Fans interaction

Gorgeous pix of David's interaction with his mainland fans even when singing. Below great review @ urbanwire.com, gonna have to post all the reviews @ blog forum so it dun disappeared into the archives. Wish I could find sum Black Tangerine reviews, sure there were few but cos wasn't a fan back then think most have already been archived.
David Tao - The Great Leap 2005
Written by Tang Pin-Ji
Sunday, 27 February 2005
A Leap In Tao's Musical History
The hype around David Tao's latest offering has been built up since Aug 2003, following the release of Ultrasound, a collection of Tao's greatest hits from 1997 to 2003. Then, Tao had referred to Ultrasound as being the end of the 1 st volume in a trilogy of his music, thus signalling a change in musical direction in his next album. It's therefore not surprising that The Great Leap 2005 has turned out to be one of the most highly anticipated albums of this year, both among his fans and music critics.
From the creepy opening sounds of "Ghost Overture", The Great Leap 2005 launches into an angst-ridden and electronic-laced "Ghost" - the 1 st single off the album. On the surface, "Ghost" seems to be talking about the unknown beings known to us. Upon closer inspection at the lyrics, however, it appears that Tao is, in fact, referring to the living "ghosts" among us - highly suspicious people in our daily lives who are full of malicious intent. His lyrics say that the "ghosts" are neither here nor there and never give up, which is an apt representation of those we know with the most dubious intentions, except to inflict harm onto others.
It might have been almost 2.5 years since Tao released his 3rd studio album, Black Tangerine, but the Chinese music industry has not been completely bereft of his presence meanwhile. Apart from Ultrasound, fans from all across Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore got to watch him on his sell-out Soul Power Tour in 2003.
With hits like "Melody" and "Angeline" from previous albums, older fans of Tao will not be surprised to see yet another female name appearing as a song title in The Great Leap 2005. This time, it's "Catherine" making the rounds. Dedicated to Tao's mother of the same name, the tune to "Catherine" was written by Dean Ting - a fan of Tao from Harbin, China. For Tao, who has always written the melodies to his songs so far, this move to include someone else's works can be argued to be a great leap indeed.
It can be observed that songs written by Tao reflect the issues that affect him most. About a year before the release of his previous studio album, Black Tangerine came the 9/11 attack. Today, in The Great Leap 2005, Tao sings about the consequences of war in "The Art Of War", a rock track infused with Oriental music by the well-known 12 Girls Band from China. The same support from the 12 Girls Band can be heard in "Susan Said", which is more R&B-based, but still a hot favourite among most of his fans.
Listeners who are bigger fans of Tao's slower stuff will not be disappointed by the variety of ballads in this album. From the jazzy "2Night", to the earnest and heart-wrenching "Who Do You Love?", they bring back a familiar feel. Although they're a far cry from the rawer material found elsewhere in The Great Leap 2005, the style of these sentimental tracks has not differed much from the usual formula. However, there is 1 slow number that stands out from the rest. "Song For Anita", which Tao wrote for his close friend Anita Mui, is peaceful and tranquil, which probably reflects Tao's emotions towards the popular late singer who had succumbed to cervical cancer in Dec 2003.
If you're a David Tao fan, The Great Leap 2005 would probably have been your listening staple over the past few weeks since its release. But if you aren't, this album is nonetheless a great showcase of Tao's varied repertoire for your sampling pleasure.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Nice DT pixs

Nothing much happening so just posting sum nice pixs of David by Ann, a Taiwan fan, during Great Leap autograph session. Loved the windswept look.

Even when with puffy eyes, he can electrify heehee

Lou Dayou's album won GMA award for song arrangement which included Andrew Chu but he was busy in LA & could not attend but think its his first GMA award, so congra.

Apparently there was an awkward moment during Best male singer when Leehom thought it was him when Stanley Huang was announced by Karen Mok. He already went up the stage when Taozi quickly told him it was due to Karen's HK chinese that he mistaken 'Huang Li Shi' for 'Wang Lee Hom'. Poor Homie but then he already won Best male singer before so its not so bad.

Lastly another tongue sticking out moment captured.

VIRTUAL DAVID

My virtual friends, I am still palpitating hahaha, just caught David on tv not sure which channel but he was wearing the cute black tee with tiny gold cubes so should the recent Sg promo. They have 2 Davids on *dazed* 1 singing & 1 talking closeup. Singing Susan Said & talking erm...not sure what heehee cos I was staring so much for he looked so incredible.

