| Random Thoughts | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Faye Wong |
| Cover: | FayeWong RandomThinking.jpg |
| Border: | yes |
| Released: | 29 June 1994 |
| Recorded: | 1994 |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 43:51 |
| Label: | Cinepoly |
| Prev Title: | Faye Disc |
| Prev Year: | 1994 |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Next Title: | Sky |
| Next Year: | 1994 |
Random Thoughts[1] [2], alternatively Thinking Here and There[3] or Wondering Music,[4] is the seventh Cantonese studio album by Chinese recording artist Faye Wong. It was released through Cinepoly Records on 29 June 1994. It confirmed her move into alternative music and covers songs by the Cocteau Twins, whose influence she readily acknowledged.[5]
The album cover was unusual for its time: instead of any image of the singer's face, the main cover design shows overlapping phrases such as "no new images" and "no photo booklet" in Chinese characters of varying size, all of which have some strokes missing but allowing the phrase still to be discerned. An alternative cover was all white except for the artist and album name, the latter in the same partial characters. The cover was the first to include the Mandarin name 王菲 (Wang Fei).
The title track "Random Thoughts" is a cover of the Cocteau Twins' "Bluebeard". Track 5, "Know Oneself and Each Other", covered their song "Know Who You Are at Every Age", which was likewise from their 1993 album Four-Calendar Café.
"Dream Lover" (sometimes translated "Person in a Dream") is a cover of The Cranberries' "Dreams". It was a successful hit single, and was featured in Wong Kar-wai's critically acclaimed film Chungking Express in which Faye Wong also starred. She also recorded a Mandarin version, "Elude", on Sky.[6] Both versions are still played frequently in Chinese media.[7]
| Region | Release date | Label | Format(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong | 29 June 1994 | Cinepoly Records | ||
| Taiwan | Linfair Records | CD | ||
| China | 1994 | Cai Ling Audio and Video | ||
| Japan | 2 November 1994 | Polydor Records | CD | |
| 26 September 1997 | CD (reissue) | |||
| Hong Kong | May 1999 | Cinepoly Records | CD (PolyGram 20th Century Glorious Mark Series) | |
| 14 October 2005 | CD (Legend Series) | |||
| 15 July 2014 | Universal Music Hong Kong | CD (Golden Disc Anniversary Series) | ||
| 8 August 2014 | LP | |||
| 12 November 2020 | CD (24K Gold series) | |||
| 17 December 2020 | LP (ARS series) | |||
| Japan | 17 February 2021 | Universal Music Japan | LP |