CD : Sao Mard Mega Dance สาวมาด เมกะแดนซ์ - dao mahalai

Sao Mard did very well with her album from last year "Sao lard prao" and in true fashion the title track of this follow-up album tries to recapture the magic with a rather similar song, so expect a fast-ish track with Sao Mard's singing being replied to by a bloke shouting. Whether he is dressed as a woman this time too i don't know but Sao Mard no longer is wearing a cowboy hat. "Dao mahalai" is OK but gets a bit wearing after the first couple of minutes.

This is a good album though, "Rueng kluay kluay" mixes electric rock guitars with morlam and rocks along very enjoyably. "Kid dai ngai" is a much better song though and the highlight of the album, a slow and brooding lukthung track. Another enjoyable track is "Park rai tae jai ruk" which starts off sounding like 80s pop and moves into a very danceable fast tempo track. "Koong ten" starts off a slow brooding track which has some nice keyboards that moves into a good morlam song.

Ending the album is "Aow kuen" which also starts off slow and stays there. Sao Mard is a good singer to be sure able to handle fast morlam tracks and slower ballads. Her vocals are maybe not perfect but she sounds like she has had some life, a bit sultry at times, and puts that into her performance which wins with me every time. Very good album. Cowboy hat not required after all.

Best songs : Kid dai ngai, Park rai tae jai ruk, Aow kuen

Rating : 8.5/10

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