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.