Среда 11 Окт 2006, 10:37
Cheap CD prices makes me buy a lot more than I should… Here's another bunch of Korean soundtracks I picked up recently.
Bungee Jumping Of Their Own
I liked the movie enough to get it on DVD (both Lee Byung Hun & Lee Eun Ju!) so when the soundtrack was added to YesAsia's bargain corner I got a copy of it too. It was too long since I last watched the movie however, so I did not have any clue as to what I would hear when first listening to it.
Park Ho-Joon has written the score which is the usual Korean stuff with piano and strings in focus. What makes it especially nice, however, is that they seem to have employed an entire orchestra to play most of these pieces. The song of the movie is 오 그대는 아름다운 여인, composed by 최성원 and performed by Kim Yeon Woo, which can be find in vocal and instrumental versions as well as in an end title variation. It's a pretty nice mellow song, but the orchestration does more for it than Kim Yeon Woo's singing. In a few tracks here and there, Lee Eun Ju and Lee Byung Hun can be heard talking, but these cuts from the movie doesn't flow as nicely into the songs as clips usually do on other soundtracks.
The booklet is mostly about the movie, but one spread is dedicated to the theme song and Park Ho-Joon. Even for a movie soundtrack, this is quite short with a playtime of just 34:43 and that is the biggest flaw of this soundtrack. Park Ho-Joon has composed a score that is performed very well, but rarely a song has a chance to really take off before it has come to an end.
Sunlight Upon Me
For no obvious reason I really liked this drama. If I like a Korean drama series I will usually like the soundtrack as well, true also for this series, so I got myself a copy when I found it cheap.
Lee Kyung Seob has written the score and also produced the whole thing. The instrumental pieces are quite good (except for the trumpet versions. I have an aversion towards trumpets), but I don't think they're anything out of the ordinary. There's actually quite many songs with vocals, but only two of those are above average: 내 품에 가득히 sung by 전주배 and 아직 넌 내 눈물인걸 sung by Han Sung Ho. The former appears in various forms and is also the one of the instrumentals I like the best.
Perhaps it's that it's been too long since I last saw this series, but I can't really "connect" with the soundtrack anymore. It's still quite decent, but there's plenty of drama soundtracks I'd rather listen to. The booklet's quite nice though - of course there's lyrics, but most important to me are the pics through which I can easily recall the story of the series (which still seems like a good one to me) ^^
Tooniverse Animation Music Collection Best "WE3"
Who Love Animation Music - WE3! I've never watched a "manhwa movie" and I've never listened to the soundtrack from one either. But then I came across this compilation featuring some artists I like for a cheap price so I decided to get a copy.
Without ever listening much to anime soundtracks, I'd like to claim that this your typical anime theme song collection ("manhwa" being the Korean equivalent of the Japanese "manga", making "manhwa movie" the equivalent of "anime") with plenty of cheerful songs performed by a bunch of relatively unknown people. Nothing's extraordinary, but nothing's really bad either.
As for the featured artists, they're Buzz, Park Hye Kyung and Loveholic. I'm actually disappointed in all of them. It's obvious that the Buzz song, 활주, is not an original Buzz song (it's actually from Naruto) and it doesn't seem like it was particularily good to begin with. The sweet Park Hye Kyung sounds like she usually does, but 카누를 타고 파라다이스에 갈 때 is far from the best song she's ever recorded. And Loveholic… Perhaps I should stop expecting another song like Loveholic from them, but since the first album is still my main reason for liking them I'm disappointed everytime I hear a boring slow song like this sung by Jisun.
The booklet contains lyrics and recording info for every song but that's about it. I wouldn't exactly recommend this album, unless you do know and like some of the series these songs are the soundtrack for or you're a big fan of the three aforementioned artists. Not that it's bad, it's just that there's so much better music available.
Windstruck
I like the movie Windstruck a lot. I love how it's funny like My Sassy Girl the first half and turns into a real tearjerker in the last half. I also think the soundtrack is excellent, but it wasn't till it ended up in the bargain corner that I actually got to buying it.
The Windstruck soundtrack consists of two discs: The actual soundtrack and something like a single from Youme. The beautiful score is composed by 최승현 an 곽연진 and it's mostly performed by The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra led by conductor Stanislav Varinek.
Stay is an important theme for Windstruck. It appears in four different forms: the original version, a pizzicato version (옷 바꿔입기/Changing Clothers), a string version (오프로드/The Road Trip) and a gayageum version (다섯 번째 청혼자/The Fifth Suitor). I don't really like the original, but the pizzicato version is funny and since I've acquired a taste for traditional Korean instruments I like the gayageum version as well.
Other notable appearances is the instrumental orchestra version of Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Le Picadilly disguised as 일하자/Let's Begin! and 새끼 손가락의 전설/The Myth of Joining Pinkies that in addition to the piano features a bunch of traditional Korean instruments.
The most excellent piece of music on here is, however, Tears. X-Japan has made some of the most beautiful rock ballads that will somehow bring me to tears easier than any other songs I can think of. I don't think it's a coincidence that the scene of the movie I think is the most touching is the one where this beautifully orchestrated song is played.
As for the Youme single, I would've prefered if it was not included. Not that she's done a bad job, I just think it disrupts the mood. 바람이라도 좋아, which like part of the score is composed by 곽연진, would've been fine with the instrumental settings and all, but I've never liked Knockin' on Heaven's Door. 시계를 돌리면 and Wind oF Soul (yes, that is a deliberate capitalization) are just wrong. Even the final track, Going Back to the…which is a piano instrumental, doesn't fit since it lacks the proper orchestration to back it up.
Wolf
Mot's debut album, non-linear, was my favorite album from 2004, but somehow I haven't really listened much to it since. Since getting to know sanguinaria, however, I've been getting back into MOT and while awaiting a second album release I'm catching up on other albums where they've taken part. This is the soundtrack for some quite recent MBC drama I haven't seen ^^
My first impression was that the soundtrack as a whole is quite mediocre. The two MOT tracks, Prelude and Sorry For…, are instrumentals and more electronic than their other songs. Despite that I really like Sorry For…, which is very "chillastic" (in lack of a better word). Prelude on the other hand does not really stand out among the other instrumental songs that, with the exception of 표건우's piano piece Temptations For Heaven, belong to the cathegory of "modern music" kdrama scores. One peculiar thing is that despite listing "artist:" for each song among lyrics and info in the booklet, all of these instrumental songs are credited as "Various" on the back.
As for the songs credited with actual artists on the back, they're all decent. Booth and Monday Kiz are doing their thing on a couple of new songs (나만의 전쟁 and 운명 respectively). 부활's 정동화 has contributed with a rock ballad, 파라다이스. Pretty good but far from how great Boohwal can be. J and Na Yoon Kwon each have a version of Come Back To Me - a nice slow song both have made into their own. Lee Won Suk appears to have resurfaced and does the rockish title song together with rapper 이준승. It's quite reminiscent of The TRAX actually, but there's not enough power in the background music to make it as great as it could've been.
After listening to this soundtrack I'm still indifferent to the drama itself. Despite some good songs the mediocre impression lasted through a couple of listens more and the boring pics of the actors in the drama featured in the booklet has not made me any more curious about it.