FROM MALAYSIA, WE PRESENTS.....

We, here in the East may not be the prime movers in any musical revolution but we do have our own bands to keep the flame burning. Unfortunately, we only have one band of some note from Malaysia, The Strollers. There were the pioneers in English songs while their contemporaries were mostly recording in the Malay language. They wrote a few of their singles which were very well received and recorded only one but excellent album .There was one greatest CD of theirs out in the market but it was a miserably packed CD of only ten or twelve songs that totally ignored their one album. I refused to get that CD until they can come up with something more worthwhile of our first and only band of note during the heydays. In the meantime, these few CDs are my only representatives from that era..
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FRANKIE CHEAH : MEMORI HIT. 26 EVERGREEN HITS : I've been browsing through this CD numerous times before I finally bought it. Made up entirely of cover versions, only one song matters to me and that's 'Woman In My Life'. I have this on record and till today after all these years, I can remember the lyrics as clear as day. That's how powerful the song was. A teacher by trade, he was once touted as the Engelbert Humperdick of Malaysia and was quite popular during his time. By all account, Frankie Cheah does not warrant a reflective collection let alone a double CD, but we were sadly lacking any entertainer of note during this time and he'll just have to do to make up the numbers.  Other songs of slight interest are 'One Day', Cheryl Mona Marie', and 'My Name Is The Wind'.  DOP : Unknown.

DATUK SHARIFAH AINI IN DOWN MEMORY LANE : Sharifah Aini is primarily a Malay singer who was hugely popular in the seventies till the present time. Lack of singers of Western songs deemed it necessary for her to record in English for a slice of the English speaking market. Dwindling sales made it less profitable and eventually she went back to recording in Malay. Of the few English albums that she puts out, only one matters to me. Titled "Feeling Of Love ( Feeling Of Love" ), it was the English version of the Malay folk song sung in the style of Boney M. The rest of the album were made up of oldies remade in a more interesting way much in the style of Tracy Huang's "Songs Of The Sixties". I've been waiting since forever for that album to come out but it seems I will really have to wait forever 'cos a Malay artist singing in English here is just not profitable enough to justify its reissued. However "Feelings Of Love" is here along with 'Single Girl', 'All My Love' and 'Don't Play That Song ( You Lied )' from that album. The other songs of interest here are 'Forever And Forever'. 'Woman In Love' which is slight different from the version that we all know so well, 'Groovy Kind Of Love' thankfully is not the Phil Collins' version, 'Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye'. There's an interesting medley of 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow / A Little Bit More' and 'I'd Never Find Another You', which initially I thought was the old Seekers' hit but it wasn't and it wasn't a bad song either. On the down side, I really don't know how anyone could mess up a song like 'Without You'. She didn't really but through her singing, the beauty of the song was just not there and it fell flat. The same with 'Fire' which was recorded just too soft. Still, it's a pleasant CD to place in the car for long distance drive or just when you are doing the house work at home. DOP : 03rd February 2013.

