Heroes of Earth

Infobox Album |
Name = Heroes of Earth (蓋世英雄)
Type = Album
Artist = Lee-Hom Wang


Released = December 30 2005
Genre = C-pop, R&B, hip hop
Length = 39:13
Label = Sony BMG
Reviews =
Producers = Lee-Hom Wang
Last album = "Shangri-La"
(心中的日月)
(2004)
This album = "Heroes of Earth"
(蓋世英雄)
(2005)
Next album = "Change Me"
(改變自己)
{2007)

Heroes of Earth (zh-tsp|t=蓋世英雄|s=盖世英雄|p=gàishì yīngxióng) is the 11th album of American Taiwanese R&B artist and composer, Lee-Hom Wang, and was released on December 30, 2005. Since Wang's debut, "Heroes of Earth" has been Wang's most successful album, breaking the record of impressively selling more than 1,000,000 copies ten days after the release. [ zh icon [http://www.ewen.cc/music/bkview.asp?bkid=101378&cid=283591] (Heroes of Earth Surpasses 1,000,000 Copies) 2006-01-09. Retrieved 2007-06-01.] The album stayed at first place in the G-Music Charts for 6 weeks. [ zh icon [http://www.zhsew.com/b/b2/b21/200602/9398.html] (G-Music Charts, Week 5 of 2006)] . Ultimately, the album stayed in the charts for a total of 23 weeks and became third highest selling album in Taiwan for 2006. [ zh icon [http://www.g-music.com.tw/event/2006_top20/top20_1.html] (Top 20 Albums of 2006).]

About the album

In this album, Wang continued with a second chapter of "chinked-out", a new musical genre he invented for his last album, Shangri-La. This time he incorporated ancient Chinese Peking Opera and kunqu instead of the Chinese ethnic minority music he used last time.

Aside, Wang also worked with other "heroes" in this album, such as Chinese American rapper Jin, Mayday's Ashin, opera singer Li Yan, as well as famous Korean pop stars Rain and J-Lim. He named the album "Heroes of Earth" to represent all the heroes he has collaborated with in this album.

About the music

1. Beside the Plum Blossoms
The background of this song is based on the story behind The Peony Pavilion, an old Chinese play written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty. Wang gave tapes of this play to Ashin of Mayday, who later wrote the lyrics. Wang also wrote the rap lyrics which can be heard at the end of the song. He rapped 295 words in 50 seconds. The song is performed with ancient kunqu music.

2. Mistake in the Flower Fields
The song has a very interesting tie with both Peking Opera and modern R&B music. Adding with an er-hu solo with a singing style that imitates Peking Opera, this song has successfully captured the main focuses of Chinese Opera and the unique tale behind it.

3. Heroes of Earth
Not only has Wang invited the popular Chinese American rapper Jin to rap in the song, he also invited the famous Chinese opera singer Li Yan, who added his voice in the song as well, heightening the opera feel. Heavy Peking Opera and kunqu tactics are incorporated, and Wang also did an electric guitar solo in the song to add a spice of uniqueness. Jin raps in English and Cantonese in the song. The English-rap part stated "We've been around for ages / a couple thousand years / a bunch of pioneers" which represents one of the themes of "Heroes of the Earth".

5. The Perfect Interaction
Wang invited popular Korean singers Rain and Lim Jeong Hee (J-Lim) to be featured in the song. The song had a unique Spanish guitar solo played in the beginning and is also one of the first few Asian songs to have three different languages sung (Chinese, Korean, English) This was also Rain's first Chinese song. Although Rain's voice is featured in this song, he did not record it at the same time as Wang and Lim. Rain recorded the song first and then Wang followed afterwards. Sony BMG and Wang invited Rain to be featured in the music video as well, but because of his busy schedule Rain could not participate and therefore only Wang and Lim were featured in the video.

10. Because Love is in the Heart
Although the chinked-out experiments were not used in this song, out of all the songs in the album, this song is the most memorable and unique of all. This song is actually a song written, composed, and produced by Wang's fanclub in China, a gift they presented him for his 29th birthday. Wang was touched by his fans' warmth and therefore added a little of his own voice in the song and made it the last song of the album.

Track listing

#在梅邊 "Beside the Plum Blossoms" (Zai Mei Bian)
#花田錯 "Mistake in the Flower Fields" (Hua Tian Cuo)
#蓋世英雄 "Heroes of Earth" (Gai Shi Ying Xiong)
#"Kiss Goodbye"
#完美的互動 "The Perfect Interaction" (Wan Mei De Hu Dong)
#大城小愛 "Big City, Small Love" (Da Cheng Xiao Ai)
#第一個清晨 "The First Morning" (Di Yi Ge Qing Chen)
#哥兒們 "Homies" (Ge-Er Men)
#讓開 "Move Over" (Rang Kai)
#愛 因為在心中 "Because Love is in the Heart" (Ai, Yin Wei Zai Xin Zhong)

Charts

ingles

References