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Sunday, March 13, 2011

My Thoughts on variety show “Solid Goldies 金曲擂台”

I ‘discovered’ this variety show on TVB this weekend (watched it on DVD) and decided since it involves the 80s/90s era again, it was worth blogging about. The show is actually pretty recent, as it aired on TVB last year (2010) – unfortunately, the show only has 8 episodes, which, IMO, is way too short (I’ll explain more about this later).

In order to understand the rest of my post, it’s necessary to understand what the show is about and the format of it. So here’s a brief summary of the show:

.>> I guess you could consider this show a ‘music variety show’. It’s also a ‘game show’ of sorts because there are groups competing for prizes. Basically, various artists are invited onto the show every week to compete in singing performances and are given points by the audience. The group with the most points at the end wins.

.>> There are 3 groups: The first one is led by veteran singer Lee Lung Kei and consists mostly of veteran singers from the 70s (well, some of the singers were actually active prior to the 70s too, technically). The second group is led by actress/singer Susanna Kwan and consists mostly of actors/actresses who are also singers or who have good singing abilities. The third group consists of contestants from the first and second season of “The Voice” (of course, leave it to TVB to shamelessly plug / promote their ‘own’ singers) and is led by either Mag Lam (for like 2 or 3 episodes) or Ryan Lau (for majority of the show).

.>>  The points from each episode are tallied and at the end of episode 7, the group with the lowest score will be eliminated and the other 2 groups will move on to compete in the finale (episode 8)….’coincidentally’ (or not??), all 3 groups ended up in the finale because the 2 lowest scoring groups ended up in a tie (seems fishy to me, but ok).

.>> Every episode, there is a ‘theme’ -- they feature one ‘superstar’ singer from the 70s/80s HK music industry and compete amongst the groups using that singer’s songs.

Here’s a rundown of the singers that were featured in each episode:

Episode 1: Anita Mui
Episode 2: Roman Tam
Episode 3: Sam Hui
Episode 4: Adam Cheng & Liza Wang
Episode 5: Leslie Cheung
Episode 6: Teresa Teng
Episode 7: Paula Tsui
Episode 8: Classic TVB Theme Songs (mostly from the 70s and 80s)

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Obviously, the reason why I watched this show was because of its focus on ‘classic’ HK music – otherwise, I would not have even wasted my time (knowing how much I can’t stand the HK music industry in the last decade)!

Below are some 'highlights' and ‘lowlights’ from the show:

HIGHLIGHT #1:
.>>The featured singers! Most of the ‘superstars’ chosen (with the exception of Adam and Liza) were great choices, as they were truly icons of the HK music industry and had a hand in defining Cantopop music. And most of the singers have a huge repertoire of awesome songs that are definitely considered classics, even now, 20-30 years later!

LOWLIGHT #1:
.>> Um, maybe it’s just me, but Adam and Liza were definitely out of place in the list of ‘superstar’ singers. I absolutely WOULD NOT consider either one of them icons or superstars in the music industry (not even close!!!). There are so many more stars who are more worthy than them, so why the hell did TVB include them? Well, here’s my theory: 1) since this show was filmed last year, the royalty dispute with the big 4 record companies was still going on, so obviously they could not feature any of the singers from those companies…that eliminates some obvious choices that were (glaringly) omitted, such as Alan Tam, George Lam, Danny Chan, etc.; 2) TVB has a ‘history’ of putting Liza on a pedestal and right now, she’s pretty much one of the few still active artists they have left who still has a connection with the ‘old TVB’ – they probably chose Adam to ‘pair’ with her because to be honest, Liza is an actress more than a singer, so she doesn’t have a whole lot of songs, plus they are good friends in real life and used to be a popular ‘onscreen’ couple.

.>> Btw, TVB was obviously ‘playing favorites’ in terms of Adam and Liza, as their songs were technically featured in 2 episodes (a few of the themesongs that the artists chose to sing from the 70s and early 80s were the ancient series ones that Adam and Liza sang).