GOES INTERNATIONAL DOWN MEMORY LANE : Calling this International is stretching it a bit. Made up of singers from mostly the Asian regions from Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, if you can call that international. Most of the tracks here were recorded in the late seventies and early eighties when all originality were deemed non profitable so most singers would just opted for the easy way out and just record the most popular songs of the day. Following note for note, it really baffled me as to why they bothers. Sudirman's. arguably the most adventurous and talented of the bunch, version of Michael Jackson's 'One Day In Your Life  ' was followed so closely to the original that you could be forgiven if you thought it was The Gloved One himself. His next offering 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Stars' and 'My Morning Star',  flared slightly better 'cos at least they were originals. Sharifah Aini offered four tune that were already on the other CD, ' Forever And Ever', 'Fire', 'Rasa Sayang' and 'I Don't Want To Lose Your Love'. Same goes for Frankie Cheah with 'Love Story' and 'Solitaire'. D.J Dave whom I believe  released only one English album are represented here with 'I Can't Stop Loving You', 'Dancing In The City', 'Change Of Heart' and 'Do You Believe In Magic' . Teresa Carpio represents the kind of copy cat singers from Hong Kong that were a dime a dozen. Her high key rendition of 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' is passable to me. She shared a duet with George Lam on 'Shame, Shame, Shame'. I quite like her version of The Stylistics' 'The Miracle'. Frances Yip gave us the usual pop hits 'Rain', 'Save Your Kisses For Me', 'If You Leave Me Now' and an oldie 'Things'. Gracie Rivera have 'Torn Between Two Lovers' and 'Woman In Love'. Tracy Huang's big 'hit' 'Feelings' are here together with 'There's A Kind Of Hush', 'Rhythm Of The Rain', 'Kiss Me Goodbye' and 'Dancing Queen'.   Anita Sarawak who was quite a dynamite performer are represented here with 'Paloma Blanca', 'Never, Never, Never', 'You To Me Are Everything', 'We're All Alone' and her signature song 'Sophisticated Lady' . Jennifer Yen who have quite a pleasant voice but not as popular as the rest are represented here with two songs, 'Summertime Feeling' and 'All Out Of Love'.  There you are, another two CD worth of easy listening. DOP : 03rd February 2012.

AND NOW, TAIWAN TOO......

In fighting for a spot for the English speaking market, Taiwan have not being idle. One of their biggest export in this genre was Tracy Huang. She scored big with her first English album " Feelings" in the seventies. It amazed me that there really was a market for these kind of music. Artists who just sang the popular songs of the day with the same arrangement, the same kind of playing, the only different being the vocal. During my record buying days, I would never for the life of me buy any of these CD. In my honest opinion, only the Chinese educated people would listen to them 'cos they were too consecutive to accept a Western singers in their midst and so they did the next best thing, choose an oriental artist who sings in English. Suffice to say, I am not a fan of these kind of artists. Anyway, here are the  few that I have in my collection.

TRACY HUANG 2. 1976 - 1981 : This CD contain the usual covers covered by cover artists. Some current hits and some oldies that includes 'I Don't Want To Talk About It'. '( What A ) Wonderful World ', 'Blue Bayou, 'I've Never Been To Me', 'End Of The World'. Ironically I first bought this for the song 'I've Never Been To Me' which I doesn't have at the time of buying this CD but now I've at least three of this song on different CD. Nice to put on during bed time with the light out low or as background music. DOP : 29th August 1996.

TRACY HUANG 3. 1976 - 1981 : This companion piece contain pretty much the same type of selections. Something old, something new. Designed for lazy people with simple taste. Song selections includes 'We May Never Love Like This Again', 'Sailing', 'Here. There & Everywhere', 'One Man. One Woman. 'When I Need You'. I bought these two CD during a time when I was working outstation. I am the type of person who get reckless after a week of not making any new purchase.. So I got these. There is of course a Tracy 1 which is a collection of her Chinese hits but regretfully I didn't come across that or I would have bought that as well. I liked a complete collection.. I'm sure she flared better there at least in my case. DOP : 29th August 1996.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS : VOL.1. FRANCES YIP & TRACY HUANG : Now this one I really like. At last something different. I got this on record and I was waiting with bated breath for this to come out. The oldies in this CD was given a fresh approach and it have never sounded better. Highlights includes 'San Francisco', 'Hurt So Bad', 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me', 'If We Are Only Friends', 'This Is My Song' and 'Sound Of Silence'. I still play this CD occasionally. There is a Vol. 2 but the song selections are not as good as this one. It's been eight years and I am still waiting for Vol. 2 to to come out on CD. So, will the powers that be, please take note........DOP : 18th June 2005.

CHYI : WHOEVER FINDS THIS, I LOVE YOU : I find Chyi more appealing than Tracy Huang. I don't really recall where or when I heard her the first time but it interests me enough to get this on cassette. Her renditions are good and the fact that she touches more on rather oblivion songs than popular songs appeals to me. I heard songs that I've never heard before rather than popular songs that I have heard umpteen times. This was the first time I've heard 'You Got A Nerve'. I especially like ' Waiting For The Morning', 'Angels, Roses & Rain', 'Lady On The Other Side Of Town' and 'Yesterday When I Was Young', a better version of this song, I've yet to hear. This CD was a gift to me by a former colleague. DOP : A Gift 11st July 1993 from Miss Sandy.

