PANCY LAU (劉鳳屏) "MY HEART IS BEATING - 我的心蹦蹦跳" (1968)

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 Co. (風行) 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, and is the subject of this post.

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 1968

"My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳" contains the following tracks:

01. 我的心蹦蹦跳 (2:09)
02. 紅睡蓮 (2:22)
03. 你不妨等一等 (2:22)
04. 阿里郎 (1:45)
05. 採檳榔 (2:58)
06. 月光小夜曲 (3:22)
07. 多拉茜 (2:45)
08. 負心的人 (3:48)
09. 隨風飛去 (3:11)
10. 天涯歌女 (3:16)
11. 月圓花好 (2:52)
12. 永遠的微笑 (3:12)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in January 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.



Since in a few years she released so many records - and none of them included a release date - it's not easy to come up with an exact chronology of Pancy Lau's early output. "My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳" is her debut album and was probably released sometimes in late 1968 by Fung Hang Records Co. (風行) with catalogue number FHLP 1001.

Mono versions of four songs included on this LP (tracks 4, 7, 8 and 11) were also released as a 7" EP that I have already covered some time ago. Moreover, four songs (tracks 2, 4, 7 and 8) were also later included on Pancy Lau's third album, "劉鳳屏之歌" (Pancy Lau's Songs), an awesome record released by New Wave Record Co. (新風) which will be the subject of a future post.

Here's what I discovered searching information about the songs included on this album, translation of the song titles is approximate in most cases, but anyway...:

The title track of the album, 01. "我的心蹦蹦跳" (My Heart Is Beating), was also performed by 江鷺 (Kong Lo) and 鍾玲玲 (Betty Chung), I'm not sure about who was the original performer...

02. "紅睡蓮" (Red Water Lilies) was originally a Japanese song recorded by 李香蘭 (Shirley Yamaguchi) in 1940 (available here). Mandarin versions were later recorded by 美黛 (Mei Dai), 張露 (Chang Loo) and many others.

Unfortunately I could not find anything about 03. "你不妨等一等" (You Might As Well Wait)...

04. "阿里郎" (Arirang) is one of the most famous Korean traditional folk songs. In its original form it has been sung for more than 600 years: who would even think about it listening to the swinging version presented here? There's plenty of versions available on YouTube.

05. "採檳榔" (Picking Betel Nuts) is a popular Taiwan song; it was performed by many female singers, including 周璇 (Zhou Xuan, one of China's seven great singing stars, available here) and 鄧麗君 (Teresa Teng, an '80s live version is available here) who remembered that this was the very first song her mother taught her to sing as a child.

06. The sweet "月光小夜曲" (Moonlight Serenade) derives from a Japanese song originally recorded by 渡辺はま子 (Hamako Watanabe) in 1941. The Mandarin version was popularized in the early '60s by 紫薇 (Zu Wei, available here); it was also performed by 陳芬蘭 (Chen Fen Lan) and many others.

I wasn't able to find any relevant information about 07. "多拉茜" (Duo La Xi), except that it was also performed by 凌霄 (Ling Seow), but a visitor of this blog was kind enough to leave a comment writing that it "is a Mandarin adaptation of Doraji, a Korean folk song. No similarities other than the original's chorus used as the main melody in this case."

08. "負心的人" (Heartless Person) is the theme song from the movie of the same name. The original version was performed by 汤兰花 (Tang Lan Hua, available here); other versions were later performed by 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong, here) and 崔萍 (Tsui Ping, here).

Once again, I've nothing to report about 09. "隨風飛去" (Fly Away With the Wind), maybe someone out there can offer some help?

10. "天涯歌女" (The Wandering Songstress) is probably one of the most well-known songs on this album and Wikipedia has a very informative page about it. The original version was performed in 1937 by 周璇 (Zhou Xuan, available here) in the movie "馬路天使" (Street Angel).

