Some time ago, my friend "Who and Who and Who" asked me on WeChat, why his Xu Wei " Time·Wandering " has EMI stickers, which is different from his friend's first edition?
Regarding this issue, it is actually a bit complicated. If you use Cantonese, it is a long piece of cloth. For this issue, with my own memory and cognition, plus the cohesive review of the two old friends Momo and Xu Pingke, especially the oral history of Maqiu who participated in the behind-the-scenes work of "Time Walk", I also think about it. Restore history.
If you are a disc market glutton of a certain age, you should still have the impression that around 2001, a large number of "Universal Music" artists' featured records appeared in the imported version market. In my impression, there are Zhong Zhentao, , Liu Wenzheng , , Ding Feifei, , Ruan Danqing, etc. My first impression of the
albums is because of the similar uniform design and most of the headshots. This kind of packaging, in fact, it is still difficult to make album control people interested. But on the other hand, there are indeed some great gifts hidden in these selections, that is, under the historical background at that time, some songs that were never introduced, or that many people did not know at that time were selected, so that some It is because of the selection of this series that the works began to spread in the mainland. According to Maqiu, who participated in the selection and editing of songs at the time, they did it on purpose.
's copyright information at that time was: Busheng Music Culture Co., Ltd. issued, Shanghai Yifeng Music Culture Communication Co., Ltd. publicity planning, and "Shanghai Yifeng" was the company that later signed Xu Wei and released "Time·Walk". Then why is it obviously an album released by the "Universal Music" company, and later it was affixed with a sticker of EMI? After all, "EMI Records" at that time was still one of the five independent companies, and there was no relationship between the two big companies.
In terms of functional attributes, "Shanghai Yifeng" at that time was a production company, while "Busheng Music" was a distribution company, and they were indeed related to "Universal Music". and Xuanfa's company. The source of
"Shanghai Art Style" is the "Shanghai New Constellation" under the "Shanghai Audiovisual" established in 1993. When it comes to this company, it is the same dish market glutton that will have the impression. This company once introduced a batch of world music and movie music albums, and they also signed a batch of local singers at that time: Shi Yunlan , Gao Linsheng , "Inspiration" group, and has always been considered a genius singer The Zhen Ling . The last appearance of
"Shanghai New Constellation" in my memory was "I'm Crazy for Songs" co-produced with "Shanghai Yifeng", and from here, the first signed singer of "Shanghai Yifeng" Hu Yanbin began to show up , the label "Shanghai New Constellation" seems to gradually disappear after that.
should say that the establishment of "Shanghai Art Style" is also the result of the cooperation between Shanghai local music circles and Hong Kong record companies such as "Singing in Shanghai" and "Shanghai Audio and Video". You must know that 20 years ago, Shanghai was also the first stop for many international labels to enter China. Even though there are not as many music companies in Shanghai as there are in Beijing, many of them are giants with great backgrounds.
However, this balance was gradually broken later, most of the music resources were almost gathered in Beijing, and Shanghai began to be slowly forgotten. Also forgotten are the Guangdong recording industries such as "Zhong Sing Guangzhou", "Pacific Audio and Video", "Guangdong Audio and Video", "Guangzhou New Era", and "White Swan Audio and Video", which once shaped the glory of Lingnan pop music.
As a music company founded in Shanghai, "Shanghai Art Style" naturally also has many local elements in Shanghai, including Hu Yanbin, who signed the first contract, and the "Black Stick" group who signed later are all artists from Shanghai. The post-production and mastering of the albums including "Time Walk" and "Black Stick" are also handled by "Shanghai Sanyou Music Production Co., Ltd.".
"Shanghai Sanyou" is the legal representative of the company and is also "Shanghai Yifeng"And Yang Shengliang, the head of "Shanghai New Constellation". Another partner of , Lu Xiaoxing , is a well-known recording engineer in Shanghai. He is also the sound engineer of the "Oscar" award-winning movie " Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ", and has won the " Grammy Recording Art and Technology Award".
broke the balance of Shanghai's regionalization of "Shanghai Yifeng" in music, and it was the emergence of , Jiang Hong and . As the planning manager of " Red Star Production Company ", he was in charge of Xu Wei's "Somewhere Else" and "That Year", Tian Zhen's album of the same name and other records, which had a good reputation in the industry in the mid and late 1990s. With Jiang Hong joining "Shanghai Yifeng" in 2002, he also brought the singer Xu Wei, who had worked with him, along with him. The transfer of
can be said to have changed Xu Wei's fate. In other words, it also changed the local history of Chinese rock music . After
"Shanghai Yifeng" was established and put into original production, in July and December 2002, the albums of Hu Yanbin's "Shuangquan of Civil and Military" and Xu Wei's "Time Walk" were released. At that time, "Shanghai Yifeng" was released. "Because of the relationship between the Hong Kong partner Zheng Donghan , it still belongs to the "Universal Music" family.
