London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Uhm Jung-hwa #9: Prestige

Uhm Jung-hwa: PrestigeUhm Jung-hwa: Prestige (2006)
score-2score-2score-0score-0score-0

After all the high jinks required to get this album off the ground, my expectations of the music to be enjoyed therein were low. They were triumphantly met.

There’s nothing terribly objectionable about anything on this album, but then there’s nothing terribly arresting either. The thing which most sticks in the mind that is that the composer of the second song seems to have got hold of a gizmo which simulates the noise of a spaceship’s missiles from the 1970s (80s?) arcade game Defender, and is determined to make full use of it. Even more irritating than the tinkly thing which R&B composers overuse so much.

Rather like Baek Ji-young’s latest, it has taken several listen-throughs to think of anything to say about this album, or for any of the songs to lodge themselves in my mind. Probably the catchiest track is the simplest one, 사랑해 사랑해 (track 13), basically three repeating added-seventh chords over a rapid jazz rhythm with a spoken telephone voice over the top.

Overall genre? I guess it’s pretty mainstream pop / disco stuff, with a couple of slightly different ones thrown in for variety. But overall I would rate the publicity stills more enjoyable than the music.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.