Lau Mei Gwan (Chinese Ã¥ÂÂç¾Âå Prudence Liew) is the self-titled debut album of cantopop singer Prudence Liew, released on December 23, 1986.
While working as a film producer, Liew was faced with the task of coming up with a theme song to the movie Midnight Beauties (Ã¥ÂÂå¤ÂéºÂ人). The film company eventually decided to cover a Korean pop ballad called "Dear J" by Lee Sun-hee and have Liew write the Cantonese lyrics as well as perform the vocals on the track. The result was the lead single to the album, titled "Midnight Love Ã¥ÂÂå¤Âæ ", about a forbidden love between a hostess club worker and her client. The song garnered heavy airplay from radio stations across Hong Kong, and Liew was signed as the flagship artist to Current Records to record this album.
The second single off the album, "æÂÂå¾Âä¸Â夠The Last Night", is a cover version of the song, "You're a Woman" by the German Europop group Bad Boys Blue. The track featured a heavy dance beat that proved to be very popular with the Hong Kong disco scene. The popularity of this song propelled Liew's status in the music scene and this song is still considered to be her signature song.
Many well-known composers and lyricists from Hong Kong and Taiwan contributed to this album, including Wong Jim (é»ÂéÂÂ), Lam Manyee (æÂÂæÂÂæ¡), Andrew Lam (æÂÂæÂÂé©Â), and Richard Lam (æÂÂæ¯強). Liew herself composed and wrote the lyrics for the final track of the album, "Troubled Depressing Night æÂÂæÂ摯Âæ¡Âå¤Â" as well as providing the lyrics to the aforementioned "Midnight Love Ã¥ÂÂå¤Âæ ".
The album sold extremely well, having certified 10ÃÂ platinum by the Hong Kong IFPI, selling over 500,000 copies. Sales of this album set the record in Hong Kong for the most albums sold by a debuting local artist, a record that has yet to be defeated. The album was also well received by critics, landing in many music critics' lists of top albums from the 1980s, and won two music awards as Album of the Year from RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards and Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards in 1987.
Because of the quality of the album, it is still very popular among audiophiles in Hong Kong today. Sony BMG (BMG Music which bought out Current Records in 1992), started re-issuing the album in several high-end-audio formats, including Super Audio CD, Extended Resolution Compact Disc and most recently, Blu-spec CD.