Beautiful Rivers And Mountains : The Psychedelic Sound Of South Korea's Shin Joong Hyun 1958 - 1974 - Light In The Attic - LITA065

Shin Joong Hyun was South Korea's answer to Brian Wilson, Jimi Hendrix and Simon Cowell, an acid rock auteur and guitar virtuoso with a sassy svengali sideline. Thus, this superb compilation slips sugary dream-pop bubblegum nuggets, Shin at the controls coaxing emotional peaks from would-be divas and sharp-shirted singers, in-between psychedelic epics, like the slow-burning fifteen minute freak-out ‘J' Blues 72.

The anti-government sentiment of the baroque ten minute title track saw Shin arrested and tortured which, sadly, is where his similarity with Cowell ends.

(2/10/11)