2008/07/19

The New Topnotes

The New Topnotes, featuring Elisa Chan, Danny Chung, Majid Rahman, Johnny Yip, Andrew Oh and Carlos Mendoza. Their first LP included tracks like Here Comes Love, We Do It, I Really Love To See You Tonight, Mr. Melody, Muskrat Love, If I Ever Lose This Heaven, Kiss & Say Goodbye, You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine, Sophisticated Lady, If You Walked Away & I Need To Be In Love.

A follow up album offered Do You Wanna Make Love, This Girl Has Turned Into A Woman, Evergreen, Sam, You Don't Have To Be A Star, Don't Leave Me This Way, I Wish, Here Comes Love, Windflowers, Harmour Love, Walking In Rhythm, We Do It, I Feel A Song, One Man Woman, Mandy & All By Myself.

4 comments:

carina said...

Hi Vernon, thanks for the invitation to your Blog. Cool name..."The Way It Used To Be.." I like it ! Two of the New Topnotes members, Elisa Chan and Johnny Yip are very popular Cantopop singers. Johnny also teams up with Francis Yip, singing as a duet occasionally. rgds. carina

Vernon Cheong said...

Hi Carina, good to hear from you again. Yes, I've seen both of them performing on some of the Cantopop Shows in Hong Kong. Johnny Yip is aka Yip Chan Tong. I believe he is also a good opera singer,
comparable to the likes of Lisa Wang. Cheers.

JoeWuSeattleWaUSA said...

Hello, Carina and Vernon,

I completely missed out on Elisa Chan and The New Topnotes when they were hot in the 1970’s and she in the 1980’s. There are some videos on YouTube. Have you seen this interesting feature at HK Magazine online on Elisa Chan from May 24, 2007, a year ago, in which she opened up and talked about her life very candidly? There’s also a nice photo of her with a short haircut, but I cannot attach it here.

Anyway, I thought I would copy and paste this 2007 feature here to add to this conversation.

http://www.hk-magazine.com/feature/elisa-chan-kit-ling

(Elisa Chan Kit-ling became a superstar diva in the 1980s and remains an active performer today. She talks to Jan Leung.)

People think I'm an ABC [American-born Chinese], but I grew up in Hong Kong.
The best decision I ever made was quitting school and joining the band the New Topnotes when I was 16.
Singers in the 70s were just dorky. I considered myself a band girl because it was a thousand times cooler.
Music is important to me, but no shit – so is fame and fortune.
Being famous is great. You can get a table anywhere, a discount on everything, a ticket for any show, and a reaction for everything you say.
I like performing on stage, being the center of attention. I can block out reality and drag the audience into my fantasy world... blah blah blah.
Who am I kidding - I think I just enjoy manipulating people.
Creating drama is an alternative form of ecstasy.
My 20s was all about falling in and out of love.
I enjoyed inflicting pain on myself. All that sorrow, solitude, anger... Those drama-craving years were the yummiest in my life.
Guys were after me because I was a celebrity.
More importantly, I wore camisoles and miniskirts.
It doesn’t matter how many hundreds of people adore you when the one you like doesn’t like you back. That was so immature of me - I hope I didn’t reject someone good.
I am a loyal partner, I think.
The shortest fling I've had lasted for half a year. Most of my relationships lasted three to four years, with a few overlaps, and an old flame here and there... What do you expect? I traveled.
Getting along with the same person is an art. If I got married 10 years ago, even to the same person, it may not have worked out.
The downside of marriage is I can only fantasize about love dramas. That really hinders my musical inspiration.
Sometimes I think the world is created for me alone. It is completely what I perceive it to be.
I was with Leslie Cheung the night before he killed himself. I was shocked when I heard the news, but not that surprised by the fact that he committed suicide.
Understanding and accepting are two different things.
He was severely depressed. He was not himself anymore. That’s why he did what he did.
Many people have thought about killing themselves. I used to think death would solve everything. But suicide also means you have to give up everything in your life... It requires a lot of courage.
Everyone is in trouble every day, but nobody is permanently in deep shit.
People are not born nice. Humans are the most dangerous animals on earth.
I am human-phobic. The phobia goes both directions – I fear people hurting me, and I am afraid of hurting people unknowingly.
To be jealous is human.
We secretly hope people fail; sometimes even our best friends and siblings harbor those wishes against us. I am still learning to combat those emotions with intelligence.
Go all out when you are young. All the mistakes, tears, effort... In later years, they turn into gold.
I don’t care what others think: Nobody can take my PSP from me.
I am clever because I am lazy, and vice versa
I have gone through what most young people go through, but they keep telling me, “You won’t understand.” That pisses me off.
Advice seldom comes across as instant wisdom. People only understand it later on.
Marketing 101: Figure out why people might listen to you, then figure out where they live.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life. And so is tomorrow, and the day after that... keep going, pal.

Vernon Cheong said...

Hey Guys, During my recent trip to Hong Kong, I managed to pick up a CD compilation by The New Topnotes Great catch for me !

The tracks included Harmour Love, Slippery When Wet, Windflowers, You Are Everything, Under Pressure, C'os We've Ended Up As Lovers, We May Never Love Like This Again, Pick Up The Pieces, Mandy, Put A Little Love Away, Love Is The Message and You've Done Nothing. Cheers.