ding Dang, if you’d like a shirtless Adrian Peterson picture, just let me know and I’ll hook you up. Fair’s fair.)

Meanwhile, the Jiangsu Satellite Television station is hosting its annual New Year’s concert… in Guangzhou. Which, you’ll recall, is not in Jiangsu Province. Nowhere near Jiangsu Province, actually. But I suppose if Hunan Satellite Television could host its Chinese New Year concert in Las Vegas, then there’s no reason for Jiangsu to host its show in Jiangsu. The rumors are flying that that event which I have least anticipated might occur at the show: F4 might reunite in concert. I generally keep an eye out for Vanness and ignore the rest of the crew, but in general I consider any event where they do not simply appear, but actually sing, as a not particularly good thing.

Ashin’s endorsements notwithstanding, do they really wear makeup?
Okay, away from the television. Someone needs to teach some of the people working for Mayday that “they haven’t put on any make-up” is not a particularly rock-n-roll excuse for refusing pictures. Unless you’re part of a glam rock outfit or KISS, which they decidedly are not. Well, usually.

They really formed a Superband just to get girls…
When asked if the fearsome foursome (Lo Ta-yu, Jonathan Lee, Wakin Chau, and my beloved A-yue) ever go out to pick up women together, they all answered that of course they did. In fact, lots of female fans make them give better shows. I keeps seeing references to the idea that of the four, Jonathan Lee is the only one actually single; if that’s the case, can I just say: Mr. Lee, maybe it’s your haircut?

David Tao is taking Woodstock
With his new rock-themed album, David Tao is taking to the mainland on a tour that will include some of his rock songs and some of his favorite songs from the 60s and 70s. (If the picture accompanying that article is any indication, he’s also sporting some of the contemporary wardrobe on stage.) Tongues are waggling, however, at his choice of venue for his concert next month in Shanghai – he’s playing the Gymnastics Center, not even the Grand Stage (i.e. where sodagreen played for its first mainland voyage last year… a venue that seats only 4,000 and doesn’t normally host artists of his caliber). He says he’s going for a more intimate feel; some speculation that his star is falling is pretty much inevitable. I’d run off to Shanghai to support him, except that he’s saving me the trouble and playing Nanjing earlier in the month.

Ashin is saved from jumping in the river
Mayday is gearing up for their concert in Guangzhou this month, and ticket sales are at around 80%, saving the band from worry and Ashin from jumping into the Pearl River. “It’s the fans that saved me,” he acknowledged. (BTW, I find that headline on that article very odd. I almost mistook it for an article about a Shin concert before I started reading.) Putting pressure on sales are other big acts taking Guangzhou in the near future, such as the personified proof of the decline of civilization, Lollipop (which acknowledges that they’re not as handsome as F4 or as musical as Mayday, but they excel in being… people-friendly?) To reward fans at the Mayday concert, they’re giving out “ring lights” to some fans, and organizing a sing-a-long to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Um, see above about teaching some of Mayday’s staff about how to be a bit more rock-n-roll.

It’s not an honor to be nominated, it’s an insult not to be
The nominees for the 9th Annual Global Chinese Music Awards are out, and I’d be hard pressed to name people who weren’t nominated in one of the eight major categories. They have sixty nominees for the “top twenty songs,” and right there, I can tell you that you do not care much about the outcome of this one, because if Leehom’s Hannah Montana send-up “What’s With Rock” is one of even the top twenty songs last year, then I take back everything I said above about the decline of civilization – civilization is gone. Anarchy reigns.

Then, of course, they have a whole category dedicated to duets, which only serves to encourage people to write more soppy, mediocre his-and-her bubblegum pop or ballads. (Note: do not, under any circumstances, go listen to all of them. First of all, you’ll drown in sap. Second of all, you’ll be singing “Na, na, na” for the rest of your life. I heard five seconds of that song walking down the street on Saturday and was singing it for hours, with nothing more to go on than “na, na, na.”)

But here’s the real problem: there are 23 nominees for best male artist, 17 for best female artist, and 15 groups – so by this point, if you haven’t been nominated for *something* you probably have not appeared on the radio anywhere in the Chinese speaking world in the last year. Except if you’re a band. There are only three band nominees: Mayday, sodagreen, and Nand (与非门). Um… are you kidding? That’s all they could come up with for bands? It’s all wrong, very, very wrong. But they’ll hand out the awards anyway this week in Beijing.

…And speaking of things that are all wrong…
And speaking of duets, and speaking of Cowboy Jay (indirectly; he’s on the nominee list a few times in various categories), I had a brief reminder this week of why I so dislike certain cowboys personally no matter how good or crappy I find their music. After reading a thread on the Chinese Music Blog, I looked up news about Cowboy Jay’s duet with a new singer, the Texas-born Cindy Yen. She seems musical and apparently writes all her own music, which sounds like good news in spite of her having written a pretty dull duet to sing with her label’s boss, the Cowboy himself.