Yeah I know ppl kept saying he is not goodlooking, ugly even but then who can look at a beautiful sunset 24/7 & not get bored. Whereas a still gloomy day will reveal its charms slowly. Everything abt his face is wrong - eyes too small, mouth too big, nose too flared, face too fleshy, hair too funny but it all adds up rite - for me anyway esp when he smiles or slightly winks, he is devastating. Or maybe miss him so much so got carried away kekekekekekekekekeke

Did caught last bit of what he said abt his concert. He promised a whole new diff concert from Soul Power but it will still be simple without too many 'decorations' & music focused. There is sum confirmation that his concerts start from Shanghai but no dates as yet.

Oso regarding Gorillaz speaking chinese, since they r virtual band they can have alt egos in any language rite? I dun think David actually met the real original musicians behind the band cos they r not in Taiwan & he is not in England, or maybe they did chat online I dun know. But just a promo for Gorillaz's 2nd album coming out soon & think its vry cute to have the animated characters wanting to be part of David's concert. After all David did appeared pixelised in his Shanghaied mv.

Sum pixs courtesy tangerina & phii @ dftc sg forum

David & Gorillaz

Vry clever promo @ emi tw website for Gorillaz new album, Demon Days. The animated characters wanted to apply for the person David is looking for his concert. Russel said he looked like the US drummer in Black Tangerine & Murdoc wanted to be the demon in Ghost mv. David said they r extremely talented but their chinese sound too brit & made him laugh. Gorillaz is a virtual band created by Blur's Damon Albarn along with Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett, made up of Noodle (guitar), 2-D (vocals), Murdock (bass) and Russell (drums).

Of cos there is lotsa talent behind this virtual band but they r promoted as if they r real even have press interviews & tours. They have a fantastic sound altho a bit dark & really like their new single, Feel Good Inc. The song is a bit like Ghost where 3 of the Gorillaz r trapped in this place called Feel Good Inc & they r supposed to feel good but not 2-D who longed to escape to the floating windmill where Noodle is. Of cos my fav mbr is sweetie Noodle.

Sum critic said their music & mvs takes you to another world, a fantasy one but actually if u listened & watched carefully their songs r actually grounded in reality & they have a strong sense of melody. I feel so happy they r associated with David. Its so coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool heehee

Pic courtesy EMI Taiwan

David vs David

Sum more pixs of David & Fanfan, the album gonna be called One Vs One & coming out nxt mth. He looked quite chubby here heehee, think he put on sum weight which is good. Now back to the gym & we can have our Soul Power David back *heart racing*

So sweet here hmmmmmm how old is this Fanfan? She looks mid 20s or more, not vry pretty but traditional type. Good match for our Dave dun u think? Haha just kidding. Feel sry for David, he must be vry lonely, so should be online more & read our msgs & LEAVE A MSG FOR US! ^__^ At least msg will make up for the lack of news.

I am actually doing a whole online album of newspaper & mag scans I have of David so far cos dun think there is one available anywhere. Also his print ads well as many as I have, the one above is 1 of the earliest, sum kinda crisp I think. Again its not possible to give everybody credit cos I dun always remember where I got them, mostly will be from davidcn of cos. Its not to rob anyone but just to provide a better biography of David's works.
Actually inspired by this fan's book on Brigitte Lin The Last Star of the East. So think its important to collect these info in case sum DT fan wanna write a book on him. Actually any kinda contribution u guys can provide will be much appreciated okie.

Girly David

More news abt David writing & producing for Fan Wen Qi or Fanfan as she is affectionately known. David praised her & gave her 90%. He said that he has to imagine himself as longhaired girl wearing a skirt *faint* to write the song called One vs One I think. He also wrote & produced for Elva Hsiao's new album but not much news yet.

Was gonna post a pix of Elva but this one much cuter with David heehee, anyway can see half of Elva grinning. I find Elva vry pretty but only like 1 of her songs, duet with & written by Anson Hu. While I love to have an album of David singing the songs he written for others which hopefully is in the works, I also like to have compilation of songs he wrote for others & sang by them. It will be 2 discs album even not including Tension or LA Boyz & plse not the song sang by 'incomprehensible one' heehee
Cute pix of them both altho David looked so much younger. I almost wanna crop the 'incomprehensible one' but not so cruel as many of his fans whom I wanna prevent from coming here by not putting his name so this blog dun come up in their searches. I wonder why do they wanna visit the site of sumone they dislike, I certainly dun.

Found this site with streaming clip of David singing Regular Friends acoustic style during his Love Hope Charity concert last yr. Just marvellous, TQ whoever put it up, he always sing this song slightly different each time but this version just perfect with only accompaniment of 2 guitars & Jamie's backing vocals.

