Nanquan Mama
Color Palette (Tiao Se Pan)
This is Nan Quan Mama’s second album, where they now have Lara ( she sang ‘Shan hu hai’ with Jay Chou in NC album) as part of the group. Don’t let the album cover fool you, she looks better than that actually :)
There’r a total of 12 songs, so it might be a bit long so i’d group them up according to the ‘feeling’. The songs are rather ’slow’.. if you know what i mean. Actually i thought they felt a bit like alternative rock.
The first song is ‘Tonight’ and it has this rather ‘open’ feeling when you listen to it. Easy going and there’r parts where it actually sounds like reggae! This is followed by 悄悄告訴她 (Talk to her) which has a rather similar beat to Tonight. You can hear Lara’s singing almost througout the song and again, with drums and guitar accompanying the singing.
Then it’s 初恋粉色系 (A Series of Pink Crushes) which has an easy going beat and when you listen to it, i feel as if it’s summer (not like Melbourne.. so cold now. Heh). Sounds as if when they sang this song, you can imagine kids running in the playground, and blowing bubbles, birds chirping, and things like that. Summertime. 花恋蝶 (Flower Loves a Butterfly) has a very ‘Jay Chou feeling’ and it seems as if this song adapts some ancient Chinese music beat. There’s piano accompaniment but later, you’d hear Chinese flute and like i said, it’s very… ‘ancient’.
人魚的眼淚 (Mermaid’s Tears) is a nice song and the guitar sounds a bit like one of Jay Chou’s song. I’m beginning to think that Lara’s inclusion in Nan Quan Mama is not to make the band ‘cuter’.. she actually has quite a good voice. Especially when she sings the song here. Overall, this song has a very soothing beat and just nice rhythm. Next is 槍與玫瑰 (Guns and Roses) and unlike the original Guns and Roses band, this song is not really heavy rock. Rather, it’s more to rap and heavy bass taps. And once again, i don’t know if it’s just me but it sounds very like Jay Chou’s music!
時間若倒退 (If Time Reverses) has to be my favourite song in this album. (Currently my phone ringtone too :) ). I like the lyrics- rather sweet lyrics i’d say and it has a very nice and soothing feeling when you listen to it. And Lara provides good side vocals too. The next song is ‘Good Bye , Good Luck’ has a ‘mumbling singing’ style a bit, but i don’t find the vocals really powerful. It’s a very slow song, and quite sad if you ask me. Must be about a guy breaking up with his girlfriend :p
水晶蜻蜓 (Crystal Dragonfly) sounds a bit like those Canto-pop songs, but just that it’s more Taiwanese version. I think there are parts with violins, and the song has a quite uptempo beat. It’s just Lara singing the whole song. 回你身邊 (Back By Your Side) is a song which i find very… ‘country like’.. very lazy feeling. But it’s good song if you want to relax and listen to a very slow song without minding the drums in the background.
第二個爸爸 (A Second Father) has very heavy guitar strums and again, its beat is rather slow and it has a more acoustic feeling. Not much i can say about this song though. 離家不遠 (Left But Not Afar) has a more rock feeling, but it’s not too heavy. This is a more typical Nan Quan Mama song, with raps in between and a string orchestra in the background.
I’d say that Nan Quan Mama has actually improved quite significantly, being able to write nicer songs. Afterall, being Jay Cho’s ‘apprentices’, it’s not surprising to find that their songs resemble very closely to his. Even in some songs, i find that the main vocalist’s way of singing is a bit like Jay Chou’s.
Track 01: Tonight
Track 02: 悄悄告訴她 (Tell Her Secretly)
Track 03: 初戀粉色系 (A Series of Pink Crushes)
Track 04: 花戀蝶 (Flower Loves Butterfly)
Track 05: 人魚的眼淚 (Mermaid’s Tears)
Track 06: 槍與玫瑰 (Guns and Roses)
Track 07: 時間若倒退 (If Time Reverses)
Track 08: Good Bye , Good Luck
Track 09: 水晶蜻蜓 (Crystal Dragonfly)
Track 10: 回你身邊 (Back By Your Side)
Track 11: 第二個爸爸 (A Second Father)
Track 12: 離家不遠 (Not Far From Home)
I’d recommend almost all the tracks for listening, because they sound quite alike. So obviously if you like one track, you won’t find the other one more disappointing. So, a job rather well done Nan Quan Mama! But i still like Track 7 best.