In the middle of this article promoting Cindy’s new career, Cowboy Jay mentions that, “Cindy’s piano performance is really incredible! She’s equally matched with Yuhao, but for a girl to be able to play at that speed and with such energy is really cool and surprising!”

For a girl? Can’t he even pretend not to be a sexist pig? You know, just when speaking for public consumption?

All I can say is, Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Cowboy Jay, Ding Dang, Leehom Wang, Mayday, Sodagreen | 7 Comments »

Why like sodagreen?

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

[I liked the writing in this commentary, so I translated it in its entirety. I don't have the new album yet - still waiting - so I totally and completely invented the English versions of the song titles without any reference to the actual lyrics.]

Why like sodagreen? Because you and I are the same, not too high nor too low a level of education, not too much nor too little musical experience, not too great nor too bad a life, not too old nor too young in age, wanting a little excitement but nothing too intense, wanting something a bit alluring but not too enthralling, wanting something a little bit daring but not too addicting; in sodagreen you can find a little bitterness, a little low-cost ruckus, a little breath of youthful defiance, a little rebelliousness to go with your clean collar and heterogeneous thinking.

Summer: Fever is a London-produced, Brit-rock concept album, as well as the sequel to the last album, Daylight of Spring. Qingfeng is at his creative peak, writing more great songs than ever; listening to “You Made My Summer (你夏了夏天),” “He Made My Summer (他夏了夏天),” that splendidly bright singing, expresses a kind of freedom that comes with youth.

Summer: Fever is a work that stresses the whole, not a single track. “Cicada Thoughts (蝉想)” and “Encircled (包围)” have a penetrating rock attitude, whereas the raucous nature of “Yu Garden (御花园)” and “Peter and the Wolf (彼得与狼)” reveal a passion that cannot be restrained; love song “Sleepless (无眠)” is ever so slow, ever so intoxicating, the two inserted English poems revealing a scholarly rock and roll attitude.

If you were a little bit older, you’d like the Superband (纵贯线); if a little bit younger, you’d be infatuated with Mayday. Compared to foreign music fans, we’re forever lacking a Beatles, so sodagreen is a mirage we use to make up for music’s shortcomings. If we take sodagreen, Mayday and the Superband together, that’s the place that the Beatles have in the hearts of European and American music fans; because we’ve never had it, our sense of deficiency is stronger and more confused, endlessly wanting to fill in the blank space.

[Side note: Am I actually too old to like Mayday? As I have noted probably a few too many times before, I'm younger than Masa... but not by much. Hmm. Interesting that sodagreen - the youngest of the three groups - gets the in-between berth, and Mayday the teeny-boppers. It makes sense to me in terms of their music; I just find it interesting that it's taken as a truism that Mayday doesn't appeal to people over thirty who didn't essentially grow up with the band.

I also love and adore the Beatles, acknowledge the profound influence they had on music history, but still think it is possible to overstate the importance of having a "Chinese Beatles" that can somehow be all things to all people. Not even the Beatles were that - it is ridiculously easy to find people who think everything about them was and remains overrated. Having Mayday, sodagreen and the Superband, however, ain't half bad. Strangely, all three perform in Nanjing or Shanghai sometime in the next month. Perhaps the Jiangsu-Shanghai corridor is actually some sort of Mandopop nirvana?]

Update: thanks to inkblueraindrops for the edit!

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Mayday, Sodagreen | 13 Comments »

Just a little (more) Superbanding

Monday, August 10th, 2009

So, remember that Superband album I supposedly bought on my way out of China in June? Yeah, it was not so much a real Superband album as it was a dodgy set of random songs from each of the four guys’ previous careers that was being sold like a real album in the normally reliable Xinhua bookstore. I confess I suspect that the publisher did not have full copyright to publish this either, though of course it is China, so who knows. But still, quite annoying.

Here’s good news, though, for everyone (like me) so excited about a REAL Superband album that you’ve taken to inadvertently buying knock-offs, the guys still promise the album is coming. And soonish, though I’m still not sure if there’s a date set. In the meantime, they’ll be interviewed on Sina on the 11th. I just learned they’re going to be continuing the tour when I get back to China in September… I might just need to see them live one more time. You know, just to get the full experience.

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue) | No Comments »

The Superband, in Concert

Monday, July 20th, 2009

In honor of the Superband (縱貫線) performance in Singapore this weekend, I thought I’d finally post my thoughts on their concert in Chengdu last May. Yes, this is horribly delinquent, though not nearly as delinquent as my half-finished “Cheer Chen in Shanghai” post from March. Or, for that matter, my “favorite albums of 2008” post from January. What on earth is going on with me? Well, in the last year I transitioned from perpetual student to gainfully employed adult, and that has been very hard on my free time. I mean, I never felt like I had free time as a student, but as it turned out, there was still plenty of time to avoid working on my dissertation. Once I was writing four lectures a week and plotting exams and grading papers and keeping up my own research, that old free time dwindled to next to nothing. (*sigh*)

I’ve managed to maintain my Mandopop devotion, however, and I state with some pride (and a touch of embarrassment) that I actually made it to six concerts last year in China (three in Shanghai, two in Nanjing and one in Chengdu). I have a ticket for Mayday in Nanjing in September, too, so we’re already off to the races for next year. Moreover, I still have so much I want to write about, so even though I’ve been slowed down on my posting, the project goes on. New Mayday translations should also be posted in the next few days.