11. "花好月园" (Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon) is a classic Chinese song from the late '40s that was originally performed - once again - by 周璇 (Zhou Xuan); you can listen to the original version here. The song has been covered by many divas of the Chinese classic and pop music industry with each imparting their distinct flavour to the song. A lot of versions are available on YouTube.

With the closing number, 12. "永遠的微笑" (Forever Smile), the album almost turns into a tribute to 周璇 (Zhou Xuan). Here'a a link to her original version.

The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album, enjoy "我的心蹦蹦跳" (My Heart Is Beating), "紅睡蓮" (Red Water Lilies), "阿里郎" (Arirang), "採檳榔" (Picking Betel Nuts), "月光小夜曲" (Moonlight Serenade), "多拉茜" (Duo La Xi), "負心的人" (Heartless Person) and "永遠的微笑" (Forever Smile)!

More information about Pancy Lau is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Hong_Kong

http://home.ied.edu.hk/~hkpop/music/hkpophistory.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dk_gilbert/sets/72157608139056712/

http://baike.baidu.com/view/5637119.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-uAR5gOXNg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtPVPIy6v6s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIeOiDudhg&feature=related

http://robokon.orgfree.com/5080/5080_LauFungPing.htm

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/%E5%8A%89%E9%B3%B3%E5%B1%8F

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/entertainment/art/20130325/18206169

http://hd.stheadline.com/ent/ent_content.asp?contid=223625&srctype=n

http://ent.qq.com/a/20070424/000092.htm

http://sleepless.chiba78.com/articles-1640.html

I'm currently trying to compile a Pancy Lau exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.

All my posts dedicated to Pancy Lau are available here.

As a last note, I'm still struggling to find somebody who can help me with translations:

if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!

PANCY LAU (劉鳳屏) "莫負青春" (1970)

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.

It's not easy to come up with an exact chronology of Pancy Lau's early output because in a few years she released many records and none of them includes a release date. I suppose that FHEP 623 "莫負青春" (Don't Turn Your Back on Youth), the subject of this post, was released in 1970 but I'm not completely sure about it...

Anyway, as a matter of fact, all the four songs on the EP were also included on Pancy's third album, "劉鳳屏之歌" (Pancy Lau's Songs), released by New Wave Record Co. (新風) in 1970, which is pictured on the back cover along with two other previously released EPs.

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. 莫負青春 (2:19)
02. 我還是永遠愛著你 (2:46)
03. 暗淡的月 (2:51)
04. 淚的衣裳 (2:14)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl release in December 2016 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the complete original artwork.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download link.



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

"莫負青春" (Don't Turn Your Back on Youth) is a song from the movie with the same title; it was originally performed in 1947 by singer / actress 周璇 (Zhou Xuan), one of China's seven great singing stars. You can listen and watch the original version here.

"我還是永遠愛著你" (I Will Still Love You Forever) is an old Taiwanese folk love song, and during the years it has been performed by many famous female singers including 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong), 鄧麗君 (Teresa Teng), 湯蘭花 (Tang Lang Hwa) and 陳芬蘭 (Chen Fen Lan).

"暗淡的月"(A Dim Moon) is a cover of a Taiwanese pop song originally written and performed by 吳晉淮 (Wu Jin-huai) in 1957. The original version is available here.

"淚的衣裳" (Dress of Tears) is a Mandarin version of a Japanese song originally recorded by 翁倩玉 (Judy Ongg) in 1969. This was also part of the repertoire of 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong), 謝雷 (Xie Lei), 林竹君 (Lena Lim) and many more...

The following clips offer a preview of the remastered EP, enjoy the title track "莫負青春" (Don't Turn Your Back on Youth) and "淚的衣裳" (Dress of Tears)!

