It was played during the wee hours of the morning on my way to school. Yes, as early as 5:30 in the morning. I'd grown to loved his songs from listening to them. Barely awake sitting on those trips, his voice is like a balm enveloping my consciousness (or more like half-consciousness).
Those gentle and soothing voice together with those sad melodies never fails to make me feel sad too. No Hong Kong or any chinese singer could ever compose and invest the kind of emotion in those love-lorn songs quite like he did. You could almost understand the emotions he was trying to convey in his voice even if one could not understand his words. And in return, it's almost like what i felt was perfectly understood by Sam too. That was the only good thing going to primary school then.
Every human senses could trigger memories. We caught a sniff of a certain perfume and was reminded of the sweet smell of a girl we once knew. The sight of an old stream flowing through the back of an abandoned wooden house would remind us of the carefree days spent at grandmother's home when we were small.
Everyone develop a different key sense more acutely than the other senses. For me, it's the aural. And i would like to talk of only fond memories not nightmares.
What has this to do with Alan Tam, the Hong Kong cantopop singer of saccharine sweet love songs in the 80's and early 90's? Well, Alan was the only cantopop singer whom i really liked to listen to. Of course, there were other greats like Leslie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Anita Mui and Danny Chan then but he's in a league of his own. Not even one of the so-called four heavenly kings could compare to him. No, not Jacky Cheung although he does have the most captivating voice of the four. Not Aaron Kwok or even the long-lasting Andy Lau. And certainly not Leon Lai by a wide margin.
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Of all the albums he made, the 1985 "Love Trap" (愛 情 陷 阱, literally translated which sounded silly) was one of his best. I would still prefer his previous "The Root of Love" (愛 的 根 源, again, a literal translation) album. The literal translation doesn't do justice to the songs actually.
Love Trap was the first cantopop album i bought. Fell in love with the songs and his voice instantly. His songs brought back the same feeling as Sam Hui's but it was the latest songs then. It was his breakthrough album; one that established cantopop having a serious commercial appeal and making it an accepted mainstream music.
Cantopop was in effect just pop music sung in Hong Kong chinese dialect, Cantonese. What made the album a good listen are the songs itself. What? Of course the songs-lah, if not what else. Yes, Alan does not sing of serious issues like child abuse, the environment, human conflicts or other social or political issues. Yes, he only sing of mostly one thing that most pop songs talk about-that thing called "love".
What makes the album so charming then? The songs, of course. Must be getting old and long-winded. They're not the usual bubbly pop songs that only appeals to teenage girls. From the effervescent 愛 你 太 深 (Love You Too Deep) and 火 美 人 (Fiery Beauty, haha) to the longing 最 愛 的 你 (My Most Beloved) and wistful 幸 運 星 (Lucky Star), the most prominent feature would have to be Ah Lun's voice.His is a singing style not found on other cantopop singer in that he really endow those love songs with his emotion as if he's going through those heartache himself. There was another thing which i found out quite late as i listened to his older songs again. His voice had a delicate vibrato quality to it. What this mean is he could make minute 'pitch change' emphasis to certain more 'emotional' part of his words. i think modern singers like Sarah McLachlan has mastered this technique so perfectly.
But he mostly used this at the end of a sentence in a song, subtly stretching his voice as if yearning for someone and not willing to her go. I'd not noticed this in the voice of other singers, not even the very talented Jacky Cheung. That is why his love songs had a quality not found on his contemporaries.
The recordings in the album reflect the norm during the 80's; it places importance to studio reverb effect on vocals to make it sound 'wet' and not 'dry' as normal vocals tends to be. Of course this is only suitable for the ballads and slower songs. One of the thing i liked about reverb is when it is slightly mixed into the snares to create a gentle beat without the usual ringing sound associated with snare drums.
Over the years, i'd lost contact with almost all of my secondary school friends who also enjoyed Alan's music. Looking back too, the memories of school days are always looked upon fondly.
愛 情 陷 阱 Track list:
1) 愛 情 陷 阱
2) 幸 運 星
3) 愛 你 太 深
4) 火 美 人
5) 我 愛 世 界
6) 恭 喜 發 財
7) 情 （是 永 願 著 迷）
8) 此 刻 你 在 何 處
9) 花 仔 世 界
10) 最 愛 的 你
11) 雨 夜 的 浪 漫
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