CHYI'S STORIES : This was also a gift from an old and dear friend.. I like her choice of not so well known songs and I find her vocal pleasing and soothing. Favourites here includes the title track, 'Stories', 'Memory', 'Light A Light, ' Castles In The Air' and 'Like A Hero'. Overall, not as good as the first one but still justify my paying good money for it. Don't be surprised if I were to add another few of her CD in my collection in the near future. And, oh, she sings in Mandarin too and I have a CD of her doing just that. DOP : A Gift 5th April 1993 from Miss Ann Lian.

LOOK FURTHER EAST.......HONG KONG

When it comes to English recording by oriental artists, I'd say that Hong Kong did it much better than us. Their pronunciations were impeccable. Most of the Chinese megastars started their careers recording in English and only begin recording in their mother tongues after the God of Song, Sam Hui started the trend and Hong Kong music was never the same again..

CHINESE OLDIES. LIMITED EDITION. VOL. 1 : Got these when I was struck by the nostalgia streak in me. Consists of 21 tracks, I can't say I really enjoy this CD 'cos most of the tracks are cover versions and you know how I feel about cover versions. Just plain carbon copy of the original songs with nothing new added in, I might just as well listen to the originals. Anyway, the songs that interest me here are 'I Like Dreaming' by Leslie Cheung, a hilarious Cantonese version of 'Seven Lonely Days' by comedy actor Tang Kei Chan, ' Kiss Me, Honey, Honey, Kiss Me', a rather playful take by Marlyn Palmer, 'I'm Your Puppet' by The D'Topnotes, 'Jamaica Mash' by The Satellites and a super rare version of Sam Hui singing 'Just A Little' a song which we are all more familiar with his Cantonese version. DOP : 9th October 1999.

CHINESE OLDIES. LIMITED EDITION. VOL. 2 : This compilation is more interesting than the first one 'cos it includes 'Wooden Heart' by Mona Fong and 'More Than I Can Say' by Kong Ling. Both songs were interesting 'cos they were sung alternately with Chinese lyrics. A trend both singers excel in but unfortunately the idea though fabulous did not  catch on. Elsewhere we have 'Groovy Baby', by Amina, another Chinese / English type of song but not as fascinating as the above mentioned two. 'One Tin Soldier' is nice with vocal by Sam Hui and Chelsia Chan. And whoever says that China man can't rock, should listen to Giancarlo & Italian Combo's version of 'Pepito Cha Cha'. It rock, man. DOP : 9th October 1999.

UNCLE RAY 101:HONG KONG. ALL TIME FAVOURITES : For sentimental bluffs like me, collections like this is a God sent. Six generously filled CD of songs from time since long gone. Like the above two CD, most of the songs here are cover versions but I only go for those cover versions that have something extra. CD 1 have 'Wooden Heart' but with the addition of ''Rose, Rose I Love You' by Rebecca Pan and 'Love Without End' by Francis Yip. A famous Chinese tearjerker of a song sung in English that was hidden deep inside my subconscious mind. Beautiful. CD 2 have 'Look For A Star' by Mona Fong sung in the English / Chinese style but this one doesn't work for me. Somehow the uptempo beat doesn't match the song which was suppose to be a ballad. 'Ding Dong Song' by Rebecca Pan flared much better. Elsewhere there's Sam Hui with his version of 'Blue Balloon'. CD 3 includes the evergreen Malay song 'Bungalow Solo' sung in the English  Chinese style by Mona Fong, and then there's 'Colors Of The Rainbow' by Judy Jim. A beautiful Chinese song beautifully sung in English that have me singing the song for days. An extra bonus lies in a wonderful Tracy Huang's medley of 'The Young Ones / Constantly / Do You Wanna Dance', a splendid tribute to Cliff Richard. CD 4 brings us Kong Ling's version of 'Theme For A Dream' and Yum Yum Cha Cha' with the peculiar marriage of English and Chinese lyrics.'Kowloon Hong Kong' by The Reynettes is worth a mention. CD 5 doesn't bring us anything of note except for Kong Ling's 'More Than I Can Say' which I've already have on the earlier CD. CD 6 have 'Pocketful of Music' by Chelsia Chan. This song was originally a Chinese song composed and sung by Sam Hui. The English lyrics are not bad at all. DOP : 15th August 2010.