More information about Pancy Lau is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Hong_Kong

http://home.ied.edu.hk/~hkpop/music/hkpophistory.html

http://www.goldenage.hk/b5/ga/ga_article.php?article_id=1079

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dk_gilbert/sets/72157608139056712/

http://baike.baidu.com/view/5637119.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-uAR5gOXNg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtPVPIy6v6s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIeOiDudhg&feature=related

http://robokon.orgfree.com/5080/5080_LauFungPing.htm

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/%E5%8A%89%E9%B3%B3%E5%B1%8F

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/entertainment/art/20130325/18206169

http://hd.stheadline.com/ent/ent_content.asp?contid=223625&srctype=n

http://ent.qq.com/a/20070424/000092.htm

http://sleepless.chiba78.com/articles-1640.html

I'm currently trying to compile a Pancy Lau exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.

All my posts dedicated to Pancy Lau are available here.

As a last note, I'm still struggling to find somebody who can help me with translations:

if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!

PANCY LAU (劉鳳屏) "你幾時回家" (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.

It's not easy to come up with an exact chronology of Pancy Lau's early output because in a few years she released many records and none of them includes a release date... I easily guess that FHEP1007 "你幾時回家" (When Will You Come Home?), the subject of this post, was released after FHEP1001, but I'm not sure if the year was 1969 or 1970... As a matter of fact, all the four songs on the EP were also included on Pancy's third album, "劉鳳屏之歌" (Pancy Lau's Songs), released by New Wave Record Co. (新風) in 1970...

The text above is mostly based on this original feature that our friend Brian was kind enough to translate for us, THANK YOU! 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]".

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

01. 你幾時回家 (1:42)
02. 天上人間 (2:48)
03. 磁性的迷惑 (2:27)
04. 一吻定情 (2:29)

All tracks were remastered from vinyl in July 2015 and are available in FLAC lossless format or high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 files; both formats include scans of the complete original artwork.

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



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

Side A begins with the happy vibes of "你幾時回家" (When Will You Come Home?). Since I wasn't able to find much about this song, I speculate that it is an original composition; I patiently wait for someone who can shed light about this... The song was covered by 周玲寶 (Chow Ling Po) and 太陽神樂隊 (The Apollo), which is also supposed to be the backing band on all the track featured on this release.

Compared to the previous number, "天上人間" (Heaven on Earth) seems to be more linked to a traditional form, but once again I couldn't find any relevant information about it... This post is getting annoying, isn't it...?

...uhm, the first track on offer on Side B is entitled "磁性的迷惑" (Magnetic Seduction) and was previously performed by 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong) in a 1969 movie whose title eludes me... Once there used to be a clip on YouTube to testify it, but now it's gone so you must take my word for it.

As I already wrote in this other post, "一吻定情" (One Kiss To Mark Our Love) is my favourite Pancy Lau song for sure: the arrangement is simply marvellous, probably the grooviest Far-East track I happened to listen ever! The original version was a Japanese song recorded by singer / actor 橋 幸夫 (Yukio Hashi) in 1964. 黃菱 (Wong Ling) performed the original Mandarin version in 1967.

The following clips offer a preview of the remastered single, enjoy the title track "一吻定情" (One Kiss To Mark Our Love) and "你幾時回家" (When Will You Come Home?)!

More information about Pancy Lau is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Hong_Kong

http://home.ied.edu.hk/~hkpop/music/hkpophistory.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dk_gilbert/sets/72157608139056712/

http://www.goldenage.hk/b5/ga/ga_article.php?article_id=1079

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIeOiDudhg&feature=related

http://baike.baidu.com/view/5637119.htm

http://www.vinylparadise.com/4pop_can/1/066LFP0A.htm

http://www.inkui.com/a1/A/A4A8B8CB7ABE6FF6C1CF_a.html

http://robokon.orgfree.com/5080/5080_LauFungPing.htm

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/%E5%8A%89%E9%B3%B3%E5%B1%8F

I'm currently trying to compile a Pancy Lau exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.

All my posts dedicated to Pancy Lau on this blog are available here.

In the next months I will post more Hong Kong/Taiwan/Singapore/etc. Pop/Instrumental records released in the late-60s / mid-70s. As usual, I would like to provide information about these releases and their authors.

