| Song: Mere Sapnon Ki Rani Album: Aradhana Type: Bollywood Singers: Kishore Kumar Music Director: S.D. Burman Lyricist: Anand Bakshi Rating: 5.0 A gem of a song that rejuvenated Kishore Kumar’s sagging career. Fascinating how a 40-year-old singer managed to become the voice of the youth with this song. Awesome instrumentation involving flutes, harmonica, accordion and a funky guitar! |
| Song: Rock N’ Roll Soniye Album: Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna Type: Bollywood Singers: Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, Mahalakshmi Iyer Music Director: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Lyricist: Javed Akhtar Rating: 3.6 A nice fusion of rock n’ roll and bhangra. Some cool piano sounds. |
| Song: One Album: …And Justice For All Type: Metal Artist: Metallica Rating: 4.3 The first half of the song oscillates between a rock ballad and melodic metal before unleashing metal fury in the second half. A many-layered, multi-textured song. |
| Song: Rajahamsame Album: Chamayam Type: Mollywood Singers: Chitra Music Director: Johnson Lyricist: ONV Kurup Rating: 5.0 Chitra’s voice elevates this simple composition to a great song. Heart filled with sadness listening to this song a day after her daughter’s death. |
| Song: Aadat Hai Voh Album: Patiala House Type: Bollywood Singers: Vishal Dadlani Music Director: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Lyricist: Anvitta Dutt Rating: 4.3 A mellow pop/rock number. I really liked this song for the section that has Vishal singing in a relaxed, low pitch – something I don’t recall him doing before. He eventually does use the intense, high-pitched vocals he normally employs but the contrast is interesting. |
| Song: Faust Earp Album: In Rainbows Type: Alternative Artist: Radiohead Rating: 3.8 A simple, acoustic melody. Not representative of the emerging electronic avatar of Radiohead. And that is a good thing in my book. |
| Song: Ezhumalai Album: Ezhumalai Type: Koliwood Singers: Karthik, Chitra Music Director: Mani Sharma Lyricist: Vaali Rating: 3.1 Nothing realy distinguishes this song. |
| Song: Gaata Rahe Mera Dil Album: Guide Type: Bollywood Singers: Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar Music Director: S.D. Burman Lyricist: Shailendra Rating: 4.4 A cool, relaxing song but a little predictable. |
| Song: Tu Mera Hai Album: Ada Type: Bollywood Singers: Chitra, Sukhwinder Singh, Naresh Iyer Music Director: A R Rahman Lyricist: Nusrat Badr Rating: 3.4 A mellow song with a Sufi touch. Didn’t enjoy the super high pitch that ARR made Chitra go for. |
| Song: Rasiya Album: Kurbaan Type: Bollywood Singers: Shruthi Pathak Music Director: Salim-Sulaiman Lyricist: Niranjan Iyengar Rating: 3.6 A sexy, sensuous song in the mold of Hai Rama (Rangeela) except that this one has the subtlety of a sledgehammer with its pervasive moans/sighs/pants. Gotta love Shruti Pathak’s voice though. |