Saturday, December 30, 2006

Rahul Dev Burman: Kati Patang (1970)

Rounding off 2006, here's another great R.D. Burman score. From Lata Mangeshkar's atmospheric 'Na Koi Umang Hai', via the cool Indian bossa of Kishore Kumar's 'Pyar Diwana Hoya Hai' and Asha Bhosle's nightclub number 'Mera Naam Hai Shabnam', to the huge hit 'Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai' (Kishore Kumar again), 'Kati Patang' is a true Bollywood classic.And there's plenty of dialogue on the soundtrack for

Shankar Jaikishan: Chori Chori (1973)

There are two films called 'Chori Chori' that were scored by Shankar Singh and Jaikishan Panchal. The first one from 1956 is very famous (I don't have it though), this one is slightly less so. It's nice, nothing spectacular, but has a good feel to it. Check out Asha Bhosle's 'Hum Se Kar Le Dosti' for a delightful example of chirpy Hindi pop.Track listing:1. Suman Kalyanpur & Manhar: Chori Chori

A word about sound quality

It's crap. Anyone expecting music with superior sound quality should go away right now. See, the thing about Indian soundtracks, especially of the vintage kind, is that they often sound very very bad. Up until approx. 1977, all Indian film music was compressed to match the limited frequency range of film celluloid (don't ask me why they never bothered keeping better mixes for the albums; I have

Kalyanji Anandji: Farishta-Ya-Qatil (1977)

I think 'Farishta-Ya-Qatil' might have been the first Bollywood soundtrack I ever bought (or was given... I can't recall). Brothers Kalyanji Veerji Shah and Anandji Veerji Shah were famous for a number of truly awesome funk soundtracks in the 70s (many of which will follow here); this however isn't one of them. But it does include the highly infectious 'Kali Kali Kulfon Hain', one of my Bollywood

Rahul Dev Burman: Teesri Manzil (1966)

Here's one I did before, Rahul Dev Burman's soundtrack to 'Teesri Manzil' from 1966. It was one of the first to fuse traditional Hindi song and instrumentation with jazz, rock 'n' roll and other Western styles, effectively kick starting a new era in Indian film music. Check out the title music for starters, a stunning instrumental containing elements of 'The Twilight Zone' and 'The James Bond

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

I have a big box full of Bollywood soundtracks on LP, about 150 I think. Some are classic, some have one or two good songs on them, and some are duds. For a variety of reasons I've lost track of which are worthwhile and which can be chucked out (ie. sold). So, as much for my own sake as anyone else's, I'm going to digitalize and upload them here, on a semi-regular basis. And keep going until I've