As always, my little turtle rate couldn’t beat Vanadia‘s progress by reviewing James’ album. But I guess better late than never. Though I had talked about the first song a bit in my other post, I thought it would be better to do a separate post and include the other songs as well.
1. Love Is Not Intended For Your Appreciation (愛不是要你感激). The best track in the whole album. Maybe that was why it was the 1st track? (LOL!) The more I listen to this song, the more I love it. Possibly because of the way James sang it. It seemed to be a normal song, but it used complex phrases or crafty words at times to make its point.
2. Understood (了解). Supposedly a hopeful song yet I wasn’t really into it. It was a good song actually, just me, lol.
3. Just Want Daylight (就要天亮). Surprised that I actually liked this song more than the previous one though it was somewhat along the same line.
4. I’m Always By Your Side (我一直在你身邊). Mixed feelings. I liked the last few verses more than the beginning, lol. It might be the music arrangement that caused me to not like this one as much.
5. Unpredictable (無常). This was my second favorite song. The tune was really catchy and how James sang it made it even more energetic. I think among all the upbeat songs in here, he sang this one with much more comfort than the others. Or it appeared so to me. This song he handled it with much more grace and flexibility than the other ones.
6. The Person Love Passed By (愛情的過路人). Third favorite song. If listened to more carefully, it was really well written and the music was soothing. A sad song but not too bitter.
7. New Distance (新的距離). It caught on after several more repeats. But I’m still leaving it in the middle, lol.
8. I Want To Cry (我想哭). A very good song, however, it was way too morbid. YES, coming from me. I liked the lyrics. Again, a beautifully written song.
9. Lost (迷失). I don’t know what to say about this song. Kind of random? It was upbeat and catchy, but still didn’t grab my attention. Will need more listening.
10. Love’s Attraction (愛情的魔力). A hopeful song. Upbeat and catchy as well. It was all right, I guess.
Conclusion? I STILL can’t get over why this wasn’t more popular when it was released. There were enough variety of calm/sad songs versus happy/upbeat songs. Though I have made some comments regarding James’ vocal and how he handled the songs, I felt if this one was his first album, it was already beyond standard than some of the current singers’ supposedly debut album.
*Will update with more details when I could finally get my hands on the actual album. (Slim chance BUT still hopeful.)
I totally liked Want to Cry. I like those melancholy romantic songs. James has that wonderful Canadian-Taiwanese sensibility. I totally agree the album was a fine debut effort and should have made him famous. My only hope now is if James (with or without his wayward younger brother) brings out his long awaited solo (or duet) album, Love Isn’t Intended will be re-released.
The funniest thing is I thought the same thing the other day, I meant regarding how they should release this album once again for those who missed it the first time around, like if not the other version, possibly a companion album like some singers would include a new + old one, etc.
I’m totally shooting off into fantasy land here, but why not some kind of box set with Zhu Zhi Xiong Di’s new album, including some original songs by James that we could buy as a box set with re-releases of Love Isn’t Intended and Gao Jie. Now, there’s a thought…
Yeah, it’s not too much to ask since it’s NOT that far-off. Like I said, current singers do a new + old releases of songs too so why not?
ZHu Shi, I meant, not Zhu Zhi.
Got that, LOL!