Yes, I'm still alive and (mostly) well, and still involved in a lot of music related activities, aside from what personal listening I manage to find time for. But as is readily apparent, I've gotten out of the habit of regularly updating this blog. It's not for lack of things to write about; there're plenty of albums, songs and groups I could comment about, and I've even had occasional personal news that would have been worth reporting here. For an example of the latter, my radio show on Alian 96.3 was nominated for a Golden Bell Award for Non-Popular Music Radio Program, and I myself got a nomination as host. Though I didn't win, getting nominated was recognition enough. But as this blog is less for that kind of news and more for relatively in depth musings on music related topics, with a particular focus on writing in English (as I think I should set up a separate blog for things I manage to write in Chinese about Taiwanese music, though I will occasionally refer to them here), most future entries will still be along those lines - which means they'll only appear when I get around to writing something. Until then, happy new year and happy listening!
Monday, December 31, 2018
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Album Review - Led Zeppelin IV
Last month I posted the tracklists for the first four CDs of the Taiwanese pop music compiliation I put together many years ago. I was going to post the tracklists for the next few CDs this month, but the other day I happened accross a music writer's ranking of all Led Zeppelin songs, and it occurred to me that I hadn't done any entries on that classic 1970s band. I thought about doing a list of my favorite songs by the group, but even if I avoided trying to rank them it's often a difficult task to pick a set number of songs, and anyway some albums would inevitably get shortchanged as I haven't listened to them in a long time. So instead I decided to do a review of the band's most familiar album, though I may get around to making a list encompassing other favorites, or reviewing some of their other albums.
Album Title: Led Zeppelin IV
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Release Date: November 8, 1971
Side One
Black Dog (Jones/Page/Plant)
Rock and Roll (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant)
Battle of Evermore (Page/Plant)
Stairway to Heaven (Page/Plant)
Side Two
Misty Mountain Hop (Jones/Page/Plant)
Four Sticks (Page/Plant)
Going to California (Page/Plant)
When the Levee Breaks (Memphis Minnie[/Kansas Joe McCoy]/Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant)
All of Led Zeppelin's albums were huge in the 1970s, a decade that was the heyday of "album rock", in no small part because of Zeppelin themselves (granted, the band's first two albums were actually released at the tail end of the 1960s, but even those albums remained radio staples throughout the following decade) and continued to sell well for years afterward. However, their fourth album
has to be their most well-known, largely though not entirely because of the presence of "Stairway to Heaven", the song that consistently topped "best songs of all time" votes on classic rock radio for decades after its release. Whether it is actually their best album is of course highly subjective; I'd say a good case can be made for Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti (II and III are also very good, if not quite as varied, and I'm even quite fond of much of the somewhat inconsistent In Through the Out Door, but none of these can match the middle three albums - in my opinion, of course). But this album is certainly one of their best, and not just because of "Stairway". Several of the eight songs on the album are almost universally regarded as classics, and none of them are truly weak. I'd say that if this album falls short anywhere in comparison with its two successors, it's in terms of variety. Not that it lacks variety - songs like "Going to California" and "The Battle of Evermore" are quite different both from each other and from the stereotypical heavy rock song that many people associate with Zeppelin. But there is even greater variety on Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti, particularly the latter - though that is a somewhat unfair comparison, since Physical Graffiti, as a double album, has far more songs. The other two albums also each have a number of songs that rank among the band's best, though that is true of IV as well.
Note on album title: Technically, this album doesn't have an official title, since there isn't one on the cover. It is sometimes referred to using the four symbols that appear on the inner sleeve, each representing a band member, for example as Runes, Four Symbols, or Zoso (after Jimmy Page's symbol, the first of the four, which resembles those letters). It is also sometimes called simply Untitled. But since the band's first three albums were titled Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, and Led Zeppelin III, the title most commonly given to the fourth album is Led Zeppelin IV, a title often used by Page himself.
Note on links: There don't seem to be links to the studio versions of a few of these songs on You Tube (presumably either the record company or the band blocks any attempts to upload them), so some of the links are to live versions, which are often noticeably different from the studio versions.
