On Zhang Yu Sheng:

On my drive home, i flipped to CD no. 8 on my cdplayer in the car. It was zhang yu sheng's last album (kou shi xin fei), one of my most favourite album of all time. I am not sure why i picked it, usually i just listen to the radio. But tonight i felt like listening to it. It seemed to suit the night and misty rain. In fact, i drove pass my house and went on straight and ended up somewhere in changi so that i could finish the whole album to the end. It was a good feeling and one satisfying drive.

There are many reasons why i like this particular album. It was a new experimental album, departing from zhang's usual compositions which he was well known for. It was not a perfect album but it was a daring one. After a long hiatus (and producing for other singers), he came back from with something different from the run of the mill love songs he usually composed. Hints of what was to come came on and off in his previous albums (e.g. mei you yan chou de ri zi) but that last album still impressed me as i felt he was on the verge of breaking through to another stage of his career and phase of composing.

The album has only 11 songs. Most of which exceed 4mins individually. He composed most of the lyrics, the melody, arranged the music and produced it. And what fun he must have had. He experimented with different electronic sounds, instrumentation and arrangement. All the songs sounded unique, with hints of different musical influences, ranging from jazz to orchestral concentos. It was not without its flaws. I never feel that he was a particularly good lyricist though he did have a few good ones. There was also a over empharsize on the "rock effect" (2-3 songs which started slow ended in a sudden rock concert high gear, which i felt was rather over doing it). But what i love most is that every song has qualities that i admire: a interesting zen-like starting melody, imaginative play of lyrics and orchestra arrangement of "sui ni", the calmness of "he" and daring climax of "cuppacino".

I would have love to see where he would take his new style if he had not passed away. This album was like a sampler of different styles which he was interested in. Where could he have gone from there? There was certainly room for exploration and improvement. But i guess i would never know. Most people have not paid much attention to it. My guess is that people usually like songs which they can sing to at ktv which could explain why the second song in the album "kou shi xin fei" was the only one people recognized. In any case, i feel that this album has been underrated when it should have been viewed as one with trememdous potential but was cut short by the singer unfortunate demise.