alan – Xin De Dong Fang July 11, 2009

Track Listing

1. Tian Nu
2. Ai Kan De Jian
3. Fei Xing Zhi
4. Xi Jie
5. Jia You! Ni You ME! feat. Wei Chen
6. San Sheng Shi San Sheng Lu
7. Ming Ri Zan Ge
8. Xin・Zhan ~RED CLIFF~
9. Chi Bi ~Da Jiang Dong Qu~
10. sign
11. Ai Jiu Shi Shou (bonus track)

1. Tian Nu

Chinese equivilent to “Tennyo ~interlude~.  Tian Nu opens the album basically the same way “Tennyo” did back on “Voice of EARTH”.  She definitely wails her way in through the beginning which is hardcore that it makes it a standout opening.  It’s just the same thing, but you hear alan actually wailing in the BKGD when it gets into the more aggressive part of the song.  Not much else to seperate the two really, but it’s an epic opening.

2. Ai Kan De Jian

Chinese equivalent to “Gunjou no Tani”.  Now “Gunjou no Tani” is one of my favorites of the Japanese album and I was excited to hear her Chinese version (since the PV was filmed in China of all places).  Now being the first vocally Chinese song off the album, alan’s sounds just as good in her foreign tongue.  Even then, my ears think Chinese is quite strange.  Anywho, I think alan did an amazing job this song again and it might be just as good as “Gunjou no Tani”.

3. Fei Xing Zhi

Chinese equivalent to “Sora Uta”.  Now I was surprised that alan did a Chinese version of “Sora Uta” just because it was one of the tracks I didn’t really expect to get the nod to have happen in the first place.  I still love that she kept the English lines intact and I think she actually did a pretty job pronouncing them.  She once again kept the same amount of energy throughout and is another track I like as much as the original if not more.

4. Xi Jie

Chinese equivalent to “Kimi Omou Sora”.  It’s been actually quite awhile since I listened to “Kimi Omou Sora” last so this comes to me a new song in some cases.  What I do recall was that the song was very pop like, even more so than “Sora Uta” and that it combined traditional Chinese elements and more modern sounds together.  It quite sounds like something from Final Fantasy X really.  Still the BKGD vocals are a bit strange to hear, but it’s kind of cute in its own way. 

5. Jia You! Ni You ME! feat. Wei Chen

The only “REAL” new track on the album, Jia You! was released previously as a digital single beforehand and is a song that features a big singer in China, Wei Chen.  It’s kind of funny listening to this because it’s kind of like medieval sounding at the beginning and most of it actually.  Now their harmonization is alright, but you can hear some odd stuff.  Wei is rapping a bit here as well, since the song sounds a bit R&B as well.  Iono, such an overall odd genre alan is dabbling in, but whatever at least it’s catchy (as Chinese goes).

6. San Sheng Shi San Sheng Lu

Chinese equivalent to “Sakura Modern”.  Actually this track was previously released back on “Xin・Zhan ~RED CLIFF~’s” single.  Just like “Xi Jie/Kimi Omou Sora”, This contains a mixture of traditional and modern elements all wrapped up in Chinese goodness.  It starts off with water running and I’m guessing some kind of Chinese instrument.  It’s a little bit of R&B as well, which is interesting, but at some orgel and strings and you get this track.  I kind of like this though better than “Sakura Modern”.

7. Ming Ri Zan Ge

Chinese equivalent to “Ashita e no Sanka”.  Was anyone surprised that she would’ve added a Chinese version of her debut single?  Sadly, this was a horrible Chinese translation of the track.  I mean the opening and verses sounded just as good as the original, but when she gets to the chorus and the wails she does….she fails it, in the worse way.  The wails themselves sound so forced and in the 2nd roll through the chorus she’s horribly flat….damn what happened here?  I love “Ashita e no Sanka”, but this was just a red flag towards the album. 

8. Xin・Zhan ~RED CLIFF~

C’mon if you don’t know what this is the equivalent to, then shame on you.  Anyways, it’s my third time reviewing this and I still choose “RED CLIFF ~Shin Sen~ moreso than this version.  It is basically the same track, but the wail at the end is omitted, how unfortunate because it is the climax of the song basically and all we get is the orchestration.  I do like alan’s vocals here though which I’ll give points to and the Chinese was very fitting to the song as well.

9. Chi Bi ~Da Jiang Dong Qu~

Kind of odd to see Chi Bi on “this” album rather than wait for the next album…then again seeing how it’s a big track to alan, it’s understandable to see this on here so soon.  What sets itself apart from “Kuon no Kawa” is that the pitch is a bit higher…It actually is pretty epic as songs go, and to hear it after “Xin・Zhan” is even better because they fit better together.  Talk about nice for alan, this is great.  I can admire the Chinese version a bit more now since the JPN version isn’t plugged in front of it (though that still is better).

10. sign

I find it funny that sign of all songs would be the only track from her discography that’s the same on both countries, it acts like the closer to the album.  Now it has alan singing in her native tongue backed up by a a beat and there’s various things happening that sounds like it could a slow dance track with all the synths going on.  I quite like that it does fit the mood and with “Tian Nu”.  Wish they put this on “Voice of EARTH” though.

11. Ai Jiu Shi Shou

Our bonus track is the Chinese equivalent to “Shiawase no Kane”.  Now this was also pre-released as a digital single the same time that “Shiawase no Kane” was, so it was basically which version was better like “Chi Bi” and “Kuon no Kawa”.  The song is basically a piano & acoustic guitar ballad.  It’s quite nice to hear something natural happen here.  I do wonder why she omitted “Shiawase no Kane” from “Voice of EARTH” (that is until she announced the tracklist for “Natsu no Umi”.)

Tracks Recommended

• Fei Xing Zhi
• Ai Kan De Jian
• Chi Bi ~Da Jiang Dong Qu~
• Ai Jiu Shi Shou

You know what, comparing this and “Voice of EARTH”, I rather take this album over it.  Listening to the tracks off of “VoE” there were filler tracks for sure, but here we get the big songs and most of the conversions were donce nicely.  The only track that disappointed me was the Chinese version of “Ashita e no Sanka”, that was a big no-no for her, but otherwise this is a very strong Chinese album *BTW this is the only artist that I’ll follow that does C-pop*