Concert Hall - Golden Voice 2007 (CD+DVD) DVD Region All

The formula remains the same - all the songs are recorded on high-definition video and top-notch audio equipment, with each track recorded in a single take accompanied by live instruments. However, there is one difference this time around: all the songs are covers of Mandarin pop hits from the 80s and early 90s. Singing a cover album for the first time, the challenge for Tsai and co. is to take these well-established songs and make them her own. Naturally, an artist of Tsai's caliber is able to pull them off with gusto, even if there are a few missed opportunities.

Released by Hong Kong's Universal Records, a majority of the songs should be fairly well known to Hong Kong listeners. The most well-known one is Jacky Cheung's classic ballad "Farewell Kiss" (Track 7), which is recreated with only a piano, an acoustic guitar, and strings. Simplicity is the key in the arrangements for this cover, relying on Tsai's smooth vibrato voice to stand out during the chorus. The result is a cover that intentionally eschews the emotional intensity of the original and compensates for it with an aura of poetic elegance that one would never expect from this song.

On the other hand, the most pleasant surprise among the covers has to be "A Lifelong Dream for Love" (Track 5), the Mandarin cover of the famous Cantonese ballad by Sam Hui. While Hui's songs are usually not associated with elegant symphonic arrangements, Tsai says in the making-of that she envisioned the song to be played with a large symphony when she first heard it. She partially gets her wish here as she gets a four-piece strings section and a piano to give the ballad an unexpected air of tragic grandeur that Hui probably never imagined when he first wrote the song.

The slogan of Concert Hall - Golden Voice seems to be "simpler is better." Like the previous Concert Hall albums, the accompaniment only consists of several musicians. However, unlike the Hacken Lee Concert Hall albums, Golden Voice is entirely consisted of ballads with rather spare arrangements. Thankfully, Tsai is known for her smooth, silky voice, and that voice is clearly the star of the album. While her voice is not naturally powerful, she really manages to capture the emotions behind each song's lyrics and make them her own. There's no need to even think about how Tsai's covers compare to the originals, because Golden Voice is so well produced and the songs are too well delivered for it to simply be called a cover album. Finally, here is an album that is truly worthy of the term "reinvention".

However, as an audiophile's album, Golden Voice doesn't challenge the limits of audio recording enough to live up to its potential. While the recording for the first two Concert Hall albums were not perfect, at least the producers chose arrangements that utilized a wide spectrum of sound range. While the vocal and high-range recordings are excellent in this album, the low-range sounds are nearly non-existent. Golden Voice doesn't need a giant Korean drum to produce stellar bass, but the inclusion of some bass would've made this album the definitive pop audiophile album. Nevertheless, it's only one minor complaint for an album that will surely be looked upon as a major highlight in 2007 Hong Kong music. Hopefully, producers Kam and Chiu will continue to expand the Concert Hall series with other Hong Kong artists and actually use a full-sized symphony to really challenge the ability of Hong Kong music recording.

by Kevin Ma