Was just giving a listen to Shankar's latest movie soundtrack, Anniyan. This is the first time Shankar hasn't worked with ARR on a movie soundtrack. Instead, he elects to use a former ARR assistant, Harris Jeyaraj. ARR-Shankar have created some fantastic soundtracks in the past. Gentleman got me hooked on ARR back in 1993. Since then, they have collaborated on gems like Kaathalan, Indian, Jeans Muthalvan, and Boys..which was my pick for best album of 2003. Beside being a huge ARR fan (my CD library has a shelf only for Rahman), I do listen to other music. I do enjoy some Harris Jeyaraj music, but the shelf life of his tunes is not as long as ARR; aside from say a Minaale, I don't think I'll be pulling out my Arul CD 5 years from now.
Because of his past collaboration with ARR, Shankar movies usually have good music, a hodgepodge of catchy tunes and folksy stuff, depending on the movie. Harris Jeyaraj must have been burning the midnight oil on this score, as he hasn't come out with many releases lately. So what do I think of this score as a whole? Well, Shankar needs to go back to Rahman ASAP. This soundtrack is weaker than the weakest Shankar-ARR collaborations (I'd say Mudhalvan was probably their weakest effort, but even that one had some great songs and an awesome background score)....remember 'weak' is a relative term here...I'm comparing this to Rahman-Shankar collaborations as a whole. What makes ARR unique in today's sea of music composers is ARR's aural sense - ARR harnesses technology like none of his contemporaries to create music that is spectacular and memorable. As hard as Harris Jeyaraj tries, he's not able to create the ARR- Shankar magic. There are 3 tunes in this album that I will listen to for the next week or so out of the 5. The Anniyan 'theme' will remind you of Mudhalvan in its use of operatic voices. The soundtrack will sell and has a few songs that will top the charts for a few weeks, but it will fade with time and will collect dust in some obscure rack of my CD shelves. Shankar, if you're reading this...GET RAHMAN ON THE PHONE NOW to book him for your next movie. If there is some sort of strife between you two, resolve it! -Bh ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/rKxVKC/SOnJAA/n1hLAA/iyUplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Explore, Experience, Enjoy A.R.Rahman - The Man, The Music, The Magic. Only at arrahmanfans - The definitive A.R.Rahman e-community. Homepage: http://www.arrahmanfans.com To Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arrahmanfans/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