Led Zeppelin IV Song by Song
Black Dog: The iconic opening track, famous for its call and response structure (which Peter Green had previously used to great effect in the Fleetwood Mac song "Oh Well") and the riff written by bassist John Paul Jones. Pretty much anyone who has listened to any amount of classic rock will recognize Robert Plant's opening line and then the thundering riff. Some of Plant's lyrics are (not
for the first time in the band's career) on the misogynistic side, but that aside the song is very much deserving of its classic status.
Rock and Roll: Another widely recognized classic, powered by some intense drumming by John Bonham. Plant's vocals are excellent, though his lyrics (paying tribute to the early rock & roll of the 1950s) are not always intelligible - again not unusual for the band. Rolling Stones pianist Ian Stewart also played on the track, his piano connecting the song more closely to the music it celebrates, though of course Zeppelin's version of "rock & roll" is kicked up a notch. Another high point on an album full of them.
Battle of Evermore: After two hard rocking tunes, the band wisely decided to slow things down with this song, the music for which Page wrote on Jones's mandolin. The mandolin alone makes the song unique in the band's catalogue, and Plant's Tolkienesque lyrics add to the medieval atmosphere. The song is a duet between Plant and folk singer Sandy Denny, another unique feature of the song, as it
is the only time the band featured a guest vocalist. While this song doesn't have quite the classic status of the two that precede it (or the one that comes after it), it is a solid album track and gives the album greater variety.
Stairway to Heaven: What hasn't already been said about this song? The features of it that appeal to me are the same that appeal to many others - its slow build up from gentle folk tune to powerhouse rock song, the musical variety encompassed in its eight minutes of playing time, the vague yet appealing poetry of the lyrics, and the impressive performance by the band. As it was for some many
others (to the point that the movie Wayne's World made a joke out of it), its opening was one of the first things I learned to play on the guitar (I got to the point where I could play the whole song, though not with any great facility and without any soloing, but now I just remember the beginning and a few bits here and there through the remainder of the song). It is still one of my favorite
Led Zeppelin songs, though nowadays I'd have to say I like "Kashmir", "Over the Hills and Far Away", "Houses of the Holy" and a few others about as much. As for the question that recently has been debated widely in the media and the courts, i.e., did Zeppelin and Page in particular rip off the tune "Taurus" by the band Spirit and its guitarist Randy California? I have to say that the jury probably made the right choice in denying the claim (though apparently the decision is being appealed). There is unquestionably a close resemblance between the opening bars of "Taurus" and "Stairway", and I have no doubt Page was, consciously or unconsiously, influenced by the Spirit track. But even the opening bit is not completely identical, and the progression is a rather obvious one that had been used many times before in the past, as was pointed out in Zeppelin's defense, meaning that while Page's "composition" wasn't entirely original, but then neither was Randy California's. As for the rest of the song, it is completely different. So this is not a case where Zeppelin should be forced to share credit, unlike "Dazed and Confused" or "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You". The fact that the iconic opening is not as original as many fans thought does puncture somewhat the song's aura of near sacredness, but then no song, however good, deserves to be treated like it's a holy relic, and anyone who knows music history well knows that complete originality is virtually impossible, at least in any song that has mass appeal.
Misty Mountain Hop: While this song isn't played quite as often as some of the others on the album, I've always been quite fond of it, and its a contender for my favorite track on side two, though "Going to California" in particular is hard to beat. This one is a pretty straight forward rocker with a nice groove to it, and some fun, California hippy inspired lyrics by Plant.
Four Sticks: This is another solid track, and one I enjoy when I'm actually listening to it, but for some reason I've never found it quite as memorable as the rest of the album. Still, most heavy rock bands would no doubt be thrilled to have something as good in their catalogs.
Going to California: A folk ballad inspired by Joni Mitchell is pretty far from most people's idea of a typical Led Zeppelin song, but that's exactly what this is, and it's a great piece of work. Page demonstrates his acoustic guitar chops and Plant shows his versatility as a vocalist. This song is regarded by many as one of the band's best, and with good reason.
