good review :) i still haven't heard the rest of the songs except aromale.. gotta buy the album
On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 10:39 PM, Jahanzeb <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I held myself back from writing any review before I give it sometime and > result is that I have a much different opinion on it now. VTV is also of > particular significance to me because it's the first brand new non-Hindi ARR > album for me (I started to listen ARR's non-Hindi albums last year and got > all his collection at once). My initial impression was that it is below > expectations especially given the huge hype however it didn't take long > before I realized how innovative and classy album it is. Given it's > experimental nature, songs are structured in unconventional way and ARR > preferred to use simple and less heavily-layered music here. May be this is > why album as a whole sounds low on melody, at least initially. Songs are not > very hummable, at least in first hearings, but then grow on quickly. > > Omana Penne: It has quickly become my most favorite of the album. Initially > it sounded a little lacking in terms of instruments and thinly structured > layers however it grew on me like magic. I absolutely loved Benny's > rendition. I would say it is his best compared to his early works with ARR. > What an awesome intro this song have got, and I think Benny deserves full > credit for it. The beats and the chorus are awesome. Though didn't like the > female vocals initially, at least the way they come in, it sounds to me like > some song has been played in background with low quality sound. Loved that > shahnai too, kind of Continuum fingerboard ending of Rehna Tu. 8/10 > > Anbil Avan: Very catchy tune and the only instantly-likable (or may be I > should say mass-appealing) song from the album, but at the same time the > only sub-standard song (as per ARR's standards) of the album. I completely > agree with Chord and others that Chinmayi ROCKS big time. It's hard to > believe how effortlessly she sounds different in different songs. And also > that it is the same Chinmayi who sung Tere Bina and I Miss You Da. Though > could not get why it sounds noisy when it starts, as if there is some > problem with the sound. I see this song becoming huge hit among masses. 7/10 > > Vinnathaandi Varuvaayaa: To me this is the weakest of the lot. Initially I > didn't even understand the rhythm, it was just like a free flowing song like > someone else has also mentioned here. ARR has given much better songs like > this with minimum instruments, e.g. Dheemi Dheemi from Earth 1947. Anyway I > liked Karthik's singing and has started to like this song now. 5.5/10 > > Hosanna: I have to admit I under-estimated it from the promos. I think that > was mainly because of Blaaze's rap, who I think is becoming repetitive (at > least compared to NaNa where he did an awesome job). Now I am completely in > love with this song. And I must say it belongs to Vijay Prakash who > impresses once again after his superb Fiqraana rendition. In fact sometimes > I think with such superb job by Vijay why did they even need Blaaze, it > would have been equally good without him, or may be better. The song is very > unconventionally structured (three stanzas/antras and no proper > opening/mukhda ??) but maybe that's its high point. In number of places it > just sounds sort of some instrumental because of limited vocals, especially > those long female background vocals/choir (Suzanne) could have been cut > short. 7.5/10 > > Kannukkul Kannai: Didn't like it much initially but now is it growing on > me. Naresh's singing is very effective for these kind of songs and he proves > this again. It sounds like a guitar only song, there is very minimum use of > other instruments here. And again no rich, fancy interludes. But anyway > quite a catchy song. 6/10 > > Mannipaaya: The song starts so beautifully however somehow later couldn't > maintain it. Shreya is awesome with honey sweet voice and perfect rendition, > her vocals are the absolute high point of the song. ARR sounded to me a > little lacking don't know why, (I hope it goes down well with ....), his > voice sounded bit husky, compared to Rehna Tu there was some difference, > something lacking which I am not able to explain. From the initial hype I > expected it to be my number 1 or 2 most favorite on my list however it only > comes at number 4 or 5 (after Omana Panne, Aaromale, Hosanna and may be > Anbil Avan). 6.5/10 > > Aaromale: Such beautiful guitar though I have to admit that I was kind of > taken aback by Alphons's voice when it appears the first time. However later > I realized how wonderfully it suited to the song. Though like many others I > also felt that there is too much Aaromale Aaromale going on that it sounds > irritating at some point, at least in first few hearings. Loved the rock > feel of it. I don't think ARR has compose something like this before, I > absolutely want more of this sort of gems in future. Really loved the way it > breaks into the chorus the first time with those four guitar riffs (2:02 - > 2:05) . And chorus is so mesmerizing, in fact I wished it repeated many more > times instead of the repetitive Aaromale Aaromale. A classy song. 7.5/10 > > Overall it is a great album, I would rank it among some of the great albums > of ARR, though it didn't make to my Top 10. I was expecting a melodious and > instant-winner album like KK etc but ARR took a different experimental but > as a whole very satisfactory path. A few things I noticed: very few > instruments have been used (barring shahnai (?) in Omana Penne). Similarly > those rich interludes are missing. The other day I was just watching Hamma > Hamma performance in the Sydney concert and when that out of the world flute > interlude came I could not help but think why ARR is missing such interludes > these days. Also flute is almost gone from his songs, the last time I > remember was in Man Mohana (JA) or may be a little in Kabhi Kabhi Aditi > (JTYJN). Anyways this is the beauty of ARR's music that he keeps redefining > his own standards, today I was expecting it to be something like KK, maybe > in some years I would be expecting his new albums to be like VTV. Sound > quality is top-notch here (except the Anbil Avan song, don't know why it > sounds noisy to me in beginning), it seems all those complaints about Blue > have been addressed. > > /Jahanzeb > > > -- ----------------------------------- http://ramblingsoul.com http://2ic.in
