CD REVIEW

James of all trades

Chicken king is back with his latest 'Franchise'

Story by Nuttaya Muneerat

Everyone would agree that RS's number one solo artist is Ruangsak Roichusak (James).

James has been very lucky with his career. In the past nine years he has gotten the chance to work in nearly every type of entertainment. He has launched six solo albums, six special albums, has acted on six TV dramas (I think James likes the number six) as well as appeared in two movies. Oh and did I mention that James is also a famous entrepreneur � he has turned his grandmother's special recipe into the successful restaurant franchise Kao Mun Kai.

But we're not here to talk about chicken. What we are going to talk about is James' latest album James Franchise.

Nothing new here

While his chicken rice franchise may be wowing diners across Bangkok, his musical franchise seems a bit stale. The album doesn't have much new on it. But that doesn't mean it is bad. James still does a great job making his pop lyrics stand out.

He does a good job with the three dance tracks on the album. The beats are strong and will make listeners want to jump up and dance.

The rest of the album is a bit slower. On "Nhung Nathee Khong Rao Mai Tao Kan (Our Minute Isn't Equal)," a track about a man waiting for his girlfriend, James starts out with a soft, quiet mumbling that sounds a lot like Thongchai McIntyre's on his track "Ya Tor Rong Huajai (Don't Bet With My Heart)."

Actually James tries to song a lot like Bird on a number of tracks. Let's hope that RS isn't trying to turn James into their version of Bird.

The highlights

The highlight of the album is the luk krung style on "Baan Noi Khoi Rak (Little Home Waits for Some Love)." James admitted that he often tries to sing this style, but that his voice isn't perfect for it.

The singer�s voice sounds great when singing pop, but it may not be soft enough for luk krung. But he actually does a pretty good job on this track and maybe this will open up a chance for James to improve on this style.

Overall the album sounds quite smooth. James Franchise has a good mix of fast songs that will keep you entertained and slow tracks that will let your emotions flow. While this album may not be very different from anything James has released before, James is a professional who does a great job presenting both joy and sorrow in any song.

So if you like James' style and you've got the cash, pick up a copy of this album. If you haven't got the cash, why not cut back on a few plates of khao mun kai and you should have enough money saved up in no time.

Vocabulary

entrepreneur (n): a person who makes money by starting or running businesses, especially when this involves taking financial risks
recipe (n): a method or an idea that seems likely to have a particular result
franchise (n): formal permission given by a company to somebody who wants to sell its goods or services in a particular area
stale (adj): said or done too many times before and is no longer interesting or exciting
mumbling (n): speech or words that are spoken in a quiet voice in a way that is not clear