New girly 'Twins type' group in Taiwan. Apparently 1 of them, not sure which, a big DT fan & driving in Taipei they saw David walking on the street & she yelled out, "Bump him! Bump him!" so she can meet him. Haha cute girl. But when the driver stopped the car so she can say hi to David, she was too embarrassed. Yeah I know trivial story but kinda funny haha, David just too irresistible.

Dream come true

Thank u whoever took this 'tongue sticking out' pix! I am glad u guys enjoy reading my blog but dun gave me too much credit as if not for the fact that David is so well loved & creative dun think my blog will be so interesting, it will be just rubbish. He just has the ability to make ordinary things that much more interesting. It could be sumthing he learnt from his dad who told him abt mountains being dead dinosaurs haha.
David appearing on Sg Uweekly where fan on the right interviewed him, thank u nlayhua for the discovery. These r full scans so if u click on them you can dl & read them @ yr leisure as the chinese too much for me to translate. I can only vaguely understand the first para where the fan asked abt really talented musicians. David I think compared making music to writing blog, vry interesting comparision. He said that with computer technology its now easier to make music, but the ability to make music dun often meant its good but it can also mean a lot of 'music rubbish'. Like now its popular to create blog cos its easy & free but with no real standard cos a lot of words dun mean its literature. Right on, David.
He is not just intelligent but able to discern & assimilate what's going on in the world. He really think abt issues & how it affects society. Just so vry unusual for a chinese artist not to be wrapped up in their own xenophobic world of entertainment. David always makes me so vry proud that at least in the chinese entertainment world, there is sumone like him. You know the song that goes sumthing like "on the day that you were borned, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true..." I always think of David when I heard that heehee. He is my dream come true.
Raymond is not my dream come true, kekekekekkekkekekekeke. Raymond of Tension that is, seemed he is hosting a new taiwanese program. Hope to see Tension together again real soon. Oso no news of David as maybe he alredi went back to LA to rest altho I did read sumwhere he had activity with Tony Leung to promote Macau in May. Was hoping its true as wanna see the both of them together again.

SHARING DAVID

He looked tired here poor thing, not sure where I got this pix, actually have lotsa lovely pixs which I have every intention of sharing. Can't always know whose pix & may not give credit, if its yr pix & u r mad abt it do so @ my shoutbox or email me. Understand I am not being paid to do this blog, only sharing the goodness of David. Even if noone visit, put it up for my own enjoyment. Sum fans can be overzealous abt keeping stuff only for themselves, not me, I want every single DT fan in the whole wide world to be able to see & hear the perfection of David in every & any way. I am a fan that likes to propagate in the rite way of cos hehehehheheheheheheheheh just too good to keep to myself :P

Here someone who feels the same abt David, but maybe she wants to get a bit closer to him haha. Moblog abt David, must be the same who keep spamming blog forum. Looks nice anyway with sum nice pixs of David. Here can buy David in euros, his songs not the person *sigh* wouldn't it be nice if each of us can get our vry own David heehee. So nice to see so many mini Davids on a european site altho its a Sony, hmmmmmmm guess where's there money to be made, records companies do cooperate. Last yr he won Best Vocal Performance by a Male Artist for Season of Loneliness @ CASH, too bad vid link is broken. This yr most probably give to Lee Hom who had his birthday a few days ago, belated greetings to Homie!!!!!!!

Managed to tune in to his music special @ 988fm but reception was so bad which was sad as wanna hear him talk abt Dear God. He also talk abt the comparision between him, Lee Hom & the 'incomprehensible one' but as they r different ages will bring different things to different audience so nothing to compare. They played songs from The Great Leap. 2nd part nxt Wed. Try & tune if u can.

David's X Factor

Quite a stylistic pix, luv the bkgrd. Credit & thks to whoever took it @ davidcn. David attended strange variety kinda show in China over the weekend. He wore the orangy, stripy shirt, jeans & white jacket. Coming out he sang Small Town Girl & I wanna confessed sumthing here. Always thought the nasal way he sang this song was sorta 'engineered' in the studio but actually he can do it live. *shake head* why did I ever think that way?
Anyway after some silly antics by a chubby guy & 2 girls, they started to ask questions. They asked abt his unusual name & who gave to him. He said it was his granny & that she was an artist & so was able to give him such a meaningful name. Then they got him to sing sum lines of Moon over my hear & Spring Wind. He was in fine form. Then this girl wanted to know what his ideal gf *roll eyes* & he said must have character & be independent. He like girls with short hair cos it was harder to appear feminine. The main host praised him for being honest & going for character rather than looks.

