Faye Wong!
 

You know I was bound to make this crazy thread, for all ya'll that know me and the ftp service I provided to the community previously. And before anyone asks, I don't have plans to resurrect that ftp at present time since managing it would be pretty inconvenient with my schedule. If you want to try her out, PM me, and I can send you some http links to download a few of her albums. Anyway, let's talk about Faye. How did you become a fan? What song or album sold you to her awesomeness? Are you a non-Asian fan? Well I'm not much of a discussion starter, so I'm hoping some other crazy Faye fans come here and really get this thing going. I know you guys are out there, don't be shy! If you have any questions about Faye you'd like answers to then feel free to ask. And yes, I'm sure alot of you know and like her for "Eyes On Me" (I've seen it said many times!), but I'm aiming this topic for mostly people who are legitimate fans of Faye.

P.S: Try not to wet your pants looking at that image.

I'm not even wearing pants, anyway.

I'd hate to say it, but I've only listened to one of her songs, and you've probably guessed it.

LOL Final Fantasy.

Shall I say it again?

I first heard Faye Wong's voice on the Final Fantasy VIII OST - "Eyes On Me" track, which, incidentally, is my top favorite vocalized track of all Final Fantasies up to XII.

Her voice is very sweet. <3

I must say it is rather boring to hear that same thing over and over again! Haha. I love that game, and funnily enough, is exactly the same way I got to know Faye too. But I decided to pursue that interest much further and if you ask me here Cantonese and Mandarin music is so much more her style. "Eyes On Me" is very different to what she normally does. Not a good introduction to her music, by any means.

Yamamanama, that's cool. I wouldn't say you're necessarily a fan though, am I assuming correctly? My definition of fan would be that the person has checked out most of her stuff and really likes it and everything like that. Maybe you're more curious than an actual fan?

I liked her stuff from about 1993-1997, I think. Basically when she was covering Cocteau Twins. I haven't listened to her for almost a decade, so I have no idea which album it was that hooked me anymore, but it must've been one of her Mandarin albums.

I tried listening to some of her post 1998 (or 1999?) stuff and they were pretty bland. I guess she is past her prime.

That's alright, to each their own. I know a few who feel that her music has got more commercial post-1997. Especially since with her album "Restless" (Fu Zhao), which was very alternative and experimental and is pre-1997. Alot of her old music is really very good, but I also feel her post-1997 is also really cool too. It seems she likes to explore all kinds of genres and ideas, which is what I really like. There is something special about most of her albums which set it apart from each other, making them unique.

Q for The GreyFox. Is that her in your avatar? (okay this is a stupid question) Hawt <3.

Um, well I would like to check out more of her songs. Any FTP/ torrents? I guess you have decided to take down the FTP so expect a PM sometime soon then.

Yes, that's her in the avatar. I'll be on for alittle while, so if you PM me within the hour i'll get back to you within that time. Keep me posted on what you thought and everything. It's always cool to show her music to someone who isn't too familiar with her and wants to try her out.

I think I might have to take you up on this as well, I also enjoyed Eyes on Me enough to make me want to listen to her other works, even if other people regard her as being past her prime. No harm in giving her a fair shot.

Sure, no problem. If you ask me though, she is definitely not past her prime. But either way, they are just opinions and they don't necessarily mean anything. I like all of her music, so it's pretty hard to say she's gotten sloppy post-1997 since I'm not one of those people who feel that way at all.

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1...ionistasm9.jpg

Try not to wet ur pantz 8-)

Hey Senorita, I read you were a Faye fan in that "if you want it, steal it" thread. That sucks about those stolen Faye CD's, just to say again. Hm, so how did you get to be a fan and all?

Yeah... I first experience the Faye from "Eyes on Me" in Final Fantasy VIII. I instantly loved her voice. About 4 years ago, I ripped some Faye Wong CDs from a friend, but I've never been able to tag them because I never found any information online about the CDs. They were titled Vol. 1 through Vol. 4 (love em). Maybe, since you (The GreyFox) seem very familiar with her stuff, I can get them to you to ID em. :p It's not pleasing to love "Track08" in Unknown Title :/. But yeah, <3 Faye.