When the Levee Breaks: Another song generally regarded as a classic, with Bonham's crashing drums in particular inspiring a generation of drummers and ending up widely sampled in hip hop. I tend to prefer "Going to California" or even "Misty Mountain Hop" from this side of the album, but it's a pretty close call. Notably, this song harkens back to the band's first two albums in that it is a total rewrite of an old blues song, in this case one from the 1920s originally written and performed by the husband and wife team of Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie. Zeppelin co-credited Memphis Minnie on their original release (unlike some other recordings where they failed to credit the original writers of the songs they redid, though in many cases probably through ignorance of the song's origins). But as with similar tracks on earlier albums, the band drastically transformed the song, making it into something quite different from the original song.
Album Title: Led Zeppelin IV
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Release Date: November 8, 1971
Side One
Black Dog (Jones/Page/Plant)
Rock and Roll (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant)
Battle of Evermore (Page/Plant)
Stairway to Heaven (Page/Plant)
Side Two
Misty Mountain Hop (Jones/Page/Plant)
Four Sticks (Page/Plant)
Going to California (Page/Plant)
When the Levee Breaks (Memphis Minnie[/Kansas Joe McCoy]/Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant)
All of Led Zeppelin's albums were huge in the 1970s, a decade that was the heyday of "album rock", in no small part because of Zeppelin themselves (granted, the band's first two albums were actually released at the tail end of the 1960s, but even those albums remained radio staples throughout the following decade) and continued to sell well for years afterward. However, their fourth album
has to be their most well-known, largely though not entirely because of the presence of "Stairway to Heaven", the song that consistently topped "best songs of all time" votes on classic rock radio for decades after its release. Whether it is actually their best album is of course highly subjective; I'd say a good case can be made for Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti (II and III are also very good, if not quite as varied, and I'm even quite fond of much of the somewhat inconsistent In Through the Out Door, but none of these can match the middle three albums - in my opinion, of course). But this album is certainly one of their best, and not just because of "Stairway". Several of the eight songs on the album are almost universally regarded as classics, and none of them are truly weak. I'd say that if this album falls short anywhere in comparison with its two successors, it's in terms of variety. Not that it lacks variety - songs like "Going to California" and "The Battle of Evermore" are quite different both from each other and from the stereotypical heavy rock song that many people associate with Zeppelin. But there is even greater variety on Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti, particularly the latter - though that is a somewhat unfair comparison, since Physical Graffiti, as a double album, has far more songs. The other two albums also each have a number of songs that rank among the band's best, though that is true of IV as well.
Note on album title: Technically, this album doesn't have an official title, since there isn't one on the cover. It is sometimes referred to using the four symbols that appear on the inner sleeve, each representing a band member, for example as Runes, Four Symbols, or Zoso (after Jimmy Page's symbol, the first of the four, which resembles those letters). It is also sometimes called simply Untitled. But since the band's first three albums were titled Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, and Led Zeppelin III, the title most commonly given to the fourth album is Led Zeppelin IV, a title often used by Page himself.
Note on links: There don't seem to be links to the studio versions of a few of these songs on You Tube (presumably either the record company or the band blocks any attempts to upload them), so some of the links are to live versions, which are often noticeably different from the studio versions.
Led Zeppelin IV Song by Song
Black Dog: The iconic opening track, famous for its call and response structure (which Peter Green had previously used to great effect in the Fleetwood Mac song "Oh Well") and the riff written by bassist John Paul Jones. Pretty much anyone who has listened to any amount of classic rock will recognize Robert Plant's opening line and then the thundering riff. Some of Plant's lyrics are (not
for the first time in the band's career) on the misogynistic side, but that aside the song is very much deserving of its classic status.
Rock and Roll: Another widely recognized classic, powered by some intense drumming by John Bonham. Plant's vocals are excellent, though his lyrics (paying tribute to the early rock & roll of the 1950s) are not always intelligible - again not unusual for the band. Rolling Stones pianist Ian Stewart also played on the track, his piano connecting the song more closely to the music it celebrates, though of course Zeppelin's version of "rock & roll" is kicked up a notch. Another high point on an album full of them.
