LINDA WONG HING-PING: Linda Wong (Polydor): This newcomer has friends in high places - her father, '70s kung fu star Wang Yu, and her manager, former singing sensation Jenny Tseng.
Facially, a cross between Rosamund Kwan and Joey Wong, she sprang from nowhere with the hit single The Day You Left and she may be a force to reckon with if her debut is anything to go by.
Wong composed two noteworthy numbers while Tseng, the executive producer, also penned her first two songs for Wong. The only disappointment is they have seen fit to include the English song Wind Beneath My Wings.
It is not hard to deduce from the ''theme'' songs that come in two parts that they are striving for the artistic results Sandy Lam has so successfully achieved. However, the songs here are too commercial for such a concept. Nevertheless, Linda Wong couldbe a name to watch in the future.
LEON LAI MING: A Pasionese en el Verano (Philips): The release of this album will probably give Leon Lai Ming time to get warmed up chartwise for his August concerts. The album's first single, Summer is Burning, is a hit, especially since it is featured ona television commercial starring Lai.
Other than that, this not-so-pretentious album with an oh-so-pretentious name has nothing much to offer listeners in the form of uptempo numbers. Even the ballads are a shade below Lai's previous efforts.
He also suffers from the worst case of narcissism by proxy seen in the Canto-pop world. Lai's songwriters have never failed to write him (or his name) into at least one song on his albums. Here it is Ya Ya Ya, in which the chorus goes, ''Leon Lai, Love You, Leon Lai, Love You''. Yeah, sure.