tidus 0 Report post Posted February 29, 2004 Hey I'm sure some of us here listen to mainstream chinese music too right Who is your fave? Any records to recommend that you think have a high production standard... or just get you rocking! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blues 0 Report post Posted February 29, 2004 I dunno.. I like david tao, zhou jie lun, chen xiao dong, wu yin liang ping, and recently the taiwanese rock band Xin Yue Tuan. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blues 0 Report post Posted February 29, 2004 oh may I add wang jie's new album.. bu gu dan is very nice.. try to catch the preview of it every now and then on air (Yes 93.3 fm ).. *me quite a fan of wang jie... I like his old album * Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huangyong 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2004 Lee Hom.... David TAo.... Eason Chan.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
augustineRS 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2004 Faith Yang Nai Wen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Absolute0 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2004 Mayday & our very own JJ Lin Jun Jie! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tidus 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2004 Maybe we can recommend the greatest chinese albums to our follow members... I have this inkling the majority here are englishy (at least i know the onboard technician is ) Personally, one of my top ten albums of all time is Jay Chou's sophomore album, Fantasy! His masterpiece which I feel is still unchallenged, even by his latter albums. Mandopop is v rarely experimental and treads carefully along tried and tested formula of accessiple pop ie nice, easy to sing along and about love (unrequited being the most popular... something like Sarah M's, kekeke). Furthermore, rarely is there a Chinese album that is composed by the singer himself... pretty unheard of previously. This self-composed, self-produced album however sings about spousal abuse, a love for history, his parents love affairs, some heart tugging love songs, horse racing, navy life, filming a commercial in japan, revenge against the rapist of one's daughter and hobbits (hehe just kidding.. the last five are the best picture nominees). This album which won numerous awards crowned Jay as the new king of R&B in Asia, dethroning David Tao (who really only had a cult follower, and he never really made R&B that popular and accessible... frankly his comeback album did ride on Jay's success). Personally, I do feel Jay is the new king of Mandopop. He became so popular he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, Asia, as well. This album totally changed the musical landscape of Mando-pop forever, sparking a new trend that is popular in rap and R&B (the more moody and individualist sort, not like the US Billboards kind of glam black hip hop). Following the success of this album, it also triggered a spate of copycats (JJ, Jolin, Zhang Zhi Cheng etc) mimicking his rap and R&B style. Did I mention the album made into the top ten best seller chart of Italy, hee, thanx to the two kung fu tracks. Anyway to all the non-chinese pop listeners out there, he's not overhyped, he's not second class to english music. He has mass appeal but doesnt make him any less good. Give him a chance, pick up Fantasy, open your mind, and enjoy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blues 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2004 I like fantasy, but I prefer his debut album. Songs like gei ai nu ren, xing qing, and long juan feng are very nice!!! I feel his 4th album is excellent too.. The 3rd album sux(the 8th dimension I think?) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
augustineRS 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2004 agree with u on the fourth(thats the latest right?) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
red_ryder 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2004 Last time I listened to chinese pop was my NS days, back in 93-94. Jacky Cheung and Faye Wong is all I can remember. Come to think of it, it was more cantopop than chinese pop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tidus 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2004 Jacky Cheung is pretty much a passe. He's like Emil... their kind of sappy love songs belt out in their uncle-ly kind of way just don't connect anymore. There's also a serious lack of vibrancy in their songs. I don't understand why the record companies would pay him so much to renew his contract (reportedly 2nd highest ever, after Faye). Faye, hmm, still the (Icy) Queen of Pop after 10 years (I rem I was only in sec sch when she sang Zhi Mi Bu Hui... around that time, Sally Yeh released her Xiao Sha Zhou Yi Hui). She still rules. I don't even think Jay Chou will have her longevity. The papers recently compared her unfavourably to the late Anita Mui. I think they are just mourning. Anita doesn't even have half as many hits on the pedestrals of fame compared to Faye... or maybe its the wrong era thingy for me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blues 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2004 Oh... forgot to mention!!! Andy lau!!!! one of my all time fav too.. Fav songs include: wei xiao, nan ren ku ba, wang qing shui, lai sheng yuan, ai ni yi wan nian, ru guo ni shi wo de chuan shuo ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Absolute0 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2004 This album which won numerous awards crowned Jay as the new king of R&B in Asia, dethroning David Tao (who really only had a cult follower, and he never really made R&B that popular and accessible... frankly his comeback album did ride on Jay's success). Personally, I do feel Jay is the new king of Mandopop. He became so popular he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, Asia, as well. This album totally changed the musical landscape of Mando-pop forever, sparking a new trend that is popular in rap and R&B (the more moody and