Today I listened to a copy of Xu Guanjie's 1976 album "Half a Pound Eight Two", which is also his third Cantonese album after "Ghost Horse Double Star" and "Genius and Idiot". Most of Xu Guanjie's early representative Cantonese songs are from these three albums, or you can add the self-titled song "God of Wealth" from the 1978 album.
Like the cover of "Genius and Idiot", "Half a Pound eight two" also chose a movie poster as a record cover, which is also the common practice of many Hong Kong record companies in the early days, after all, such a "partnership" can rub the influence of the movie. Of course, there are also singers who are unhappy because of this, such as Rowan who left "Entertainment Records" because he was dissatisfied with his own record cover, and he will always be the poster of the film and television drama...
There is not much to say about Xu Guanjie's contribution to Cantonese pop music, about the combination of Chinese and Western play, about the integration of Cantonese music, the style of minor keys, etc. Let's talk about this album from a more detailed perspective, and it is very important to review the memory or years based on the classic album.
The album "Half a Pound, Eight Two" has one of the biggest characteristics in the creation, that is, Xu Guanjie has pulled Peter Li as a lyric partner from this album. Therefore, while discussing the excellent lyrics of Xu Guanjie's early works, please do not forget the name Ofill.
Starting from "Half a Pound, Eight Two", Peter Li and Xu Guanjie have cooperated on a total of seven albums, because many works are co-signed, so it is really difficult to say who contributed much, but in works such as "The Voice of the Prodigal Son" and "Pear Vortex Shallow Laughter", since he has his figure, it means that there must be a lot of fall.
Uncle Li later filled in the words for Tan Yonglin, Mei Yanfang, Zhang Guorong and others, but they were all from the past of the last century. The reason why he can still see Uncle Li recently is because he starred in tvB's drama "Happy Express of Love Home", in which the "old ignorant" leopard uncle is Peter Li. The series has been over thirteen hundred episodes, and it's not yet known when it will be a head.
Even if the record "Half a Pound, Eight Two" is still very textured even if it is listened to now, the reason is because of the contributions of Gu Jiahui and O'Jinbao in string arrangement and conducting. In particular, the minor tunes of original folk songs such as "The Voice of the Prodigal Son" and "Pear Vortex Shallow Laughter" are indeed a lot more vulgar because of the addition of strings, and the sense of space and sound field are even more open. Let the neighborhood songs, full of Cantonese slang, also rise up.
The album's eponymous song "Half a Pound Eight Twos", like many of Xu Guanjie's songs, was used as a supplementary textbook for many Cantonese training classes in the 1980s and 1990s. Among them, slang such as "wet water cannon will sound" and so on, although they are becoming less and less used, can provide a model for the study of early Southern Cantonese language and culture.
"The Voice of the Prodigal Son" has become a cultural symbol like "Under the Lion Rock" and other works. At the 2004 Hong Kong Red Pavilion concert of "Engage in The True Meaning", Lo Dayou even directed the Hong Kong fans to sing "The Voice of the Prodigal Son" together, which he called the Hong Kong Spirit. Indeed, the cultural gene of "fate sometimes must be there, and fate must not be forced at any time" really inherits the Taoist tradition of doing nothing and doing nothing, and it is also the gene of the culture of the citizens of the Greater Bay Area until now.
Another song, "Drunk with Wine," is based on Stephen Foster's Oh! Susanna), the melody of this song, because of the recent "Honey Snow Ice City" advertising song hit, is also popular again.
The album also has a more funny song "The Legend of the Hero of the Bird", which is also a living teaching material for learning Cantonese and Cantonese mahjong. This song is actually related to the TV series "The Legend of the Condor Hero", but it is not the "Legend of the Condor Hero" of the 83rd edition of TVB, but the "Legend of the Condor Hero" of jiayi TV in 1976, which is also the first TV series version in the history of "The Legend of the Condor Hero". And Xu Guanjie was a guest of honor at jiayi TV, so he used the ghost horse way to "spoof" the "Legend of the Eagle Shooter".
This 76 version of "The Legend of the Archery Hero", from now on, a lot of casting has even become a reference for the 83rd edition. Like Michelle, who played Huang Rong, and weng Meiling, who was more well-known in the 83rd version, from the perspective of casting, there are indeed some factors that refer to Michelle.
Michelle was also the head of Jiayi TV at that time, but unfortunately, this TV station that could compete with "ATV" and "Wireless" failed three years after its establishment due to financial problems, and most of the artists also switched to "Li" and "Wireless". For example, Michelle went to "Li's", and later "Li's" was transformed into "ATV", Michelle is still the head of Hua Dan, until recent years, she appeared in the "Wireless" family, and she can also be regarded as an actress in three (four) free-to-air TELEVISION stations across Hong Kong.
Later, Zeng Jiang, who played Huang Yaoshi in the 83 version, only played Guo Xiaotian in the 76 version, a role that hung up not long after the opening. Yang Tiexin, who was a little better than him, was played by Qin Pei. However, Qin Huang, in both versions, played the same role: Zhou Botong. And the two male protagonists, the 76 version of Guo Jing and Yang Kang, played by Bai Biao and Liang Xiaolong respectively, are far less handsome than the 83 version of Huang Rihua and Miao Qiaowei...
In addition to "Half a Pound Eight Two", "The Voice of the Prodigal Son" and "Pear Vortex Shallow Smile", other minor songs on the album such as "Zhiyin Dream Seeking", "Midnight Whisper" and other minor songs are also very good, at this time, Xu Guanjie, for Cantonese, American folk and Hong Kong vernacular, has begun to form a system, coupled with the entry of Peter Lai, it has the best degree of completion.
The final question is whether the flatter pronunciation in The Quest Trilogy is New Territories Wai Cun dialect or some other rural dialect?
