MUSIC REVIEW: S/L - Sandy Lam

Billed as the Cantonese "comeback" album from Sandy Lam, after her absence from the Hong Kong music scene in the last couple of years, this album bears all the hallmarks of the typical style of Sandy Lam, but with an updated sound to bring her well into the 21st century cantopop world.

The first track "Incomplete" was a dedication to Richard Lam, who wrote the lyrics of many of Sandy's hits in the past and unfortunately died of cancer a few years ago. The simplicity of this song without the lyrics actually is a perfect opening track for this album. The melodies of the next few tracks remind me of some of the previous big hits from Sandy - is she just trying to avoid being too innovative and experimental in order not to alienate her existing fans, or maybe there's no point in changing too much anyway if the formula worked well in the past?! In any case, her singing is as good as before, if not better and with a more mature sound.

"Why Would He Leave You" (Track 5) has been a major hit and it's not difficult to see why - a very catchy tune and there's no one in Hong Kong who can perform the track better than Sandy. "Original Colour" (Track 6) was the first hit pulled from this album, though why it is located in the middle of the album remains a bit of a mystery - it seems to have broken up the flow of the rest of the album really. "Wouldn't Dare To Change You" (Track 7) is surprisingly the most catchy song in the whole album - very crisp clean keyboard arrangement, though the ending was a bit too abrupt and kind of leave an imperfection to this otherwise brilliant song - again this song is right up the street for Sandy.

While this album may not be the best one in Sandy Lam's career, it's a strong solid album that will place Sandy back as one of the main players in the Hong Kong music scene.

MUSIC REVIEW: I Love My Name - Ivana Wong

The follow-up to her brilliant debut album has not disappointed - Ivana Wong is probably one of the most talented singer-songwriter to emerge in the Hong Kong pop music scene in the last 20 years. I certainly can't think of another such talent since Anthony Lun started his music career in Hong Kong back in the mid-1980s.

So what's on offer on this album, titled "I Love My Name"? Her debut album's hidden track (Track 8) has already provided a preview on one of the best tracks - "Thunder & Lightning" (Track 3). The airy voice of Ivana coupled with the few surprises in the musical arrangement has made this a rather refreshing listening compared to the usual canto-pop. The other huge hit from this album is "Safeguarding Hands" and this comes in two version - a solo version (Track 1) and a duet with Hins Cheung (Track 11)... I can't quite decide which is a better version really - they both have their merits and shortcomings. Another potential hit coming from this album would be "Treat With Care - Fragile" (Track 2) and we'll have to see how this one fares in the various charts - will it follow the same success as the other 2 tracks?

In addition to 8 Cantonese tracks, this album also consists of 2 Mandarin songs as well as 1 English song "Love Has It All". Ivana wrote all the music and the lyrics (except the English Track) and they were all high-quality stuff.

Just like her debut album, it takes a few listening rounds to discover the gems inside this album; but once you've found them, you will keep loving them. Ivana's style is unique in Hong Kong, and her talent will prove to be a major asset to her success in the music scene.