What's Going On...? (CD+DVD) DVD Region All

Originally intended as a Mandarin album, Eason frankly admitted in the making-of video that What's Going On? was produced so he could be a contender in the year-end awards (the Mandarin version, with presumably the same tracks, will be released in April). But rest assured that What's Going On? is still a non-commercial album released for a commercial purpose. Starting off the album is first single Don't We All Love Dresses (credit to Eason and Co. for including English titles for each song in the booklet), a sexy midbeat electronic rock track that even Eason admits might have been something that the late Leslie Cheung or Anita Mui would have mastered easily. While the arrangement and writing all come together nicely, Eason's vocals are far too rough to deliver the class and glamour the great Leslie would have brought to the game. Nevertheless, it's a nice start to the album, and Eason will have plenty of other chances to show off his versatile vocals.

Reuniting with Eason for the first time since Live For Today (where he produced the two part pop epic Lies and Truth), Hong Kong's most prominent rock producer Kubert Leung returns with a pair of distinctly different tracks: The Last Hippie (Track 2) and White Rose (Track 3). Instead of delivering a 70s hip rock in the veins of Love Psychedelico, The Last Hippie is a playful noisy rock track in the vein of an American top-40 pop-rock hybrid that is perhaps a little too noisy and too playful. On the other hand, White Rose is a beautifully composed and elegantly written track about an unattainable love that is the farthest place one can go after The Last Hippie, and a far better place it is.

From there, What's Going On? goes right into a spectacular middle section starting with Reaper Will Find You (Track 4), a dark meditation on the grim reaper (even with a reference to the hit Japanese comic/film Death Note), and it directly connects to Sorrow is Meaningless (Track 5), a melancholy ballad about love and loss that is the closest thing to a karaoke-friendly track on this album. The mid-section ends with Better Not to Meet (Track 6), the barest track of the album in terms of both arrangement and theme. It also happens to be the best track of the album, with a nostalgia-evoking arrangement that makes the track appear to have come straight out of a set of commercials for wristwatches from the early 90s. The three-act section, tied by the common themes of loss and regret, is arguably the best thing Eason has done since his Capital Artist days with its cinematic structure, Eason's versatile vocals, and poetic lyrics.

However, at the end of the day, the order of the day is rock, and the last stretch of What's Going On? packs plenty of it. Done entirely by C.Y. Kong (who also had a considerable presence on U87), ex-LMF member Davy Chan, and Eason himself, these last four tracks resemble the light rock style that Eason used for 2003's Live for Today. While they are just as serviceable as anything else on the album, this last section never hits a peak (not that it ever gets boring either), and What's Going On? merely limps back to home base with closing track Cantonese Old Movie.

Despite its lackluster ending, What's Going On? is still a thematically complex album that takes a bit of time to absorb - the lyrics by eight different lyricists are considerably harder to crack, and the abundance of rock may turn off fans that prefer the "EEG Eason", but once What's Going On? gets into your head, it stays there for a very long time. Sooner or later, it might even become just as addictive as any other Eason album, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

by Kevin Ma