Battle of Evermore: After two hard rocking tunes, the band wisely decided to slow things down with this song, the music for which Page wrote on Jones's mandolin. The mandolin alone makes the song unique in the band's catalogue, and Plant's Tolkienesque lyrics add to the medieval atmosphere. The song is a duet between Plant and folk singer Sandy Denny, another unique feature of the song, as it
is the only time the band featured a guest vocalist. While this song doesn't have quite the classic status of the two that precede it (or the one that comes after it), it is a solid album track and gives the album greater variety.
Stairway to Heaven: What hasn't already been said about this song? The features of it that appeal to me are the same that appeal to many others - its slow build up from gentle folk tune to powerhouse rock song, the musical variety encompassed in its eight minutes of playing time, the vague yet appealing poetry of the lyrics, and the impressive performance by the band. As it was for some many
others (to the point that the movie Wayne's World made a joke out of it), its opening was one of the first things I learned to play on the guitar (I got to the point where I could play the whole song, though not with any great facility and without any soloing, but now I just remember the beginning and a few bits here and there through the remainder of the song). It is still one of my favorite
Led Zeppelin songs, though nowadays I'd have to say I like "Kashmir", "Over the Hills and Far Away", "Houses of the Holy" and a few others about as much. As for the question that recently has been debated widely in the media and the courts, i.e., did Zeppelin and Page in particular rip off the tune "Taurus" by the band Spirit and its guitarist Randy California? I have to say that the jury probably made the right choice in denying the claim (though apparently the decision is being appealed). There is unquestionably a close resemblance between the opening bars of "Taurus" and "Stairway", and I have no doubt Page was, consciously or unconsiously, influenced by the Spirit track. But even the opening bit is not completely identical, and the progression is a rather obvious one that had been used many times before in the past, as was pointed out in Zeppelin's defense, meaning that while Page's "composition" wasn't entirely original, but then neither was Randy California's. As for the rest of the song, it is completely different. So this is not a case where Zeppelin should be forced to share credit, unlike "Dazed and Confused" or "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You". The fact that the iconic opening is not as original as many fans thought does puncture somewhat the song's aura of near sacredness, but then no song, however good, deserves to be treated like it's a holy relic, and anyone who knows music history well knows that complete originality is virtually impossible, at least in any song that has mass appeal.
Misty Mountain Hop: While this song isn't played quite as often as some of the others on the album, I've always been quite fond of it, and its a contender for my favorite track on side two, though "Going to California" in particular is hard to beat. This one is a pretty straight forward rocker with a nice groove to it, and some fun, California hippy inspired lyrics by Plant.
Four Sticks: This is another solid track, and one I enjoy when I'm actually listening to it, but for some reason I've never found it quite as memorable as the rest of the album. Still, most heavy rock bands would no doubt be thrilled to have something as good in their catalogs.
Going to California: A folk ballad inspired by Joni Mitchell is pretty far from most people's idea of a typical Led Zeppelin song, but that's exactly what this is, and it's a great piece of work. Page demonstrates his acoustic guitar chops and Plant shows his versatility as a vocalist. This song is regarded by many as one of the band's best, and with good reason.
