At long last, I’m reviewing this. Yes, I sure took my precious time. Anyway, like the packaging and how it was with traditional booklet and all. The pictures inside were artistic with half black and white and the others with color. Nice touch actually.
This album is addressed to the audience (or fans). He wrote in the ‘thank you’ section about how he suddenly left Taiwan 9 years ago and never said goodbye so it was like an apology. It was also meant to say that he’s back. (When I said ‘9 years’, I meant that was what he wrote in the ‘thank you’ note and NOT according to the current time in case anyone’s confused.)
CD
1. Count On Me. Starting out with an upbeat song. An inspirational, uplifting song. It started out with the somewhat sad theme of the inevitable turn of time and how people would grow old, etc. However, the lyrics eventually steered around to encourage everyone on with enjoying life the way it is and not worry too much about the inevitable that one can’t change anyway. Nice one, but I didn’t like the crazy yelling at the end.
2. Never Said Goodbye (沒有說再見). A sad love song. Donning on a totally different meaning than the actual intention of the overall album. Yet another good one penned by Eric.
3. You And I. A mellow love song. More hopeful than some of the past songs, which is a good thing. A change really, lol. Nice and sweet song overall.
4. The Tear That Doesn’t Belong To Me (不屬於我的淚). This song was actually also one of the songs used in Ti Amo Chocolate. (Don’t ask me which episodes since I didn’t touch it yet, not really.) Another song penned by Eric. He’s truly amazing! (I might be exaggerating but I don’t care.) The songs keep getting better and better. Sad song, but not too pitiful. The touches are just right.
5. When I See Your Face. Another good song and a nice collaboration between the two lyricists.
6. The Best Arrangement (最好的安排). The music was composed by Eric. Another nice song with trying to encourage one to bravely move forward and accept what is coming in life, whether regarding challenges or love. And not to live in the past all the time, etc.
7. Really (真的真的). Upbeat song. Mixed feelings. It was trying too hard to convince at various points. I meant the relationship/story between the two, not Eric’s singing. He made the song quite good if I’m not paying attention to the lyrics in totality. I do like some of the verses but it seemed like the other girl needed too much reassuring. It seemed to imply insecurity issues or something. OR it’s just me.
8. Have You Changed? (你變了沒有). Another mixed feelings. The lyrics are nice and flowery. The music is nice also. Yet I couldn’t get into it as much. Maybe I need more time to let it sink in for me.
9. Lost Glory (失落的輝煌). Yet another mixed feelings. Maybe it’s just plain me at this point. Because I feel like it’s also a good song with its lyrics and the way the music flows. But I can’t get into it yet.
10. The Next Page of Love (愛的下一頁). Finishing the album with a final morbid song. Another great song actually.
DVD
1. The Making of the Album aka Lao Sun’s 365 Days Production Diary (老孫365日創作日記). Eric’s recounts of the process they went through in making the album, plus other bonuses of interviews, perspectives, etc. What was funny though was how Eric kept switching back and forth between Cantonese and Mandarin throughout the narration/explanation of the process, etc. (But it made sense, depending on who he was conversing with at one point or another.) What was great was being able to see and hear some of the things from the other songwriters/producers too. They greatly deserve the credit, considering how they worked as hard putting everything together.
2. Count On Me (MV). OMG, mad lively and awesome! I think it was like watching art merging into pop. It’s like so amazing. Okay, I know I must be exaggerating. But I was surprised the MV was that good with mixture of playfulness yet lively. Apparently one could merge art into pop stuff without making it too lame. Just have to know how. Great work! (Not to mention they didn’t need to put in some other shady/bordering selling yourself kind of stuff in order to make the MV interesting. YES, I just have to put this in since I’m really sick of seeing how others like to throw some imagery in to sell stuff YET keep slapping on the art label as an excuse to get by when you know obviously it’s NOT art. Well, art has no boundary, but sometimes you could see it and you would be like, “What are they trying to pull?”)
3. Never Said Goodbye (沒有說再見) (MV). Another great MV. Though there were no other people in there aside from him yet the morbid mood and the changes in the images help moved the song along. In fact, I think the vocal just overrides it and makes the MV awesome without trying.
4. You And I (MV). Cute one. Like the feeling of it and the hinting at changes of weather at times and its somewhat Heavenly feel.
5. The Tear That Doesn’t Belong To Me (不屬於我的淚) (MV). Did I mention loving the piano tunes at the beginning? Okay, might have missed it in the song, but it’s really nice. Anyway, very morbid, very intense–along with other emotions merging in all at once. It captured the feeling of the song really well. Another great MV.
Final decision? Totally recommended for Eric fans! You won’t be disappointed!
*All images were scanned by DTLCT
2 thoughts on “Never Said Goodbye”