Now, the Superband. Before I get too far into this, I should note that why yes, actually, I do completely have a crush on Chang Chen-yue. Do not expect unbiased reporting when he’s involved. ☺ Even without that motivation, though, I think I still would have made an effort to go see the Superband in concert. But why Chengdu? Well, Shanghai was last week (i.e. when I was already back in the U.S. for the summer), and I’ve been to Hangzhou before… Chengdu was a place I’ve wanted to visit for a while, so I took the Superband concert as a sort of excuse to go.

Now, about the concert itself. If anyone ever has a chance to see a show in the Chengdu stadium, I highly recommend it; it is an open-air venue right in the middle of downtown, so sitting there relaxing into the music and glancing up at the night sky was heavenly.

I had wondered when the whole Superband concept was launched last year about what exactly A-yue’s role in the whole thing would be. Was he an afterthought? Necessary for drumming skills? A convenient solo artist also at Rock Records? An attempt to cash in on the younger audience? Seeing and hearing the band perform, however, I rather got the impression that far from being the odd-man-out, he’s really the crux of the whole thing. When the band played as a foursome, they played more of A-yue’s songs than any other; their signature single is still the A-yue written, “Runaway (亡命之徒).”Not to mention the fact that there were more light up signs with his name on them than there were for any other member. That’s not to say that the rest of the band (Jonathan Lee, Wakin Chau and Lo Da-yu) didn’t have their own fair share of fans. I sat next to a mother and daughter who had clearly come to the concert together. The mother looked to be in her late 40s; the daughter in her 20s. The daughter had a giant poster of A-yue, and the mother, a giant poster of Jonathan Lee. (I ran this by my own mom later, wondering who she would be cheering for at a concert. Given pictures of all four men, she picked Wakin Chau, which I sort of predicted. He is pretty good-looking.)

The format of the concert was divided between sections where the four acted like a real band, and sections where they were doing a sort of superstar variety show. There was a full band section first, in which they divided up instruments like a “real” band with Jonathan on rhythm guitar, Wakin on electric, A-yue on drums, and Lo Da-yu alternating between guitar (bass?) and keyboards. They sang a number of A-yue’s songs here, along with a little preview version of “Runaway.” One cute note: when they were introducing themselves, first you had a “My name is Lo Ta-yu,” then “…and I’m Wakin Chau,” followed by, “I’m Superband’s drummer, A-yue,” which lead a playful Jonathan Lee to answer, “well in that case, I’m the guitarist, ‘Little Lee (小李).’” This led to a whole string of jokes, some of which I couldn’t follow and some of which I just couldn’t hear; for an outdoor rock concert, the sound was really not cranked up all that high.

We learned later from Wakin that sometime in the course of taking the stage for this section A-yue fell, scaring the rest of the band into wondering whether they needed to cancel the rest of the show; “Dr. Lo” took a look at him and determined he’d be alright, though.

The opening band act was followed by solo sections with each of the four singing some of their own songs, which I’m sure gave the rest of the band a chance to rest (and A-yue a chance to nurse his wounds from his fall). I confess, I didn’t know most of the songs that they sang, though all four have great talent for songwriting, so it was fun to listen to each of them. A-yue’s section was my favorite, of course, but that is not just because he is (frankly) pretty hot; it’s that I knew his songs better. Now, of course, I’ve waited too long and cant’t remember which songs he sang solo and which of his songs the group did together, but he did a good mix of rapping, singing and guitar playing. Everyone in the stadium seemed to know every word he sang, which made me wonder if he wasn’t more than a little vital to the success of the project. I do remember that Jonathan Lee did a really bluesy version of “I’m Just a Small Bird (我是一隻小小鳥)” that I loved. I’d never really heard Wakin sing before, but he has this fantastic voice. What I remember most, though, is that he sang one song more than the others, but I guess someone forgot to warn the lighting crew; after his third song he was plunged in darkness (cover for leaving the stage, I assume), and suddenly out into the night you hear his voice chuckling, “or maybe I won’t be singing one more….” Heh. Lo Ta-yu might have been the biggest surprise for me, though. I’d never seen so much as a video of him performing before, so I was a bit taken aback by the Mick Jagger like stage antics. He did a lot of spinning and while solo dancing – what he lacked in skill, he more than made up for in energy level. At one point I could swear he was doing the Funky Chicken. He was wild and fun. He also sang a new song that night – world premiere at Chengdu – that interestingly enough featured A-yue on the harmonies. I was actually surprised and impressed all night by how well the guys’ voices blended.

