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!