Rabbi - Avengi Ja Nahin

Rating: 7/10

For: Slightly more involved listeners, Punjabi crowd of course, college crowd and above.

Strengths:A LOT of variety - every song is different, the mellow mood and good melodies/guitars throughout the album. 2-3 totally 'hatke' songs to spice it up.

Weaknesses:Mostly mellow, moody songs - suitable for specific moods, Punjabi lyrics mean you will not be able connect with the meaning of the songs (unless you know it of course), bad attempt at a couple of entirely rock/U2/Bryan Adams kinda songs, some good songs are too short.

Best Songs: Ballo, Pagrhi Sambhal Jatta, Challa, Avengi Ja Nahi, Bilqis
Avoidable songs:Return to Unity - the rest are all good.

The album is pensive - well thought of to start with. Also, note that its difficult to like something too much when its in a language you don't understand (for non-Punjabis that is). However, it is definitely something you can listen to on repeat - coz every song is different although you might not warm up to all of them easily.

There are a couple of surprising and interesting songs like Bilqis and Pagrhi - which Ill discuss later. I do want to point out that this is not a random album - the songs have been worked on a lot and thought about and generally when a good artist like Rabbi puts in all this effort, it does come off well!

About the songs - for the first time in my reviews, it has become very difficult to point out the best song. I'll go with 'Ballo' for its pop nature - something most people will like. It does sound something like Uncle Kracker meets Kylie Minogue but jokes apart, its got a very peppy feel to it - something that will get you slowly moving in your chair.

Another very nice song is 'Bilqis'. It seems Pink Floyd inspired - in terms of the structure, sound, everything. It is this preachy but upbeat track about people like Satyendra Dubey, Manjunath etc. and has got a good message amalgamated in a catchy tune. It's got a 'Run Like Hell' kind of groove and Rabbi's got this innocent voice going in this song - so everything somehow falls together and sounds good!

I loved 'Pagrhi Sambhal Jatta'. It starts of like 'Under the Bridge' by RHCP then smoothly progresses into its hookline 'Pagrhi Sambhal Jatta' which has a very very nice and soothing melody. It has a very mature sound and grows in terms of energy and is very captivating towards the end. A lot of strings have been used to get that grand effect and of course good guitars. The drums could have been better - they sound pretty elementary and the song could have used a little more complicated drumming.

'Challa' is another soothing song. Nice percussion - or the lack of it - as in the song has been treated with care. Sounds something like Rajesh Khanna's 'Chingaari Koi Bhadke'. It's got this heavy feel, with very nice violins, accordion at places. It really picks up when Rabbi takes it on the higher octave. However, it should have been longer. At just 3.44 it ends too early.

Then we have 'Avengi Ja Nahin' , 'Maen Bolia' and 'Tu Avin Bandra' - kind of similar to each other in terms of arrangement/instruments . 'Maen Bolia' is like Rabbi's first album - the sound is like Bulla ki Jaana and a nice song to listen to a few times, also good use of the organ in this song. The title song 'Avengi Ja Nahin' is pretty cool - nice melody again, lots of guitaring - clean acoustic guitar chords dominate other stuff and that always sounds good when the melody is right. 'Tu Avin Bandra' is something like Norah Jones - not something to love immediately, but perfect when the mood is right. The hookline 'Tu Avin Bandra' is very calming - you can just close your eyes and hum along. The rest of the song though, is just alright.

'Karachi Valie' is ok. A decent attempt at Bryan Adams/U2. Not too bad but there's so much of this around already that this is nothing novel or new. General song overall.

'Return to Unity' - Another attempt at modern rock. Bad accent, ordinary sound (same as above), ordinary melody. Overall, I didn't like this song. But given the other good work in this album, let's not kill Rabbi for trying this out - worth attempting.

So, overall, he does live up to his name and what he's known for - that's his vocals, guitaring, sense of melody etc. and the fact that he managed to include so much variety in this album makes it a good buy!

Strings - Koi Aanay Wala Hai

Rating: 5/10

For: College/School Crowd. Strings Fans.

Strengths: The youngster friendly sound - U2 mixed with indi-pop sounds pretty good as usual, the best songs are actually pretty good!

Weaknesses: Mostly bad lyrics, most songs sound very amateur, too much weird experimentation/wannabeness

Best Songs: Koi aanay wala hai, Keh Diya, Sonay Do
Avoidable songs:Jab Se Tum Ko, Jago, Jab Bhi Main, Ek Do Teen

Note: Excluding 'Zinda' and 'Aakhri Alvida' from the review coz they just happen to be in this album but not intended for this album.

Actually, I wasn't too surprised with this album. Typical Strings and Euphoria - Really good title track, couple more songs worth listening to and the rest mostly crap.

Although, this one is actually pretty worse than their earlier albums, plus after a 4 year wait, you don't expect this from an 18 yr old band.

Strings' strength has always been the sound and not much has changed with that and thats good for the album - at least the fans will like it - I am one too and will listen to it a bit (the good part only that is :P) but as a reviewer I would still be very careful with the level of appreciation.

The songs, yes, the title track is pretty well done, 'Koi Aanay Wala Hai' is a typical flowy Strings song - start to finish. Good melody and vocals, constant distortion and chords keep it going well. Also good use of voices and harmonies makes it sound richer too. Lyrics go with the song and not bad at all. The video is not too bad either but some people might have problems with John Abraham turning angel! Clearly the best song of the album and certainly worth listening to!

'Keh Diya' uses a very nice and different groove from what these guys usually use and its turned out very well because of the sweet sounding guitars and melody around it. Nice melody especially around the hooklines and again, the voices are in place - these kind of songs sometimes need them and this is one has them. Good use of the muted acoustic guitar on the hooklines - makes it sound peppier. You can actually rank this right alongside the title track.

