Album Review: Khalil Fong – ‘Timeless’

Album release date: 2009
Genre: R&B/Soul, Cpop

Rating: 3.5/5

Review by: jct

R&B/Soul singer Khalil Fong’s fifth album, Timeless, is essentially a tribute to the artists and songs that inspired his music. He covers a range of artists and at the same time adding something new or incorporating his style to the songs. Thus, the album isn’t entirely retro as it somewhow manages to expertly and easily walk the line between classic and modern day R&B/Soul music.

Classic/Modern Day

If you’ve ever wondered how Khalil Fong has an overflowing amount of soul, a large part of the answer is within the songs in this album. He clearly covers the songs that he felt had influenced his music style and lyrics. The artists he covers range from Stevie Wonder to Faye Wong.  The opening track is Stevie Wonder’s “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”, in which he kept the music the same as the original, but adding his own distinct sound to it. Maybe the album’s best song is Glenn Medeiros’ “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” as Khalil kept the song simple but at the same time, updating the song to appeal to the younger generation. Not to mention he sings it smoothly with true genuine emotions. Also, deserving mentioning is the cover of Susanna Kwan’s “Frenzy (狂潮)” in which he adds an R&B flavour to it which makes it sound less classical. At the same time, he kept it clean and crisp. This version is certaintly unique as the vocals and style is different from the original. Also, the cover of Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba” is an impressive remake as the song is in Spanish and although he doesn’t speak the language, he delivers it very well. If you did not know better, you’d think he can actually speak Spanish. He also adjusted the music and beats of the original song to fit his style and vocals, and the result is impressive.

However, the album does falter slightly on some songs. Although the songs itself are good and well-sung by Khalil, some songs simply doesn’t fit his style or nothing new was added, such as the songs “Bad” and “Remember”.  Overall, the album lives up to its title, as he embedded the idea of timeless, and doing justice to the artists that inspired him musically.

Tracklist
1. You are the Sunshine of my Life (Stevie Wonder cover)
2. Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You (Glenn Medeiros cover)
3. Bad (Michael Jackson cover)
4. 狂潮 (Frenzy) (Susanna Kwan (關菊英) cover)
5. La Bamba (Ritchie Valens cover)
6. Red Bean (Faye Wong cover)
7. Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles cover)
8. Remember (A-mei cover)
9. Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton cover)
10. Moon River (Andy William cover)