:+: No Music No Life :+:

Sunday, March 08, 2009

CD Review :: alan - Voice of EARTH

CD Only Cover :

CD + DVD Cover :

CD Tracklist :

1) Tennyo (Celestial Maiden) ~interlude~
2) Ashita e no Sanka (A Hymn For Tomorrow)
3) Sora Uta (Sky Song)
4) Natsukashii Mirai ~longing future~
5) Hitotsu (One)
6) Kaze no Tegami (Letter Of Wind)
7) BRAVE
8) Yume no (Dream) Garden
9) Gunjou no Tani (Ultramarine Valley)
10) my friend
11) Liberty
12) Tsuki ga Watashi (The Moon Is Me)
13) RED CLIFF ~Shin·Sen~ (~Heart.War~)
14) Megumi no Ame (Blessed Rain)
15) Together (First Press Track)

Voice of EARTH is Tibetan-Sichuan born singer alan's Japanese debut album & it was released last Wed .

All of alan's singles ie. 8 of them are included in Voice of EARTH inclusive of her most recent hit Gunjou no Tani & excluding Tennyo ~interlude~ , you will expect 5/6 new songs of alan (depending whether you get the 1st press track of Together or not) .

YesAsia described the album as 'it's all about "love & peace" , which is a running theme in the works of the singer from Tibet' .

Tennyo (Celestial Maiden) ~interlude~ is the only instrumental introduction in Voice of EARTH & for an introduction piece of material , it's surprisingly long at 3:09 mins but this's a really nice no. which has strong Tibetan influences & also alan's signature yodelling thrown in for good measures I would say .

It somehow reminded me a bit of sign (the 3rd B-side in her 2nd single Hitotsu) but only Tennyo ~interlude~ is a lot more powerful/better .

Ashita e no Sanka (A Hymn For Tomorrow) follows straight after Tennyo ~interlude~ is finished & I think it's a perfect way to slot in Ashita e no Sanka as track #2 seeing that it's alan's debut Japanese single & also the sound transition is there .

Has it really been 2 years+ since Ashita e no Sanka was released ? I wouldn't have guessed it & to think at 1st I disliked Ashita e no Sanka (of horrors I know) but right now it's officially 1 of my fave alan singles simply because it established alan's classic & signature music style & of course the fact that she has a powerful voice as she yodels as displayed in Ashita e no Sanka speaks it off too .

Sora Uta (Sky Song) is her 4th single & it's the 2nd song in her five-single traditional elements set & it emphasised the element Sky (hence the title) .

This was actually the very 1st song that I heard of alan & I remembered that I was very impressed with it as it has strong Tibetan & somewhat Enka beats being thrown into the song for good measures .

I like that it's a very uplifting & well soaring piece of work .

Natsukashii Mirai ~longing future~ is alan's 3rd single & it's the 1st song in her five-single traditional elements set & it emphasised the element Earth . The song was used as the theme song for NHK special , Save the Future , for World Environment Day .

So far this's alan's most successful single in terms of chart position wise where it debuted at #19 on the 1st week in the Oricon singles chart & in the music background , you can hear traces of an Erhu coutesy of alan (since she's an accomplished Erhu player) .

Frankly this's not really my fave alan single but still I appericate the fact on how Natsukashii Mirai ~longing future~ comes about in terms of its music style & that it's quite a gentle calming piece of tune for that matter .

Hitotsu (One) is alan's 2nd single & I know some people doesn't like this single of hers but for me this's something I don't mind even though somehow or another , the melody's quite plain but alan makes up for the lack of music variety with her sheer powerful vocals & it's a nice mid tempo ballad .

Kaze no Tegami (Letter Of Wind) is her 5th single & it's the 3rd song in her five-single traditional elements set & it emphasised the element Wind .

This's actually 1 of my fave singles of her because it has quite a hard pop/rock edge to it & she does justice to Kaze no Tegami & she seems pretty much at ease singing this song with great spunk .

BRAVE is track #7 in Voice of EARTH & this's the album's 1st new song . This's probably 1 of my fave album tracks because it's a very upbeat & catchy tune which has very strong traces of Tibetan Enka music which's great .

For me I like it that BRAVE gets better as each listen goes by . She should be doing more of such tunes , not that I don't like her ballads of course .