When the Levee Breaks: Another song generally regarded as a classic, with Bonham's crashing drums in particular inspiring a generation of drummers and ending up widely sampled in hip hop. I tend to prefer "Going to California" or even "Misty Mountain Hop" from this side of the album, but it's a pretty close call. Notably, this song harkens back to the band's first two albums in that it is a total rewrite of an old blues song, in this case one from the 1920s originally written and performed by the husband and wife team of Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie. Zeppelin co-credited Memphis Minnie on their original release (unlike some other recordings where they failed to credit the original writers of the songs they redid, though in many cases probably through ignorance of the song's origins). But as with similar tracks on earlier albums, the band drastically transformed the song, making it into something quite different from the original song.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Old Taiwanese Pop Music Collection (Part 1)
I've enjoyed putting together compilations of various types since I first really got into listening to music back in college. My first compliations were done on cassette tape, so they were basically what were called "mix tapes", though I didn't know the term at the time. In one of the first entries on this blog I talked about one of the best ones I did in college, my compilation of music from the psychedelic rock era. After I came to Taiwan, I eventually started listening to the local pop music, and a friend (one who I later started dating and eventually married) gave me a mix tape of some of the pop music she liked, mostly by singer-songwriters as opposed to pop idols. Through her and my own listening, I eventually got to know enough Taiwanese pop music to start thinking about
making my own Taiwanese pop music compilations. In fact it was in part my attempts to put together compilations in approximate chronological order and featuring the original recorded versions of the songs that impelled me to begin doing my own research and start collecting the original records with the recordings I wanted. My first Taiwanese pop music compilation I did on cassette tape, but not long after I switched to CD. I did two compilations on CD, with the second being by far the lengthier and more comprehensive, though now I can't help but feel it is missing a lot. After all it's been something like 20 years since I put together, so even for the period it covers (approximately 1973 to 1995) I have since acquired a lot of music which would be worthy of inclusion in an updated compilation (and in at least one case, the song "美麗島" ("Formosa") on the first CD, I would now put on the earlier but never formally released recording by Yang Zujun and Hu Defu, which is vastly superior to the one by Yang Zujun alone). There are also some minor chronological issues, such as the placement of the song "Pitiful Luckless Man", which was actually released in 1981. Nevertheless, I thought it might be interesting to post some of it here. To start with, I'm just posting the tracklists for the first four CDs out of the 18 that make up the complete set. I'll post the others at some point in the future. I should note that while I have including the romanizations of the vocalists' names, I haven't included translations of all the song titles, as I haven't had the time to translate all of them.
第一集 Volume 1 (1973-1979)
1愛之旅Love's Travels 洪小喬Hong Xiaoqiao 3:18
2不要告別Don't Say Farewell 李金鈴Li Jinling 3:13
3我的歌My Song 洪小喬Hong Xiaoqiao 2:19
4雲河River of Clouds 黃鶯鶯Huang Yingying 3:11
5民歌手Folk Singer 楊弦Yang Xian （女聲Female Voice：徐可欣Xu Kexin） 3:51
6迴旋曲Rondo 楊弦Yang Xian 4:21
7歌Song 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia （男聲Male Voice：劉文正Liu Wenzheng） 2:55
8小雨打在我身上The Rain Falls on Me 劉文正Liu Wenzheng 3:42
9我是一片雲I Am a Cloud 鳳飛飛Feng Feifei 3:40
10好了歌Won Done Song 吳楚楚Wu Chuchu 2:43
11美麗島Formosa 楊祖珺Yang Zujun 2:54
12如果If 邰肇玫Tai Zhaomei&施碧梧Shi Biwu 2:41
13惜別Reluctant Parting 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 3:21
14牛背上的小孩Child on Ox Back 胡德夫Hu Defu 2:47
15再別康橋Farewell Cambridge 范廣慧Fan Guanghui 3:18
16小雨中的回憶Memories in the Rain 劉宗立Liu Zongli、曾佩媛Zeng Peiyuan、陳淑惠Chen Shuhui 3:38
17姑娘的酒窩The Girl's Dimples 高凌風Gao Lingfeng 3:03
18閃亮的日子Brilliant Days 劉文正Liu Wenzheng 3:44