Written by Alex on Jun 10, 2006
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23 Comments, Join the discussion
Shez
hey great review :D :D :D
i still like guns and roses for some reason…. the first time i fully listened through the whole album that was the song that i liked most
after a while my mind changes and i really like the song ‘tonight’, ‘flower in love with a butterfly’ and ‘crystal dragonfly’
this album is very different from their previous one and at the moment i still prefer ‘meal no.2′
and hahahaha lara is very pretty and hmmm yea on the album cover she looks a little different….
Jun 11th, 2006
Pimpy
Nice review!
I totally enjoy their new album. Its got a semi-jay feel to it. I particular like ‘flower in love w/ a butterfly’. Lara has an amazing voice! Keep it up Nan Quan Mama!
Jun 14th, 2006
Dita
Thanks for the review :) I think this is a nice album as well; all the songs are enjoyable to listen to and I didn’t need to skip any tracks. I may be biased but I like this album better than their last, even though there are some nice songs in there as well. My favourite track here is also #7, it’s just so nice to listen to :D
Jun 18th, 2006
Tanti
This album doesn’t impress me as much but definitely thank you for the review. It’s well written. :)
Jun 29th, 2006
perr
There actually isn’t a main vocalist because they all sing but I suppose Lara’s always the easiest to catch. Zhang Jie was previously one of those behind-the-scenes guy who worked on songs and music with Jay, he’s a Guns & Roses fan, plus his voice sounds a lot like Jay’s. That’s why his music seems to sound like Jay’s. I really love the guitar in this song. Except Lara, they all knew and worked with Jay in some way before in Nanquan mama..
You can get used recognising to their voices by listening to their own solo songs in terms of both lyrics AND music. Yuhao with Good Bye, Good Luck, Dan Tou with 第二個爸爸, Lara with 水晶蜻蜓, Zhang Jie with 回你身邊.
Jul 9th, 2006
strawberry angle
I like tonight very much!The feeling when listening the song is so good!
I like this band .Cheer!
Jul 10th, 2006
Asian Noodle
**yawn** The album has good beats to it, BUT WHATS WITH LARAS NEW HAIR!?! In Tonight she looks like a freak, then compare to ‘What Can I Do’ from their previous album. Whoa, shes changed, and for the worse, my god, her hair llooks much better in “not too far away” straight all the way
Jul 14th, 2006
lynnx01
I think they sing very well.. nice songs. I think Lara is very young, am I right? Something like.. 16 only?
Jul 17th, 2006
cheng
Lara’s 18.. go look at her xanga:
http://www.xanga.com/veronin
Aug 2nd, 2006
chang
what happened to the song “rock” and “闇奏”
Aug 7th, 2006
philry4n
Those songs were on the second version of the album >.
Aug 20th, 2006
SpDeViLpS
Cool review. Upon listening to the single 初戀粉色系 (A Series of Pink Crushes), i started searching information about this band. NQMM has no doubt came out with 1 of the mandarin albums of the year. But watch out for Jay Chou’s 依然范特西 coming out on 8th September this year.
Sep 2nd, 2006
Alex
spDevilpS: no doubt they’ve improved. i’ve got the whole new jay chou album already :)
Sep 2nd, 2006
Pleaser
not that im a troublemaker,, but i really want to know how to get the guitar chords for the songs in NQMM…please reply this query!
Sep 3rd, 2006
Pleaser
hiie steve..i heard about your wonderful blog..and it really is neat..i hope you really could help me in this situation..do you know any reliable webbies where i can get my guitar chords/tabs for the song (li jia bu yuan) please help!
Sep 3rd, 2006
Darked
Lara is so hot. omG. T-T
Sep 23rd, 2006
Justin
this is actually the third NQMM album.
Sep 26th, 2006
hieRO
That curly hair on Lara is actually just a wig. =3 Good thing too. I much prefer her straight hair.
Oct 26th, 2006
1day
i love their songs however their music videos are not that good.
Dec 4th, 2006
Tracy Lim
nanquanmama, ni yao jia you o!!! ^^
Jul 29th, 2007
xin lin
Lara is soooo cute n pretty!!! I luv her voice! So sweet! She has talent. :)))
Oct 28th, 2007
Ang (:
I love nan quan mama (: Thanks for reviewing their album!
Mar 23rd, 2008
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