"Listen to Eason Chan" -- A Critique

Listen to Eason Chan -- a critique
by Hong Kong music media award critic 九時用茶

If I were to say that Eason Chan is, at this moment, Hong Kong music's most anticipated mainstream singers I believe there will be many who would agree, which is why every time he gets ready to release an album there will be countless discussions -- as noted earlier in the year when Admit It was considered an "industry" album. Of course, regardless of how Eason's albums turn out, it will not be bad and the so-called "industry" album is just another discussion topic. I believe, not including Juno Mak and those alike, once you have established yourself with mainstream music you no longer need to create music for a "breakthrough" but rather, create the music you wants to and that is a singer's greatest success.

If we are going to look at it from that point of view, What's Going On...? and Admit It can be considered creative failures because both albums fail to have Eason's creativeness -- they can be compared to premature births in production and in concept. Not all failures are bad, failure comes with experience and because of those experiences this year's Listen to Eason Chan comes will full praise.

Listen to Eason Chan is a job well done.

If simply critiquing this album were enough there would be nothing much to say, like there are no lyrics included with the album in hopes that listeners will use their hearts to feel the music. In order to critique this album I feel there is no need to point out where this album is good because the album itself is good.

But there are certain matters that stirs one's curiosity. Why is it that Joe Lee, Riley Lam & Conrad Wong, in Eason's album, are able to demonstrate quality beyond those at their level? I personally feel the lyrics of Joe Lee in Mario Party 瑪利奧派對 and of Riley Lam in Wheel of the Era 時代巨輪 are their personal highest quality lyrics to date; and Conrad Wong, who rarely writes fast songs, is able to create such a highly danceable and rhythmic samba dance song where the melodies and instruments are matched maturely, showing no signs that this is a first time genre for him.

For a lyricist who we rarely see eVa Chan demonstrates writing at a top notch level. In Flash 閃, she complexly writes of the relationship between an artist and gossip media reporter. Not having Wyman Wong pen the lyrics to Concert Live Gig 演唱會 is a regret because he is the "master" at penning concert theme songs, as noted with 隆重登場, 光明會, etc. But in a high quality production, is this even a problem? We are even willing to neglect the emptiness in Law Siu's Maniacal Revolution 狂熱革命 because the album is originally intended for listening of music and Eason's voice, the lyrics are just a bonus.

With that we should mention that in an album that uses lyrics as a bonus, its lyrics are of higher quality that lyrics belonging singers who use lyrics as their selling point, and that is something that can't ever be explained. In many people's eyes Eason is considered a "good man" in the industry, but his work frequently revolves around the topic of "sex." Even before Lin Xi's Tropical Island Serenade 熱島小夜曲, Eason is the singer with the most work revolving around the topic of "sex." These contradictions may be explained in Chow Yiu Fai's The Chameleon 變色龍. When taken as the conclusion of Exaggerated 浮誇 and Low Profile 低調, The Chameleon 變色龍 is probably Eason's years of experience all summed up.

Maybe because he is a Chameleon which enables him to create such outstanding music. Eason is not a true singer-songwriter and because of that he is able to pick out different frameworks and create additional possibilities. Since Shall We Dance? Shall We Talk!'s strings to rock to electronica to Listen to Eason Chan's dance, he has be able to transition between these mainstream genres and styles easily, with the exception of R&B which he has been avoiding. Eason's biggest weapon is, where trouble arises for many other singers, he has been able to transition into them with ease and use them to his advantage.

It is because of that, his choice of musicians are greater and more daring than other artists. He can look for Davy [Chan], C.Y. [Kong], Eric [Kwok], Carl [Wong] and others who have been working with him for a long time or, he can personally look for the English band Spandau Ballet's producer Tony Swain to produce a track that is full of English flavor in Waterloo Station 滑鐵盧車站 or, look for a former songwriter who stopped writing for many years, Michael Lai, to write Crying in the Party for him. Eason's greatest success comes from not restraining himself with one style and it is the reason for his status in the industry today. From his start with Keith Chan, Carl Wong & Eric Kwok to today's Davy Chan & C.Y. Kong era, we can easily identify the different styles of each producer, but we are also able to identify a similar style behind each producer and that is the Eason Chan style.

We now take a look back at Listen to Eason Chan where we cannot say there aren't any flaws. I feel Flash 閃, Concert Live Gig 演唱會 and Maniacal Revolution 狂熱革命 can be done better, and as a dance album the rhythm should be more intense but this problem is solved with the remix disc. Looking at the remix disc as an individual disc, the full disco-mix is no longer market-friendly and finding the center between disc 1 & 2 is ultimately the best choice.

On another note, the operation of Listen to Eason Chan is not suitable for all singers. In this album, there is not one true karaoke song -- not even Crying in the Party, in its first batch 20,000 limited edition copies in 8 colors and different materials were produced, a free copy of the remix disc was provided and no lyrics were included with the album. These factors, whether for commercial purposes or for profits, are risky and if it were not a singer of Eason's status it would not be considered.

From a newcomer to being in the industry for over 10 years and being where he is now, if he had given up on his beliefs in music because of the risks involved he would probably not be able to have the freedom in music he has today. No one would question there was a time where he lost his freedom, but at the very least we saw that he made the most out of whatever freedom he was given. Blindly following the market will only result in being rejected by the market. In the Hong Kong music industry, the reason Eason was able to create his own label after the fall of the Four Heavenly Kings was because he created his own unique style and beliefs in music -- he did not fully reject the market's needs nor did he become a follower of the market. He successfully created an Eason Chan style.

Which is why we will always anticipate listening to Eason Chan.

Source: ent.163.com 10.23.2007