DT Junior

Kyrie Elesion/ A Big Mess /Adoration /Play /Zero to Hero /Surviving Leopards /RE: DT/ Summer Love Triangle /Miss Sweetie /Chinese Lady /Whose Oscar? /Love Needed /Your Song /Heroes
If you have been wondering if you should get David Tao's latest album 69 David Tao, my recommendation is get it. It is one of the most unpretentious chinese albums you will ever heard. It doesn't pretend to be the major work of a singer/songwriter or strived to be trendsetting with fusion of east-west mix. It doesn't have catchy poppy songs, samples of popular western hits or 'poetic' lyrics. It is just a fun album because the people who worked on it obviously had a lot of fun putting it all together. Listening one gets a lighthearted feeling & can't help tapping one's feet to the rhythm. It's like listening to a high-octane live concert. This album is all about the music, crisp, clear, FUN music! As with the title, the album is heavily influenced by music of the 60s & 70s so for some, it may sound 'alternative' cos it lacks the familiar pop sound of recent digitalised music. It can be a rather challenging album too as the sound is just so different from the mainstream. To really fully appreciate this album, you must have listened to the music of Queen, Eagles, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Rolling Stones & of cos Beatles just to mention a few. The big surprise is that he referenced Queen quite a bit. I think it could be that Freddie Mercury is one of the few Asian musicians who made such a big impact in the west.
He makes quite a few statements in this album & the biggest is his disappointment & losing faith in the Chinese music industry. The most obvious is in Whose Oscar? which is actually a reworking of the cm song he wrote for Icetea in China. Just so DT, to use a commercial song to refute the ppl around him who think he is not conforming to the entertainment standards in order to remain popular. Oscar is probably a cheeky reference to the many chinese music award shows with meaningless awards. Chinese Lady is such an infectious song that makes you wanna get up & boogie but is he talking abt the continual objectification of chinese women? The intro of the album is my fav, a litany called Kyrie Eleison which is Greek for 'Lord have mercy'. This litany was quite often used during the 60s as an antiwar protest. The most popular was probably Mr Mister's Kyrie. David's version is more traditional & a great way to start off an album with a strong 60s rock & roll influence. The litany synced into A Big Mess reminscent of Tonight's News syncing into Dear God in Black Tangerine.
As expected critics are dismissive of this album with their usual complaint that DT is capable of more to which he replied in Whose Oscar that he is not their ideal support & not to depend on him for 'pride'. Perhaps it's appropriate that he ended the album with Heroes with the aftermath of Lui Xiang failing to qualify in the Beijing Olympics. Lui Xiang was supposed to succeed not only for himself but for an entire country as well as for 'chinese pride', but it is unfair & unreasonable to expect one man to carry all that burden. Besides Lui Xiang has already proved that he is a hero by becoming the first chinese athlete to win a gold Olympic medal in hurdles. So the expectation for David to once again prove that he is the 'chinese music godfather' & come up with an album that would rejuvenate the chinese music industry is also unrealistic. Besides one should not judge an album by the singer's past works.
Also as I expected, most critics mentioned his age as if that should matter. They felt that this album is too 'young' for a 40 year old singer. Perhaps they forgot that Michael Jackson came up with Invincible when he was 45? While most critics did said that it was not up to MJ previous standard, they would never mentioned his age nor insinuate the album was too 'young'. No wonder DT is so disappointed with the chinese music industry when the level of music criticism stooped to such puerile juvenile comments as well as ageism. Only good thing is they cannot compare him to Jay Chou since it's not r&b, so they compare him to Wubai whose rock music is probably the only kind they know. One critic even said that if David wants to do rock music, he should listen to Wubai.
With nothing else to criticise since the music production is excellent, the critics fall back on their pet peeve, David's lyrics. Maybe they should go & listen to John Lennon's lyrics or Jimi Hendrix's If 6 is 9. Don't they realise that sometimes lyrics should also follow the flow of the music. Music should be an audio experience from the melody of the song to the singer's voice then to the lyrics. If one needs lyrics that read like poetry to appreciate a song, then something is terribly wrong with either the melody or the singer's ability to move his audience. I have always felt that David's lyrics, written with the help of talented lyricsts like WaWa & Francis Lee, blended into his songs & music so well. He used the lyrics like musical instruments along with his voice to express the feelings in his songs. Since he is not a very poetic person nor is his Mandarin of a very high level, most of his lyrics has been very simple and direct.
As many fans have felt, this could be DT's last album for a long while as one can detect vry strongly from this album that he is determined to have a go at making his own movies. I think he tried to do both but felt that it would compromise both his integrity as a songwriter & a director of movies. And you know what? I used to think that he should stick to music but after listening to this album, I know that I should let him go. He does not have the heart to do music in this kind of environment where he is always being compared & where the charts are always being manipulated. He remains one of the very very very few singer/composers who stick to doing music wholeheartedly with success. Maybe you don't like his music, but you cannot accuse him of selling out on music.
David appeared in a press conference yesterday, watch here. There are also 2 versions of Zero to Hero mv, one that is like a mini-musical & pure joy to watch & a KTV version. His mini-movie Adoration is set to be released in cinemas in Taipei on 9/6.
Musical ver:

