Heroes of Earth

Alright, I'm here to give my two cents' worth on my favourite album of the moment, Wang Lee Hom's Heroes of Earth.

Zhai Mei Bian
This is a great track to kick off the album! Moderately paced and groovy sounding, it gives the listener a peak at what the rest of the album is about. The lyrics are written by Mayday's Ah Xin, and I especially like the feel of the repeated words during the chorus. It ends off with a speedy rap written by Lee Hom himself, and I've got to admit that I find it rather meaningful. It basically says that we're losing a part of our culture because we have no time for it amidst our hectic lives. The speak at which he raps this part is utterly impressive.

Hua Tian Cuo
In this song, he brings a unique style of singing, that has a bit of Jay flavour in it. What I like about it is the chorus where he sings a melody that is usually used for chinese instruments rather than vocals. I don't really know how to put it in words. It's like a single word is sung in a string of notes. Also, the repeitiveness of the title throughout the chorus makes this a very memorable track. Oh, and this is the track that's guilty of having the cheesy line, " Listen to my er hu." as mentioned by Life! a few months back.

Gai Shi Ying Xiong
I've got a lot to say about this song. The meaning behind the song is simple - to bring chinese music to an international audience. I know that the music sounds a bit too 'black' for some people to handle it, but to me, it's like the ultimate combination of a nasty bassline and clangs of cymbals to make this song. There's a lot going on in it, making it sound very unique and interesting - sultry female backing vocals for the chorus, an electric guitar solo and a rap by Jin. Jin's style of rapping is very characteristic of Eminem. I won't call it copying but the resemblence is there. The video is bloody good that you've got to catch it.

Kiss Goodbye
This one'll be the standard piano-driven ballad totally written by Lee Hom. No surprise then that it's very well-received by the general public, just like all the ballads from his previous albums. Another powerful love song emoted by his voice, with minimal instrumentation. It shows off his vocal range, and of course his piano skills at the bridge. The style hardly varies from his previous works (it sort of reminded me of Wei Yi), yet I haven't got a feeling that I've heard it all before. Quite the opposite - it leaves me wanting more.

Wan Mei De Hu Dong
This is a power-packed song boosted by the presence of Rain and J-Lim. The start has Lee Hom introducing both of them. J-Lim gives a sexy "oh" while Rain purrs "hmmm", before Lee Hom calls himself "Huang Lu Hong" (yellow green red), which sounds like his name. Okay, so it's a little lame but it made me laugh the first time I heard it. Impressive performances by the two Korean guest artists made the song sound really cool. The way English lyrics were incorporated into the song with ease also earns it a couple of points. Love it when J-Lim sings, "Guys listen to what I say, don't fight for nothing important, don't be a VIP left out." Good stuff.

Da Cheng Xiao Ai
This is a laid back track that's lovely in its simplicity. It's soothing and... that's about it!

Di Yi Ge Qing Chen
I was superbly unimpressed by the lack of proper use of the wonderful Shu Qi for this video but let me start by commenting on the song first. It's another ballad but one that really pulls at the heart strings, for me at least. Lee Hom sings the song very tenderly. I think the song's about the uncertainty of love at its infancy, and waking up beside that person after spending a night together. And now back to Shu Qi. She looked gorgeous and everything, but all they did was just sit around the bed with Lee Hom playing on the guitar. There was lack of romantic chemistry in the video. Shu Qi did try very hard to make herself look like she was blissfully in love, but Lee Hom continued playing the guitar and ignoring her! Outrageous.

Ge'r Men
This upbeat track lacks the stuff that went into making Gai Shi Ying Xiong and Wan Mei De Hu Dong. It's listenable, but hardly impressive. And one of the songs not to have a video accompanying it. Looks like they meant for it to be a filler too.

Rang Kai
This is the kind of song that you'll either love a lot, or hate it to bits. And I love it. It doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard before. Maybe it's acquired taste. Not many people can take the rapping. On top of that, the seemingly random blasts of the horn and the drum playing on the offbeats create a rather unconventional sound making it straddle dangerously between the zones of crap and cool. The rap sounds very spontaneous and lively. I have to say I like the new sound and am proud that at least he's making the effort to do something different.

Ai Ying Wei Zhai Xin Zhong
For the life of me I do not understand why this is not a bonus track. Instead, it's used as an album track. For such an experimental album, this being its ending chapter is rather disappointing. This track was written and sung by the fans for Lee Hom in 2005 as a birthday present. It's a great singalong, and the various unique voices in this song make it sound like Shou Qian Shou II, just without screaming divas and such. It's a heartwarming effort by the fans, but to include it as one of the ten tracks in the album just makes me feel that Lee Hom couldn't come up with a better masterpiece to be included on it. For that, I'm disappointed.

Overall, I like this album a lot. I feel that it's much better than the previous one and contains more surprises. Fantastic stuff. Wang Lee Hom was the first chinese singer to ever make me sit up and notice chinese music. It was so bloody long ago, but I still remember that very moment. I was watching Channel 8 and there was the trailer for PSC Nite. The guest star was a guy in sleeveless-T, spinning around in white space. The song was upbeat and catchy.


I decided to watch PSC Nite that week and his performance impressed me. Plus the fact that he was an ABC (and I was a super kantang back then) made me feel that I could relate to him. Gong Zhuan Zhi Zhuan remains one of my favourite songs by him. That was in 1998, 8 freaking years ago! And he's going to turn 30 this May. Gosh, how time flies. He's also a fab live performer, but now that I have the money, there's no concert VCD/DVD of his in the market whatsoever! The only way is to do a massive search in one of those second-hand stores...

And I think I'll be going to his autograph session at IMM come 29th of April with Wee Lee! Can't wait to see him in person for the first time in my life!