2.21.2006

Godfather Music

An unethical marketing technique (as done for this audio) will never turn a bad product into a good one. It is highly unfair to publicize in papers as “Super Hit Songs” when the audio is not out yet. Anyway, looking at the sales, their cheap technique seems to have paid off.

A.R.Rahman’s albums always get two kinds of rating. One based on the standard that he has set for himself and the based on the overall standards of Tamil Film Music. Commercial success is another criteria. Earlier all the Rahman’s classics were commercial hits too. The failure of some of the best efforts of Rahman (Kangalal Kaithi Sei, Kadhal Virus) in recent past is just another proof of how bad our people’s music tastes have gone. You could say that these movies were flops but in early 90’s most of the Rahman’s movies also were flops (including Thiruda Thiruda) but commercially the music did well. Rahman is now again trying to strike a balance between the two and in the process what we get are the albums like this, which for sure will be a hit but will not satisfy a hard core Rahman fan who always expect Rahman to raise a notch above his own standards in each and every album. But Rahman cannot be completely blamed for this. He should choose some worthy projects from good directors.

Me being a serious Rahman fan, Godfather album is just an average effort though not as bad as “Udaya” or “Parasuram”. Though I wasn’t expecting a classic, I expected an album that is at least as good as “Aa Aah”. Sure, the album has got usual fresh Rahman sound, catchy bits here and there and lot of experimentation but the end product is kind of meshed up. Actually, I am not at all disappointed as the album is very much the way I expected it to be and so my final verdict is that it is a pretty good album.

Kamma Kamma is definitely a delight for frontbenchers with loud percussions and catchy rhythms. Thotapuram has also got a catchy rhythm. I like the way Rahman sidelines the main beats and uses more of synth bass and e-beats in the fore. In “Rang De Basanti” he did it with the bhangra beats and here he does it with familiar Telugu folk rhythms. Next popular ring tone of Tamilnadu is going to be e-tune that we get to hear in the song “Ilamai”. Even while watching the trailer I got hooked to this “Thatham tham tham” bit. It is just too catchy. ‘Theeyil Vizhundhu” is a pathos number with a unique rhythm and bass loops. The strange cry and alaap with shivering vocals of Rahman that closes with a banging beat at the end is the interesting part of the song. ”Kaatril” is an average melody with fine singing by Sadhana Sargam and SPB. Even this song has got catchy bits like “Shahiba” with good strings in the background and ‘nana nana’ rendition of SPB in the second interlude. “Innisai” is a classical song and the pick of the album. It has got a very easy tune with nice orchestration and chorus. If there is one song that may find a place in a playlist of Rahman hits after one year from now, it may be this “Innisai” song. On the whole, let us better wait for “Jillunu Oru Kadhal”.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude,
YOu are taking things seriously. To be honest, YOu should not have compared this album with craps like Parasuraam and udaya.. ARR has mixed the classical, wester, folk etc very well in this movie. You got to recheck ur reviewing abilities on ARR music.

Anonymous said...

"Though I wasn’t expecting a classic, I expected an album that is at least as good as “Aa Aah”. Sure, the album has got usual fresh Rahman sound, catchy bits here and there and lot of experimentation but the end product is kind of meshed up. Actually, I am not at all disappointed as the album is very much the way I expected it to be and so my final verdict is that it is a pretty good album. "


suresh, you sound a little confused man. First you say it didnt meet your expectations and the end product is a little meshed up then you end by saying that it is a "pretty good album"?!!

Harish said...

unga "reviewing abilities"-ayum doubt pannraangala ippo! join the club, Suresh :)

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

anon: Ofcourse, i am really confused about this album. I just wanted to say, it is not a great album (as many say), becoz it is kind of meshed up with lof of sounds and fusion but it can't be said as plain bad too.

Anonymous said...

hi friends

before reviewing fully, please listen to the all the songs again and again then you will not be able to come out of it. especially innisai by naresh iyer after mayilarage and RDB songs just rocking, being new to the industry, he is very good in dampakutu also i.e. kamma karayil. and all theeyil song is too good/

Anonymous said...

good review suresh, i can understand that you are confused, and you are right about the mixture of a lot of sounds and fusion. i have been listening to it for the past couple days, and its growing on me, but when i noticed the sounds, there is a whole lot of sounds, mixture of techno, classical. i like thotapuram, the shivering vocals of rahman gets irritating after sometime in theeyil vizhundhu, innisai is good, illamai is good for the sound, i hate the remix of songs, they should avoid doing that, the original was better than the remix in this case.

Anonymous said...

hey ppl,
i dnt think godfather is that bad.. rahman's music grows inside slowly and is never a instant hit.. i felt that even when rangeela was released.. i didnt like it instantly.. but after a couple of hearings it worked.. so am sure godfather will rule soon.. CHEERS!!

Anonymous said...

i think innisai's video will make it up all...but naresh is doing magic for ARR!!
dinam dinam and innisai will be big hits..the rest are not very ARR types..cud have been better.

True Blue Rahmaniac said...

You do a fine job with the review. I'm not disappointed with the music, but I'm not exactly ecstatic abt it either. So I can't say I agree with you on all the points you make. I'm still hooked! The songs I didn't appreciate in the beginning seem addictive now. Maybe you should listen to them some more?

Anonymous said...

Suresh,
I differ with your views on Godfather. Particular the initial bit about cheap marketing techniques need not have been put up at the top, for an album, which, you would agree, in your views, is not that bad to deserve a generic comment about cheap marketing antics.

The only song I felt very unrahmanic was his own song of Theeyil vizhundha. Irritating sound of cries...and the tune more like some other composer than Rahman.

But, there ends the "not nice" part with this album. The other songs are simply too good and really Rahmanic.

What you call the good part "Sahiba" in Kaatril is what I think is ungood. Rahman should get off his fondness of Arabic music. Otherwise Kattril is a pretty good song.

Dhinam Dhinam is so fantastic. Ilamai, a 70s Bollywood style song is good again. Innisai , particularly the ladies only remix version by Mahathi and Saindhavi is fantastic. Kamma karayil, though a dance number, bears Rahmans chords stamped all over, so I like that one too.

Overall, there are a lot of sweet Rahman chords all over the album that I love it so much.

Good job with the review Suresh, though I differ in overall opinion. I definitely think it is so much well over Ah aah. We will discuss more in person.