Yeah, i'll be able to tell you every single song I'm sure. You really should try out more of her stuff though, and like I said in the first post, if you're interested you can PM me and i'll toss you some links to download some of her albums. Keep me posted about that ID'ing thing.

I first discovered her in Chungking Express. She was awesome in that movie and then I found out she was a singer and checked out some songs (via The Greyfox's ftp). Found out she was pretty good at that too.

While Faye's voice is pleasant to listen for me, I have to admit that I used to like her untill the songs I really liked in her albums were covers of English songs. I still like her voice, but after discovering this I basically stopped listening to most canto pop.

Well, I think you may be jumping the gun thinking that all she does is cover songs. I remember I left you a message in the J-Pop thread where you commented on Faye, and here it is incase you want to read it:
http://www.gamingforce.com/forums/me...ost243968.html

I don't see the problem with her doing cover songs, as it's bringing music with what probably isn't popular there in China and giving it alot of exposure. And like any artist her style is influenced by others and to expect true originality I think is asking alittle too much. But she does take certain styles and does do her own thing with it, which I think is really cool. Alot of her music feels fresh and something I've never really heard before, so to me her music is something new for my ears.

Sound's good. Maybe I'll rar/zip em up and put them on a webserver. That way, you and whoever else may be interested can download them. They were ripped from "an original" (at least it was a pressed copy). Who knows though.. it might've been pirated. ;_; Hopefully I can finally learn what these are.

Oh I know she does original songs, I just didn't like them, I only liked the ones like "Cold Ware" and "Person in a dream", which were covers of Tori Amos and Cranberries, when I found out they were covers many years later, I felt a little betrayed, cause they were the only Faye songs (and canto songs) I loved, and it wasn't even her own stuff. I just accepted the fact that I don't like Canto Pop songs, despite liking the singer's voice.

I don't think it gave exposure to the English singers or bands, cause the CDs only credit them in small print,( and not many people actually read them) and I doubt Faye gives credit to them during live performances, other wise fans will know where the songs come from. If it werent the fact I saw the Tori Amos video and a trailer with the Cranberries song by chance, I wouldn't have known, not even my sis who was a big canto pop fan knew till much later. Same thing happen to another Chinese Artist who did a cover of Dr Jones by Aqua, I liked that song, and then discovered it was a cover. Alot of my friends who were Faye fans didnt know who Tori or Cranberries were either.

I still like Fayes voice, but the way the canto pop industry treat covers and my dislike for canto pop made me turn away from it all.

Though when comparing Eyes on Me, I prefer Angela Aki over Faye. :P

Well to be honest, none of that really makes much sense to me. This Angela Aki girl covered one of Faye's songs, so how is that much different to anything? I know Faye is only the singer for that song, and the rest was done by other people (lyrics, composition, etc.), so would that contribute to the fact you like hers over Faye's?

Anyway, the original artists are always credited in the booklet and the concert DVD's I've seen also credit the original artists both in the booklet and in the actual footage where the name of the song, composer, and lyricist names come up. Don't see what else you could do to credit the original song? Have a person come on before the song saying it's a cover of so and so? Haha, I don't think so. Maybe during a concert Faye could say a comment about the original artists, but I don't see the big deal.

Remember that Eyes one Me was a FF song, and Aki is the singer for FF12, in one of her singles,Nobuo Uemastu the composer probably asked her to do a cover while shes recording the song for FF12 , and she performed it at the FF Voices concert instead of Wong, and every other FF singer showed up cept Faye. I thought Aki's arrangement with her piano and the way she sings it was alot better than what I felt about Fayes. It was released in one of her singles called Kokoro no Senshi.

Faye never bothered performing in any of the FF concerts, and that FF8 song exposed her to alot of countries thanks to the appeal of Final Fantasy.