19橄欖樹Olive Tree 齊豫Qi Yu 3:46
20鄉間的小路Little Road in the Country 葉佳修Ye Jiaxiu 3:19
21歡顏Joyful Countenance 齊豫Qi Yu 3:49
22走在雨中Walking in the Rain 齊豫Qi Yu 3:46
第二集 Volume 2 (1979-1981)
1風兒輕輕吹The Wind Blows Gently 劉文正Liu Wenzheng 3:12
2廟會Temple Festival 王夢麟Wang Menglin 3:03
3雨中即景Scenes in the Rain 王夢麟Wang Menglin 3:09
4情奔 Rush of Passion 劉文正Liu Wenzheng 3:42
5恰似你的溫柔Like Your Tenderness 蔡琴Cai Qin 4:01
6曠野寄情Wilderness Abandonment 李建復Li Jianfu 3:31
7歸去來兮 李建復Li Jianfu 3:58
8出塞曲 蔡琴Cai Qin 2:57
9抉擇Decision 蔡琴Cai Qin 3:30
10也許Maybe 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 4:01
11我們曾經年輕We Were Once Young 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 2:01
12今山古道 黃大城Huang Dacheng 2:56
13偈 王海玲Wang Hailing 3:29
14童年Childhood 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 3:41
15光陰的故事The Story of Time 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 3:01
16月琴Yueqin 鄭怡Zheng Yi 3:57
17秋蟬Autumn Cicada 楊芳儀Yang Fangyi、徐曉菁Xu Xiaoqing 3:44
18拜訪春天Paying a Visit to Springtime 施孝榮Shi Xiaorong 3:15
19柴拉可汗Chaila Khan 李建復Li Jianfu 4:11
20變色的長城 費玉清Fei Yuqing 4:16
21一千個春天A Thousand Springs 蔡琴Cai Qin、李建復Li Jianfu 4:13
第三集 Volume 3 (1982-1983)
1鹿港小鎮Little Town of Lugang 羅大佑Luo Dayou 4:45
2戀曲1980Love Song 1980 羅大佑Luo Dayou 3:22
3就在今夜Tonight's the Night 丘丘合唱團Qiuqiu Band 3:08
4為何夢見他Why Do I Dream of Him 丘丘合唱團Qiuqiu Band 3:40
5之乎者也Pedantry 羅大佑Luo Dayou 4:06
6將進酒 羅大佑Luo Dayou 4:23
7天天天藍Blue Skies Every Day 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 3:37
8守著陽光守著你 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 4:50
9心事誰人知Who Understands My Heart 沈文程Shen Wencheng 3:28
10可憐的落魄人 Pitiful Luckless Man 陳明仁Chen Mingren 3:21
11散場電影 木吉他合唱團Wooden Guitars 3:56
12但願人長久 鄧麗君Deng Lijun 4:06
13思君 鄧麗君Deng Lijun 3:46
14心情 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 3:26
15野白合也有春天Spring Comes to the Wild Lily 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 3:16
16你是我所有的回憶You Are All I Recall 齊豫Qi Yu 5:12
17三月的風March Wind 齊豫Qi Yu 4:25
18小雨來得正是時候When The Rain Comes Is the Time 鄭怡Zheng Yi 3:20
19結束Ending 鄭怡Zheng Yi & 李宗盛Li Zongsheng 3:53
第四集 Volume 4 (1983-1984)
1一樣的月光The Same Moonlight 蘇芮Su Rui 5:46
2是否Is It True Or Not 蘇芮Su Rui 3:36
3告別Farewell 唐曉詩 & 李泰祥 5:31
4酒干倘賣無Any Old Bottles For Sale? 蘇芮Su Rui 4:39
5變Changes 蘇芮Su Rui 4:45
6亞細亞的孤兒The Orphan of Asia 羅大佑Luo Dayou 5:52
7現象七十二變72 Phenomena 羅大佑Luo Dayou 3:53
8愛的箴言Admonitions of Love 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 3:58
9未來的主人翁Masters of the Future 羅大佑Luo Dayou 7:32
10海洋之歌Song of the Ocean 陳淑樺Chen Shuhua 3:21
11無言的歌Song of No Words 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 4:45
12只有分離 黃鶯鶯Huang Yingying 5:12
13夢駝鈴 費玉清Fei Yuqing 3:39
14天使之戀Romance of the Angels 黃鶯鶯Huang Yingying 6:16
15搖滾舞台Rock Stage 薛岳Xue Yue 3:21
making my own Taiwanese pop music compilations. In fact it was in part my attempts to put together compilations in approximate chronological order and featuring the original recorded versions of the songs that impelled me to begin doing my own research and start collecting the original records with the recordings I wanted. My first Taiwanese pop music compilation I did on cassette tape, but not long after I switched to CD. I did two compilations on CD, with the second being by far the lengthier and more comprehensive, though now I can't help but feel it is missing a lot. After all it's been something like 20 years since I put together, so even for the period it covers (approximately 1973 to 1995) I have since acquired a lot of music which would be worthy of inclusion in an updated compilation (and in at least one case, the song "美麗島" ("Formosa") on the first CD, I would now put on the earlier but never formally released recording by Yang Zujun and Hu Defu, which is vastly superior to the one by Yang Zujun alone). There are also some minor chronological issues, such as the placement of the song "Pitiful Luckless Man", which was actually released in 1981. Nevertheless, I thought it might be interesting to post some of it here. To start with, I'm just posting the tracklists for the first four CDs out of the 18 that make up the complete set. I'll post the others at some point in the future. I should note that while I have including the romanizations of the vocalists' names, I haven't included translations of all the song titles, as I haven't had the time to translate all of them.
