Today I listened to this song again on the train back home, it's such a classic that I have to write about it. The singer of this song (translated as "Mesmerized" or "Mystified") is Sally Yeh (葉蒨文), my fav female singer who was born in Taiwan and raised in Canada. She was such a BEAUTY back in the 80's, great body & great face, to me the prettiest of all HK singers (of course there were other beauties as well eg. Vivian Chow 周慧敏; Karen Tong 湯寶如; Winnie Lau 劉小慧 etc). Here are 2 photos of Sally.
"迷惑" was the theme song for a 1985 movie "愛神一號" ("Cupid One"), music and arrangement by Violet Manyee Lam (林敏怡) while lyrics by her brother Andrew Manchung Lam (林敏驄). The song has characteristics of light jazz and Bossa Nova, the rhythm is relaxing and vibrant, melody is nice and flowing, it's hard to hear great Chinese songs like this these days.
When you see this guy play the piano, you stare in amazement. When you hear this guy's music, you clap your hands hard. This is Dominic Chow, another super talented composer/pianist/singer/arranger/conductor from the 80's who wrote and arranged more than 300 songs. This is what he looks like:
In his early days, he studied composition with HK's godfather of Canto-pop Joseph Koo (顧嘉煇), whilst receiving a well-rounded music education including classical, jazz, rock, and pop. Dominic emerged in the early 80's with a series of melodic, flowing Chinese style songs, which pushed him into fame almost instantly.
"Emotion's End" (感情的段落) sung by Samantha Lam (林志美), Music & Arrangement by Dominic Chow, Lyrics by Cheng Kwok Kong, Year: 1982
"Why Must We Know Before?" (何必曾相識) sung by Ken Choi (蔡楓華), Music & Arrangement by Dominic Chow, Lyrics by Cheng Kwok Kong, Year: 1983
"Helpless" (無奈) sung by Paula Tsui (徐小鳳), Music by Ogawa Ron, Arrangement by Dominic Chow, Lyrics by Cheng Kwok Kong, Year: 1982
Then in 1984, Dominic composed one of the best everlasting classics for Alan Tam, "Origins Of Love" (愛的根源). This song was illegally appropriated by his close friend 陳斐立, who bore all the credits for the work, including the "best melody" award presented in the same year.
Afterwards he decided to step away from traditional Chinese style writing, coming up with more modern, jazzy, electronic, fusionistic sounds. Being a big fan of Chick Corea, some of this music carry underlying influences of him.
"Hot Babe from Asakusa" (淺草妖姬) sung by himself, Music & Arrangement by Dominic Chow, Lyrics by Richard Lam, Year: 1989
"Eternity" (天長地久) sung by himself, Music & Arrangement by Dominic Chow, Lyrics by Jolland Chan, Year: 1989
Here's an absolutely beautiful song sung by Sally Yeh, called "Passing Times" (流金歲月), with lyrics by Poon Wai Yuen (潘偉源):
Going into the 90's, Dominic fell in love with pretty Crystal Leung (梁晶瑩) who competed for Miss HK in 1990. Using love as inspiration he wrote the spectacular song "Crystal" which is semi-ballad-rock performed by the Taichi Band (太極樂隊). This song won the heart of Crystal, they got married soon after.
"Crystal" sung by Taichi Band, Music & Arrangement by Dominic Chow, Lyrics by Christopher Loak, Year: 1992
Around the same time Dominic began a major collaboration with rising star Hacken Lee (李克勤), writing heaps of great songs for him. One of these is a touching love song, my favourite:
"Retrospecting" (回首) sung by Hacken Lee, Music & Arrangement by Dominic Chow, Lyrics by Christopher Loak, Year: 1993
Duet between late famous singer Danny Chan (陳百強) and Michael Kwan (關正傑). It is an inspiring song about offering friendship and kindness to everything/everyone around us. The song was written by famous composer Alan Tsui (徐日勤) who was a pupil of Canto-pop godfather Joseph Koo (顧嘉煇) with lyrics by Calvin Poon (潘源良). It was originally recorded in the 1987 album "夢裡人" ("Dream Girl").
Both melody and lyrics are incredible, a typical Canto-pop classic by great talents from the 80s HK music industry. The song's MV also features Alan Tsui and Calvin Poon in addition to the two artists. Thanks all to Youtube, enabling me to watch an MV made before I was born =)
(OP. Polygram Records Ltd (HK)) Pretty girl singer Priscilla Chan (陳慧嫻)'s 7th Canto-album in 1989 was supposedly her last "farewell album" before leaving HK for overseas study. To many, this is her best album in terms of both songs and overall concept; in fact it was the best-sold Platinum Record that year. Almost every one of its 11 songs became great hits as Priscilla had her best collaboration with a wide range of musicians.
Priscilla's "permanent departure from HK music industry" later proved to be unreal, as she returned to her singing career in HK after she finished her studies abroad. Regardless, this album is one of my favourites, that's why I have every song in my MP4.
SONGS:
1. "Thousand Songs" (Music by Kohji Makaino, Lyrics by Richard Lam, Arrangement by: Antonio Arevalo Jnr)
Chinese name: 千千闋歌
Score: ★★★★
Remarks: One of the most well-known of all Priscilla's hits, fantastic lyrics by Richard Lam (林振強)!
2. "The Last Embrace" (Music by Steve Chow, Lyrics by Kan Ning, Arrangement by Antonio Arevalo Jnr)
