Music has been called a 'Universal Language' and I agree completely. In 1973, I returned from a US Army tour in Korea with 48 LP Albums. The songs on these albums have seen more play than any other music I own, even though I do not understand the Korean language. The information contained here comes from all over, but the main sources are the very few albums with English record jackets, and the Internet (Web).
One of the biggest aids in tracking this old music was the Korean Pop Database site (www.kpopdb.com) which apparently ceased operating at the end of 2004. In 2005, much of the kpopdb content was available on 'matia and xfactor's maniadb' site (www.maniadb.com). Available information includes brief artist information, their albums, CDs and tapes, dates, and thumbnail pictures of most products. From this, I was able to search for specific products, and confirm that many of my albums have apparently never been indexed.
Another site which features some early history of a few of the singers here is from a European radio show (http://progressive.homestead.com/KOREA.html). This site answered some of the questions I had on the early days of some of my favorite singers.
Finally, there is simply searching, reading, questioning and relating pieces of information from various sources. So, here is my list of favorite music, and as much current information on each as I have been able to find:
The Pearl Sisters (Bae In Soon and Bae In Sook) first peaked my interest in Korean music. Whether singing to the driving beat of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" in Korean (Dalkumhan Sarang) or perhaps the most melodic rendition of "White Christmas" that I have ever heard (with verses in both Korean and English), their voices blend together and express emotions and feelings with the accompanying instruments.
The B-side of KLH-1 contains versions of American pop tunes, but the A-side has several of the songs that made the Pearl Sisters popular such as 'Nima' (My Darling), 'Keopi Hanjan' (A Cup of Coffee) and 'Du Keurimja' (Two Shadows). The B-side of KLH-9 contains songs by Lee Jeong Hwa including 'Bombi' (Spring Rain, the title on the Cover Art), 'Meokil' (A Long Way) and 'Naeil' (Tomorrow), while the A-side features Pearl Sisters' 'Napalbaji' (Bell Bottoms) and several versions of American rock tunes. The cover art for this album was re-used on the Pony Canyon/Shim Jung Hyun CD (still available in 2004) but the songs are mostly from KLH-1 and other albums. Also the second title was changed from Lee Jong Hwa's 'Bombi' to the Pearl Sisters' 'Nima'. JLS-120346 features several big hits of the Pearl Sisters with some songs from other artists of the time. All but one of the Pearl Sisters songs from this album are on Jigu Record's CD JCDS-0186, and all are on JMCD-0079.
These three albums contain only Pearl Sisters' music, and several of the tunes are common to two of the albums. SEL-100,006 is unique in that the album and platter lettering are in English. The short Biographical sketch is almost all I know about the sisters, but their music plainly shows their talent! The cover art for this album was also re-used on King Records CD KCD-047, but with different lettering on the cover and featuring a different playlist.
These albums all feature a number of different artists in addition to the Pearl Sisters. JLS-120502 also features Jeong Hoon Hee's hit 'Ankae' (Fog) while OL-1099 features Kim Sang Hee's hit 'Pyeonji' (Letter) as cover art in addition to featured hits by the Pearl Sisters. Many other artists are also on each album. KLS-33 and OL-1147 differ in that the A-sides are all songs by the Pearl Sisters, but the B-sides are all by Trio Japonese (KLS-33) and Na Hoon Ah (OL-1147) respectively. From playlists, it appears that the Oasis CD ORC-1171 contains cuts from OL-1147, but I have not been able to obtain a copy of the CD.
Update: If you search for Pearl Sisters music these days, you will probably only find CD versions. I have been able to locate three of the four identified in my searches (less a fourth new release).
King Records KCD-047 is still available as of May 2005 from several vendors such as www.music-plaza.com. It has a dozen of the most popular hits, all of which are on the vinyl records in my collection. A couple of them, Koepi Hanjan (A Cup of Coffee) and Deonayahal Keusaram (Let Him Go) have been modified by adding instruments to the left and right channels to create a stereo effect from the original monophonic records. As I mentioned above, the cover art is re-used from the SEL-100,006 special album, but this CD does not have English anywhere except the group name in the cover. The tracks are also different than the LP.
