S.E.S.
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 S.E.S. fans should be celebrating. The trio has released their third Korean album, Love. It consists of 27 tracks, 15 of which are "talk" tracks. The talk tracks are rather strange (in one Eugene describes how to fry an egg) and they indicate that the group lacks a certain originality. Rather, Shoo, Eugene and Sea are following the same format for their album as was recently used by H.O.T., their male counterparts in the SM organization. Moreover, the girls have all changed their looks to match those of H.O.T. Check out their new orange-blonde hairstyles, for instance.
The first song on the CD is Twilight Zone [MP3]. Twilight has a slow funk beat, and in places the group electronically manipulates the vocals in the same fashion employed by Cher with Believe. I did find the interlude about 3 minutes into the tune oddly appealing.
Track four is the title song, Love [ASX]. Already this is proving to be a hit. S.E.S. seems to be embracing English lyrics more and more often. Both this song and the next, I've Been Waiting For You [MP3], have significant English passages. I think it makes the songs sound a little too similar to each other, as they tend to all follow the same pattern: sing the verse in Korean, the chorus in English.
Blue Sky [MP3] is a pretty song. Like H.O.T., S.E.S. is plagued by fans' suspicions of plagiarizing. In this case, fans are comparing the song to X-Japan's Crucify My Love [RealAudio]. Personally, I don't see much similarity.
Track ten, Tell Me [MP3], has an R&B feel to it. To tell the truth, I found the song to be a bit on the sleep-inducing side. The percussion behind it didn't display much emotion, and the solo voices seem a bit thin. This, in fact, is true of much of the album. Everything is pretty, but there isn't a lot of depth of sound.
Baram Doongi Gildeuligi [MP3] is my favorite song on the CD, probably because it shows a little more life than the rest. I like the bass line and the flow lyrics. I would really like to hear more of this kind of song from S.E.S. in the future.
I also like Sha-La-La [MP3]. The vocals aren't quite as anemic as in the earlier part of the album. I don't think the bass line works as well with Sha-La-La as it does in Baram Doongi Gildeuligi.
Promise [MP3] is another R&B ballad. It's stronger than Tell Me in the lead vocals and demonstrates the sound that originally won over S.E.S. fans.
Sugar Baby [MP3] is a funk tune that should offer Shoo, Eugene and Sea some dancing opportunities on the stage. By this time in the CD, I'm getting really tired of the same drumbeat playing over and over. With the included talk tracks the CD is quite long, I found it difficult to listen to all the way through without pausing.
The opening of Silver [MP3] is neat (except that drum beat). After Baram Doongi Gildeuligi, this is the most original-sounding song on the album. Again, the chorus of this one is in English instead of Korean. Show Me Love [MP3] has a good groove (sadly, it retains both the drumbeat and the English chorus). In this one, you actually get to hear the members of S.E.S. raise their voices.
The final cut on the album is Wait [MP3]. I think I would have ended the CD with Show Me Love instead of this somewhat colorless song. It's not a bad song, it just doesn't have a lot of personality.
By Denise Ahn Would you like to Comment on this article or send it to a friend? You can do either one just below where you see:
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