Here's another killing two birds with one stone post. This month's Hive Collectors topic is vinyl records, something that seems to be coming back in popularity in recent years.
Last year I bought a new turntable and started to listen to some old vinyls. They're mainly Hong Kong pop and won't mean anything to anyone here, so I won't bore you with them. However, I also have a stack of old vinyls in the garage that don't belong to me. I figured I'll dig around to see what's inside.
80s America
They were mainly 80s stuff, I think a lot of them belong to my sisters. We are the world is a charity song from 1985 to raise money for the Ethiopian famine. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and performed by 46 top US artists at the time.
Did anyone breakdance back on the days, or remember Irene Cara singing Fame? That's such a classic. I thought this record was from the Fame movie, but sadly not. A few of the younger cast from the movie formed a band called The Kids from Fame, and this is one of their records.
Talking of Fame, brings me to the first song for my Three Tunes Tuesday this week. This a great high impact and high energy song to start or round off your day.
The 80s was a great decade and a lot of the disco stuff is still very contemporary today. Axel F is a great one. It's the theme tune for Beverley Hills Cop written by Harold Faltermeyer. I have the 12 inch single version with a 7 minute M&M extended mix. It's a wicked cool mix.
My second TTT is the original 3 minute Axel F theme tune featuring Harold Faltermeyer himself in the MV.
70s Hong Kong
Enough of the 80s. Let's go a bit further back. There were a bunch of old Hong Kong vinyls dating back to probably the 70s. I could only assume they belong to my parents, but they never came across as music loving folks. Based on the covers, I think these are comedy plays. The two artists on the white cover were very well known into their late age until they died. As was the one in the bottom right in blue. She was a popular TV host affectionately called Fatty. I used to work in a local TV station in Hong Kong, and one time I stepped inside a lift with her. My brief moment with a celebrity 😀
This is probably the most famous Chinese opera called The Flower Princess. Think of it as the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet, a sad love story where the main characters commit suicide together at the end.
And finally, this is Pancy Lau, I've heard of the name but never listened to her songs before. Apparently she was very famous in Hong Kong between the 60s to the 80s. I particularly like this vinyl cover and the angle the photo was taken at. She looks so relaxed and carefree. I listened to it yesterday, and she sings in such a high pitch note. Seems like it was a thing back in those days 😂. Another odd thing I noticed was this vinyl doesn't belong to my parents! Someone had written their name on it, and I didn't recognise it. How odd🤔
Anyway, when I listened to the end of side B, and finally heard a song I recognised. It's a classic but I thought it was sang by someone else. Maybe I got the oldies mixed up. I did a bit of googling and found the original singer here, and this is my final TTT.
The song is called Not going home today. The opening is very powerful and iconic, singing the title of the song. It always reminds me of Lulu belting out Shout. Then the melody is a very funky and bouncy. Have a listen, maybe just for 30 seconds to experience a bit of alternative oldie music culture.