Beyond the solos, then, they came back together to sing as a foursome again, doing a lot of classics that essentially turned the stadium into a huge karaoke lounge. I was probably the only person there that didn’t know almost every word of every song, but even when I could not sing along I really enjoyed the atmosphere. By the end, after about two hours of music, I was a bit worried, though. They still hadn’t done the full version of “Runaway,” and I was going to feel a bit ripped off without it. I should have known better, though – it came out in the encore. That was especially fun, because it featured A-yue rapping the opening, then making a beeline for his drums while the rest of the guys traded off the rapping.

Without making old age jokes, I would say that one thing that stands out about the concert was the energy of the performers – but also just how much fun they were having. There was a lot of on-stage banter, lots of which I just didn’t catch, but you could tell that they like to tease each other and thus far, at least, were having a blast with the tour. Lo Ta-yu made a lot of jokes about being “Forever Young” and having the band to keep him young, though I suspect his funky dance routines contribute to that as well. The end verdict on the show is that it is highly, highly recommended, even if you (like me) don’t know the songs all that well.

On my way out of China at the end of last month I picked up the Superband album, which so far, at least, is just a concert recording. It’s three discs worth of music, but it is not a new self-composed album yet with more songs created by the four of them (like “Runaway”). I’m still hoping, though.

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Mandopop | 2 Comments »

A-yue’s Afro

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

My, but it was glorious:

hubba hubba

This was A-yue taking a little time away from his Superbanding to lead a a concert of aboriginal singers in Taiwan on July 4. The theme was “No Longer Afraid,” so A-yue showed how unafraid he was of women’s clothing, wearing a wig (which to me screams “Seventies!” more than “girly,” but oh well), a bustier and a short skirt (with clearly visible boxer shorts to complete the look). (This article says it was a traditional aboriginal outfit… for a woman.) He clearly did not think through the mechanics of the outfit before hitting the deck, however, as there is talk of (*ahem*) “Little A-yue” having made an accidental appearance to those sitting at the right angle. His manager says that was indeed an accident, and that “next time” they’ll be more careful. Heh.

A-yue and A-mei sang “Love’s First Experience” together, with A-yue acting all exaggeratedly sexy and A-mei fighting her laughter. A-mei was convinced by the enthusiastic audience also to sing “I don’t know I love you” with A-lin, which ended in a kiss. A-mei is also leading an aboriginal singers concert in Taipei Arena on August 8. Over twenty acts have already signed up for the close to seven hour show, and A-mei is trying to get her sister Saya to make a comeback there.

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue) | 1 Comment »

The Superband on tour

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

Okay, so I meant to post this earlier this week, but about halfway through I was overwhelmed with bitterness (you’ll see why when you get there), and then I never quite finished it. Now, however, I have other things I want to say, so I need to get this one out of the way. So without further ado….

The Superband began their tour recently, which means rumors about the group are flying. There was a news report the other day that Emil Chou was giving up vast amounts of earnings for the sake of the band, to which he replied that he’s never spoken with the reporter making the assertion. He also notes that he’s learning a lot from the arrangement, especially about composing (and especially from A-yue, who has a very different style from him).

As for rumors that the Superband has been slow to release songs because they cannot agree on the writing process, well, that’s sorta true; the band’s spokesman says that disputes and disagreements can help create much better work. That said, they are not having serious fights about things. They say they don’t expect to be able to produce like Beyond, but they are coming up with new ideas and having the young Chang Chen-yue is particularly helpful in this regard. As they begin their concert tour, however, their new songs will finally be introduced to the world.

Now, has the economy forced the band to schedule fewer concerts on the mainland? Rumors were flying that they scaled back from 30 concert venues to six. Not true, say their representatives: they have already made plans for 17-8 shows; they just won’t announce shows before they’re sure they can happen, that’s all. Beijing concert tickets are selling well, and the band is scheduled to play on July 11 in Shanghai, and they do not worry about the challenge of playing within a week of Mayday. (Do not tell me that Mayday is playing Shanghai when I am back in the US for a few weeks… yup, the ticketing agencies are listing them as playing July 3-4. I guess Toronto was just an interregnum, and now they return to their usual practice of only visiting places when there’s no way I can be there. Why, oh why, does Mayday plot against me???) They have already announced shows in Beijing, Hangzhou, Xi’an, Chengdu, and Chongqing.

Now, the first performance of the Superband has taken place in Taipei, and of course Mayday sent flowers and even went backstage before the show to wish the band the best (a jocular Lo Ta-yu caught sight of them and started saying “Ah, our seniors!” To which a panicked Mayday replied that no, the Superbanders were actually their respected elders.

