(July 2004)
Primarily for rap-lovers. Strangely, 5 out of the 14 tracks have no musical content whatsoever, being recordings of one end of a phone conversation. Not understanding Korean, I don’t know whether there is any deep significance in these tracks.
The first four tracks I can happily live without. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, there’s a totally wonderful track, Y (Please tell me why), with a stunning female vocalist, gentle rapping, a dexterous acoustic guitarist and an absolutely delicious tune. Where did that come from? And, as if infected by this track, the disk starts getting more approachable thereafter. Another enjoyable track is #8, again using that rather good acoustic guitarist; while track 9 (1.2.3.4) has undertones of funk, and track 13 nods to James Brown’s It’s a Man’s World. A mixed bag, then, but even for non rap fans like me it has its attractions.