HONG KONG MUZIKLAND OF THE 60 / 70S 101 : I thought I was in for another treat after the first volume but unfortunately, it was not to be. Seems there were scraping the barrels for this to be release and it showed by the quality of the songs. Another 6 CD's worth of songs is rather a tall order. There should have gone for a double CD. Anyway, here goes. Disc 1 have Mona Fong singing the old Chinese classic ' Yie Lai Shan' in her imitable style, while Rebecca Pan handle J'Attendrali'. Next we have Betty Chung singing the old Vikki Carr's standard 'It Must Be Him' and Esther Chan singing 'The Lord's Prayer'. Then there's a delightful instrumental titled 'Pepe' by Giancarlo & Italian Combo. Disc 2 have The Wynners doing a splendid version of 'The World Is Getting Smaller'. Disc 3 bring us Mona Fong singing 'I Gotta Love You' and Teresa Carpio's 'Could We Start Again Please', the song later added to "Jesus Christ Superstar r" and which I've always like. Sam Hui's ‘Some Kind Of Wonderful' is rather interesting though I don't find him singing in English very appealing. Disc 4 have 'A Spoonful Of Sugar' by The Lotus. The Lotus incidentally is Sam Hui's band and he was to cover 'A Spoonful Of Sugar' later in Cantonese to even greater success. Disc 5 have another version of 'Yam Yam Cha Cha' by Tang Kei Chan in Cantonese, and the old Lennon / McCartney  number 'Goodbye'  by Josephine Siao and ' A Lover's Concerto' by Terry & Bill. Disc 6 bring us 'Let's Twist Again' by Kong Ling and The Fabulous Echoes. DOP : 26th August 2012.

THE BEST OF AGNES CHAN : As years goes by, many things change and I have definitely changed. 30 years ago I would never let myself be caught dead listening to Agnes Chan. Her squeaky voice makes me wanna cringe and want to strangle somebody. It was my sister who bought her records. Three albums, 1 SP and 1 EP of Christmas songs, I recalled. Whenever my sister played her records, I would be out of the house, just so that the neighbour know that it wasn't me playing the records. Sometimes I get so frustrated I want to scream and the neighbour playing them day and night doesn't help either. Still, as the years rolled by, when I finally got down to listen closely, unbelievably I found a few tracks quite listenable after all.. Her voice is still squeaky but I found it is more suitable for folk songs. Pop songs is still a no no but nowadays I find her rendering of 'Circle Game', quite enjoyable, the song that started her on her way and arguably even better than Joni Mitchell's original. 'Day Is Done', 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken', the beautiful and heart warming 'Mother Of Mine', 'Turn Around' which I always sing to my little one, and 'Sweet Dreams' are all found on the first of this double CD. The second CD only joy for me was her self penned 'You Are 21, I Am 16' which is quite good. The rest of the lots all cover versions of pop songs which still make me cringe, though not as intense as the first time I  heard them. DOP : 7th August 2012.