Unfortunately the Internet doesn't offer much information - written in English - about these artists and this is the reason why I need help: if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!

It's been difficult to obtain these vinyls, some are not in the best conditions and I'm currently working hard to properly master them. It seems that these artists and their music are poorly known in the West, of course it's a real pity because they made stunning releases: I'd like to share them with you with a proper presentation, hope that someone will be able to help.

PANCY LAU (劉鳳屏) "負心的人" (1969)

Front and back cover of FHEP 1001 version 1, "Made in Hong Kong"

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". It 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.

Three of the four tracks featured on FHEP 1001, "負心的人" (Heartless Person), the subject of this post, were also later included on Pancy's third album, "劉鳳屏之歌" (Pancy Lau's Songs), released by New Wave Record Co. (新風) in 1970, and all of them were also part of the FHLP 1001 "My Heart Is Beating" album, which according to the information I gathered, was released as early as 1968...

Anyway, the two versions of FHEP 1001 in my possession offer the same four songs packaged in two different covers. Cover of Version 1 features a picture apparently taken during the same "red dress" photo session that also produced many of the pictures that grace other Pancy Lau records. The sleeve is marked as "Made in Hong Kong" on the back.

Cover of Version 2 features a picture from the same session that was used for the FHLP 1001 "My Heart Is Beating" album; one of the songs included on this EP, "花好月园" (Blooming Flowers and The Full Moon), was included on that album with a different, but similar, title "月园花好. On the back of the sleeve it says "Printed by K.M.I.L.", an acronym that I have learned to associate with records produced for the Malaysian market.

Althought Version 1 is marked as "Stereo / Mono compatible" on the labels, both versions of this EP offer mono recordings. The same songs are featured as stereo versions on the two albums mentioned in the paragraphs above; they will be the subject of other posts here on Stereo Candies in the future...

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 [1968-72]".

Front and back cover of FHEP 1001 version 2, "Printed by K.M.I.L."

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

01. 負心的人 (3:45)
02. 阿里郎 (1:43)
03. 多拉茜 (2:43)
04. 花好月园 (2:50)

All tracks were remastered in March 2014  and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.

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


   

FHEP 1001 version 1, "Made in Hong Kong", black labels

Here's what I discovered searching information about the songs included on this EP; the translations of the song titles are approximate in most cases, but anyway...:

01. "負心的人" (Heartless Person) is the theme song from the movie of the same name. The original version was performed by 汤兰花 (Tang Lan Hua, available here); other versions were later performed, among others, by 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong, here) and 崔萍 (Tsui Ping, here).

02. "阿里郎" (Arirang) is one of the most famous Korean traditional folk songs. In its original form it has been sung for more than 600 years: who would even think about it listening to the swinging version presented here? There's plenty of versions available on YouTube.

03. "多拉茜" (Duolaqian) - I wasn't able to find any relevant information about this song, except that it was also performed by 凌霄 (Ling Seow)...

04. "花好月园" (Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon) is a classic Chinese song from the late '40s that was originally performed by singer / actress 周璇 (Zhou Xuan), one of China's seven great singing stars; you can listen to the original version here. The song has been covered by many divas of the Chinese classic and pop music industry with each imparting their distinct flavour to the song. A lot of versions are available on YouTube.

   

FHEP 1001 version 2, "Printed by K.M.I.L.", dark blue labels

The following clips offer a preview of the remastered single, enjoy the title track "負心的人" (Ungrateful People) and "阿里郎" (Arirang)!

