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IR's new albums!

Topic started by RAJAN (@ proxy-122.iap.bryant.webtv.net) on Thu Jan 22 22:20:06 EST 1998.
All times in EDT/EST +9:30/10:30 for IST.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Sangeetha (@ bluebird.state.mo.us) on: Wed Dec 30 15:49:22 EST 1998
  
  Review about Kadhal Kavidhai in Tamil Cinema.com:
  
  "Paadalgalil jeevan illai. Rerecording kooda manadhil otta villai".
  
  
• From: Karthik Narasimhan (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Wed Dec 30 16:24:24 EST 1998
  
  Review of Kadhal Kavithai
  
  Review of Kadhal Kavithai
  
  
  In the last few years or so, when a string of ARR movies were becoming runaway hits and
  most of IR movies were going down the drain unnoticed inspite of good music, I've always
  tried to think of excuses. My fanaticism for Illayaraja made me feel that it was *my*
  music that was being rejected, and I was joyous when a couple of songs made it to the top
  10 or when a cassette shop owner told me that such and such cassette was selling well.
  Why, I mulled, why is this guy accepting so many movies? If only he had chosen the good
  numbers from Nandavana Theru, Kattumarakaran, Peria Marudhu and Oru Orula Oru Rajakumari
  and cobbled together two albums, they would have been super hits, I argued with my
  friends. Nothing happened for a while. The same story kept repeating itself. Even
  the magazines that held Raja dear started deserting him and writing him off. Until 96,
  every week atleast one magazine or the other would carry Raja on its cover. Not so now.
  But I did'nt lose hope. Every now and then, there would be a Pattu Padava, an Avatharam
  or a Devadai to keep reassuring me that Raja was still alive and kicking.
  
  During this period, I always thought that Rajas songs were going unnoticed because of
  
  1. Bad Lyrics . The problem with Rajas lyrics was that they sounded outright
  cheap. Although Rahman's songs had an overdose of meaningless anglicized gibberish in
  them, they got away because they were anglicized. Rajas lyrics were unanglicized
  meaningless gibberish, and people mostly perceived them as cheap. In the perception of
  the public, words like friendship,chikku bukku rayile etc. were classy when compared to
  the mamas and machans. And every Raja album would have one or more such songs. The
  songs were good musically, but then it just was'nt classy.
  
  2. A.R.Rahman . Now however much you dont like this guy, you have to give him
  credit for his dedication. Every song of his oozed with hard work and dedication. The
  care that he took to craft every song out, was evident in every single composition. This
  care was sadly lacking in Raja's songs. Although I boasted to my friends that Raja could
  write notes without even playing tunes out, in the heart of my hearts I knew that it was
  the cause for his downfall. There is nothing in the world that cannot be improved by
  working on it, and this was something that Raja was not doing. He just was'nt spending
  time on every song, working on it to make it perfect. If his songs sound so good
  without the work, just imagine a song which he worked on .... Does'nt mean I am saying
  Raja is not dedicated. All I wanted was Raja to work more on every song
  
  3. His Musical Genius Rahman's advent had changed the musical tastes of the
  people so completely, that people just could'nt accept a classic song like 'Oru Tharam
  Thalail Vachu' from Sathi Leelavathy. While Rahman made even folk songs sound Westernish
  people found it fashionable, and they just could not accept the fact that this guy was
  making folk songs sound folkish, and composing songs according to situations... How I
  hated them for this!@#
  
  
  And then came Kadhalukku Mariyadhai. An above average Raja score at best, and it became
  a runaway hit. I had mixed feelings about the success of the album. Was I out of tune
  with the public, now that I was in the US. Combined with the success of the movie
  itself, the album went on to become the biggest musical blockbuster of 98. And the
  success of the album changed Raja. He probably assumed that the use of synthetic
  instruments and the voice of Hariharan was what helped the success of the album. And
  since then every album of his has had Hariharan and synthetic percussion. (No, I dont
  have anything against synthetic percussion, but I want my Raja back :-))).
  
  Ah! Did'nt I call this a review of Kadhal Kavithai? What else can I say about the album
  except that it will be another Kadhalukku Mariyadhai. Catchy pallavis, Hariharan and Ila
  Arun will make this album a big hit. And will leave me feeling empty in my stomach....
  
  
• From: Shanmugam Murugappan (@ 208.236.83.16) on: Wed Dec 30 16:48:16 EST 1998
  
  Karthik,
  
  I was just surfing through the website "http://www.tamilcinema.com" and I read the "thiraivimarsanam" of the film "Kaadhal Kavidhai". It says,
  
  "paadalgalil jeevan illai. re-recording kooda manadhil ottavillai"
  
  Of course, we can dismiss it as an individual's opinion. But, some of my friends also feel the same. I heard the song "diana" sung by Hariharan and it is pretty good. Was this song picturised well? If not, maybe, because of the bad picturisation of the song, it could have lost its touch. I still can't understand how people give negative comments on IR's BGM. If it is given for some songs, it is ok. Not all IR songs, or for that matter, any MDs songs can be good. But, as far as BGM is concerned, there is no other MD who is anywhere near IR.
  