They sang songs from the catalogs of each of the four men. A-yue did a man-with-guitar performance of “Intersection,” but he struggled through “Yearning Is a Kind of Sickness” because a freidn of his had recently died (oh wow, that’s pretty horrible). On a lighter note, they haven’t worked out all the chinks in the system yet; when introducing themselves, Emil Chau yelled “We are…” then he yelled “Superband!” (in English) and the rest of the band yelled in Chinese, “纵贯线!” Haha, whoops. Concert attendees included lots of Rock Records artists and alums, including Mayday, Champion, Victor Wong, Renee Liu, and Genie Zhuo; David Tao and supermodel Lin Zhi-ling were also in attendance.

Yeah, still bitter here. *sigh*

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Mandopop, Mayday | 2 Comments »

Um.

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

Do you ever feel like the Mayday/Fahrenheit connections are just far, far too prevalent? This isn’t all that direct (not like last time), but doesn’t this just look like it should be the Fahrenheit guys in this picture, but Mayday was photoshopped in instead?

battle-ready, I guess

There are more pictures here.

The pictures are for Mayday’s promotion of the video game “Twelve Sky,” so they’re wearing video game warrior outfits. Worryingly, the boys LOVED their outfits, and they were jostling for glimpses of themselves all armored up in the mirror. Well, as long as these keep these costumes off the stage, I guess it’s okay… how’s that for grudging acceptance? But seriously, it just looks SO boybandy. I mean, look at this. ‘Nuff said.

On February 18th, Victor Wong held a concert in Hong Kong and his erstwhile singing companion Michael Wong appeared as the special guest. This means that the two have taken the stage together twice in the last few months, increasing speculation that they might be considering getting Wu Yin Liang Pin back together. Hearing this chatter, Victor begged for time, saying that both guys are with different labels, working on different aspects of their careers right now. It’s not yet the moment for considering reforming the group.

Victor was glad to be in Hong Kong, noting that his girlfriend lives there, so every time he has to change planes in the city he strikes out to see her. He did sing one song in Cantonese, noting that there were lots of Cantonese speakers where he grew up in Malaysia – he actually learned Mandarin second, so singing an occasional Cantonese song was not any particular hardship. On the 21st (um, today, I guess), Victor will join label-mates Fish Leong and Mayday for a performance in Macau.

Okay, jumping forward to the next totally unrelated topic: the first song from Superband 纵贯线 is now out, and it clearly demonstrates why the other guys wanted Chang Chen-yue in on it. They’ve just filmed the video, and they’ve got concerts scheduled for Taipei and Hong Kong next month and Beijing in April. The album should be out in early summer, or so go the rumors. [Edited to add: I'm going on record now that I love this. I think the album will be fantastic, and I hope they'll come down to the central regions on their tour. My spring schedule is just too tight for Beijing, but Shanghai/Nanjing is wide open....]

Finally, I have two random Mandopop Movie observations to make. First, I watched Butterfly Lovers on one of my many recent long-haul flights. Yes, I voluntarily watched a movie staring Wu Chun of Fahrenheit and one of the girls from TWINS (I forget their names, but it is the one who did NOT get into Edison Chen’s pictures), though I think we’ve established that I’ll watch anything at 35,000 feet (*coughhannahmontanacough*). It was showing, and I thought it would be diverting. Mostly, I was right. Neither pop star has much going for them in the acting department, but the first half at least was sorta cute. The cutest thing, though, was when the seventy-year-old Filipina woman in the seat next to me leaned over to tell me that she went out to see Wu Chun when he visited the Philippines to promote one of his dramas. “He’s SO handsome!” she sighed.

The second one is that Cape No. 7 has finally been released on the big screen here in China. It’s about about a half an hour shorter than the Taiwan version, so I might still go find that one eventually, but at least it’s out. I loved the movie so much – it was much funnier than I expected, and by the end I was really cheering for Old Mao to get his moment in the sun – that I stopped on the way home for the soundtrack. Highly recommended, and (note for American readers) available on Netflix. :P

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Fish Leong, Mayday, Victor Wong | 13 Comments »

Mandopop History

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

I flitted away all weekend in Brussels drinking beer and visiting museums and historic sites… okay, mostly drinking beer… hey, there’s really good beer in Belgium… and now I’m off again to head back to my current home base in China, but I’ll spend the next week stopping off in Harbin and Beijing, so I don’t expect to be doing much in the way of posting. Which is really not unlike last week. Ah well, we all take vacations, right?

Well, there’s a lot of vacationing going on in the Mandopop world at the moment as well. The B’in Music crew sans Ding Dang (who is maybe just back home for the holidays?) play the big lantern festival concert in Kaohsiung tonight.

Meh, not so exciting. But today I stumbled upon something I find really interesting: the top twenty Mandopop albums (from Taiwan and Hong Kong) in the last twenty years… according to one critic, anyway, but still an interesting read (part two is here). I’m always joking with my friends and family that one day I’m going to put my history Ph.D. to good use and write the definitive history of Mandopop… it doesn’t *quite* fit in with my current research agenda, but someday. In the meantime, I’m a bit of a sucker for articles like this, which then make me want to go track down all the albums. :)

Without further ado, the most influential albums of the last twenty years, 1989-2009, in chronological order, with paraphrased notes half from the article, half from other sources:

1：Blacklist Studio 黑名單工作室, Songs of Madness〈抓狂歌〉- 1989
They voiced the true feelings of many people in Taiwan, Taiwanese rock, with a heavy dose of the taste of alcohol and smoke.

