Dear Jane - 101 Album Thoughts(C-Rock)

01 咖啡因眼淚
02 羽毛鱗刺
03 七百萬種樂與怒
04 哪裡只得我共你
05 只知感覺失了蹤
06 經過一些秋與冬
07 最後一次
08 遠征
09 牆紙 (Dear Jane Studio Live)
10 愛後餘生 (Dear Jane Studio Live)

   I'm going to be a hundred percent honest here in this post as well. Dear Jane's name has been coming up around me for awhile but I never listened to their music because I thought they were another band. Many of their albums in the last few years didn't have a picture of the band on the cover so I thought of another artists every time I saw their name. Another singer has a name like Dear something too.... I don't even know but it took me seeing them on a second hand blog for me to realize these guys were actually "guys".

  101 is Dear Jane's most recent release after constant stream of other releases over the years. This album is my first exposure to them and I didn't expect much. Not because I had low expectations or anything. I had only seen one music video before listening to the album and the song sounded like a lot of other Chinese acoustic rock songs. The melody was pretty for the most part though. 101 does sound like an album that was influenced by or influenced other Chinese rock artists before it. Nothing much makes them stand apart from other bands like MR. if you look at the album's track list but one quality did stand out to me. The skill level of the bandmates instrumentation.  Their guitar sections are off the charts in their songs and don't lose their energy even during slower numbers. You would think thats a couple of slower ballads come in to cool things off but Dear Jane's version of a ballad still calls for 86 percent out of 100 percent. They are the definition of a true rock n roll band. Get on that stage, play strong and play loud. Studio live tracks sound almost better than the CD recordings and what English that is in their songs sounded correct.

  A big reason for why Dear Jane doesn't stand out too much for other bands to me is because of their vocalist. So many male singers in Cantonese music have that deep monotone voice going on. I can find a bunch of artists and play them one after the other, without looking at who is singing. They would all sound the same to me if I couldn't identify their faces. At first, I was a little disappointed that their vocalist sounded this way but the melodies mixed with their lyrics make for an interesting listen.

  I'm not a sure if this album completely sold me yet. Maybe after a few more listens. I do like one or two tracks already but that "head over heels" feeling hasn't yet set in. Anyone have older album recommendations?