Stereo Candies: PANCY LAU (劉鳳屏) "快回頭望一望" (EP, 1969)

Pancy Lau (Lau Fung Ping, 劉鳳屏 or 刘鳳屏, also referred to as Liu Feng Ping) was born sometimes in the late 40s / early 50s in a family of musicians; her father Lau Bak Lok (劉伯樂) - also known as Tin Ngai (天涯) - was a well-known Cantonese Opera Star. He was her very first music teacher, and guided her through the entertainment world.

Her career started when she was around 8 or 9 years old singing Cantonese Opera. As a teenager she transitioned to singing songs she enjoyed: Pop music. During the early 60s she participated two times in the Sing Tao Daily Singing Competition in Hong Kong with no significant results.

In 1965 at last she won the Mandarin section of the 6th edition of the contest with the song "三年" (Three Years). Upon winning the competition, she became a resident singer at the prestigious Golden Crown Night Club (金冠).

Television Broadcasts Limited (電視廣播有限公司), commonly known as TVB, commenced broadcasting in Hong Kong on 19 November 1967. Pancy Lau was one of the first musical artists who participated in the popular show "歡樂今宵" (Enjoy Yourself Tonight), which was the longest running variety show in Hong Kong's television history.

In 1968 Fung Hang Records released her debut album entitled "My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳". The album was the first in a long series of recordings that continued for more than fifteen years.

Following two EPs entitled "水長流" ("Water Flows Long") and "山前山後百花开" ("When the Flowers Bloom On Mount Qian Shan"), Pancy Lau's second album was finally published in late 1969. "快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind"), contained twelve songs, including the eight tracks already released on her previous EPs.

The record was a huge success with no less than four editions published - and sometimes also bootlegged - by different labels in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. At the time, a lot of popular music was coming from being featured on television or were theme songs from television drama series. The album, however, did not need any push from the media to become an instant hit, as it contained enough fresh material to estabilish itself as a modern classic.

For a more detailed biography of Pancy Lau, please have a look at this other post of mine: "The Very Best of Pancy Lau Volume 1 [1968-70]".

Pancy Lau, circa 1969

Here's the track list for this 7" EP:

01. 快回頭望一望 (2:55)
02. 姑娘的心意 (2:01)
03. 不如不嫁了 (2:17)
04. 爲甚麽 (2:04)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in January 2019 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.

Please have a look at the comments for the download link.

As I already wrote many times, it's not easy to come up with an exact chronology of Pancy Lau's early output, but since the first owner of the EP that is on offer in this post has written a purchase date on the back cover (27-12-69), I can confirm that this particular record was released in 1969, probably towards the end of the year.

All the songs on this EP were included on Pancy's second album "快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind"), and two of them were also previously included on her debut single back in 1968... Since this EP was released on Life Records (麗風) in Malaysia, it is my opinion that it was aimed at the local market to help popularize Pancy Lau outside of Hong Kong during the 'Mandarin Pop phase' of her career.

I can't tell if this is a rare release but, as a matter of fact, her singles released on Life Records (麗風) have been more difficult to obtain, at least for me, than those on Fung Hang Records Co. (風行). As a trivia, please allow me to tell you that I purchased this single from a Mexican record shop and it is probably one of the records in my collection that has travelled the most!

All music on this release is played by 太陽神樂隊 (The Apollo), an Hong Kong prolific studio band that reached a cult status in the region during the late 60s / early 70s. Their name has probably been borrowed from the Teisco / Kawai manufactured Apollo model guitar from that time period. They recorded a lot of instrumental albums, a few of them for New Wave Record Co. (新風) - which are also on offer here on Stereo Candies - and most of them for Life Records (麗風); they were also featured as a backing band on countless releases by popular singers like Teresa Teng (鄧麗君), Frances Yip (葉麗儀), Stella Chee(奚秀蘭), etc.

Oscar Young (楊道火) and Joseph Koo (顧嘉煇) are both credited as arrangers, respectively for tracks 1 and 4 (Young), and 2 and 3 (Koo).

Young was a key-figure in the Hong Kong music scene of the late 60s / early 70s; with his arrangements he also had the merit to introduce and popularise Classical music to the younger generations. He arranged for many famous bands and singers and released countless albums with his prolific and versatile projects The Apollo (太陽神樂隊) and Oscar Orchestra (奧斯卡管弦樂團).

Koo was also a famous composer and arranger, and one of the most respected authors of Cantopop songs; he is considered the Godfather of Hong Kong pop music. During his career he has created more than 1.200 original compositions and many of them have become classics, including various themes of popular TV series.

Here's what I discovered searching information about the songs included on this EP:

"快回頭望一望" (Quickly Take a Look Behind), which was also Pancy Lau's second album title track, is one of her signature songs written by 湮亭 (Yan Ting). During the years it has been covered many times and has become a karaoke classic.

"姑娘的心意" (A Maiden's Heart) is an adaptation, with lyrics by 湮亭 (Yan Ting), of a song imported from Japan. The original was popularized by 美空ひばり (Misora Hibari) and the Mandarin version was also successfully performed by 張露 (Chang Loo).

"不如不嫁了" (How About I Don't Get Married) seems to be an original composition and I wasn't able to find any other information about it, except the name of its authors: lyrics by 馮美葆 (Feng Mei Bao) and music by 曹嘈 (Cao Cao).

I guess that "為甚麽" (Why?) is probably another original composition written by 湮亭 (Yan Ting), sorry but I wasn't able to find any other relevant information about it....