| Song: Katra Katra Album: Ijaazat Type: Bollywood Singer: Asha Bhosle Music Director: R.D. Burman Lyricist: Gulzar Rating: 5.0 An Asha song to commemorate her birthday yesterday. It does not get better than this. While the complexity of Pancham’s music and Gulzar’s lyrics endears the song to music buffs, Asha’s deceptively relaxed singing style makes it accessible to a many more people. She did have some help from technology – the fact that Pancham mixed two separate vocal tracks is obvious in the harmony sections (Rehne Do…). This song is said to have been inspired by Horsell Common and the Heat Ray but the similarity is really faint. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| Song: The Logical Song Album: Breakfast in America Type: Pop Artist: Supertramp Rating: 4.5 I love almost all the songs in Breakfast In America but The Logical Song is perhaps the best. It’s flippant, funny and has rich, rich instrumentals. I specially like the the sax and how the guitar kicks in at a point you don’t expect it. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes US Flipkart |
| Song: Poo Kunkumapoo Album: Rasathanthram Type: Mollywood Singer: Chitra Music Director: Ilaiyaraja Lyricist: Girish Puthenchery Rating: 4.1 A light, foot-tapping song. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada |
| Song: Paadaanum Album: Paranju Theeratha Visheshangal Type: Mollywood Singer: Sujatha Music Director: M. Jayachandran Lyricist: Girish Puthenchery Rating: 5.0 One of my favorite Sujatha songs. A light, cool and upbeat stress-reliever of a song. |
| Song: Raja Rajaathi Album: Agni Nakshatram Type: Koliwood Singer: Ilaiyaraja Music Director: Ilaiyaraja Lyricist: Vaali Rating: 4.9 You have to turn the clock back 23 years to get an idea of how revolutionary this song was with it’s killer harmonies, an inexplicable hip-hop feel and almost completely electronic instrumentals. And it stays fresh to this day. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada |
| Song: Tere Bina Zindagi Album: Aandhi Type: Bollywood Singer: Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar Music Director: R.D. Burman Lyricist: Gulzar Rating: 5.0 There should be a score above 5 for songs like this. Since I feel terribly inadequate commenting about it, let me just mention just one of the many things I absolutely love of this song – the heart-stopping moment when Kishore enters the song with “Tere Bina”. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| Song: Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off Album: The Best Of Ella Fitzerald and Louis Armstrong Type: Classic Pop Artist: Ella Fitzerald, Louis Armstrong Rating: 4.0 A nice enough, funny, interesting song but I cherish more my memories associated with the song. Memory 1 – When Harry Met Sally (the song appears in the movie), Memory 2 – How my toddler son laughed the first time he heard the song. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| Song: Maahi Ve Album: Kal Ho Na Ho Type: Bollywood Singer: Sadhna Sargam, Sujata Bhattacharya, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam Music Director: Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy Lyricist: Javed Akhtar Rating: 4.2 A bhangra-pop song. One of the early songs that made this genre super-popular in Bollywood. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |
| Song: Sachchai Chup Nahin Sakti (Vaada Tera Vaada) Album: Dushman Type: Bollywood Singer: Kishore Kumar Music Director: Laxmikant – Pyarelal Lyricist: Anand Bakshi Rating: 3.6 Interesting but does not do it for me. Interesting because there aren’t many qawwali songs by Kishore (and this one is pseudo qawwali really). iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada |
| Song: Keh Na Sakoon Album: Guzaarish Type: Bollywood Singer: Shail Hada Music Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali Lyricist: Vibhu Puri Rating: 3.8 A sad, mellow song. With movies like Khamoshi, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas, Bhansali has proved beyond that he has an ear for music. With the score of Guzaarish, he takes it up a notch by composing music and the result is not bad at all. I was not impressed by Shail Hada in Sawariya but in this album he sounds really good. iTunes US iTunes UK iTunes Canada Flipkart |