  
• From: Karthik (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Wed Dec 30 17:08:10 EST 1998
  
  Nope, I did not see the movie. So I dont know how it was picturized. IMO, the best songs in the album are Alaimeedhu by Bhava and Thathom by Ila Arun.
  Looks like Raja wants to do only one thing these days ... Beat Rahman at his own game. And me? As always, I'll root for him!
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 129.252.23.228) on: Wed Dec 30 18:13:22 EST 1998
  
  kartik,
  i completely agree with u'r opinions about raja trying synths and making catchy but empty tunes.(is is partly a handiwork of KR?)
  
  but i don't understand when u say that composing tunes without playing them out is insincere or lazy. i have so long considered it as a trademark of IR and he is the only one to have done it. is'nt it how he gave all those memorable tunes from the early 80's? why should he change his style? i feel he is still capable of giving good songs by writing the entire score out. that's how he should have given us 'guru' or 'yaathramozhi'. all of these TFM albums pale in comparison when i listen to these two repeatedly.
  
  my friend who listens to a lot of malayalam songs argues that the trend has not changed that much in kerala and emphasis there is always on melody and carnatic-based songs. he says that's why a lot og good composers like ravindran(his highness abdulla) got their name and fame.
  
  leaving guru, which is in a completly different zone, i have been keeping yaathramozhi as the standard for comparing his recent tamil songs.
  were'nt all these malayalam songs composed by writing the scores first? when he is able to be classy still in malayalam, then why not in tamil?
  
  
  is it because of the pressure from the directors/producers to produce 'modern' tunes that satisfy the larger part of the TFM audience, or is it because as u said, the success of kaadhalukku mariyadhai made him change his style.
  
  i see a distint change in his style of late. why, even till a couple of years back his songs were definitely IRish irrespective of the fact whether they were good or not. now they are sounding non-IRish( better way of saying it!!). iam a little bit concerned about it.
  
  but even in this album, kadhal kavithai, the last song by bhava had IR's stamp all over it, the only drawback being bhava's immature voice, which is another disturbing trend nowadays. the no. of songs sung by IR and bhava are on the rise.
  
  IR need not prove anything to the public by composing in ARR's style. nor is he in need of money desperately. if he is 'preparing' the TFM audience for his symphony, then he is doing it in the worst way possible. that's why i have said in my review that let IR go back to his own style of composing and bring back all those wonderful classic instruments back into his orchestration.
  
  is it a distant dream? only time will tell.
  
  
• From: Udhaya (@ 205.218.142.217) on: Wed Dec 30 19:48:19 EST 1998
  
  Quite a reassuring thing when I find kindred spirits in devout IR fans. I mean you two, Karthik and Vijay. I almost agree with every one of your points.
  
  I would like to add a few more things I wish to be back in IR's music:
  -the array of instruments he used to use: veenai, guitar, trumpet, deep base sounds in rhythm instruments, not the hollow-bucket sound of synth drums we hear in post-Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai songs.
  -his classic sandhams threatened to come back with Poonthoattam but recently he's been heading somewhere in the Karthik Raja neighborhood of sandhams, definitely not my thing.
  -if not SPB and KJY, at least stick with the Unnis (both Krishnan and Menon) Hariharan's mazhalaith Thamizh is not very palatable.
  -ban anybody from the Raja clan from singing, period. The quality leapfrogs a million notches with just this one rule.
  
  
• From: Mahesh Swaminathan (@ 1cust77.tnt2.beaverton.or.da.uu.net) on: Wed Dec 30 20:04:14 EST 1998
  
  Vijay & Karthik,
  
  I couldn't agree with you more. I also feel some
  kind of change in IR's style. Just listening to
  most of his songs, I can distiguish IR's stamp.
  Those days, moment I listen to the casette for the very first time, we can distinguish that this song willbe a definite hit (e.g. Mannil Intha Kathal Indrifrom Keladi Kanmani or Anjali Anjali).
  Basically the song need not grow on you to become catchy.
  Most of the songs are instantly liked by me. However, the Kathal Kavithai songs really does not attract me positively in the very first hearing. May be it is my taste that the use of
  synthesiser or something which is bothering me..
  
  Coming to think of recent albums, I feel whether Karthik or Yuvan plays a big role in composing..
  Take that newyear song from Poonthottam - I just
  could not stand that. Definitely does not sound
  IRish. If that is true, the use of their talent
  does not suit IR's style. Another song is Oh baby
  baby from Kathalukku Mariyathai. This also did not have IR stamp. But on the contrary, When Karthik composed Ullasam or NINI, I really loved it. When it comes to Raja, my expectations are
  different and change of style really bothers me.
  
  Another disturbing trend was there were some repetive interludes in the same song in some of IR's recent films . (e.g. Raman abdulla song - sembaruthi poo eduthu??, sami kudutha varam from
  poomani). In more than 20 years of IR's songs, I couldn't think of repetitive interludes and even
  if song has 3 stanza, each will have distinct interludes). Anybody else noticed it?
  
  
  
  
• From: buddy (@ panorama.nus.edu.sg) on: Wed Dec 30 20:58:11 EST 1998
  
  Hi,
  
  I think the crack pot who wrote review in Tamilcinema was either biased or he doesn't have any godamm musical sense.
  
  Take my words, I saw KK yesterday and KK's BGM is the best I have ever heard in the recent times.
  
  The effort by IR in KK is extraordinary!!!
  
  Folks Please Ingore those crapy reviews.
  
  The movie is great.
  
  

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