CD Review:

From our archives, Compass Magazine, Oct. 2001:

Tea Drops/Zhang Wei-liang/Wind

This release by Wind Records follows on the heels of a growing fad in Taiwan of combining traditional Chinese instrumental music with the Chinese tea ceremony. (See this month’s “Culture Corner” for details.) Chinese flute master Zhang Wei-liang has put tea to music. He chose Long-jing tea as his focus as much of this green tea is grown in the beautiful surroundings of West Lake in Suchou, China. The eight selections on this CD are calming and yet uplifting. Although the focus is on the flute, other traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu, pipa and zither also flow beautifully into the compositions.–by Cheryl Robbins.

Gorillaz

Gorillaz is the mastermind of Dan Nakamura who played in such bands as Handsome Boy Modeling School and Deltron 3030. The vocals of Damon Albarn of Blur are splashed among the guitar of Cibo Mato’s Miho Hatori, the bass of Hewlett, and the bouncy rhymes of Del Tha Funky Homosapian Russel, portrayed as a band of animated characters courtesy of Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl), a.k.a. Murdoc. Their first hit, “Clint Eastwood” is catchy and likeable. However, other songs like the dark “M1A1”, the playful loopy “19/2000” and the incredible “Slow Country” that melts reggae over dub show the band’s diversity.–by Steve Taylor.

Meteor Rain/F4/EMI

Meteor Rain became a best selling album for this boy band after being featured on a popular Taiwanese soap opera. Although F4 is new to the music scene, its record label ensured it had a talented production team. Among the members themselves, Ken Chu is rock and roll from head to toe. Vanness Wu grew up in the U.S. and has been heavily influenced by hip-hop and rap. Vic Chou has a smooth gentle voice and Jerry Yan enjoys fast rhythms. The title track ‘Meteor Rain’ is a translation of Ken Hirai’s ‘Gaining through Losing.’–provided by FM97.7 Family Radio.

Subway/Chris Yu/Sony

During the past year, Chris Yu has focused on human nature, finding inspiration for his songs from everyday interactions. His good friend, Lin Li-nan put the words to music with well-known producer Peter Wong rounding out the behind-the-scenes team. ‘Subway’ relates the unpredictable changes that occur in relationships. There are slow love songs such as ‘Forgiveness’ and ‘Out of the Ordinary’, in addition to catchy R&B beats (title track ¡§Subway) and band sounds.– provided by FM97.7 Family Radio.