The guitar clips its phrases short and the bass enters the space between them. Keyboards behave more like rhythm than melody; the vocal addresses us with a sly ease. Love & Peace's first album pushed the gestures of soul and funk into Korean pop in 1978.
From Seoul Wanderer to Love & Peace
The official Korean Music Awards history begins with the musicians' work as Seoul Wanderer in 1976. They took the name Love & Peace in 1978 and released a first album. Interviews and reissue notes describe Lee Jang-hee hearing them at Mugen in Myeong-dong and becoming their producer.
The first-album credits list Choi Yi-chul on guitar and vocal, Kim Myung-gon on keyboards and vocal, Lee Geun-su on keyboards, Sarvo on bass and Kim Tae-heung on drums. Founding, recording and later stage line-ups were not identical; the record credits are therefore kept distinct here.
Not a band that played behind a hit.
A band whose playing was the hit.
Four songs, four instrumentals, total confidence
Lee Jang-hee wrote and composed “Long Time No See,” and Kim Myung-gon arranged it. Behind the approachable song, guitar, keyboards and bass divide the empty space instead of competing to play the most notes.
The album places “The Wind” and “Moonlight” beside band adaptations of Beethoven's Fifth, “Flight of the Bumblebee” and “Ave Maria.” A popular title song and instrumental experiment share one record, revealing a group of players designing music on their own terms.
A genealogy of Korean music inside one band
The 1979 second album included “I Cannot Tell You” and “Rose.” Bass became more elastic, while guitar and keyboards entered the gaps in the vocal. The funk impulse of the debut settled even more naturally into accessible songs.
Across decades, Choi Yi-chul, Kim Myung-gon, Lee Geun-su and Kim Tae-heung were joined in the band's history by crucial musicians including Lee Nam-yi, Song Hong-seop, Jang Ki-ho and Park Seong-sik. In 2023, the 20th Korean Music Awards honoured Love & Peace for remaking soul, funk, disco, blues and fusion jazz in a distinctively Korean band language.
LISTENING GUIDE · YOUTUBE
Three tracks to hear again
Long Time No See
Guitar and bass making rhythm by leaving space
Rose
The band's push and pull behind the vocal
I Cannot Tell You
The point where song and playing become one
Calling Love & Peace merely an old pop group misses the movement inside the music. Step back from the familiar voice and follow the spaces between guitar, bass and keyboards: the ensemble still makes the body answer first.
Seoul already had this groove in 1978.
SOURCES & CREDITS
Dates, credits and recording details were cross-checked against the sources below.
- Korean Music Awards — 2023 Achievement Award and band history ↗
- ManiaDB — 1978 first-album tracks and recording credits ↗
- Apple Music — current first-album distribution and cover ↗
- Channel Yes — interview with Choi Yi-chul ↗
The first-album cover is cited from Apple Music and the second-album product image from Yes24 for editorial introduction. YouTube thumbnails link to Love&Peace - Topic, KBS and the band's official channel; rights remain with their owners.
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