Don't Want To Let Go (CD+DVD) DVD Region All

The sound of the album is dominantly British pop-rock, which makes sense, given the fact that Eason has performed songs from the genre in his concerts before. The tone is set with opening track "The Road ... Has Always Been Here" (Track 2), a light rock track with a relatively relaxed vocals from Eason, who pulls off the vocal-stretching sections with ease. He also brings that ease into the upbeat rap-rock hybrid "An Animal Living Alone" (Track 2), though it's easy to sense that Eason can have even more fun with the song if it is in Cantonese.

Eason does eventually get to stretch his vocals, most notably with "Saturn Ring" (Track 10), a R&B ballad written with a lounge-style melody. Written by Adrian Fu (another frequent collaborator in Eason's Mandarin works), Eason shows off his usual excellent vocals here from the quieter verse to the intense chorus before going off on an extended note in falsetto. However, being a song dominated by an intense vocal, the track could use a more subtle arrangement to provide the right contrast. Another standout ballad is Aren't You Glad, which marks Eason's first original English-language song. A mid-beat rock ballad by Russell Harris, the song sounds as if it came straight out of Robbie Williams' inventory of unproduced works. Eason conveys the sarcasm and bitterness in the lyrics effectively with a vocal style that is reminiscent of the rock-pop tracks from his Capital Artist days.

However, the tracks of other genres don't work nearly as well on the album. 7 (Track 6) follows more in the style of a traditional mainstream ballad, but both the arrangement and the composition are too pedestrian, leaving Eason to stir interest with his vocal alone. The R&B-flavor "Beautiful Miss" (Track 8) doesn't quite fit Eason's vocal style with a rhythmic arrangement that would only sound groundbreaking in the 80s. While the hook does catch the listeners' attention, an artist more experienced in R&B such as Leehom Wang can perform the material far better. The following R&B song "Stinking Beauty" (Track 9) works far better thanks to a blues-flavored composition that works in Eason's favor. Meanwhile, the lounge-style jazz track "Reverse Life" (Track 4), written by Khalil Fong, is an extremely effective jazz track, thanks to his fluid composition and Eason's appropriately laid-back vocal performance.

Don't Want to Let Go boasts a commercial sound, but the songs themselves are not particularly mainstream-friendly with its lack of lamenting about heartbreaking love and breaking out on the dance floor. The album's overall tone is fairly laid-back, though it also let its guard down, changing the genre at appropriate points to keep the pacing active. It's also not a particularly standout album, lacking songs that would jump out as a fan favorite immediately (perhaps with the exception of Aren't You Glad). Nevertheless, one can always fall back on Eason's vocal performance, which delivers splendidly as usual. To the disappointment of some Eason fans, who set their standards astronomically high with each album, Don't Want to Let Go doesn't captivate listeners at first listen. However, it gradually works better over a period of time, as its British-pop charm (reminiscent of Eason's early works) grows on the listeners. That makes Don't Want to Let Go a gentle breath of fresh air amidst the bombastic world of Chinese pop.

Recommended Tracks: "The Road...Has Always Been Here" (Track 2), "Reverse Life" (Track 4), Aren't You Glad (Track 5), "Stinking Beauty" (Track 9), "Saturn Ring" (Track 10), "Then What?" (Track 11)

by Kevin Ma