HIGHLIGHT #2:
.>> The nostalgia! As a long time follower of HK entertainment, of course I was familiar with all of the ‘superstars’ that they featured as well as most of the songs that the artists chose to sing. With the exception of episode 4, I knew almost every single song that was sung (yes, even the ones from the 70s) and was actually singing along almost the entire time (yay – a mini music fest for me…hahaha!!). After watching all 8 episodes (which I did pretty much in 1 sitting), all I wanted to do was just pull out my ipod and listen to all those songs again!

LOWLIGHT #2:
.>> A few of the song choices were a bit obscure – with all the great hits that each of these singers had, some of the artists picked a few relatively unknown ones to sing – which was kind of interesting, but ok, fine, since majority of the songs were the popular hits that most people were familiar with.


HIGHLIGHT #3:
.>> Mimi Lo! Mimi was on a few of the episodes competing for the actors/singers group. She was absolutely awesome – her singing skills are excellent and her performances were touching. She was the main reason why the actor/singer team won – each time she performed, the audience voted for her performance, so she racked up a lot of points. (A highlight within a highlight – during the finale episode, right after Mimi’s great performance, the camera panned over to her husband Power Chan, who had come to support her and was watching near the stage – it looked like he was clapping the hardest out of everyone there….awwwww!!!).

LOWLIGHT #3:
.>> Most of the artists who were invited to participate were pretty good choices, as a lot of them had pretty good singing skills. But there were some really ‘bad’ choices in the groups (most notably in the Voice and the actor/singer groups) where the artists who were invited to perform really weren’t that good at all (a few were even ‘cringe-worthy’)! Luckily, each artist’s performance wasn’t too long, so didn’t have to endure for long.


HIGHLIGHT #4:
.>> The humor. Though I don’t think the show was meant to be funny, but a few of the episodes really cracked me up. There is one segment where the artist is supposed to mimic the classic costume or image of the particular singer (i.e.: Paula Tsui’s polka dot dress, Sam Hui’s ‘leopard’ themed costume, Teresa Teng’s classic ‘qi pao’ look, etc.) or in the case of the TV themesong episode, dress up in the attire of one of the characters. Some of the costumes that the artists chose to wear just didn’t fit them at all or were just really bad choices altogether and made them look weird – but it was funny though (which I guess is a plus…).

LOWLIGHT #4:
.>> Despite some flaws, this show overall was quite good (in my opinion) – it not only gives viewers a ‘glimpse’ into the ‘golden era’ of the HK music industry, it also was a good opportunity to bring all those classic Canto-pop songs to a new generation of listeners. BUT, unfortunately, the show was only 8 EPISODES! That is way too little considering this is one of the better variety shows that TVB made last year and way more ‘educational’ than some of the other crap that TVB produces – why did TVB only make 8 episodes of this show when other retarded (and borderline raunchy) variety shows such as Super Trio and Fun with Liza & the Gods got a whole year’s worth of episodes? Obviously we know where TVB’s priorities are!!!

.>> I also have another theory as to why this show was only 8 episodes – because the fact of the matter is, today’s younger audiences don’t know how to appreciate classic HK Canto-pop (yup, a lot of them only care about their current ‘idols’ who may look good but can’t sing to save their lives). And since a third of the artists who participated in the show were from the 70s (most of today’s audience’s probably weren’t even born yet), I’m sure they were not ‘familiar faces’ to majority of the audiences. So based on the above, TVB probably felt that the ratings wouldn’t be good, so didn’t bother investing much in it (plus it’s not like any of their ‘favorite’ sons or daughters were part of the show – except for the Voice kids, that is)

.--.
To be honest, I didn’t think I would like this show because one of my biggest pet peeves is seeing people do a bad job mimicking some of my favorite artists and ‘butchering’ their songs. There was definitely some of that (of course), but overall, majority of the artists were actually quite good in terms of singing, so there wasn’t as much ‘butchering’ as I anticipated (otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sit through it).

