November's Chopin (十一月的蕭邦) (shi yi yue de xiao bang)
Release Date: 31 Oct 2005Overall Rating:
(6)The sixth album from Jay Chou, the title of the album is named after Chopin who Jay admires greatly and also to the fact that the album was released in November, which is later than his usual release date. The influence of Chopin is clearly seen in the title track Nocturnes which is named after Chopin's famous piece of work. The lyrics describe the loss of a lover. Track 5 sees Jay poking fun at the paparazzi. The album features the regular lyricists Vincent Fang, Devon Song and Huang Jun Lang. Jay composes all the songs by himself again.
1.Nocturnes (夜曲) (ye qu)
2.Blue Storm (藍色風暴) (lang se feng bao)
3.Hair Like Snow (髮如雪) (fa ru xue)
4.Black Sweater (黑色毛衣) (hei se mao yi)
5.Attacked From All Sides (四面楚歌) (si mian chu ge)
6.Maple (楓) (feng)
7.Romantic Handphone (浪漫手機) (lang man shou ji)
8.Reverse Scale (逆鱗) (ni lin)
9.Maltose (麥芽糖) (mai ya tang)
10.Coral Sea (珊瑚海) (shan hu hai)
11.Drifting (飄移) (piao yi)
12.All The Way North (一路向北) (yi lu xiang bei)
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Editor's Review
Reviewer: kelvinDate: 09 Oct 2006
Rating:
Track 01 - The perfect combination of a minor love song and Jay style rapping, a sad song plus a classical piano commerating a dead lover in a sad but beautiful way. "I play for you Chopin's Nocturnes, commemorating my dead love, the same sound as the night winds, heart breaking sounds good..." A great track to open the album with, the song itself is not especially spectacular but it conveys the sadness of the song very well. The lyrics are probably the major highlight in this song, Vincent has been very brave to write the lyrics the way they are and to put this track as the first track is also quite surprising.
Track 02 - The commercial theme song for "Pepsi" all over Asia, imitating the singing manner of narratives in the oratorio "Messiah" from the Baroque era. The strong rhythm rolls up a big storm, traning your sense of hearing. At the start this song seems like a very typical commercial song but after more listening it feels very unique, however, the phone sounds get very irrating after a while and the beginning does not seem to fit with the rest of the song.
Track 03 - The most recommended piece of work from Jay. It contains three different kinds of singing style, Jay reaches another level with his high notes! Jay is the founder of the start of Chinese style pop music, after "East Wind Break" he once again produces another great piece of work. This is without a doubt the most listenable track on the album. It's possible to keep playing this song without being bored. The song in my opinion is much better than his previous attempt "East Wind Breaks" at mixing Chinese style with Western style. The song also finishes off with a very Chinese feel with the use of "er" and this time it is moderately used instead of being overused in "My Territory".
Track 04 - A high quality lyrical rnb song in the minor, the song is filled with the a thick foreign style. When the black sweater worn by together by two people is lost, it is also the time when love passes. A very solid song with a good melody and decent lyrics. The thing I like most about this song is the thick flavour of rnb. The lyrics are also very simple and short making this song very easy to sing along to.
Track 05 - Dogs that are biting on an apple, holding cameras telling stories, in exchange for a few more bones, under the surrounding of foes from all sides, a song Jay wrote of spy vs spy about animal care. This is Jay's answer to the media always following him, it's only right he replies with music I suppose. The song itself is very Jay-like with some fast paced rapping and overall the song flows very well throughout. Though I'm not sure why he decided to put some Korean rap into the song. I do like the little joke Jay puts at the end of the song referencing to Detective Conan, an anime.
Track 06 - "Nan Quan Ma Ma"'s Devon helps his senior apprentice write lyrics to the lyrical rock piece. The autumn season full of memories, the maple leaves slowly falling down are like thoughts, the northern wind brushes past the expressions of missing you, it becomes pages of a lonely moving poem. Jay said in an interview he thinks this is the sequel to the song "Run Aground" on the previous album, lyrical of course since it is written by the same person. To be honest this song is disappointing both lyrical and in terms of melody. The lyrics are sometimes awkward and it's very hard to understand what exactly it's trying to convey, perhaps a little too much use of metaphors. The melody seems quite messed up sometimes.
Track 07 - Carrying the relaxed mood of drinking afternoon tea, You smile browsing the romance in the handphone, on the fictitious soil slowly watering the feelings, the true geniune heart given to you is only limited to Jay. This is possibly one of my favourite songs on the album, the first impression of this song is that it has the "Simple Love" feel. The song is very easy going and relaxing to hear. The verses are not too special and the chorus makes up for this with some excellent singing by Jay.