AGNES CHAN GOLDEN COLLECTION : Yet another double CD from the once golden girl of pop from Hong Kong. CD 1 provides what the first CD left out. 'Anyone Here In The Audience / Teenage Idol' impressed me the first time I heard it. I didn't know she have it in her to be so innovative. A marriage of two songs that actually work. 'Can That Girl Be Me' have me scuffling to look for the original which was by Dana, the girl who was known for 'All Kinds Of Everything' which was the kind of song that Agnes Chan should have covered but didn't. 'Frank Mills' was good. It was only recently that I was aware that 'Love Minus Zero No Limit' was a Bob Dylan song. Incredibly I thought  it was an Agnes Chan's original. Her other original song 'Original 1 ( A New Beginning ) was good too. I bit my tongue when I say this but what's good is good. CD 2 offered me her version of The New Seekers' When There's No Love Left' which is not bad really and I like her rendition of the four songs 'All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth', 'Rocking Around The Christmas Tree', 'Mr. Mistletoe' and ' Then Little Drummer Boy'. Still these are not to say that I've finally learnt to love Agnes Chan. Heaven no. Just more tolerant. I could lose a lot of friends through embarrassment if I were to say I've learned to love Agnes Chan's music which in all honesty I did not and could not. These were the only Agnes Chan songs that I played out loud during my teenage years. There you have it, 2 double CD worth of songs from a singer that once agonized me no end and now I am actually paying good money for them. DOP : 4th April 2010.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS : FRANCIS YIP VS TRACY HUANG : FRANCIS YIP : SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW : I bought this double CD strictly for the Tracy Huang CD.  I only played this Francis Yip CD only once or twice. I just don't like her way of singing. Her pausing and slight raising of her voice by the throat just doesn't appeal to me. It may be her trademark but it sounded so force. She is much better singing in Chinese. 13 tracks of the popular songs of the day and none of them are of interest to me.  Songs includes 'Before The Net Teardrop Falls.', I Write The Songs', 'Come On Over', Michelle', etc. On it's own, I would never have bought this CD in a thousand years but since it's tagging along with Tracy Huang's more superior CD, well.......DOP : 18th June 2005.

LOOK EAST.......TO SINGAPORE

Singapore have their share of pop stars during the time of the 60's. While some of them are just flash in the pan, no doubt influenced by emergence of The Beatles, and to make a quick buck, there are, however some that are seriously good. Below are some of the Singapore bands that have done their share of giving us some good old memories.

THE COMPLETE CRESCENDOS : In the early sixties, most if not all of these bands were formed due to the influence of The Beatles and out of these came The Crescendos. During those times, bands were in the infant stage so originality was not the order of the day. The Crescendos were popular due to their fine interpretations of outstanding songs. I find this CD quite enjoyable 'cos it brings back fond memories during a time when things were not so complicated. I first heard of The Crescendos when some cousins of mine bought along an EP of theirs to our house comprising of 'Walk On By' ( not the Dionne Warwick's song ), ‘Are You Getting Tired Of Your Little Toy?'. 'Lemon Tree' and 'A Lover's Concerto', the first time ever I've heard the last two tracks. Elsewhere, there are three Malay tracks, 'Waktu Fajar', Lenggang Kangkong' and the evergreen 'Bungawan Solo' but with English lyrics. For me their most outstanding interpretations were their version of 'Besame Mucho'. I've heard this version before somewhere in time but I always presume that it was by a western band and I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that it was The Crescendos. Whatever plans they may have diminished when their lead singer, Susan Lim was drowned in a freak accident during a holiday in Kuantan in the year 1970. All the music recorded under the name of The Crescendos are included here except for a few solo recordings by Susan Lim towards the end of her career. DOP : 17th December 1994.

REMEMBERING NAOMI & THE BOYS WITH HENRY SURIYA: My recollections of Naomi & The Boys were through an EP which my father bought with the songs 'I'm The Loser', 'As Tears Go By', ' I'd Like To Know' and 'I Need You', the last one not on this CD. Being only 7 years old at that time, I only listened when my father played the record but somehow the melody stuck in my mind. The original songs 'I'm The Loser' and 'I'd Like To Know' were considerably good, composed by Robert Suriya, brother of Naomi and also the leader of the band. Naomi's interpretation of 'Happy, Happy Birthday Baby' was definitely better than the original. I've heard this song on the radio way back and it have stuck with me ever since and I dare say that if not for Naomi's version of this song, it would not be as well known. Elsewhere there's another jewel here in 'I Know', again composed by Robert Suriya. It shared the same theme as 'Happy, Happy Birthday Baby' and it was recorded by Rita Chao, then a popular singer from Hong Kong. Still, a double CD is a tab too much to digest. Half of this CD are from Naomi and the other half from Henry Suriya, brother of Robert. A fine singer he may be but a whole CD of singing in the same style and the same theme......well, that's just not for me, I'll stick to what's still in my memories. DOP : Unknown.