More information about Pancy Lau is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Hong_Kong

http://home.ied.edu.hk/~hkpop/music/hkpophistory.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dk_gilbert/sets/72157608139056712/

http://www.goldenage.hk/b5/ga/ga_article.php?article_id=1079

http://paper.wenweipo.com/2007/04/21/EN0704210024.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIeOiDudhg&feature=related

http://baike.baidu.com/view/5637119.htm

http://www.vinylparadise.com/4pop_can/1/066LFP0A.htm

http://www.inkui.com/a1/A/A4A8B8CB7ABE6FF6C1CF_a.html

http://robokon.orgfree.com/5080/5080_LauFungPing.htm

http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/chrishui/post/1276979467

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/%E5%8A%89%E9%B3%B3%E5%B1%8F

http://www.whatsinmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1004%3A2012-04-02-19-44-12&catid=75%3A2012-03-30-21-17-42&lang=tw

I'm currently trying to compile a Pancy Lau exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.

All my posts dedicated to Pancy Lau on this blog are available here.

In the next months I will post more Hong Kong/Taiwan/Singapore/etc. Pop/Instrumental records released in the late-60s / mid-70s. As usual, I would like to provide information about these releases and their authors.

Unfortunately the Internet doesn't offer much information - written in English - about these artists and this is the reason why I need help: if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!

It's been difficult to obtain these vinyls, some are not in the best conditions and I'm currently working hard to properly master them. It seems that these artists and their music are poorly known in the West, of course it's a real pity because they made stunning releases: I'd like to share them with you with a proper presentation, hope that someone will be able to help.

PANCY LAU (劉鳳屏) "快回頭望一望" (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 - the subject of this post - was finally published in late 1969.

Entitled "快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind"), 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 I suggest that you read a previous post I dedicated to her here on Stereo Candies: "The Very Best of Pancy Lau Volume 1 [1968-70]".

快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind") contains twelve songs - including the eight tracks already released on her previous EPs back in 1968-69: tracks 03, 05, 06 and 07 were released on FHEP 610, while tracks 02, 04, 08 and 10 were released on FHEP 611... Here's the complete track list:

01. 快回頭望一望 (2:57)
02. 山前山後百花開 (2:18)
03. 水長流 (3:35)
04. 送君 (3:07)
05. 不如不嫁了 (2:18)
06. 我的心裡有個他 (2:13)
07. 姑娘的心意 (2:02)
08. 媽媽您在何方 (2:30)
09. 爲甚麽 (2:04)
10. 寂靜的夜 (2:29)
11. 處處吻 (2:03)
12. 討厭的電話鈴 (2:14)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl release in July 2013 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download link.




The music on tracks 01, 02, 04, 08, 09, 10, 11 and 12 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) 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) and Pancy Lau, of course.

Tracks 03, 05, 06 and 07 were probably recorded in an earlier session, and were arranged and conducted by Joseph Koo (顧嘉煇). Koo is 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.

In 1962, he composed his first hit (Mandarin Chinese) song "夢" (Dream) and later another hit song "郊道" (Country Road). In 1974, he wrote the first Cantonese TV theme song "啼笑姻緣" (Between Tears and Laughter), which became the actual first popular Cantopop song.



Here's what I discovered searching information about the songs included on this album; the translations of the song titles are approximate in most cases, but anyway...:

01. "快回頭望一望" (Quickly Take a Look Behind), the album title track, is one of Pancy Lau's signature songs. During the years it has been covered many times and has become a karaoke classic.

02. The original version of the sweet "山前山後百花开" (When the Flowers Bloom On Mount Qian Shan) was recorded in 1962 by 劉韻 (Liu Yun, available here). The song was also later covered by 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong, available here) and 奚秀兰 (Stella Chee, here), among others.

03. "水長流" (Water Flows Long) originated from a 1959 Japanese song entitled "大川ながし" by 美空ひばり (Misora Hibari, available here). It was later translated into a Taiwanese song in 1967, "快樂的農家" and recorded by 陳芬蘭 (Chen Fen Lan, available here). The song was also recorded by 鄧麗君 (Teresa Teng, available here), 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong, here) and many others.

04. "送君" (Farewell) was originally performed in 1939 by singer / actress 周璇 (Zhou Xuan), one of China's seven great singing stars; you can listen and watch the original version here.

05. "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: music by 曹嘈 and words by 馮美葆.

