Sorted magAZine
Album Reviews
FeaturesAlbum ReviewsConcert ReviewsSingle Reviews
Beats per MinuteSordidDistortedIndustry GuideContact UsArchives

Various - 'Kabhi khushi Kabhie Gham...' Original Soundtrack (Sony Music)

Soundtracks are rarely worth the cash are they? You get a varying mish-mash of songs that make little or no sense on their own without the visuals. Typically they don't even flow together to sound like a proper album either. So now apply that formula to a Bollywood film soundtrack and throw in a language barrier and you've got something with a very limited appeal. I'm sure Jatin-Lalit and Sandesh Shandilya are big names in the industry but they don't mean a lot to me.

Opener 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' is built over a tunefully melody but singer Lata Mangeshkar's nasal vocals are a real turn off and make for very unpleasant listening. On 'Bole Chudiyan' they seem to be singing about bank accounts (probably a central theme to the film) with the chorus being sung in praise of the accountants faithful tool, the ledger. Sing 'Ledger, ledger etc'.

'You are my Soniya' with its shiny, sparkly intro could be easily mistaken for a cheesy Eurovision entry but don't let that fool you because it soon erupts into a terrible rap/r n' b song. 'Say 'Shava, Shava'' should be the theme tune to an ITV talent show with its woeful keyboard line and poor attempt at epic grandness. They do say 'Shava, Shava' quite a lot though.

There are two more versions of opening track 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham', both labelled 'sad version'. The first version could have been lifted from a Disney film, most likely from the scene where the heart-broken hero prances about by the lake, clutching at trees and counting the stars as he mourns his lost love. Once again nothing inspirational on offer here either.

The whole thing to those in the know will be, I'm sure, a great achievement that combines Indian music with funk, African beats, r n' b, girly pop and country music. I just thought it was a load of second rate nonsense that quickly found its way from my stereo into becoming a novelty beer-mat. Avoid.

Ken McGrath

Forum The Sorted magAZine discussion forum is back, just click on the text above.

What's On
Tired of trawling through event listings, 95% of which you have absolutely no interest in? Try ours, it's guaranteed Crap Free TM

Update List
Enter your email address below and click go