Discovering Chet Lam
Like many listeners, I became acquainted with the name 林一峰 (Chet Lam) through his compositions for Sammi, at 17, Stefanie Sun etc. The first time I ever heard him sing was at the 903 Commercial Radio Awards 2003 when he won the gold award for best newcomer. He sang his composition “遇見”, theme song of “Turn Left, Turn Right” and made famous by Stefanie Sun.
My first impression: He’s tiny! And he has a bright, clear voice like his sister Eman of at 17. But subsequently I didn’t pay much attention to his works even though I did, for a short while, toyed with the idea of buying his album. (But at one time, Yesasia didn’t even carry his albums!)
By a strange twist of fate combined with a moment of madness and thanks to a very helpful Vii, all of a sudden, I find myself the proud owner of three autographed Chet Lam CDs – “Pillow Songs”, “Travelogue 1” and “Introducing Chet Lam”. I nearly had another one “Soundtrack of My Life” but changed my mind in the last minute.
I already knew that his songs were simple, folksy tunes set to uncomplicated acoustic arrangements. I wasn’t sure if I would like them very much but I was prepared. And so there were no surprises when I listened to the albums for I got what I had expected – simple folksy tunes set to uncomplicated acoustic arrangements. But there was more: a certain honesty, an earnest feel about them that tugs at the heart-strings, and he became the next person after Hocc whose lyrics I start paying close attention to.
As Chet himself had said, “Introducing”, his first Mandarin album, was in a way his ‘greatest hits’, a compilation of stronger songs from his four mainly Cantonese releases complete with new Mandarin lyrics, obviously. I find that I like “Travelogue 1” (album no.2) more than “Pillow Songs”(album no. 1). So now I’m wondering if I would like the next two - “Travelogue Too” and “Soundtrack of my life” - even better, since I believe that with each release, his songs get better, the arrangements get richer, and there is a greater variety of styles.
My favourite songs from those three albums at the moment: Leaving Prague, Back to Prague, A Moment Before Dawn, Me and Instant Noodles, Leaving is for Coming Back, The Best is Yet to Come
My first impression: He’s tiny! And he has a bright, clear voice like his sister Eman of at 17. But subsequently I didn’t pay much attention to his works even though I did, for a short while, toyed with the idea of buying his album. (But at one time, Yesasia didn’t even carry his albums!)
By a strange twist of fate combined with a moment of madness and thanks to a very helpful Vii, all of a sudden, I find myself the proud owner of three autographed Chet Lam CDs – “Pillow Songs”, “Travelogue 1” and “Introducing Chet Lam”. I nearly had another one “Soundtrack of My Life” but changed my mind in the last minute.
I already knew that his songs were simple, folksy tunes set to uncomplicated acoustic arrangements. I wasn’t sure if I would like them very much but I was prepared. And so there were no surprises when I listened to the albums for I got what I had expected – simple folksy tunes set to uncomplicated acoustic arrangements. But there was more: a certain honesty, an earnest feel about them that tugs at the heart-strings, and he became the next person after Hocc whose lyrics I start paying close attention to.
As Chet himself had said, “Introducing”, his first Mandarin album, was in a way his ‘greatest hits’, a compilation of stronger songs from his four mainly Cantonese releases complete with new Mandarin lyrics, obviously. I find that I like “Travelogue 1” (album no.2) more than “Pillow Songs”(album no. 1). So now I’m wondering if I would like the next two - “Travelogue Too” and “Soundtrack of my life” - even better, since I believe that with each release, his songs get better, the arrangements get richer, and there is a greater variety of styles.
My favourite songs from those three albums at the moment: Leaving Prague, Back to Prague, A Moment Before Dawn, Me and Instant Noodles, Leaving is for Coming Back, The Best is Yet to Come
posted by yung | 7:08 pm
2 Comments:
i was just wondering if i wld like Soundtrack of our lives...
btw did u notice that the order of songs is different on the CD compared to the tracklist? Referring to tracks 5,6,7 in "Introducing"...shld be 5.Leaving Prague, 6.Back to Prague, 7.A Cigarrette without You
hahaha.. got nice song o hear ah?? i also want!! Intro me some.. hehehe ^-6
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