Until Jigu began releasing their Golden two-CD sets, my favorite CD was Jigu Records JCDS-0186. This CD was available at www.annyoung.com as late as early 2007, but is no longer listed. Selections on the disc seem to span the entire career of the Pearl Sisters, but only those released on the Jigu label. Half of the tracks are not in my collection of vinyl and cassette but seem to come from vinyl records in the late 1960s and after 1973 when my collection ended.
The right-most cover above (SJHMVD-0005) seems to still be available either under this label, or the Pony Canyon number PCSD00076. It contains only a few of the early tracks from KLH-1, one from KLH-9 (Napalbaji; Bell-bottoms or 'Trumpet Pants') and one from KST-2 or KLS-29 LPs. The first copy of the CD I ordered sounded as if it was recorded over a telephone. A second order from music-plaza.com in 2005 was better, although all tracks played slower than they should by up to nearly 10 persent, and were heavily filtered and clipped, limiting the dynamic range. Consequently, I have spent many months cleaning my old vinyl tracks for listenable copies. This CD does have several pictures in and on the cover which make it worthwhile. The cover art is from the KLH-9 LP with the lower name in blue altered from the LPs 'Bombi' which was a side B hit by Lee Jeong Hwa to 'Nima' which was a big Pearl Sisters hit. Of note is how the cover art bears a similarity to the JCDS-0186 CD next to it. That day must have been a busy photo shoot!
As part of Jigu's re-release of old music, they released this 2-CD set of Pearl Sister's music (although they seem to have forgotten how to spell). This release only adds six cuts (4 by the Pearl Sisters, 2 instrumentals by Kyeong Eum Ahk) to the play list on JCDS-0186. From my perspective, it is a good buy (from www.annyoung.com) because the four new songs are new to my collection.
The one CD that I have not been able to locate is an old one, and seems to come with two covers as:
I have not been able to determine which is the later cover, but the photo is the same as a Cassette (Oasis Records GS-474) I picked up around 1983 and played so much that it is now severely degraded. The title (Final Selection) and play list (to include a mis-spelling of 'Nima') on the Cassette is almost the same as the CD, less a track by 'Kon Jon Gayo' which is on the Cassette but not the CD track list. Two of the biggest hits, Koepi Hanjan and Nima, on the cassette are instrumental versions by Kyeong Eum Ahk instead of the Pearl Sisters, and I do not know if this was done on the CD as well.
What happened to them? According to releases from the now-defunct kpopdb site and many web searches, the Pearl Sisters apparently split in the mid-1970s. The younger sister, Bae In Sook, continued to sing into the 'disco' era of the late 1970s producing a couple of albums, including one collection of hits. A CD of these hits is still available, but apparently nothing new since 1984.
The older sister, Bae In Soon, re-entered singing in 2004 with a brand new set of songs on her CD 'A Cup of Coffee with My Song'. I located both of these CDs at www.music-plaza.com in the Spring of 2005.
I heartily recommend both of these CDs. TOP Music's TOPAMCD0997 is a fantastic collection of Bae In Sook's music, and you can plainly hear her voice as part of the Pearl Sisters, especially in 'Algo Shipeoyo' (I want to know what Love is) on KLH-1 and the Shin Jung Hyun MVD-0005 special Pearl Sisters CD.
Equally exciting is Synnara Music's KSC-A4002 release of new music by Bae In Soon. I was a little reluctant in ordering this after hearing how badly other pop singers from that time had ruined their voices. This was not the case here though. Bae In Soon has taken excellent care of her voice and nails the music with emphasis! The full range that she sings, from slow melodic ballads to driving rock, leave no doubt that the Pearl Sisters were a phenomenon in Korean Pop music, IMNSHO.