Track 08 - After "General", "In The Name Of The Father", "Genius lyricist", Huang Jun Lang offers up the latest work for Jay hip-hop style! If you touch by accident the scale that grows in the reverse direction on the dragon's body, be careful about the fact that the Descendants of the Dragon will strike back, the self-respect of the Chinese people will definitely not let foreigners insult them! At first this song did not strike me as being very amazing but after more times of listening to it, the song begins to grow on you. The heavy beats and meaningful remind me of "Dad I Have Come Back".
Track 09 - A love song full of fresh sweet fragances, the sweet smelling maltose is like the colour of first love, a countryside poet under the sun with a guitar, sweetly in love with you! The style of the song is very unlike Jay, even though for me it doesn't particular sound great but it is fresh and different. Overall this is probably the least listened to song on the album.
Track 10 - The sea crow and fish love each other was only an accident, the fresh collaboration between Jay and Lara! With deep feeling creating a new standard for K songs with male and female duet, just let love be deeply buried in the Coral Sea....A fresh new duet with a good tune. The only problem is that the two's voices just don't mix and end up sounding quite bad. This song would probably have been better off being a solo song for Jay.
Track 11 - The theme song to the movie "Initial D", the flavour of hip hop is thick. The engine sound here is like a kind of musical instrument, add all the horsepower, drift all the way, let my revolting roar and pass excitingly by each side, man and car one body, drifting in between youth! This is a great song with a great beat. The song is full of engine noises and fits very nicely with drifting. A surprise when reading the credits for the song is that Vincent Fang is listed as one of the background vocalists.
Track 12 - A british style lyrical rock song, an interlude song written for the movie "Initial D". You turn around towards your back, the side of your face is still very beautiful, I go all the way north, towards loneliness. This song starts of brilliantly with a good guitar solo. Perhaps it is just that Jay's voice does not suit rock too well but when his voice came in it just did not sound right.
Overall - Overall a great album to add to your Jay collection. The album has at least 3-4 songs that you will just keep listening to again and again. The album also feels less commercial with only about 2 songs that feel like they have been written especially for commercials. Vincent Fang has also proven once again his skills as a lyricist are unmatched with some really excellent work in this album. In terms of singing Jay has performed very well in this album reaching some unexpected high notes very often in songs.
Reviewer: jaychoupwns
Date: 03 Nov 2008
Rating:
My favorite album by jay chou.
actually, my favorite album by anyone
Reviewer: CHANGSTER
Date: 27 Jul 2007
Rating:
This 2005 album of Jay Chou's was another great piece. personal favorites were trck 1,3,11 and 12.
LOVE JAY CHOU MUZIK :) !
---changster.
Reviewer: Paola
Date: 29 Dec 2006
Rating:
I think this cd is the best Jay's cd so far...It's excellent!! The songs are very nice...I just love it!
Reviewer: y_monkee
Date: 23 Nov 2006
Rating:
01 Nocturne - 夜曲 = 5/5
A majestic track that just captivates me. I feel this is a better start to the album than Orange Jasmine. It's a stronger, more powerful song and this is usually how Jay starts his album. What works so well for this song is how the main melody and Jay's verses match so well. Add in a solid bass line and the end result is simply stunning. My only wish is that Jay continued this fusion of Mandarin pop with Classical music more in the album.
02 Blue Storm - 藍色風暴 = 2/5
At first, I found this song tragically awful, especially with the annoying dial tone. But after a while, its really not that bad of a song. It's sorta sounds like a cross between Coward and Dragonfist, only those songs worked way better than this one (IMO). I felt that Chinese violin thing and orchestral arrangement could've been used more. But I like that "Ah-may~~~~~" improv that he did. Apart from that, a pretty average track all around.
03 Hair Like Snow - 髮如雪 = 4/5
Being Jay's track 3 carries a LOT of expectations. Considering how much I liked An Hao, Qin Tian (Fine Day), the fan's classic Simple Love and to a lesser extent Excuse. So how does this track stack up?
At first hearing, this is just like Dong Feng Po Part II, but u'll be mistaken if u thought that. This song is lyrically and musically deeper and much better. Once again, I think jay's vocals made what would be an ordinary track (maybe 3stars) to something much better, especially the last bit where he goes "lah er la ....".
And like most of Jay's other girlie ballads, it's got a very catchy tune.
04 Black Sweater - 黑色毛衣 = 3/5
hmm... this is an ordinary track in every respect. Nothing too bad or fantastic to write about, tho I think the chorus is very catchy. I can see why ppl will like this song, but to me, it's just so typically jay. It lacks a certain spark to it that makes this song special. It's simplicity brings back memories of the Fantasy album more so than 7LX or YHM.
05 Besieged - 四面楚歌 = 1.5/5
Such a tough song to rate. This reminds me so much of Michael Jackson's - Privacy (from Invincible album), right down to the camera clicking sounds. At first I was felt quite indifferent about the song. I could see Jay's artistic direction but it just hasn't worked as good as his previous works. Especially that "la la lah" bridge. It's funny how amazing these improv sounds worked in Hair Like Snow but so tragically here.