KTV ver:

New release date - 8/21

Typhoon has brought forward the release date of 69乐章 to 8/21 cos the entire album tracklist had been made available for streaming as well as downloading on many, many websites including youtube & one of his fansites in China since 8/15. David was of cos vry unhappy abt the situation saying it was vry harmful & disrespectful but not much he can do abt it. When interviewed in HK after participating in the Artistes 88 Fundraising Campaign, he praised his fans for informing him abt this first in Twitter. Many news reports also quoted his tweet abt delaying the album release, making him one of the first Chinese artistes to have tweets quoted in the news ^__^ Anyway although it is unfortunate but I think it would still have happened even if the album has been released on 8/15. Definitely it will affect the sales of the album but let stay optimistic till 8/21. Here he is a bit morose but still wonderfully soulful singing Love Can in HK.

DT @ TPE fundraising

Today would have been DT album release but all his fans appreciated his gesture. He participated in a TV fundraising event in Taipei last night. It was cute watching as before it was his turn, could already see him in the background wiping perspiration from his face & neck *swoon* He was lovely. He was gonna perform a special guitar rendition of I Love You but there was something wrong with the sound equipment & DT the perfectionist suddenly emerged ^__^ He was quietly angry & kept explaining patiently that he couldn't perform without the background music. I think they expected him to just strum the guitar and sing like in a talent show. I just love love love this side of David although some could said he was a bit much since it was a charity program. But then this is David the professional, he would not perform unless conditions were right. Anyway he went & manned the phones for a while. They fixed the sound problem & he came back front to perform and what a performance! His guitar skills have improved enormously & he played with such fervour. He reminded me of Eric Clapton who is the only guitarist who could move me. As always he managed to blend a western sounding guitar sound with a chinese sounding song. Dear DT, you are such a wonder *_* Already on youtube:

DT's album delay to 8/28

David decided to postpone the release of his new album for 2 weeks. He was so upset by the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot that he felt he could not talk abt his new album at this time. A news event to launch his hr-long movie was also cancelled. He felt that we should all concentrate on helping those in need for the time being. Here's a link for donation specifically Taiwan. Although delaying album release is indeed a very small thing but at least it's in the spirit of his song, Zero to Hero, where one person do all that he can to help. Combined that one hundred, even one thousand, so by his little gesture, a lot of his fans are encouraged to help & that is a very good thing indeed. Dear DT, we really appreciate your attempts to right the world's wrongs by your words & your deeds. You are using the talents God gave to you to help others & I'm glad that this is the path you have chosen in your journey in music.

4 days to Opus 69

Apparently the Macau concert was a blast *__* He sang Zero to Hero & MJ medley. Much was made of the fact that he only wore one outfit *scratch head* He's a singer not a model. Anyway here's the songlist:
1 Runaway
2 Wan Bu Liao
3 Close to you
4 Let's fall in love
5 Shanghaied
6 Susan says
7 Who do you love
8 Moon represents whose heart
9 Airport in 10:30
10 Zero to hero
11 Smalltown girl
12 Black Tangerine
13 Regular Friends
14 Marry me today
15 Too Beautiful
16 -MJ Medley-
Man in the mirror
ABC
Rock with you
Human Nature
You are not alone
Billie Jean
I'll be there
17 I love you
18 Rain
19 Love can
Wow that's a lot of songs & still ppl complained that it was too short. I watch some clips & his voice is just pure melt-you-honey yet full of vigor. His live performance just keeps getting better & I hate to say this but sometimes I rather he sings solo throughout. In his concert, I only want to hear his voice & I can't have enough so I rather he take a break, have some water than continue singing. He did a marvellous slow version of Billie Jean that just blew me away. When interviewed, he said that he will be doing more concerts so hopefully he will still do the MJ medley.
Heard his second single, Adoration, which is also the theme song for his hr-long movie. It's apparently the most expensive produced song in the album as David did 3 different versions in order to capture all the different moods in the movie. I cannot honestly say I like the song nor the way he sang in it. It's catchy in a cutesy kinda way which I dislike & the lyrics is way too corny. And yet it captured the essence of chinese romance as depicted in our movies, songs & idol series. The song has a pseudo-western feel which can get annoyingly cloying & yet there something abt it that is just so right. I don't know, it's just a crazy song which can either be a hit or not. Apparently the production of this song caused a lot of his staff to fall sick & David felt sorry abt it but he still want to encourage them to work harder. So he thought of getting a black tee with white lettering 'SLEEP is for beginners' send over from US so that he can wear it & discourage them from sleeping in front of him. Is this a man a slavedriver or what? & why is he so obsessed with sleep all of a sudden?

