黃耀明《King of the Road》... Aren't we always on the road?

My Rating: 93/100

Track list:

01. 廣深公路
02. 貪生怕死
03. 平安鐘
04 .同一個世界
05. Teardrop
06. 金粉世家 (國語)
07. Ear Candy (Instrumental)
08. 憶苦思甜 (國語)
09. 20
10. 你頭上的光環
11. 親愛的瑪嘉烈
12. 107國道 (國語)




Just by looking at the track list of Ming Gor's newest album, I knew I need to OWN it. Last night, I listened only to the tracks that I long anticipated 親愛的瑪嘉烈, 貪生怕死, 廣深公路, 同一個世界... very good, I thought.

This morning, I woke up, brushed my teeth, had my muesli, checked my email... and I put on King Of The Road ... hmm... It's just what I needed, a perfect morning.

The entire KOTR album has a folk-ish, country-ish tone (with one exception). It's a perfect match to the "on the road" theme, whether if it's literally pursuing a road trip on the highway, or figuratively, the road of your life. Life and death. Young and old. Strong and weak.....

"We're just another soldier on a road to nowhere" is a line in Damien Rice's Amie. KOTR is an expansion of this line. It tells the story of people at different stages of their life journey.

Some small thoughts on worth noting tracks:


廣深公路: First single of the album, quite understandable. It's a perfect, easy to understand method to introduce the album's concept, musically and lyrically. The story of a border-crossing truck driver, country-music-style arrangement. Ming Gor plays the role of the narrator, of course, he excels in it. The mood/tone of his voice suits perfectly without overdoing or lacking emotions... Loving it.


貪生怕死: Second single of the album. A 180 degree flip in terms of lyrics. It's no longer storytelling. It's a sophisticated discussion in a sensitive topic in our society... Death. Are we afraid of dying? To some degree, everybody is. But no one wants to admit it. Not because we don't wanna look like a coward, I don't think that's the main reason... It's because we're TOO BUSY to think about it. 怕痛 怕苦 怕窮 怕終於輸不起, Right? I love Ming Gor's voice in this song... like an angel whispering in your ear...


同一個世界: Ah... the Internet, Globalization. Necessity and increasing trend of our world today. Very thoughtful idea, and it fits perfectly in the main theme. With all these new gadgets, are we really getting closer? Or are we just putting more obstacles in between one another? I really like the melody (composed by Wong Ka Keung), it's got a "world music (Latin?)" touch to it... HOT!


Teardrop: Cover version of Massive Attack's hit. Not familiar with the original, but I know from Ming Gor's interviews that it's more trip-hop, down-tempo than the version in KOTR. Overall not bad, I like the new arrangements, but one thing that bothers me is when Chinese singers sing in English, they have a slight accent and it can sometimes be disturbing. Ming Gor has a slight bit of problem with that but nothing that I can't overlook (unlike Eason's Aren't You Glad, oh god...).


金粉世家: Hmm... still trying to figure out why this song is in the album... Not a bad song at all (I don't believe Ming Gor can ever produce a bad song). But it just doesn't really fit in to the overall theme. I'd always skip it if I'm listening to the actual cd. It's just not the right mood/tone. I'd be more than happy to include it in my workout songs though :)


親愛的瑪嘉烈: Composed by Ellen (at17)! I can't believe it's the first time Ming Gor sang one of at17's works... but what a blast! It's a folk rock number, of course, Ellen's strongest suit. Ming Gor resumes the role of a storyteller... it's such a nice way to wrap up the album. The middle-aged main character observes young passengers on trains, travelling from town-to-town, province-to-province, wishing them best of luck on the journey... journey on the road, and journey of life. 離家更是遠 竟可以支撐到目前 誠心祝福你 捱得到 新天地....