i write this review after listening to this cd for 5 rounds, to make sure that i am fair. frankly, i am not even the slightest moved by cai qin's renditions. 一点感动都没有. i even fell asleep halfway during the playback.
what went wrong? the arrangement. no disrespect for the award-winning producers/arrangers, but the arrangement here is too safe, too easy-listening and lacking the creativity, clever improvisation and sparks of a one-take recording. these are essentially perfect pop songs but they were given a rather academic and chinese classical (read boring) treatment, resulting in the songs losing some of its pop sensibilities. i would expect the kind of exciting arrangement like 金片子(jin pian zi), cai qin's previous studio album. in fact, some of the golden classics like jacky cheung's 吻别 (goodbye kiss) and dave wang jie's 一场游戏一场梦 (a game and a dream) sounded contrived with the unimaginative arrangement.
what's left then is cai qin's voice to carry the whole weight of the song. as usual, her velvety voice and rich tones are every audiophile's delight. the recording, too, is excellent, tho' nothing near to the standards of jin pian zi part 1.
the best song for me is track 11, lo da you's 海上花. the rich ambience of the concert hall is fully heard and the soundstage is well laid out, with the whole ensemble spread out nicely around cai qin.
i won't say that this is a poor album but coming from cai qin and the top-notch production team which includes maestros like eik yew goh of hugo as the recording engineer, this is a mild disappointment and definitely a letdown to the most highly anticipated album of the year.
[post script]
there are two pressings here. the malaysian pressing is selling for RM49.90 at victoria; the HK pressing is selling more than RM65. i haven't compared the two pressings yet as i still haven't gotten my HK pressing.
music: 3.5 out of 5
sonics: 4 out of 5
infrequent updates
8 years ago
6 comments:
Thx for the review, perhaps you can post some sample. Anyway it's very dangerous if put too much "ajinomoto" into those already 大路pop songs and it might turn out too俗。I read in other review, Cai sing in laid back way in this album.
Several listens might help.
quite the contrary, it is not 俗 but very "classical" and 文艺, which robs away the pop sensibility of the song.
but i think those old fogeys may tolerate it better ;-) haha. me, i always like fresh arrangement
Can post a sample? Maybe other readers have different taste can share their comment. Hardly know who like to hear what kind of music here.:)
This is the first time I listened to a Cai Qin album and frankly I wasn't sure what was the fuss about. I too fell asleep half way but then maybe I was tired after work. This album does not work for me - it is boring and the recording is nothing to shout about either.
kk,
this is far from cai qin's best. get her "lao ge" (golden oldies), an evergreen album that has been selling consistently well for the last 22 years.
that to me, is one of the best chinese audiophile albums.
Lao Ge album is NOT audiophile nor intended to be one either..just been hyped up by so many people rediscovering it. The only due credit is the music arrangement and her rendition of the old songs..thats about it.
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