In 2003, Huang Baigao and Zheng Donghan co-founded " Gold Medal Entertainment ", announced their withdrawal from the "Universal Music" system and cooperated with "EMI Records". Music" became "EMI Records". Xu Wei and Hu Yanbin, two former "Universal Music" singers, were automatically converted into "EMI Records" singers in less than a year. The overseas releases of their albums were also handed over to "EMI Records". "system release.
So this also explains why the same "Time Walk", some have the "EMI Record" logo, and some don't. The one without the logo is the earliest released version, and the one with the logo is after the "Shanghai Yifeng" and "EMI Records" cooperated, and the logo was temporarily pasted on the already printed record to celebrate the new identity of the label. . This small operation has inadvertently become a sign that distinguishes the details of the release time of the album.
In 2006, "Time Walk" was republished, the packaging was changed to a vertical DVD box, the photos on the inside pages were replaced, and the guitar scores of ten works were also included. The copyright page is already: "Shanghai Busheng Dafeng Music Culture Communication Co., Ltd.", "Shanghai Yifeng" has disappeared completely since it was merged.
Let's talk about the music of "Time Walk".
About this album, many fans are already familiar with it. Many songs are must-sing songs in Xu Wei's concerts. For example, "Blue Lotus" has become a signature work, and can be heard online and offline in various scenes.
, but this album, which has now been hailed as a masterpiece, had a polarized reaction when it was first released. On the one hand, this album actually made Xu Wei out of the circle and was heard and liked by more people; There is only one reason for
, how can Chinese rock be so popular, sunny, warm and fresh?
"Time Walk" is indeed a watershed album for Xu Wei. The creative tone of the entire album, including the music text and melody, and even the way of music arrangement, has actually continued to this day, such a long continuation, even Let the atmosphere of "Somewhere Else" sound a little strange and like a world away now.
And it is very strange that there were many critics of "Time Walk", but they were full of praise for Xu Wei's last album "That Year", thinking that Xu Wei in "That Year" was still rock . It's a bit...
In fact, the album "That Year" is precisely the product of the transition from "Somewhere Else" to "Walking in Time". If there is no album, jump directly from "Somewhere Else" to "Walking in Time" ", this transformation does mean a bit of a genetic mutation, but there areThe existence of "That Year" and the change of Xu Wei's temperament in "Time Walk" have become traceable.
Even if the bands of "That Year" are Li Yanliang , Yue Haokun and Liu Xiaosong , the works such as "Hometown" and "September" are actually very "Time Walk". And "Warm" is even more "Warm", and it is completely different from Xu Wei, who "one day is used for birth and one day for death" and "this autumn night makes me feel at a loss".
In addition, I think the success of "Time Walk", in addition to Xu Wei's simple melody and singing, as well as the detached, warm and slightly born temperament, is mainly due to the success of the album's music production. . Of the ten pieces of
's "Walking in Time", Xu Wei completed five arrangements. In addition, Li Yanliang composed one, Luan Shu composed one, and Li Lin, a musician signed to " Busheng Dafeng ", composed one, and Liang Jianfeng composed the other two.
However, it's not just the arrangement, the biggest difference in the level of musicians in this album is that the previous guitarist Li Yanliang, except for the two works of "Perfect Life" and "Plain", the rest of the guitar was completed by Liang Jianfeng. In addition, there are also bassist Li Jian and Japanese drum king's Funky Suejikaku, but some of the works will be slightly different. For example, the bassist of "One Day" is Yue Haokun, and Liu Yu also recorded some of them. drums. As for the keyboard part of the band, Luanshu is in charge.
can hear that Liang Jianfeng has put a lot of thought into this album. Many guitar riffs and solos are designed very ingeniously, such as many guitar phrases in "Swan Journey" and "Blue Lotus", which have been combined with the works. It integrates itself and becomes part of the classic memory, and even allows many fans to hum the melody passages.
is like the mandolin in The Journey of the Swan.
Even I feel that some of the guitar phrases are an extension and supplement to Xu Wei's works. Xu Wei should also add some creative parts from these guitar passages in reverse. Anyone who has played in the band should be able to appreciate this. a creative process.
will not go into details about the specific works. It is worth mentioning that many of the works on this album use a lot of looping phrases to repeat, and some even listen to the vocals. Like Ambient's music is still looping. Cooperating with Xu Wei's own creation, it actually has the effect of leaving blank space in oriental aesthetics. It seems to be very monotonous repetition, but the looping over and over again can make people's thoughts start to fly and fill in the blanks with the music, which is very magical.
In addition, this album was recorded in Luan Shuwei's "Sound Recording Studio" at that time, and the recording engineer was Liu Yu. Compared with the previous "That Year", which was not mixed, it was completely different. Funky Mojijue's full drum beats, Li Jian's solid and flexible Bass-Line, coupled with Liang Jianfeng's rich line and three-dimensional guitar arrangement, are indeed pleasing to the ears in terms of musical texture.
Liang Jianfeng, who later served as the music producer of " Women's Twelve Bands ", can be regarded as the most valuable producer among Chinese musicians.
"Nothing can stop you, you yearn for freedom", what do you think when you hear this sentence now? I am record