IN QUEST OF...THE QUEST : During the sixties, if there were a battle of the bands, The Quests would definitely win hand down. There were one of the first bands who wrote their own materials, knocked out more established international artists in the charts and replaced them with their own songs. They were also one of the first bands to conquered Hong Kong and have their own fan base there. Their version of 'Don't Play That Song ( You Lied )' were unique and awesome. Listening to the song today still conjured up images of my brothers imitating them and recording their version on the tap recorder. This CD of 13 songs, however failed to represent them at their peak. They played and recorded Mandarin and Malay songs while this CD have only English songs. And most agonising of all, the songs here are new versions and their version of 'Don't Play That Song ( You Lied )' lack the punch and power of their original version. Still, new version or not, one of their original by Henry Chua 'Shanty' rocks. An instrumental, you would be forgiven if you thought it was The Shadows playing. Anyway, my quest for The Quests have not ended. I will get their original CD in the near future. DOP : 21st August 1994.

THE STORY CONTINUES OCTOBER CHERRIES GREATEST HITS : This CD is a disgrace and a great injustice. A criminal act in the musical sense. It does not even begin to scratch the surface of the music force that was The October Cherries.   It need a box set or at least three CD to fully represent the music of The October Cherries. Started out during the sixties as The Surfers, they metamorphosed to The October Cherries and then shorten their name to The Cherries. Somewhere in between they have hits as Jade and Pepper and finally have their last hit as The Giggles with Paul McCartney's Mrs. Vanderbilt renamed as 'Hey Ho' which unfortunately is not on this CD. During the seventies, they recorded three albums of cover versions of the latest hits of the day and most of them were arguably better than the originals.The songs that I enjoyed here are ' Something I Like About You and 'Coffee Toffee Squares' recorded under Jade and Pepper. 'Don't Tell It To Jane', Far Away Now', 'Cu Cu Cu Cu Choo' , the touching ''All Things Work Together For Good To Them That Love God' and 'This Is A Love Song'.   Their cover of 'Butterfly' is as beautiful as it could be..I am still waiting with bated breath for the re release of their threes cover version hit albums on CD. Highly innovative, they were somewhat killed off by piracy in the early eighties. A damn pity. DOP : 15th August 1996.

100 GREATEST. SINGAPORE 60S. THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION :  Got this for a little over RM 30 at the fleas market. An earlier seller wanted to sell it to me for RM 100 but luckily I scouted around and found this, or else I'll be tearing my hair out in esperation. The songs here just do not justified this  box set. It's dead boring and not a CD that I would play anytime soon. There are 5 CD here but the songs I really like can't really fill up a single CD. The one main reason why I got this was The Thunderbirds' 'My Lonely Heart'. A song that brings back sweet memories of my sister recording this song at the insistence of my father with my brothers playing the guitar. This song alone is worth one CD but five...? At least for my money's worth, I have a better recording of Naomi & The Boys' I Know' which was not so well recorded on her collection. And then there was 'I Need You' not on her CD. Also included is a better recording of The Crescendos' A Lover's Concerto'. Afraid that's just about it. 5 CD 's worth of musical sleeping pills that may just do the tricks if you've insomnia.

WESTERN UNION BAND : I first got this on album and now I have it on CD. I like it then and I like it now. Of the 14 songs here, only three didn't work for me.  'Wise Man', 'Stand By Me' and 'Come Together'. The rest are simply a joy to listen to. High marks goes to their version of 'Howzat',  'Did You Boogie', their rather fast 'First Cut Is The Deepest' and the moving 'Slipping Away'. Of their two originals, 'Paper Roses, Paper Dreams' is sweet but it was 'Sausolito' that they will forever be remembered for. WUB were good when they first started. There were the first Singapore band that didn't sound local and I am still looking for a CD of their hits.