2：Lim Giong 林強, Marching Forward〈向前走〉- 1990
Mayday fans will remember the title track of this album from the reunion concert in 2003; in the beginning, he was at the heart of the Taiwanese folk-pop-rock genre.

3：Sarah Chen 陳淑樺, Talk to You, Listen to You〈跟你說，聽你說〉- 1990
First album to go platinum in Taiwan, and contains classics that pretty much the whole island of Taiwan can sing (including “Dream to Awakening (夢醒時分)”).

4：Delphine Chin 娃娃金智娟, Heavy Rain〈大雨〉- 1991
Once a part of a group, she went solo and met Jonathan Lee of Rock Records, who wrote the title track of this album for her.

5：Stella 張清芳, Light〈光芒〉- 1992
All of her albums sold so well it is hard to pick the most important, but this one really established her, and everyone learned the songs contained on this album.

6：Jacky Cheung 張學友, Kiss Goodbye《吻別》- 1993
An absolute classic, one of the best-selling albums of all time, and Jacky’s successful introduction into Mandopop (from Cantopop). Though I may never forgive Danish easy-listening band Michael Learns to Rock (MLTR) for their English version of the title track (”Take Me to Your Heart”), which was the absolute bane of my existence when living in China in late 2004 and into 2005.

7：Jeff Chang 張信哲, Vexed〈心事〉- 1993
Jeff Chang was the first male singer in Taiwan to break free of the “military service curse” – returning to top the charts with this album after his stint with the ROC army. One of the kings of the pop world in the 1990s.

8：Jody Chiang 江蕙, Post-Drinking Desires《酒後的心聲》- 1993
After years with untraditional Taiwanese language labels, she fled for a better opportunity and won the best female signer award at the Golden Melody Awards the first year it was not separated out between Mandarin and Taiwanese singers. This was her follow-up album to that, and apparently everyone over a certain age in Taiwan can sing the infamous “I’m not drunk, I’m not drunk, not drunk (我沒醉我沒醉沒醉).”

9：Shirley Wong (Faye Wong) 王靖雯 (王菲), Sky《天空》- 1994
Every song better than the last, a rarity for mainstream pop. Such is the place of Faye Wong in modern Mandopop that pretty much everything she’s released is important, so it is a bit hard to name a single album.

10：Chang Yu-sheng 張雨生, Karaoke Live. Taipei. Me《卡拉ok 台北 我》- 1994
He turned to writing all his own music after his military service with this album; it might actually be his worst selling, but it has turned into a model album over time.

11：Sandy Lam 林憶蓮, Scars〈傷痕〉- 1995
Another important (and best-selling) collaboration with Jonathan Lee, though Sandy took it one step further and married him (they divorced in 2004).

12：Faye Wong 王菲, Restless〈浮躁〉- 1996
See, I told you it was hard to pick only one. Written by Faye herself, it takes new risks and remains a fan favorite, while proving to be something more true to who she really was than her past efforts.

13：David Tao 陶喆, David Tao〈陶喆〉- 1997
One of the earliest artists to bring western-style R&B to Taiwan. With simple, melodic songs, good beats, and meticulous production done by Tao himself in his house in LA, he was well established as one of the leaders of the trends of R&B and self-production in Taiwan music.

14：Cheer Chen 陳綺貞, Still Lonely〈還是會寂寞〉- 1997
I doubt anyone needs to read a justification for the inclusion of this album, but the folk singer’s second studio release introduces electric guitar to the mix, but maintains her indie cred and simple, straightforward vocals.

15：A-mei (Chang Hui-mei) 張惠妹, Bad Boy – 1997
Another million-plus selling album, A-mei’s powerful voice (combined with producer Chang Yu-sheng’s brilliance) sent her soaring to the top of the music world.

16：Faith Yang 楊乃文, One – 1997
A rare female voice singing rock. Interestingly, back then she was working with producer Will Lin, who would go on to form his own company, then sign and produce for sodagreen.

17：Chang Chen-yue 張震嶽, This Afternoon Is Very Boring〈這個下午很無聊〉- 1997
That gravelly voice on those very direct lyrics. But then, all of his albums are this direct and straightforward, even now; they just add new ideas and innovations.

18：Jin Men-wang and Li Bin-hui 金門王‧李炳輝, Wandering to Tamshui〈流浪到淡水〉- 1997
An incredibly unusual group: both blind, Jin lost his hand as a child on Jinmen, but he learned the guitar and teamed up with the accordion-playing Li nonetheless, for a bright career playing Taiwanese folk.