In terms of whether I recommend this show – well, it depends. If you’re an 80s/90s person like me, then definitely yes, because even if you don’t like the artists who compete, at least you can still enjoy all those classic hits of the biggest names in HK music. For me, this was definitely the case – the trip down memory road was well worth it for me…I didn’t mind enduring a few bad performances as long as majority of the show was worth watching!

6 comments:

  1. It's all about investment and risks nowadays. SO if you really want to enjoy something or think TVB would do things that doesn't benefit them, tough luck. It's not just TVB either, everywhere else is like that as well. It's not about the music anymore. But money. It doesn't matter how most of us love to see people singing because of the music (or compose music for the love of music and not fame or show off), or acting for the sake of liking it instead of fame or thinking of it as a job. It's always money. People need that to go on. So unless we're all millionaires that are willing to fund it. OR we could stop the 'popular' trends. Forget it.

    Sorry I'm being negative. But I realize how it's hopeless. Sometimes I want those people to just pack their bags and go home and stop polluting the industry anymore. But is everyone rich? No. Most of them probably need those money to live. So it would bore down to being a job. (Like stated above.) Do I want those people out on the streets because they couldn't find a job and couldn't even be in the industry either? NO. So there... (Yeah, there are lots of other job choices too BUT what if...?)

    There are just a lot of complications that would stop art or whatever invention out there from becoming possible. It's always about money. Though we all hate to admit it.

    There's also one's opinions of course. What's the correct way to listen to music? None, because everyone has different taste. What's trash to one is treasure to another.

    Minus the whole 'looks' thing and it's already complicated. SO maybe it might be better to resort to those days when they just come out with a disc that doesn't have pictures or whatever SO people wouldn't know what those singers look like so they could focus on listening. BUT then technology jumps in. AND what do we have? More complications. We know too much and we are misled by what we see instead of what we hear. (AND I in no way include you since the 'we' I use is just general, not trying to get you mad by including you with the rest of us.)

    SO PEACE!

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  2. @DTLCT: Thanks for your comments (as I told you on msn, I don't mind the rants..) :o)

    Though it may not seem like it, I can definitely see it from the perspective you described above as well -- in fact, part of the reason why I rant about the issue (demise of the HK entertainment industry) so much is because -- to be honest -- that's all I can really do, since it's pretty much a reality that it is not going to change. But I'm actually ok with it because I can always retreat to my own little world (the 80s/90s world...lol) when I feel like getting a dose of nostalgia, since I know I can't change the way things are right now (not that I would want to change it anyway...I actually don't care enough to take any action..lol).

    Oh, and I was also one of those 'misled' people as well in the past -- but that's not necessarily a bad thing (at least not for me), since I actually learned alot about myself (after much reflection later on) and it helped me to avoid being 'misled' anymore...

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  3. @llwy12 - Sorry again. Thanks for the understanding. As I said before, it wasn't right of me to unleash this. But it has been quite frustrated for me too on this whole thing with so many complications involved.

    And yes, we could always go back to our own little world, whichever era and wherever that would be.

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  4. Hi there llwy12 :) First official blog post comment on your blog :)

    I actually caught this particular series (if you can call it that, more like a mini-series, since it was so short) when it aired in my country. I, like you agree that the overall series was terribly short but I also felt that some of the episodes were incredibly short too. I mean the first episode which was supposed to be a tribute to Anita Mui really fell short of my expectations - it was only 26 minutes long (check TVB's myTV website), with only so-so performances. And they were booked for a whole 1-hour time-slot too. Yes, they missed out a lot of the crowd favorites too, like you said, Danny Chan. The Big 4 and TVB really need to work things out.

    But even after all that, I did generally enjoy the program, since there were some good performances (mainly from Mimi Lo). And yup, the humor factor was definitely there, which added to the enjoyment of the show. But yes, wardrobe malfunctions were definitely rampant on stage. One image that has forever been burnt into my mind was Stephanie Ho wearing Liza Wang's "Hot Coffee" attire. It was kind of like a little girl playing dress-up. And her vocals weren't that hot either. Well, at least she's a talented amateur golfer.

