Jang Yoon-Jeong Vol. 5 (장윤정 5집) (2010)

Jang Yoon-Jeong’s fifth album kept with the general trend from her fourth album; it’s a combination of trot, pop and club dance all in one. The lead single “Come On” is a breezy, summery pop song, while second single “Invocation” is a trot ballad. The dance tracks “Fire Butterfly,” Stockings,” and “Casanova” are all standard fare, while “Uh-oh” is a particularly fun trot number. The hookiest track might be the pure pop song “Common Sense.” This album also includes a duet with legendary trot singer Nam Jin on “I Like You.” The sequencing has the four “serious” songs sandwiched in the middle, with a solid layer of upbeat songs at both the beginning and end, leaving the listener with a generally happy feeling.

Image Source: Bugs! Music

Cho Yong-Pil Vol. 2 (조용필 2집) (1980)

Cho Yong-Pil’s phenomenal success in Korea made him the first Korean rock artist to perform at Carnegie Hall, as is prominently displayed by the front cover. Like Volume 1, some of the songs included were themes to dramas, including the title song “Blessing (Candlelight),” and “Modern History Figures.” Other songs of note include “Unexpected Goodbye,” which fuses elements of both trot and disco and “I’ve Decided to Forget,” which has been called a fusion of an adult pop song and a nursery rhyme. “Ganyangrok,” which tells the story of a Joseon scholar in Japan, is also well-known, and the funky “Let Me Meet” closes out the album with a twist.

Jigu Records hurried the release of this album as a follow-up to the bestselling Volume 1, and the tracks “Love Hasn’t Ended Yet” and “Sad Smile” from the first album are included again here.

Note: The CD version has a different track sequence, but since this album originally came out in the vinyl era, I’ve listed the track sequence from the vinyl version. The CD version doesn’t include the instrumental to “Bobbed Hair,” but it does include “Thoughts of Older Brother,” which wasn’t released on vinyl until Cho’s Volume 3. I have included a translation of “Thoughts of Older Brother” here.

Photo via ManiaDB

Jang Yoon-Jeong Vol. 4 (Jang Yoon-Jeong Twist) (장윤정 4집) (2008)

The modern-day Queen of Trot’s fourth album actually strays a bit from the genre in her appellation. There’s very little trot on this album, in favor of a wide variety of styles. The title song, “Jang Yoon-Jeong Twist” shows Jang paying homage to the 1960’s dance craze, and the club tracks “Sudden Grinding” and “Tiptoe Tiptoe” have very little in common with Korea’s traditional foxtrot music. There are upbeat pop songs in “Try to Catch Me” and “I Need a Man,” slow ballads in “I Am Anxious,” “Once Again,” and “The Life of a Woman,” (that last title not a rendition of the Lee Mi-Ja classic), and even a Korean-language cover of “One Night Only” from Dreamgirls. Like most of Jang’s albums, it’s all over the map stylistically, but the material is strong and her vocals tie it together cohesively.

Cover art via ManiaDB

Jang Yoon-Jeong Vol. 2 (장윤정 2집) (2005)

The 21^st Century’s Queen of Trot, Jang Yoon-Jeong followed up on the success of her first album with this fine effort. On the trot side, there are hits such as “Flower,” “Jjan-jja-ra,” and the later-to-be-remade “Bean Pods.” On the non-trot side there’s the pop ballad “Letter,” a duet with the late Chae Dong-Ha (채동하) of SG Wannabe, the dance tracks “Hey Lover” and “Frost,” and the rap-rock chant “Take Heart.” Jang’s vocal talent is considerable enough to carry these songs, whatever the genre, and it makes for a good all-around album. Trot may not be most youngsters’ cup of tea, but this album proves it can successfully be fused with modern pop sensibilities.

Image via ManiaDB