Besides, Eyes one Me isn't Faye's song, its Nobuo's, and he asked Aki to do it. Faye instead got license to do those other songs, and didnt give them enough the credit, usually when artists do a cover live, they tell who was the original artist, like Evanesence when they did a Nirvana cover on the radio, they say it, and when others do a classic like a beatles song, they aknowlege them and even pay tribute (Britney Spears in one exception, since she was so thick she got the original artist completly wrong, which pissed off fans of Joanne Jette). Most Canto stars did none of those, and probably didnt even know who did the original. And its the producers who choose the songs on their albums most of the time, not the artist.

And I said it before, people don't read the booklets, they usually just get the CD for the artist and usually believe that they wrote the songs. They only credit names and not nessacry the Band name. If there's a video fo Cold War in a concert, I like to see if Tori Amos's name appears.

Bottome line, the only songs I loved from her were all English song covers, proving that I never really liked her (or any canto pop) material, just her voice. However with Eyes on Me, I prefer Aki's version than Faye's, though the orchestral version used in FF8's ending is on par with Aki's in my list thanks to the orchestral treatement.

Sure, no problem. You can send me a PM with the link and i'll check it out whenever I have time. What you have is what definitely sounds like a bootleg, because I know everything that's been released and never have I heard of something you described released officially. Don't feel bad though, because bootleg compilations for her CD's are common.

That's a funny link, because I reconize that song of hers. It's from her teenage years alittle before she released her first real album "Shirley Wong" in 1989.

Alright, I uploaded the questionable "albums" onto one of my web servers.

Anyone can use FTP to grab them:

Address: sanemonkey.com
Login: u35904231-fayewong
Password: fayewong

I'll probably keep it there for a few weeks. More likely, I'll probably forget about it until I need to free up some space in the very distant future.

So lemme know what they are. :p

nazpyro, I downloaded the songs from your ftp and I will check them tomorrow after I finish work. Sorry for taking so long to keep in touch with you, but now you know I will get to it really soon.

Well, thought I'd bump this thread as well. For those that got my http links to download some of her albums, what did you think? I'm still providing http links, so if you want to try her stuff out then give me a PM!

I used to like Faye Wong. But, I think her music has pretty much died out. I haven't seen, read, nor heard of anything new involving her.

Can anyone recommend an album of hers for me? Does she have an english greatest hits or anything ?

She doesn't sing in English primarily. She has sung just a few in English, however. She sings primarily in Cantonese and Mandarin, so I don't know if you can sit through non-English music not having to tell yourself, "I don't understand this, so I don't like it". I'd like to recommend an album, but I'd help to know what kind of genres of music you like and I can go from there as a starting point.

I like non-english music as well. I like every type of music, so could you guys suggest an album for me, even if it is non-english.

Well firstly, this is for nazpyro (sorry it took so long!):

As far as recommendations, I'd maybe start with her newer stuff first and kind of go in reverse. There is a great collection out there (which is unfortunately out of print now, but the CD's within this collection i'm sure can be tracked down by themselves) called the 5 in 1 Box Collection. This has all kinds of styles she's done and I guess this is some of her more mainstream popular stuff. It contains these albums:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/8598/faye/disc/25.html
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/8598/faye/disc/28.html
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/8598/faye/disc/32.html
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/8598/faye/disc/35.html
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/8598/faye/disc/38.html

I especially recommend the first I linked to, which is a really cool album! Other recommendations I'd say:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/8598/faye/disc/20.html

This one is considered by many of her fans to be her most experimental and unique album she's ever done. It's rather difficult to find a legit copy of this one for a low price though. If it's going for low, it's either a bootleg/fake or you're just really lucky.

Hope this helps you out. If you have any more questions just let me know.

I must say I'm rather partial to her "To Love" album, but then I do own a copy of that. Also, her self-titled albums are rather fab.

