same songs, different mood 周华建的情怀

emil chou's 29th studio album, 雨人 rain man

chinese language is a beautiful and complex language. i mean, how do you translate, 情怀(qing huai), in english? is it mood or state of mind?

last night, i bought emil chou 周华建 latest cd (china pressed for SGD7 only!) and was quickly immersed in the sweet melodies which were reminiscent of his good old heydays of early 90s. emil has been trying different things in the last 5 years, none of which pleased his fans and expectedly they were commercial flops. now he has come to his senses that he doesn't need to change; all his fans, now mostly in their late 30s or early 40s, basically still want him to sing the same old lovey-dovey romantic tunes that he is famous for. so, he is finally back to his old form again with his latest release.

to me, it is too much of a deja wu. it is a case of same songs, different mood. now, listening back to those songs again gives me goose bumps. my mood is different now because i am much older and mellower. it is also helped by the excellent recording quality which is near-audiophile in my system. songs #4, #5, #6 are all very good with palpable vocals, presence and airy guitars. in fact, my audiophile buddy, kc, was utterly shocked and impressed once when i played to him this cd on a day when the electricity supply in my house was stable.

pop cd with good recording, what a rarity!