19：Wu Bai 伍佰, Lonely Tree, Lonely Bird〈樹枝孤鳥〉- 1998
A Golden Melody Award winner for best album, it combined Wu Bai’s personal style with the conventions of Taiwanese rock. A leader in bringing guitar-based rock music into the forefront in Taiwan.

20：Jay Chou 周杰倫, Fantasy〈范特西〉- 2001
Wow, remember when Jay was still really good? Back when he was focused on his music, he was almost untouchable on the pop scene. (Side note: an interesting choice, to make this the only post 2000 album.)

So, who should be added if we work forward into the 2000s? (Maybe: sodagreen; Stanley Huang, MC Hotdog, or Tripoets for rap?) Fun things to think about, anyway.

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Cheer Chen, Cowboy Jay, Mandopop | 5 Comments »

Rockin’ Christmas Eve

Saturday, December 27th, 2008

Yeah, so much for that whole “Silent Night” thing.

So about a month a go, I noticed that Fish Leong would be holding a Christmas Eve concert in Nanjing. I’ve never seen her live before, though I feel like I’ve gotten to know Fish better than I have many other Mandopop songstresses because of the Masa/B’in Music connection. Still, I thought, that’s not very Christmasy. I mean, she might sing a Christmas song or something, but what an odd way to spend Christmas Eve. (I was working on Wednesday and Friday this week – and to be honest, all weekend – so given the fact that it takes three days to make the round-trip to see my family, I was not home for Christmas this year.) (*sob*) I put off making the decision, knowing that she was playing the biggest stadium in town and even the day of there were bound to be tickets available.

Then two weeks ago I got the news that another Mandopop artist was also coming to Nanjing on Christmas Eve for a concert: Chang Chen-yue. Okay, if Fish’s concert wasn’t going to be Christmasy enough, this one really wouldn’t be, but I jumped on it anyway and bought a ticket. Now on a side note, I’ve been to three concerts this fall already, and I *still* do not understand concert ticketing in China. If you buy through one of the big agencies, you might get a crappy seat no matter what you pay for it and no matter how many good seats are left completely unsold in the same price range, so you inevitably end up switching seats in the long run anyway; meanwhile, everyone around you bought their tickets from scalpers outside the day of the show and got a better seat for half the money. If you can get past your very American assumption that the scalpers will be charging more for the tickets, not less, and go for the same day system, you still have to contend with the increasing numbers of fake tickets that get sold same-day in front of concert venues. This makes the whole thing – whether you buy through a legitimate outlet or from a guy on the street – something of a crapshoot. In his case, I discovered when I got to the venue that my mid-range ticket left me sitting where I was close to the stage, but so close to parallel to it I could not actually see anything on stage, and therefore was left envying all the people in the cheap seats with the distant but unobstructed view, which would have been infuriating if the concert had sold out. Since it hadn’t, though, a couple of friendly guys sitting in front of me decided to change seats for a better view and brought me along with them. In the end, we actually had pretty good seats.

Now, A-yue. Live in concert. I’d seen him perform once before, when he was a bright, if somewhat off-key, spot in the otherwise mostly disastrous “Fusion” concert in Las Vegas. (Ooh, tricky. February 2007 Fusion Concert: not so hot. January 2008 discovery of Fusion Band: very good.) (Side note: whenever I link to that Fusion Concert post, I am reminded of two things: that I mortally offended a few fans of the acts I didn’t like, and that that was the closest thing I’ve ever had to a psychic moment, having noted that Shin by himself was the Shin Band and could fly off without them – he flew off and left the band weeks later.) Aaaaanyway, where were we? Ah yes: A-yue starts off a bit off-key. He did it in Vegas, and he did it in Nanjing. Seriously, I’m half convinced it’s just stage fright, which is pretty amusing for the badass rocker persona that he sometimes projects. The important thing was that by the third song, he was back on track and only hit the occasional bad note for the rest of the night, even through ballads like “Intersection (路口)” or “It’s Hard (很難).”

I can’t do a whole playlist because there were a few songs that I didn’t know (one of which he introduced as new, but also a few older songs I just never quite got. I assembled most of my early A-yue discography on the mainland, which means I have different versions of all the records than he released in Taiwan). From his latest album, OK, other than “Intersection” and “It’s Hard,” he played, “Yearning Is a Kind of Sickness (思念是一種病),” “OK,” “Goodbye (再見),” “It’s Hard (很難),” and “Little Universe (小宇).” Other songs I remember for sure that he played include, “Pretty Girl (乾妹妹),” “Admit Defeat (認輸),” “Let’s Break Up (分手吧),” “Change (改變)” (I think, anyway), “Marathon (馬拉桑),” “I want money (我要錢),” “Love’s first experiment (愛的初體驗),” “Love me don’t go (愛我別走)” and more, though I once again did not take notes and can’t resurrect the playlist from memory. What I did notice is that he obediently sang the clean versions of “Marathon” and “Intersection,” and he did NOT sing “I love Taiwanese Girls (我愛台妹),” in spite of the fact that pretty much the whole audience was yelling for it.