第一集 Volume 1 (1973-1979)
1愛之旅Love's Travels 洪小喬Hong Xiaoqiao 3:18
2不要告別Don't Say Farewell 李金鈴Li Jinling 3:13
3我的歌My Song 洪小喬Hong Xiaoqiao 2:19
4雲河River of Clouds 黃鶯鶯Huang Yingying 3:11
5民歌手Folk Singer 楊弦Yang Xian （女聲Female Voice：徐可欣Xu Kexin） 3:51
6迴旋曲Rondo 楊弦Yang Xian 4:21
7歌Song 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia （男聲Male Voice：劉文正Liu Wenzheng） 2:55
8小雨打在我身上The Rain Falls on Me 劉文正Liu Wenzheng 3:42
9我是一片雲I Am a Cloud 鳳飛飛Feng Feifei 3:40
10好了歌Won Done Song 吳楚楚Wu Chuchu 2:43
11美麗島Formosa 楊祖珺Yang Zujun 2:54
12如果If 邰肇玫Tai Zhaomei&施碧梧Shi Biwu 2:41
13惜別Reluctant Parting 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 3:21
14牛背上的小孩Child on Ox Back 胡德夫Hu Defu 2:47
15再別康橋Farewell Cambridge 范廣慧Fan Guanghui 3:18
16小雨中的回憶Memories in the Rain 劉宗立Liu Zongli、曾佩媛Zeng Peiyuan、陳淑惠Chen Shuhui 3:38
17姑娘的酒窩The Girl's Dimples 高凌風Gao Lingfeng 3:03
18閃亮的日子Brilliant Days 劉文正Liu Wenzheng 3:44
19橄欖樹Olive Tree 齊豫Qi Yu 3:46
20鄉間的小路Little Road in the Country 葉佳修Ye Jiaxiu 3:19
21歡顏Joyful Countenance 齊豫Qi Yu 3:49
22走在雨中Walking in the Rain 齊豫Qi Yu 3:46
第二集 Volume 2 (1979-1981)
1風兒輕輕吹The Wind Blows Gently 劉文正Liu Wenzheng 3:12
2廟會Temple Festival 王夢麟Wang Menglin 3:03
3雨中即景Scenes in the Rain 王夢麟Wang Menglin 3:09
4情奔 Rush of Passion 劉文正Liu Wenzheng 3:42
5恰似你的溫柔Like Your Tenderness 蔡琴Cai Qin 4:01
6曠野寄情Wilderness Abandonment 李建復Li Jianfu 3:31
7歸去來兮 李建復Li Jianfu 3:58
8出塞曲 蔡琴Cai Qin 2:57
9抉擇Decision 蔡琴Cai Qin 3:30
10也許Maybe 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 4:01
11我們曾經年輕We Were Once Young 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 2:01
12今山古道 黃大城Huang Dacheng 2:56
13偈 王海玲Wang Hailing 3:29
14童年Childhood 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 3:41
15光陰的故事The Story of Time 張艾嘉Zhang Aijia 3:01
16月琴Yueqin 鄭怡Zheng Yi 3:57
17秋蟬Autumn Cicada 楊芳儀Yang Fangyi、徐曉菁Xu Xiaoqing 3:44
18拜訪春天Paying a Visit to Springtime 施孝榮Shi Xiaorong 3:15
19柴拉可汗Chaila Khan 李建復Li Jianfu 4:11
20變色的長城 費玉清Fei Yuqing 4:16
21一千個春天A Thousand Springs 蔡琴Cai Qin、李建復Li Jianfu 4:13
第三集 Volume 3 (1982-1983)
1鹿港小鎮Little Town of Lugang 羅大佑Luo Dayou 4:45
2戀曲1980Love Song 1980 羅大佑Luo Dayou 3:22
3就在今夜Tonight's the Night 丘丘合唱團Qiuqiu Band 3:08
4為何夢見他Why Do I Dream of Him 丘丘合唱團Qiuqiu Band 3:40
5之乎者也Pedantry 羅大佑Luo Dayou 4:06
6將進酒 羅大佑Luo Dayou 4:23
7天天天藍Blue Skies Every Day 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 3:37
8守著陽光守著你 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 4:50
9心事誰人知Who Understands My Heart 沈文程Shen Wencheng 3:28
10可憐的落魄人 Pitiful Luckless Man 陳明仁Chen Mingren 3:21
