Seo Taiji - Take 2
Rating: 8.2
Label: Yedang Entertainment Company
Release Date: July 7, 1998
Relevant Links: Seotaiji Homepage
To say Seo Taiji is a legend in Korea is an understatement. I’ve seen articles that compare him to Micheal Jackson, Kurt Cobain, and John Lennon all in the same breath. He has been one of the most influential artists in the history of Korean pop music.
With his group Seotaiji and Boys (서태지와 아이들), he brought new styles of music (rap, alternative, metal, etc.) to Korea. The group became one of the most popular and respected groups in Korea.
Take 2 is Seo Taiji’s first go at it alone (the “Boys” are no where to be found on this disc), and he turns in a solid effort. While Seo Taiji’s past discs have offered up hip-hop, ballads, rockers, and so on, this album is a straight rock album (sorry ladies, no smooth r&b ballads).
Of the nine tracks on the album, only six are fully formed songs. The tracks “Maya,” “Radio,” and “Lord,” are kind of half formed intermissions, but even those 30 second tracks are awesome. “Radio,” had about 4 or 5 awesome riffs in it’s brief play time.
As for the actually songs, the bulk of them tend to stay in the alterna-rock circa 1996 realm. The songs “Take One,” “Take Five,” and “Take Four,” would have been at home at any alternative rock station in the mid to late 90’s. I can easily invision “Take Four,” being played between Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam tunes. The track “Take Three,” with it’s hefty low end, chunky riffs, and bizarre squeally guitars would appeal more to fans of Korn. “Take Six,” is an upbeat punk pop tune (cough Green Day cough cough), albeit with actual singing.
And what would an alternative rock album be without a secret song? This album features one more (unlisted) instrumental track to close out the album.
While it’s easy to hear a lot of influence from American artists, Seo Taiji is able to take those elements and put his own stamp on them. The end result is a fairly unique album.
