Demo Project

I bought a new CD on Monday, called "自作自樂" (Demo Project) by HK composers, a collection of demo versions of songs that has already been released, many of them major hits.



Even though the arrangements may be quite simple for most of the songs, the composers or demo singers really did a great job, singing much better than some so-called singers.

My faves and songs of the moment include:
苦撐 by 張佳添 (Published version 明目張膽 by Hocc)
今非昔比 by 陳詠瑜, composed by Edmond Tsang (天之驕女 by Joey)
名種愛人 by Eunice, composed by 方樹樑 (奇洛李維斯回信 by Fiona)
終身學習 by 謝杰(same title by Stephanie Cheng)
空肩膊 by 徐偉賢 (兄妹 by Eason)

Btw, 謝杰 is the one who wrote hocc's 露絲瑪莉 while 方樹樑 wrote Joey's 一拍兩散 and Nicola's 上帝愛我. I love these songs! I find 張佳添's singing style a little bit like Joey Tang. 陳詠瑜 sounds so much like Joey and Eunice's voice reminds me of Ella Koon...not bad not bad...the singing is good!

I am also impressed by the singing of 徐偉賢, 金培達 (composer of Sammi's 輸得漂亮) and 柳重言 who sounds so much like Jacky Cheung! Then there is 颱風 (男孩像你 by Fiona) by 徐繼宗 who was the composer of Joey's 心淡, and 執爾之手 (按摩女郎 by Andy Lau) by 馮瀚銘 . I didn't like it at all when I first heard Andy Lau's version but after listening to the demo version I thought it was quite nice.

Out of the 16 songs in the collection, only 5 kept their original titles, which meant that record companies only wanted the melody but not the lyrics. Sometimes I feel sorry for the lyricists, who are already being paid less per song compared to composers in general. And good lyrics are perhaps harder to come up with than tunes though a nice melody is always the first to catch a listener's attention.