alan – RED CLIFF ～心・戦～ (A J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)

September 7, 2009 by Dennis Amith 

“The fourth CD single for avex trax’s “elements” monthly CD single campaign for the Tibetan J-Pop singer alan.  An absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing ballad that symbolizes ‘fire’ and is the theme song for the first ‘RED CLIFF’ film.  Featuring both Japanese and Chinese versions plus an orchestral version of her first single ‘Ashita e no Sanka’.”

ARTIST: alan

CD SINGLE: RED CLIFF ~Shin-Sen~

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-31492

DURATION: 30:41

RELEASE DATE:  February 13, 2008

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1. RED CLIFF ～心・戦～ (RED CLIFF ~Shin-Sen~)
2. 心・戦 ～RED CLIFF～ (Shin-Sen ~RED CLIFF~)
3. 明日への讃歌 ～Orchestra Version～ (Ashita e no Sanka)
4. RED CLIFF ～心・戦～ (Instrumental)
5. 明日への讃歌 ～Orchestra Version～

In July 2008, the Tibetan singer alan (Alan Dawa Dolma) began a campaign in which the artist would release a CD single based on the Earth’s elements.  The single “Natsukashii Mirai” (her fourth CD single) would symbolize the element “Earth”, the second single “Sora Uta” (her fifth CD single) would symbolize the symbol “Air”, the single “Kaze no Tegami” (her sixth CD single) would symbolize “Wind” and with this seventh CD single “RED CLIFF ~Shin-Sen~” would symbolize fire.

With avex entertainment, inc. investing heavily in John Woo’s film “Red Cliff” (the first film), it was natural for alan to sing the theme song for the film.

The main track “RED CLIFF ~Shin-Sen~” sports a beautiful orchestra driven track that captures emotion and beauty through its wonderful music and alan’s vocals which include her beautiful Tibetan wail and was used to promote the video game “Dynasty Warriors 6: Special Edition”.

The second track “Shin-Sen ~RED CLIFF” is the Chinese version of the song which is the version used on the “Red Cliff” film and is just as beautiful as the main track.

The third track “Ashita e no Sanka ~Orchestra Version~” is an orchestral version of alan’s first CD single.  With many people discovering alan’s music for the first time through the film, it was a pretty good selection to include on this CD single.  Especially since it was a song to showcase her beautiful Tibetan wail to the Japanese public.  A beautiful track!

The remaining two tracks are the instrumental versions of “RED CLIFF ~Shin-Sen~” and “Ashita e no Sanka ~Orchestra Version~”.

There is a CD+DVD version of the single which features a music video for “RED CLIFF ~Shin-Sen~” and an image track of “Ashita e no Sanka ~Orchestra Version~”.

As for the CD insert, the insert is a standard bi-fold with Japanese lyrics (which is not exactly easy to read since it’s black type on dark red paper) and comes with fliers promoting alan’s elements CD singles and “Dynasty Warriors 5: Special”.

Also, the single comes in a slip case which is a promotional for Tower Records “My EXTRA TIME with LIPTON EXTRA SHOT” which shows alan in the rear of the slipcase drinking Lipton’s Extra Shot beverage.

I absolutely love alan’s music and with every CD single release, I have enjoyed it.  There is a sense of beauty and elegance with her music and sure it has to do with her Tibetan roots as she is able to introduce her style, may it be the use of playing the Erhu or hearing her Tibetan wail in the music.  But for the most part, alan is such a beautiful vocalist and each release is just enchantingly beautiful.

Her 7th CD single “RED CLIFF ~Shin-Sen~” is no different.  It’s an absolutely solid single featuring great vocals, great music, great arrangement and beautiful lyrics.

Definitely a CD single that is recommended!

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