11散場電影 木吉他合唱團Wooden Guitars 3:56
12但願人長久 鄧麗君Deng Lijun 4:06
13思君 鄧麗君Deng Lijun 3:46
14心情 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 3:26
15野白合也有春天Spring Comes to the Wild Lily 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 3:16
16你是我所有的回憶You Are All I Recall 齊豫Qi Yu 5:12
17三月的風March Wind 齊豫Qi Yu 4:25
18小雨來得正是時候When The Rain Comes Is the Time 鄭怡Zheng Yi 3:20
19結束Ending 鄭怡Zheng Yi & 李宗盛Li Zongsheng 3:53
第四集 Volume 4 (1983-1984)
1一樣的月光The Same Moonlight 蘇芮Su Rui 5:46
2是否Is It True Or Not 蘇芮Su Rui 3:36
3告別Farewell 唐曉詩 & 李泰祥 5:31
4酒干倘賣無Any Old Bottles For Sale? 蘇芮Su Rui 4:39
5變Changes 蘇芮Su Rui 4:45
6亞細亞的孤兒The Orphan of Asia 羅大佑Luo Dayou 5:52
7現象七十二變72 Phenomena 羅大佑Luo Dayou 3:53
8愛的箴言Admonitions of Love 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 3:58
9未來的主人翁Masters of the Future 羅大佑Luo Dayou 7:32
10海洋之歌Song of the Ocean 陳淑樺Chen Shuhua 3:21
11無言的歌Song of No Words 潘越雲Pan Yueyun 4:45
12只有分離 黃鶯鶯Huang Yingying 5:12
13夢駝鈴 費玉清Fei Yuqing 3:39
14天使之戀Romance of the Angels 黃鶯鶯Huang Yingying 6:16
15搖滾舞台Rock Stage 薛岳Xue Yue 3:21
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Aboriginal Music Exhibition
Once again I haven't found time to write any new essays/posts on music, though I do have some fairly good excuses, and music-related ones at that. My weekly radio show has continued to take up a fair amount of my time. I did a talk/show in Changbin north of Taidong just a few days ago similar to the others I've done in the past, i.e. I talked about and played aboriginal music records and recordings from the latter half of the 20th century. I was down in the Taidong area for several days before and after the show, and spent quite a bit of time talking about music with various singers and musicians. Finally, over the early part of the month I was helping to prepare for an exhibition of aboriginal music, mostly featuring my own collection, that is opening on February 9 at the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung. This exhibition had to be put together in a fairly short time frame, so there will no doubt be things left out that shouldn't have been, and in any case it isn't as comprehensive as I might prefer - though I'll also admit to a certain reluctance to surrender too much of my collection to be exhibited for over a year in any case. Nevertheless, I think it will provide a good introduction to a neglected aspect of music in Taiwan to those who go to check it out. I may post more about it once it opens.
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