Shin Joong Hyun – “J” Blues 72
I first came into contact with the music of Shin Joong Hyun recently when Stones Throw/Now-Again included his song “Twilight” on their psychedelic compilation Forge Your Own Chains. Light In The Attic has taken the initiative to release a full collection of material from Hyun recorded from 1958-1974. Hyun’s story is a fascinating one, teaching himself to play guitar and leading bands at an early age, he became such a force in Asia that he has the honor of having Fender actually make a tribute series guitar for him, a honor only shared by other recognized masters such as Clapton, Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Most of this compilation focuses on his more psychedelic and rocking 1960s & 1970s output (including “Twilight” that here is translated as “Sunset”, but inexplicably missing his cover of Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida“). The instrumental “J Blues ’72” is the longest track on the compilation but it’s a nice representative of Hyun’s guitar prowess. Like many of the tracks collected here it has a slow build until about halfway through when things get considerably funkier especially with the earsplitting organ solo before closing out with a nice crashing breaktastic drum solo that gives you the impression this song lasted 25 minutes or more…Heavy.