    And I agree that some of the artist choices (for the groups) were just really, really bad. Pretty much Mimi Lo saved her group every week. I don't actually think that the scores at the end of the series worked out that nicely (What? Everyone tied? Come on.), but that's the beauty of TV contest rigging, I suppose.

    When it all boils down, this singing variety show is just a rip-off of the "Jade Singers Celebrate TVB Anniversary" (翡翠歌星賀台慶) event that featured pretty much all of the known singers in the HK entertainment industry. Or that show that Susanna Kwan used to host where there was a face-off between the a group of female artists and a group of male artists. Personally, I prefer the old school days of the 翡翠歌星賀台慶 because they really mixed it up - male and female artists covering songs by the opposite sex, new pairings with old songs. They didn't even have one this year (not that it would be any good, anyway looking at the state of things) and I would say it probably had a lot to do with the battle between TVB and the Big 4 record companies.

    Oh and actually this whole 'I'm so good-looking' thing is really just too much. The artists don't even have the goods to back it up. But DTLCT's got a point. It's about selling stuff. I actually wrote something about this in my blog: 'The Rise and Fall of Cantopop' (my first blog post and yes, shameless self-promotion) which is pretty much a rant about the past and current states of Cantopop music.

    Well, after that long comment I wish you well on your blog. Keep up the great work - I'll be tuned in! :)

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  5. @The Archival Queen: Welcome and thanks for the comments (don't worry -- actually like long posts / comments..lol).

    Thanks for mentioning the part about each episode being short -- that was definitely true...it's like they had 2 rounds of competition and that was it...

    OMG, yes, Stephanie's costume! Totally agree! And some of the other Voice people's costumes? Same thing...

    Now that you mention the "Jade Singers Celebrate TVB Anniversary" show, I totally agree with you -- the ones from past years were way better...I pretty much stopped watching the show after 1994 (the last one where all 4 Kings participated) -- except for the 2-3 seasons after that where Jacky participated as leader of the male singers and Faye was leader of the females. After they stopped doing the show (due to the shortage of singers undoubtedly), they did make that one attempt to revive it, but the ONLY highlight of that particular show was the appearance by the 4 Tigers.

    Actually, the reason why they discontinued the show this year was because 1) they fired the producer of the show and 2) 2009's show was embroiled in Stephen Chan's corruption scandal -- plus now with the Big 4 issue (which I don't see any end in sight), I highly doubt they are going to revive it anytime soon....

    Ooh, I should go check out that post in your blog. I agree with both of you though that the 'looks' thing definitely does sell -- and no matter how much I dislike that, it's a reality.

    Again, thanks for commenting...the participation from you guys makes my blog alot more exciting!

    See ya!

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  6. Yes, some of the costumes were just bad. It was like what Simon Cowell once sent to an AI contestant: "It's like having a hamburger for breakfast." It just doesn't fit.

    Yes, the ones in the early 90's were so awesome. I remember a couple of episodes where Jacky and Faye took the lead too (in fact, I have Jacky and Faye singing in my head right now). And dammit. I tried finding those clips on Tudou (which were freely available awhile ago) and they've all been taken down due to copyright. Luckily I've got some back-ups. And well, there are other sources, I suppose but now I really have to start digging.

    Oh I remember reading an article about the firing of the producer, albeit vaguely. It seems that they just hire and fire the wrong people. They probably should never have re-hired Steven Chan. He just fills the station's time slots with his own junk and artists he wants to promote. And unfortunately, just like you, I don't think they're going to the resolve the whole Big 4 problem anytime soon either.

    And thanks for supporting my blog - much appreciation and kudos to you (and anyone else who visits). I'll try update more frequently since I have so much to say and I might forget what I was supposed to after. LOL.

    I'm glad to participate and contribute something to such a great blog. It really does make things more fun.

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