'Sonay Do' is this soothing track. Bilaal (the guitarist) does all the vocals for this and I didn't find it too bad. It's a good song but it depends on how you digest the hookline ('aankh lagi to....') - the melody here is too elementary but is executed well so you might love this song or hate this. Again good acoustic guitars, or rather the keyword - soothing acoustic guitars - even the chords are on just a light distortion for a change.

The only other track worth mentioning is probably 'Titliyaan' - seems like a theme song for a child NGO or anaath ashram and it is very good if it is that. Good track to listen to - well arranged music, with everything in place and good vocals, lyrics and everything. But not something memorable.

Quickly going through the crap:

'Jab Bhi Main' goes 'Jab bhi main tujhko dekhun, lagta hai mujhko aise, baahon me khilti kaliyaan, phoolon me sabnam jaise' and so on- on a papa kehte hai beat which goes on and on and on. Bad attempt at rock and roll. However, you wont hate it if you're not judging it - if it plays when you're on shuffle mode - you can actually make it to the end of the song coz its not too bad to generally listen to.

'Jab Se Tum Ko' is crap. Big Crap. If you can get to beyond 1 minute in this song, hats off!

'Ek Do Teen' starts off OK and thats it. Seems to be the long awaited title track for Son Paree. Wrong song in wrong album.

'Jago' - bad bad drum sounds, bad bad lyrics, the only time I can imagine listening to this song is on a treadmill - might go with the jogging. Bad Song for most people.

'Hum Hi Hum' makes me feel they should have spent more on the drummer. It's not just this song, many others - drumming is very average - needs to be much much better. Very average song this one too, don't wanna break my head analyzing this song.

Other than these, luckily this album houses two more tracks - 'Zinda' (Title track of the Sanjay Dutt movie Zinda) and 'Aakhri Alvida' (Title track of Shootout at Lokhandwala) both of which are really good and the overall percentage of good in the album goes up significantly when you count these!

So, Strings fans must buy it as usual. People wanting to try Strings should not start with this album. First like Strings and then listen to this. If you have too much pocket money buy it for the best 2-3 songs and the 2 extra ones - 5 good songs is not too bad for a studio album.

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

Rating: 6/10

Music Direction: A R Rahman

Strengths: Consistent Modern Sound, Catchy Tunes.

Weaknesses: Lyrics lack attention, Some tunes seem too familiar, and in general average music - for a Rahman album.

Best Songs: Kabhi Kabhi Aditi, Nazrein Milaana.
Avoidable Songs: Pappu Can't Dance (and the Remix).

Disclaimer: I am not judging A R Rahman, I am only commenting on the songs of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.

To start off, the music is pretty good and nothing wrong with that anywhere, plus it seems like one of those albums which might sound much better in the movie than on a CD, so lets wait for that too. However, for an A R Rahman album, it's just average.

Let's straightaway get to the songs,

The best song is 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi' and why - nice groove and rhythm all the way, Rashid Ali (Rahman's lead guitarist) does a pretty good job on the vocals. Definitely a very peppy song and will quickly top the charts. Very nice guitar work too. A very good song but I have a few problems with it - 1. Can't really make out all the lyrics - he's sung it well but it seems as if noone cares what is written, 2. sounds like 'Lady' by Modjo and 'Love to see you cry' by Enrique a little bit! - plus he ends up sounding a bit like adnan sami at times - all this put aside, just listen to the song and you will love it!

I liked 'Nazrein Milaana' a lot too. Again, very peppy and this one has a hint of rock too - something you can rock to as well as shake a leg or two to. This song should look really nice in the movie and sounds fresh and will click a lot with the college and school going crowd. The problem with this song is that you will love the track and keep listening to it without paying attention to the lyrics because the singers don't do it themselves! But a good song anyway and has a great hookline - 'Nazrein Milaana........'.

'Jaane Tu Mera' (both versions) is a decent 'sad' song (something like Tanhaayee from DCH but with lesser intensity). Nice melody and ambience and the kind of song you can always have in the background when missing someone or if you're simply sad! - especially the female version which is a little more upbeat - while the male version is more intense and actually meant to be depressing - not something you will listen to too many times. Decent lyrics - nothing too touching but go with the flow.

'Kahin To Hogi' sounds too similar to 'Nothing's gonna change my love for you' and 'No matter what - Boyzone' for me to appreciate it too much. It's a very nice song to listen to on repeat and fall in love with - especially for the romatically inclined, but then I can't resist saying that not too much of it sounds original. The antra / verse sounds nice and overall the ambience is good - something Rahman always manages to create. However, when I start liking the song for what it is there is a scale change (around 4:15) which reminds me of those songs again! Anyways, yes, listen to it and you will like it - but overall an average song.

'Tu Bole Main' is all jazz. Music of course is very neat and very jazz and it is definitely a likeable song. Very good melody on the hookline - 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na'. The problem with this, and don't kill me for saying this, is Rahman's vocals - they don't seem to go with this song - with a difficult melody for a song like this, you need someone to pronounce the lyrics really really well but Rahman has always had that problem and it puts you off sometimes in this song.

'Pappu Can't Dance' - err - I tried liking it - managed to eventually but that's not how it should be. It certainly sounds like a song made to look good in a movie and in a discotheque and it is probably, but among all the songs in the movie, this is the one you would listen to the least and the same goes for it's remix of course.

The whole soundtrack has a consistent sound and that is very important. The music sounds fresh and in place for what the movie promises to be. So, overall, worth buying but maybe not a memorable album - except for the best two songs which might still play on MTV a year from now but I think the rest will be forgotten. And frankly, I don't think Rahman was too involved in this.

Late Comer

My Ipod got stolen! at least 4-5 more albums to review .. sorry for the delay .. will be up this week!

:( :(