06. "我的心裡有個他" (There Is Somebody In My Heart) was adapted from a Japanese song recorded by 翁倩玉 (Judy Ongg, available here) in 1967; it was also recorded by 鄧麗君 (Teresa Teng).

07. "姑娘的心意" (A Maiden's Heart) is another adaptation of a song imported from Japan. The original was popularized by 美空ひばり (Misora Hibari, available here - the song begins at about 2:00); the Mandarin version was also successfully performed by 張露 (Chang Loo).

08. "媽媽您在何方" (Mother, Where Are You?) is a very sad song adapted, once again, from a Japanese composition which was originally performed in 1952 by 美空ひばり (Misora Hibari, available here - the song begins at about 00:30). In early 2013 the song was used in a bizarre commercial performed by Will Ferrell.

09. I guess that "爲甚麽" (Why?) is probably an original composition - and not one of the highlights of the album -, sorry but I wasn't able to find any relevant information about it...

10. "寂靜的夜" (The Silence of the Night) is a Mandarin version of the Japanese classic "ウナ・セラ・ディ東京 - Una sera di Tokyo" (One Night in Tokyo), which was initially performed in 1963 by vocal duo ザ・ピーナッツ (The Peanuts) with the title "東京たそがれ」" (Tokyo Twilight). When touring Japan in1964, famous Italian singer Milva recorded her own version adding the 'Una sera di Tokyo' line to the refrain. The song became successfull and The Peanuts re-recorded it with the new title and lyrics.

11. I can't find anything about the closing numbers on the album; "處處吻" (Kissing Everywhere) is probably another original song that will remain a mistery, at least for me...

12. Well, the telephone bell on "討厭的電話鈴" (An Annoying Telephone Call) is really irritating! It would be great if someone could share any information about the origin of this song, so if you can help, please get in touch!

The following clips offers a preview of the remastered album, please enjoy my favourite tracks: "快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind"), "我的心裡有個他" (There Is Somebody In My Heart), "姑娘的心意" (A Maiden's Heart) and "寂靜的夜" (The Silence of the Night)!

More information about Pancy Lau is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Hong_Kong

http://home.ied.edu.hk/~hkpop/music/hkpophistory.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dk_gilbert/sets/72157608139056712/

http://www.goldenage.hk/b5/ga/ga_article.php?article_id=1079

http://paper.wenweipo.com/2007/04/21/EN0704210024.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIeOiDudhg&feature=related

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/vinyl-history/article?mid=42&l=f&fid=12

http://www.funghang.com/200610/asp/disc_list.asp?class1=6&singer=%E5%8A%89%E9%B3%B3%E5%B1%8F

http://blog.roodo.com/muzikland/archives/2578425.html

http://baike.baidu.com/view/5637119.htm

http://www.vinylparadise.com/4pop_can/1/066LFP0A.htm

http://www.inkui.com/a1/A/A4A8B8CB7ABE6FF6C1CF_a.html

http://robokon.orgfree.com/5080/5080_LauFungPing.htm

http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/chrishui/post/1276979467

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/%E5%8A%89%E9%B3%B3%E5%B1%8F

http://www.whatsinmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1004%3A2012-04-02-19-44-12&catid=75%3A2012-03-30-21-17-42&lang=tw

I'm currently trying to compile a Pancy Lau exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.

All my posts dedicated to Pancy Lau on this blog are available here.

In the next months I will post more Hong Kong/Taiwan/Singapore/etc. Pop/Instrumental records released in the late-60s / mid-70s. As usual, I would like to provide information about these releases and their authors.

Unfortunately the Internet doesn't offer much information - written in English - about these artists and this is the reason why I need help: if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!

It's been difficult to obtain these vinyls, some are not in the best conditions and I'm currently working hard to properly master them. It seems that these artists and their music are poorly known in the West, of course it's a real pity because they made stunning releases: I'd like to share them with you with a proper presentation, hope that someone will be able to help.