Yume no (Dream) Garden follows after BRAVE & yes it's a ballad . The beginning of the song was quite boring for my liking but thankfully the song began to pick up the pace & mood as time goes by .

Like the song title , Yume no Garden is a dreamy piece of no. that alan has delivered . I like it that before the song concluded , it transforms from a ballad to a somewhat mid tempo tune & somehow or another it's quite Chinese oriented too which's cool .

I should add that Yume no Garden is the only track that alan had a hand in cowriting in Voice of EARTH .

Gunjou no Tani (Ultramarine Valley) is alan's 8th single & this was the last single release of hers before Voice of EARTH was released . Written & composed by Cocco , this song was conceived specifically for the people of Sichuan after the massive earthquake that took place last year .

The whole package of Gunjou no Tani , from the lyrics to the melody to the music video , it's just perfect & for me I like the fact that it's not a single ballad that alan delivered & the music for Gunjou no Tani kept me extremely enchanted from the start to the beginning . Hats off to Cocco for coming up with such a great piece of work .

my friend is track #10 on the album & it's the 3rd album track . I appericate the fact that it's a very simple & fuss free piece of no. . It's just alan singing with the backing of an acoustic guitar & some keyboards thrown in for good measure .

Liberty is track #11 & it's the 4th album track . The song is used as the theme song for the Japanese drama , Hikon Dōmei (Non-Marriage Alliance) . I kinda have a bit of trouble remembering how Liberty seeing that the music styles for my friend & Liberty are almost similar as both are mid tempo ballads .

But in due time , I was able to tackle & solve this problem pretty much so since for Liberty's case , there's an electric guitar being used in the tune unlike for my friend .

Tsuki ga Watashi (The Moon Is Me) follows after Liberty & this's actually the 1st album track that I have heard before the album was released & as such , I find this song really enduring & somemore , you have to admit the song title's cute .

RED CLIFF ~Shin·Sen~ (~Heart.War~) is alan's 6th single & it's the 4th song in her five-single traditional elements set & it emphasised the element Fire . The song was used to promote the Japanese release of the movie RED CLIFF & alan also had the honour of singing the Chinese take of the song which's called Xin.Zhan (心战 ; Heart.War) ~RED CLIFF~) & Xin.Zhan ~RED CLIFF~ is used for the international release theme song for the movie .

I adore this song , be it the Chinese & Japanese take that she delivered but 1 noticeable difference for both renditions is that RED CLIFF ~Shin·Sen~ has her yodelling at almost the end of the song which gave the song a much needed edge .

Megumi no Ame (Blessed Rain) is alan's 7th single & it's the last song in her five-single traditional elements set & it emphasised the element Water .

I remembered when Megumi no Ame was 1st released , I find it to be quite un-inspiring for my liking but in due time , I grew to appericate the song & not to mention , the erhu in the melody saved Megumi no Ame from becoming another typical alan ballad .

Only available as a 1st press track , it's Together & it's the only song on Voice of EARTH to be composed by alan & the only album track that received its own music video .

Considering that this's the 1st song that alan has composed , I have to take my hat off her as the melody's beautiful . It has slight traces of Tibetan influences & her yodelling & both attributes really give Together the edge it need for a mid tempo ballad to sound even better as each listen goes by .

So the question's after 2 years+ since alan debuted in the Japanese music scene , is Voice of EARTH worth the wait ? Absolutely . For me , I like that the album flows pretty well from the start to the end .

If I have issues to nit pick about Voice of EARTH is the obvious lack of new songs & out of the new songs that're found in alan's debut album , all except for 1 (which's BRAVE) are ballads which's quite a pity because I also enjoyed alan's upbeat/up-tempo tunes that she dished out .

The 1st part of Voice of EARTH is quite mid tempo/upbeat & the album slows down in a rather drastic manner from my friend all the way to Together . I'm not sure whether was it done intentionally or not but I like that the sound transition's there .

She shouldn't have sandwiched 3 album tracks that're all in the same music genre (ie. my friend together with Liberty & Tsuki ga Watashi) as I had quite a hard time telling apart the tunes from each other but other than that Voice of EARTH is a solid Japanese debut offering that alan has delivered & the 8 singles that're found in Voice of EARTH are all great in their own individual right .

Here's to more fantastic & great Japanese stuff that this extremely talented , young & beautiful singer will dish out in the near future .