Meridian (CD with Live Concert + MV DVD) DVD Region All

Assuming that no one at Miriam Yeung's new record company knows acupuncture, I can safely say that the title of her first album under Leon Lai's record label is to suggest that this should be her career high point. However, Miriam, who usually has quite a bit of creative input in her albums, reportedly did not have any say in song choices this time around (Miriam said she herself didn't know what "meridian" meant until two weeks before the album's release). In fact, this album and its song choices were even said to be supervised by Lai himself, though his name does not appear in the credits.

With the boss in charge, it's no surprise that Meridian is produced with the market in mind. Replacing songwriters like Eric Kwok and the musical collective People Mountain People Sea are names like Chan Dai Zheng and Invisible Men's Fung Hon Ming. While new songwriters can indicate possible new musical styles, the direction of Meridian is as commercial as they come these days, with even less variety in music than Miriam's Gold Label days (at least she got to produce her own albums there).

The first two singles usually serve as accurate indications of an album's direction, and the singles for this album are no exceptions. "Dissipation" (Track 2) is a karaoke-friendly ballad that is business as usual for Miriam. However, the lyrics by Lin Xi bring out a new sense of maturity from the pop star who has been called "that girl that laughs too much". Surprisingly, its Mandarin version (Track 13) is a rare case where the Mandarin cover actually outdoes the original. With a different arrangement by a different producer (the Cantonese version is produced by Ronald Ng, while the Mandarin cover is by Chen Dai Zheng), Miriam is able to free up her voice considerably thanks to the song's faster pace. On the other hand, Chen tries to use the Chinese instrument erhu to accompany the theme of the song on second single "Collective Memory" (Track 4), but the result only feels contrived, and even slightly distracting.

While one complaint by fans on the internet is that Meridian has too many slow ballads, there's nothing wrong with having ballads on a pop album. In fact, there are even a few quality ones on this album. For one, Mark Lui's "Unknown Road" (Track 3) has a well-written melody that's catchy and well-delivered by Miriam, guaranteeing a boost in sales and karaoke requests when it becomes a single. Fong Hon Ming's "Only Discuss Affairs of the Heart, Not Love" (Track 6) is another quality ballad that has a chorus reminiscent of Miriam's 1999 song "A Winter's Tale". Despite the similarity, the song's melody remains strong enough to stand on its own, with the same going for Miriam's safe delivery.

When a quality ballad has a melody that is both fluid and memorable, the idea of arrangement goes straight to the back of the listeners' heads. In reality, the problem with excess ballads is that the occasional mediocre ballad sounds recycled in both melody and arrangement. For instance, the Ronald Ng-produced "Loving Each Other with the Same Illness" (Track 8) features a cookie-cutter gentle melody and computer-programmed arrangement that scream "side track". The problem with these ballads is that instead of being use to fill the gaps, in Meridian they are actually used to carry the album to a labored end.

However, the album is not without its successes. Mark Lui hits a rare two-for-two with the fast track "Deny, Deny, But Still Need to Admit it" (Track 5), which can be called a "default success" because the arrangement stands out so clearly apart from everything else. The Middle Eastern vibe of the song even gives Miriam a challenge in her vocals that doesn't have anything to do with hitting high notes. In addition, rock track "Don't Block My Happiness" (Track 7) comes with a lot of potential in its rock melody and arrangement, though Miriam's vocals lack the requisite "oomph" to effectively carry the song.

While Miriam has shown in her albums that she can balance quality music with crowd-pleasing pop songs, Meridian shows that disappointment comes from comparison. While the album is solid enough as a Cantopop compilation thanks to several bright spots, it's just not up to par with what fans have come to expect from a Miriam Yeung album. It might attract a few new fans, but a high point this is not. Nevertheless, I hope that this album does find enough fans to become a hit; at least it would give Leon Lai the justification to let the talent pop artist take back the rein next time.

by Kevin Ma