Ready (Sandy Lam album)
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Ready is the fifth studio album by Sandy Lam, released under CBS Records in the summer of 1988. "Ready" would be a major milestone in Sandy's career because it would be her first album to be heavily influenced by R&B and Jazz which strongly affected her future. This album will best prove that Sandy is a mature singer who does not need to fall into the mainstream music industry in terms of musical and conceptual directions. In the mainstream, it would be very logical and commercial to release another Dance song like Grey, her last album. This is why it is so strongly appreciated by her fans and critics. Following the release of this album, Sandy will leave CBS Records and sign to Warner Music. This would also be the last album to be influenced by producer Fung.
Track listing
1. Self-made Space (自製空間)
2. Evening (黃昏)
3. Best Actor (最佳男主角)
4. Him (他)
5. Undrunken Night... (不醉夜...)
6. Are You Ready?(滴汗)
7. Rainy Days (下雨天)--Duet with Blue Jeans
8. Best Actor (after the ceremonies...at his penthouse suite) (最佳男主角(頒獎典禮後...at his penthouse suite))
9. I Don't Want You to Go (真想你知道)
10. Where Do Broken Hearts Go (命運是否這樣)
Alternate versions
Best Actor (Refresh Mix)--Released under "Brand New Sandy" CBS record 1988
Are You Ready? (Guitar Mix)--Released under "Brand New Sandy" CBS record 1988
Conceptual Aspect
"Ready"'s main purpose was to tell the public that Sandy was no longer a confused young lady like she was in the last two albums, but a mature adult. To aid with the concept, Sandy cut her hair short, unlike the long curly hair of her last two albums. "Ready"'s concept is most shown by the first single, which is "Are You Ready?". "Are You Ready?" talks about a woman's desire for sex from her lover. Sex would be a rather touchy topic to be sung by a mainstream singer, especially being a female. "Are You Ready?" is possibly the biggest influence for the album's title. This is because she repeatedly sings "Are you ready for love?" in the chorus and the end. Fans believe the change is mostly due to Clarence Hui bringing in lyricist Thomas Chow as part of the production team in "Ready". This album placed Sandy as a gay icon in Hong Kong. This album would be arguably the start of R&B music in the Hong Kong music industry.
Commercial Aspect
This album would not be the ideal follow-up of Grey for a mainstream singer. This is because a major change in her image, mostly due to Clarence Hui's idea, and extremely contrasting music to her last album. Despite this, "Ready" went double platinum. The main singles of this album were "Are You Ready?", "Rainy Days" and "Best Actor". "Are You Ready?" topped the RTHK charts and debuted at #1 at the then-new CRHK charts. "Are You Ready?" also earned Sandy a Jade Solid Gold seasonal award and nomination in 1988."Rainy Days" and "Best Actor" also peaked at #8 in the CRHK charts.
Musical Aspect
All of "Ready"'s songs are slow to mid-tempo songs which are mainly R&B and Jazz. As mentioned before, this would be a major trigger for singers such as Faye Wong to release R&B. "Ready" contained no upbeat dances as most of her other album in the 1980s would, even the remixes were just slow alternate versions. Sandy covered six songs of which only one was Japanese(Self-made Space).