Monday, February 26, 2007

Rahul Dev Burman: Ghar (1977)

A lovely R.D. Burman score... highlighted, for me anyway, by the sublime bossa-tinged 'Tere Bina Jiya' and the dreamy (trippy almost) 'Aaj Kal Paon', both sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Can't really knock the remaining tracks either, it's an excellent album throughout. At a time when Burman was putting out one madcap, funked-up extravaganza after another, 'Ghar' was a decidedly different, much more

Rahul Dev Burman: Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973)

My first copy of this was one of the Bollywood LPs I paid most for, 40-50 bucks some years back from an eBayer who graded it EX, both disc and cover. What I got was a record sounding like an amplified bowl of fresh Rice Crispies, in 12" split seams. Fuck! So back on the hunt then, fully expecting to have to shell out a minor fortune for one that actually sounded good... then whaddya know, up

I'm still still here...

Hahahaha... here I was thinking noone had been commenting the last couple of weeks (boooo!), turns out I'd switched the moderator thing on and hadn't been paying attention... aahhh, so many laying in wait, glad to see you're all still aboard :-) And sorry for my laxness in posting - been away, been playing at running a record label (shameless self plug) - regular services will resume very shortly

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Naushad: Saathi (1969)

Naushad belongs to the old school of Indian music directors, widely recognized as one of the greatest, composing scores to a number of major Bollywood classics such as 'Mother India' (1957) and 'Mughal-e-Azam' (1960). I'm not sure if 'Saathi' is considered a classic; the soundtrack is certainly one though. Not in the usual as-perceived-by-hip-western-listeners sense, all beats and funk and rock '

Sonik Omi: Sawan Bhadon (1970)

A break from the usual suspects; here's one by Jaidev Sonik and Om Prakash Sharma (Omi), a composing duo I know very little about. The soundtrack to 'Sawan Bhadon' [2] was very much in demand a while back, primarily because of Burman-esque (and excellent) 'Ankhen Meri Maikhana'. The other tracks don't do that much for me... they're OK (I quite like 'Mera Nan Ghabrae), but pale a bit in comparison

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

I'm still here...

Just been stupidly busy lately... day jobs, bah! Anyway, expect a couple of new LPs up before or at the weekend (and then another 10 day break as I'll be away, zigzagging around Germany for a bit).Just so that none of you think I've given up already :-)