individualist sort, not like the US Billboards kind of glam black hip hop). Following the success of this album, it also triggered a spate of copycats (JJ, Jolin, Zhang Zhi Cheng etc) mimicking his rap and R&B style. I beg to differ, as much as I believe Jay Chou has really become the epitome of R&B across Asia, and the king of mandopop. David Tao was never touted the "king of R&B in Asia", he was merely the first who really introduced R&B to the mandopop scene, and was named "Yin Yue Jiao Fu" (Music priest, loosely translated), like Harlem Yu, so he couldn't have been "overthrown". And I too disagree that his comeback album rode on Jay's success as I vaguely remember that his first single in "Black Tangerine" was not an R&B track, but actually of the rock genre. It was an album which was equally critically acclaimed as any of Jay's best albums, based on its own merit, and R&B and rap was not the absolute focus of this album. Also, I believe his fan base had been pretty big even before Jay's debut, looking at the sales records then, so I would say that he had more than a mere "cult following". Many of my friends (both male and female) who are not Jay fans actually liked David Tao. And it is strange that you actually name JJ, Jolin and Z Chen as "copycats" and "mimicking his rap and R&B style", when JJ and Z Chen have drastically different singing styles from Jay, and the genre of their music is also far from limited to R&B or rap. In fact, I believe there are extremely few, if any, rap pieces in their albums, correct me if I am wrong. Moreover, Jay's style of R&B is really unique, so it's not that easy to "copy" even if they had intended to. As for Jolin, with Jay as her composer, she would be hard-pressed to be really different from Jay. All IMHO, just my 2 cents worth, and of course YMMV. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tidus 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2004 (edited) And it is strange that you actually name JJ, Jolin and Z Chen as "copycats" and "mimicking his rap and R&B style", when JJ and Z Chen have drastically different singing styles from Jay, and the genre of their music is also far from limited to R&B or rap. In fact, I believe there are extremely few, if any, rap pieces in their albums, correct me if I am wrong. Moreover, Jay's style of R&B is really unique, so it's not that easy to "copy" even if they had intended to. As for Jolin, with Jay as her composer, she would be hard-pressed to be really different from Jay. This is just my opinion but I really don't find JJ and Z chen that drastically different. My point was to recommend Fantasy and how its success set an epoch, moulding the entire mandopop into the current trend.... its the era of the loner and his smooth ballads, throw in a bit of alternative and experimental styles. Esp Zhang Zhi Cheng with his signature ballad May I Love You. I'll lump the rest like JJ and Van together as the lesser gods.... maybe if they form a boy band then they'll leave a mark on chinese pop history hehe. Actually I like them too lah, but their albums cant really make it into my top ten. Jolin is really one of the ultimate copy cats lah, she knew what the winning formula was and she asked Jay to compose for her... effectively that's Jay with a female singing voice. Sames goes to his other friends Wilber, Xiao Zhu and Liu Geng Hong... a mass of clones... Agent Jay must be the brother of Agent Smith. David Tao was never touted the "king of R&B in Asia", David Tao was touted as the king of R&B (not Asia lah, prob just Taiwan), you can go check it out. Also, I believe his fan base had been pretty big even before Jay's debut, looking at the sales records then, so I would say that he had more than a mere "cult following" His sales record before Black Tangerine was only so-so wat. You can go check this out too. I'll post his album sales when i find it. And which of his songs made it into the top ten list? You can ask any 10 chinese pop listener (not your friends lah, just normal chinese pop listeners) to list some of David Tao's earlier songs, or the title of his album before black tangerine or even sing a line or two. I would bet most would be stumped unless they bought Ultrasound which is really a clever marketing gimmick to bring airplay to his old songs which didnt get their recognition back then. Anyone here already listen to David before Black Tangerine? Discussion of David Tao and Jay is very contentious. I like David too but he never made that great an impact on Mandopop before. Maybe that's because his earlier R&B albums were way too ahead of the times then. Good songs, but just doesn't have mass appeal. Then there was this lack of packaging. Before Black Tangerine, he was like Jeff with his wholesome look plus baby fat. Then Jay came along, heavily packaged with doses of gossip thrown in to make him credible and sensational. Throw in his composer history, the fact that he doesnt wear underwear, plays basketball, doesnt talk much, his relationships with Jolin and that porn actress... you can't get a bigger star.... never seen before one some more, a star with a strong silent front (actually a bit like Faye). And that's besides the fact that his music were great too. 3 of Jay's albums later, David gets resurrected. He becomes tone and muscular, wears much less than before (half naked in black tangerine), less approachable persona, plays guitar and poses like a rock star in his concert, has a breakup with Melody and an affair with Anita, company arouses media's interest in competition between him and Jay. Sounds like someone just realised the secret formula too ... Even if he's really super original, nothing was planned, he came after the ascension of Jay. That's really a few steps too late. Granted he has some great composer skills, i would be hard pressed to name a few super hits, compared to the proliferic Jay who is writing and writing for himself and everyone around him. Is Black Tangerine that great? As good as Fantasy, maybe you can review the album for us Edited March 2, 2004 by tidus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