There was no special guest, though Free 9/Freenight guitarist Tony (?) took the microphone (and A-yue his guitar) for two songs early in the show; later on, after introducing the band, we got our one nod to the holiday when the keyboard player sang Eason Chan’s “Merry, Merry Christmas” (yeah, I didn’t know that one, but I at least could recognize the “Merry Christmas” in the chorus…). What was interesting, though, was that there were no costume changes at all – A-yue came out in his jeans and plaid (dare I guess flannel?) shirt and baseball cap right on time, and then he and his band just performed for two and a quarter hours straight – no pauses, no breaks, no gaps, and very limited talking. That was impressive, I must say. A-yue might not have talked that much, but he knew how to entertain a crowd, and he hammed it up a bit, like on “乾妹妹” which he sang very conversationally while wandering around the stage, scratching behind his years, and shrugging his shoulders, as if it was not a song so much as a confession. The only real disappointment, though, was that we didn’t get a chance to see A-yue all stripped down in his aboriginal garb (or hear him sing Totem Band’s “Over There I Sing”). Ah well, there’s always next time. (Why yes, I *do* have a massive crush on A-yue. Don’t you?)

In all, two thumbs up: it was a fun way to spend the evening, and a pretty rockin’ concert, even though A-yue dutifully admits that he’s never been anything but a pop star. This was clearly not the pull-out-all-the-stops shows that he’s brought to other locations on this tour, but I was glad to have an evening enjoying his music, with its simple but honest lyrics and its relaxed, informal atmosphere.

[Edited for a million dumb little mistakes; sometimes I let them go, this time I did not.]

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue) | 2 Comments »

Mayday and friends

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Here I have just a few odds and ends about recent news items (it doesn’t actually get interesting until the end, just fair warning).

Last week Mayday sang at a university in Hualian, Taiwan, performing 18 songs for about a thousand students, including about a hundred who followed the band down from Taipei. This was apparently not one of the free concerts, as tickets cost TWD400 (US$12) and came with a free Mayday DVD. 　

This is a story about where all the stars are going for New Year’s Eve and how much they’ll be paid for it. The story implies the second picture is Leehom, but I’m having some trouble believing it. Squint at it and hold your computer sideways, then tell me what you think.) Leehom is apparently doing the shows in both Shenzhen and Shanghai, which is impressive given the fact that these two locations have to be about a two-hour flight apart. Mayday will be at Taoyuan and Taipei, a reasonably quiet night for them all told. Pretty much everyone (including Leehom and Mayday) will be on the Hunan Satellite TV New Year’s show, which implies that it is either pre-taped or collecting broadcasts from around greater China.

In other news, Mayday is promising not to break up again; sometimes they say they won’t ever break up, sometimes they just promise us the next ten years. Well, either way.

Okay, how about something completely random next? What male stars would netizens in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong most like to live with? (What, is this question not keeping you up nights?) Well, number one in all three locations was Show Luo, which I find astounding. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, number two was Fahrenheit (what, all four of them?), three was Leehom (finally, something that makes sense…), and number four was Mayday (no word on whether wives and children would be moving in as well). In China, Leehom was number two, but Fahrenheit was still there at number three. Cowboy Jay came in at number four – apparently the gloss is wearing off? There was a poll for the girls as well, but as it features Jolin and S.H.E there’s really no point in discussing it. Now, if you were waiting for this to get more interesting, you are about to be sorely disappointed.

Erm, let’s shift gears. Deserts Chang is planning on putting out a new album early in 2009, but in the meantime, she’s joined forces with members of the band Algae to put out a single called “Love, New Year.” They’re packaging it with a holiday card and giving all the proceeds to charity. Deserts explained that at some point in the past, she, the people from Algae, sodagreen’s Qingfeng and Mayday’s Ashin had agreed to go to Tokyo to see Shiina Ringo (椎名林擒) and learn from her concerts. The contents of the card came from that idea. The single will be limited to 5000 copies.

Finally, speaking of Mayday and sodagreen, this is adorable: Ashin says that with Western Line (i.e. the Jonathan Lee/A-yue/Emil Chau/Lo Ta-yu “superband”) claiming they’re going to take down the existing Taiwanese bands, Mayday will have to get together with sodagreen to do some planning on how to deal with these upstarts. Mayday has seen a lot of Jonathan Lee lately with all the guitar making, but the latter has been pretty tight-lipped about their plans. Ashin added that Mayday is as excited as anyone for their album, because competition is good for everyone. When asked if there is anyone in particular that Mayday hopes to cooperate with, they noted that in school they were all interested in mainland acts like Panther or Zhang Chu; they’d really love to work with Xu Wei. Now that sounds like a good idea to me.

Posted in Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Leehom Wang, Mandopop, Mayday, Sodagreen | 2 Comments »

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