*****

Tai calls this her "chut Isan", and while the difference is in touches rather than a wholesale makeover, album 3 is a great improvement on 1 and 2. There's more musical variety and the up-tempo numbers are more successful than before, though there are no individual tracks as fine as the best of Yuu Nai Jai Samue.

Track 1, Khon Glai Muea Glai Ban, has a bass-line reminiscent of Wan Ti Baw Mi Ai, which is easily Tai's best song to date. This never reaches that level — it's much more low-key, and has none of the earlier song's drama — but in its own way it's a good piece of work. The second song, OK Naw, poses a problem for the western listener: namely how to accept "OK" as the central element of a Thai love song. The music is perfectly matched to the lyrics though, with a beautifully hesitant instrumental part. The Isan element really kicks in on track 3, Hawmglin Ban Gert. This has a lumpy, rolling bass-line which ambles along like a Surin elephant, while the percussion and saw work busily above. This is one of the tracks on which Tai shows a greater warmth in her voice than on previous albums; another is the following song, Hai Tai Pai Gap Jai, another Wan Ti Baw Mi Ai-clone on which the breathy tone she gives to the surging lines of the chorus sounds almost sexy.
Track 5, Gammagon Gaem Daeng, is less sucessful: it's dominated by a sax part of distinctly un-Tai-like raucousness, and while she copes surprisingly well with the fast pace this still isn't what she does best. Tracks 6 and 9 are rather anonymous apart from an interestingly squawky Puthai oboe part on the latter. Track 7 is an improved version of the typical Tai songs of the first two albums, lifted by more active bass and keyboard parts (although like some of her other songs with an unpleasantly self-promoting story). Track 8, Eek Khon Ti Khit Hawt, is another Isan-style number with almost a lam puthai feel to it. Finally, while the first song on this album takes after Wan Ti Baw M Ai, the last one is in the mould of the other great song on Yuu Nai Jai Samue: Raengjai Nai Ngao Jan. Again the fast instrumentals and slower vocal line blend well, although the tune is not as memorable as Raengjai's.

None of the songs on this album are really great, and there are none here as memorable as Tai's best work from earlier albums. However there are plenty of good songs,and they make a much more satisfying unit than did her previous discs. She has broadened her range, which promises well for the future, and this album is one which repays well repeated listens.

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