Then the chubby guy said he wanted to sing his song & it was Liu Sha. David was surprised & said it was difficult. The guy kinda fluffed the opening heehee & David helped him; he was not bad but can see just imitating the way David sing not really singing but David was nice & harmonised for him. He sang 1 verse & bowed to David, kinda comical & David thought that was it but he carried on singing! In fact it was getting boring so David pitched in & demonstrated his voice gymnastics going high & low with such ease. It was so good although the chubby guy ruined it by his oooohhhhhh at the end kinda irritating. But David was vry gracious, after all he wrote the song haha. After that he confirmed that his concert starting in Aug & Shanghai could be first location.

So yeah it was funny show, can watch online @ davidcn but vry slow. As I watched, was thinking yes cannot be considered handsome. But David has that indefinable x factor that you just wanna reach out & hug him even kiss him hehehehehehehehehehe or maybe just me. Just love watching him talk, sing & move. Wish he can be a puppet that I can keep in a box so I can watch & listen to him all the time heehee.
Bloodbubble confirmed that MV session vcd available in Msia for RM26.90, thanks vry much. Advised u get the cheaper vcd. Finally for zoe who may not be able to watch Sprite mv, screen capture of girl swimming with David.

Pixs credit & much thanks to davidcn & davidfan

DAVID ON FIRE

Another gorgeous pix courtesy davidcn. The Music on Fire interview was really nice, although nothing much new as if u r David fan, u should know most of the stuff he has been saying abt the album. The 4 instrument, msg in Ghost, challenge for fan, etc but it was great to see him talking away. He was vry relaxed & they showed snippets of his mvs & some behind the scenes. The first mv was Runaway & forgotten how much I like this song & the mv. Esp the vry US scenery plus the runaway Asian teens. Almost like he is talking abt his struggles when growing up in the US. In 1 of his msgs, he mentioned abt a road trip but not having the time to do one. Surprised that living in the US for so long but he had yet to do a road trip.
They also showed bits of Moon over my heart, My Anata & Black Tangerine mvs & have to agreed that on the whole, Black Tangerine mvs are so much better. Even the ballads like Angel & Melody are beautifully visualised in the mvs. When Derek, the interviewer, said the ending of Who do you love mv is 'open', David revealed that he was the one who suggested the open ending as he felt that if he had to make a choice, he will choose neither Red or White Rose. Hm vry diplomatic of David heehee.

They also talked abt Song for Anita & David said that after WaWa, his lyrist, finished the song he was surprised how close it was to his own feeling abt Anita. WaWa said that she wanted a Mona Lisa type of song, rather mysterious, not knowing what was behind the strange smile. Really love this song & if I have to choose a fav from The Great Leap, it will still be Song for Anita. Probably not the best song or the most memorable but everytime I listen to it, its vry refreshing & kinda strengthening. Really characteristic of Anita.

Other news posted @ Taiwan yahoo grp is David wrote a song for Fan Wei Yi. Its a lighthearted love ballad & Fan Wei Yi was at first afraid of David being tough in the recording, but turned out he was great & showed her many methods of singing. Dun know much abt her but she was in a few taiwanese idol series. Here a pix of her with a dog, hopefully its hers.

According to sum forums, she is supposedly one of the few female tawianese singers who can sing live & not embarrassed herself.
Also according to nlayhua, PSC Nite was a disappointment as David lip synched but still its not the 1st time he did it on tv & probably not the last. He also lip synched to Who do you love @ Sprite Award. Sumtimes fans have to be understanding that singers cannot sing live all the time. Sumtimes its to preserve their voice or they r not feeling their best, sumtimes impossible to sing live cos of the sound system. David tried to sing live most of the time in front of an audience cos he can & sound great. He has no reason to lip synch. Its only cos of the circumstances so I think it should be excusable. After all, he did sing live wonderfully during the Expo mini showcase.

New Sprite CM

For those unable to view or dl Sprite cm @ davidcn cos u r chinese challenged or slow connection, can dl from usendit link @ blog forum, but must register to view DT media. David looked healthy, fun & enjoying himself. The cm entirely shot in Thailand & think the girl in the pool with David also Thai (zoe *__~)

Davidcn also have clip of David during Sprite awards & Liu Xiang, the chinese hurdling gold medal champion, unable to present 1 award to him in person recorded his msg nonetheless. Liu Xiang also appeared in Coke cm with SHE, Shawn Yue & Will Pan.

Really admire Liu Xiang not just for winning record breaking gold Olympic medal but also not getting into the hype & media circus. Can tell that all he want is do the vry best for his sports & get ready for 2008 Olympic, nothing else matters, not money, fame or all the other trimmings that come with fame. Another modern hero of our times & fitting that he likes David's music. Maybe when Liu Xiang has won enough medals, honor & break more records & David realised his ambition in film, they can collaborated to make a movie of his extraordinary career. Sumthing to dream abt anyway heehee.