The post about Carmen Maki, served as an inspiration to present one more female Asian artist that created music which "defied" the musical tradition of her country following more the western pop/rock standards of her era - in this case the early seventies. King Jung Mi was born in Korea after the civil war when the US presence and consequently influence in the country was still strong. Taken under the mentorship of Shin Joong Hyun, the godfather of the Korean rock scene, they together wrote, produced and recorded the psychedelic masterpiece Now.
I am using the word masterpiece very carefully here but I cannot think about a better description of the beauty of this album which contains 10 wonderful psychedelic-folk songs, with fantastic melodies sung in Korean by the ethereal voice of Kim Jung Mi. Now has an introspective and melancholic character (despite the positive message of the songs - my Korean are not strong but I assume this by reading the titles...). There are some more upbeat rock moments like in Wind, Blow Spring Breeze or It's Raining which only enhance the greatness of this album.
Fortunately, Now has received some very decent re-releases (something that it is unfortunately not the case with the other albums in Kim Jung Mi's discography which are wither impossible to be found in logical prices outside Korea or in fairly sounding bootlegs...). If you love the psychedelic 70's give this album definitely a chance.