Actually, I found listening to a very similar track "Believe Me" by Fort Minor actually made me like this song more. Actually I think Fort Minor's song was a better version of this song despite Jay's energetic rapping.
06 Maple - 楓 =3/5
BAH!!! How much does this sound like Ge Qian (Run Aground)? Originally, this similarity compelled me to give it a 1.5/5 but it's sorta developed a character of it's own after a saw the MV. A solid chorus, but what bugs me is that it's just your typical Jay-slow-ballad. What's special about it? Nothing!!! But is it a bad song? No.
07 Romantic Handphone - 浪漫手機 = 2.5/5
I thought it was a pretty ordinary track with a bit of "Wai Po" mixed into it. It's another ordinary track with neither high's nor lows. I think Jay's chorus (sung in Falsetto) was the only saving grace of this song from getting a 2/5.
I have to say, the song is very girlie. Kinda like a song that makes a girl all warm and gooey inside thinking about their fairy tale Prince Charming. What am I, 5y.o.?!?! ...
08 Reverse Scales - 逆鱗 = 4/5
Originally, I was simply Amazed and blown away by this song. It was my second favourite song from the album on initial listening, but somehow, this song failed to grow on me.
It reminds me of another MJ song; Thriller. What I originally love about it was that it was like a little audio movie. It was what William's Castle tried and failed to be in many respects. Considering previous track 8 failures like Desperate Fight, Old Indian Turtledoves and (to a lesser extent) William's Castle, this is actually a superb tr8!!! It gets even better when you pop on the headphones and hear every element inside.
It does all the right things, strong bassline, amazing arrangement and good rapping. It's even got quite an attitude. But I'm not sure why, this song just lack that X-factor to make it a 5-star song.
09 Maltose - 麥芽糖 = 3/5
Again, another song that I really liked on initial rotation of the album but my enthusiasm for it has waned over time.
Yes, it's so fuzzy and has a Garden Party feel to it. Instrumentally original and Jay's "bouncy" singing adds to it's cheerful childish innocence. The music, the voice and the lyrics (from what I understand) all just melt beautifully like a packet of maltesers in ur mouth. I'm not really a person for happy fuzzy songs, but this song is one of those songs that brings a smile to your face when you hear it, ala "Ye Ye pao de cha".
10 Coral Sea - 珊瑚海 = 2/5
I HAVE to compare this song to Wu Ding. And when I first heard the demo to this song, I liked wu ding more. But this was one of the songs that grew on me as I heard the album more, especially the chorus, its so much better than Wu Ding. I'm unhappy about how this song was mixed tho. The music was way too silent compared to the vocals and almost inaudible during the end when the intensity of the vocals peaked.
But let's not forget this is a track 10 song, and I also have very high expectations of tr10s as I do with tr3s. And this song just cannot even be compared to songs like AnJing, Last Battle (Best tr10 ever!), Terraced Fields or 止戰之殤. All those songs were either 4.5 or 5 star songs. More than double of what I'd rate Coral Sea. A disappointing end.
11 Drifting - 飄移 = 3/5
it's a solid song and everytime I hear it, I'm reminded of all the sick drifts in Initial D, especially the 3 car drift race!. But the fact is, that this is not a stunning song nor is it a terrible song. It's just a good song with an awesome bassline to hear inside the car. But I have to say that this song seems to drag on way too long especially with the "ja-ja-ja-ja jay chow" bit. It makes up for about ¼ of the song o.O
12 All The Way North - 一路向北 = 4/5
When I first this (b4 I heard this album), I didn't really like it because I hate wannabe Qin Tian songs! I hate them with a passion! But then I saw initial D and the song went from a 2/5 to a 4/5 cos it totally sums up Jay's "lonely driver" mood during the end, especially with Jay's soulful singing. Unfortunately, I think this song has max'ed out its potential. It could never be a 5star song.
Total: 30/50 = 3/5 = 60% (minus Initial D tracks) --- 62% with Initial D Tracks
11C could've and should've been so much more had jay spent more time fine tuning it instead of being in Initial D. I'm also disappointed with the massive rip-off of ge qian and the empty promise that Jay had made saying this album will fuse classical music with Mandarin pop. What the hell happened to that?!?!! There was Nocturnes and that was it!!!
This album was a bit strange in that the songs I originally really like (Maltose and Reverse Scales) wore down over time while songs I didn't like originally, grew on me (Maple and Blue Storm). All is not bad though, songs like Nocturne and Hair Like Snow can definitely stand up against some of the all-time classics like Qin Tian, Garden Party, Tornado etc etc.
But wat I miss is the most are the hip-hop songs. What happened to songs like Jiang Jin, Shuang Dao, YFZM, Ba wo hui lai le ? ...those were above classic! They were immortal! Those crappy pepsi and paparazzi songs are way below the standard. It totally sums up the album. Flashes of brilliance, but generally lacking the usual Jay brilliance.
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