6 days to Opus 69

Hope DT & his audience had a great time in Macau. There will be a preview of his 2nd single 暗恋 on 8/10 & 8/11. A version of Your song has been leaked & it's really ear magic. It sounds wonderfully acoustic & yet not really demo version. I am quite happy to get the same version on the album or the studio version although I doubt he will try to change it much if it's a demo version. It gave me the same intimate feeling as his first album. You can almost imagine him in the studio, singing into the mike with eyes closed. It's a studio sound that cannot be achieved digitally and it sounded like it was done in one take. The vocal is a bit uneven but his control is near perfect. This is what singing should be all abt where you get carried away by the voice & afterwards part of the melody & some lyrics linger in your mind but the next day, you cannot recollect the song except that it touches some deep part of your heart. Then much, much, much later when you have a quiet moment, you listen to the song again. Good music should be slowly savoured & not put on repeat.
The lyrics written by WaWa is simple yet heartrending. One can say this is a typical DT love ballad but the lyrics show a difference. In the past, he always refused to back away from failure in love, gets depressed & even revengeful. He sought for perfection in love and would settled for nothing less. Now he has learnt to let go. The lyrics went from hopeful to resigned to inevitable. It's a small & subtle change but I like it. I feel now his music & WaWa's excellent lyrics are more in tune. Dear DT, thanks once again for making me feel the music again.
Anyway congratulations to Jay Chou who is taking the road well traveled by other Asian stars eager for international fame by taking on a role in a Hollywood movie. I really hope he do well *so he will stop plaguing our Dave heehee" Actually I'm really glad that Stephen Chow turned down playing Kato, the iconic role made famous by Bruce Lee. Stephen Chow is Stephen Chow & Bruce Lee is Bruce Lee. I don't want to see Stephen try to take on Bruce. Both of them are unique in their inimitable way & should stay that way. So you see sometimes letting go & taking the road less traveled can be more satisfying & even rewarding. Another lesson by DT ^__^

11 days to Opus 69

He looks so cool & natural next to a bike *__* Brief writeup on cctv.com:

David Tao promotes new album
2009-08-03 09:42 BJT
After a three-year hiatus, Taiwan singer David Tao is set to release his new album, the "69 Concerto." Apart from all the back stage work, Tao is also in charge of directing the music video. The album is named 69 Concerto because it's Tao's sixth album, and the ninth musical work. The singer was born in 1969.

Interesting they translated 69乐章 to '69 Concerto'.

13 day to Opus 69

As always with David, we get a music lesson. He used glam rock to describe his first single Zero to Hero. So what is glam rock? It was popular in UK during the 70s. The best eg is probably David Bowie then T Rex & *shudder* Gary Glitter. Glam rock is characterised by a strong science fiction & androgynous theme. Which could be why he used the term 'yin yang ren' meaning hermaphrodite in chinese. Of cos Zero to Hero is pretty toned down glam rock but once again he is able to fuse a western musical style with asian elements seamlessly. I also love the quixoteness of the song telling the story of a salaryman bogged down by the drudge of daily work having fantasies of being a hero with a phoenix plane. But the song also carries msg of environmental & antiwar issues. His play on the fish used for sushi could be reminding us that sushi maybe a trendy food but it is also causing the depletion of seafood such as blue-fin tuna & octupus. Likewise his play on the words 'egg' & 'bomb'. Overall there is the simple theme found in most anime of good overcoming evil but first it has to start with the individual turning from zero to hero. Each of us must make a stand for the environment & be strong abt antiwar. Come to think of it, Zero to Hero is almost like MJ's Man in the mirror.

14 days to Opus 69

Yesteday, David made an appearance as the spokesman for Yahoo safety for kids online. During his 'Are you experienced?' prelaunch party for his new album, he revealed the lyrics of 6 songs: Zero to Hero, Your song, RE DT, Play, Too Stupid and Adoration. Here's a very nice blog describing the event complete with pixs & of cos DT has helpfully uploaded 10 clips on youtube.