Faye Wong <3 generally really. ;)

After watching Chungking Express recently, which I highly recommend, I realised that a) holy crap Faye is in fact Faye Wong and b) i'm in love with her cover of The Cranberries - Dream. I actually prefer it to the original. Just thought i'd share this random thought =D.

I'd also highly recommend that film for anyone who hasn't seen it and may be visiting this thread. Good choice Sian. And yes, Faye is loverrrly in it.

Yes, absolutely. Listen to this man. Two Faye songs actually appear in the movie - the one you mentioned Sian and another called "Know Oneself and Each Other" which is on her 1994 album "Random Thoughts". It comes up when Tony is in the bar waiting for Faye and he's listening to the jukebox. It's only the very end of the song and it's about like 3-4 seconds! Her cover of the Cranberries song I as well find better than the original. It seems less rockish/loud and more soft, which fits Faye's voice perfectly well if you ask me.

I'm just really hoping she comes together for another album sometime soon. Her last album was back in 2003, which is the longest she's gone without doing an album. Normally she recorded an album or two a year. Although she is apparently singing for some charity event this month, which is the first time she's sung for anything in a few years. Heh, the only thing is that the entrance fee to get into this charity is extremely expensive and I'd only imagine I'd attract a really REALLY badly obsessed Faye fan or rich people with lots of money. Well, she's been busy with her new husband and just had a child not that long ago. I can't say I blame her for taking so much time off because of that.

Ohhhhhhh awesome. Thanks thanks!

So are those "albums" really just assorted tracks then?

Maybe I got this wrong, but I thought the news not so long back was that she was quitting the singing and acting thing for good. I hoped that wasn't the case then and still do. Are you telling me it isn't the case and that there's hope for a return of Faye?

Since i'm in a bit of a "must find new music" mood recently, are there any reliable torrents out there of her discography? Or just a hits compilation if that's a case, since I can't find anything.

Chinese news is pretty unreliable. They tend to over exaggerate things and most of what comes out is false information or stuff that is sort of the truth but most of it complete bullshit. What seemed to be the case was that she took a break from work to have a baby, but her manager have continued talks with Faye about another album. Of course the Chinese media figured if she took a break that's gotta mean she's quitting and gives up. Give me a break haha. Right now, it's just an assumption she's singing for some charity event, because nothing is really solid anymore when it comes to Faye news.

It's definitely some bootleg or unofficial thing. I've never seen this kind of compilation with the exact order of the tracks listed.

Well, I don't know anything about downloading her music. Although there is a compilation you can buy of hers that should satisfy your needs:
http://us.yesasia.com/en/prdTransfer...id-1004021643/

I wouldn't say this is one of the best compilation sets (since there is so many), but it's probably the only worthwhile one that is still in print. The other ones are out of print and I think you'd have a hard time tracking down some of them.

Woo hoo. This is good news indeed. The notion of Faye disappearing was a sad one and so I'm most pleased that's not necessarily the case. Woot. ^^

Yeah, somebody as important as Faye Wong in the Chinese music industry just doesn't quit singing without notice to both the media and her fans. Especially her fans. Faye still has much to offer, and I personally think she should focus more on doing tracks like the first five songs on "Fable", relaxing tunes like on her 1997 self titled album, or something experimental like her album "Restless". While I appreciate her album "To Love", I don't feel after these years it's one of her best works. She has done much better, but that's just an opinion. I don't dislike any of the songs on the album, as they are all enjoyable to listen to, but when compared to her older work they fall short in seeming like timeless classics.

Turns out she's not singing for this event held the day after Christmas. Apparently it's to speak and sell items in an auction. But even this news is uncertain since my trust in Chinese news in general is very low. Who knows, maybe she'll sing as a surprise or something.

Well, I guess I better keep this thread going. What are some of your favorite songs of hers? If you could make an 80 minute max CD compilation of her music, what songs would you put on it? Do you have any special connection with certain songs?

I'll add my own list later, just gotta get going now!