Pick your best in Mumbai Xpress

I had a hard time in choosing between Virumaandi and this one. The former was a super duper hit (perhaps the last of Raaja, so far) while the latter came and went without a trace. And I believe it is extremely difficult to pick the best song in both. While Virumaandi has many, this album has only 3 (I am assuming nobody will pick Vande Mataram rework).

The brilliant / jazzy/ trendy Mumbai Xpress it is. Has some elements of rock as well. And lot of acoustic drumming. And finally the reason why Raaja and Kamal need to work together.

I hope this gives an oppurtunity for some of the old timers to go back and listen to this album.

I have deliberately left out the theme pieces which were in the CD. Just listing the 4 songs.

Def Kurangu for me.  Awesome orchestration on that one, love the beat too.  Even Tipu/Kamal's rough singing is very apt for that particular track.  Yele nee yethipo is also a real rocker.  Find Poo Poothathu pretty sappy and dragging, though.

Love every song. Even the Vande Mataram reworking works for me. It does what it should for the film. Poo Poothadhu is a simbly lovely melody with the orchestration in the BG having elements of jazz. Yele Nee Etti Po is awesome stuff. The guitar work and Rohini's dialog with the drumming works superbly. But my pick is Kurangu Kaiyyil Maala. Terrific drumming and guitar work. Superb rendering too.

I need to patiently listen to this album before making any comment

The last time I listened to the songs was years ago, i.e. around the time when the album "came out"

(Needless to say they didn't build a strong association with me. That's why I need to revisit them without any anti-bias).

Off course kurangu kaiyil.. best music pieces however belong to monkey chatter though..
Kurangu kaiyyil zanniest max meets the film's vision to T. Inimitable kamal style lyrics and singing make
It endearing even more. Poo pooththadhu is another jazz delight. Shreya and sonu's rendition has some pronunciation lapses,but music is silken soft with intricately composed phrases.

Squawk Tippu completely spoils Kurungu Kaiyil for me...OST is so Kafkaesque even now..Yele nee is my pick..history will never forgive Hassar for botching up its ACD release  

For me, it is that 5 minutes of instrumental piece (titled Monkey Chatter?) that beats all the songs. I think it was a phenomenal composition where the colour of the composition changes constantly while some of the lead melodic notes do recur. The way Raaja takes us on a journey of various moods while still letting us gravitate towards one central theme is amazing. I think this is easily an underrated gem by him. I cannot even think about how he would have written the score for this.

By the way, recently, guitar Prasanna shared it on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152529334733956&id=7536103955

"Recording guitars for this challenging piece of music with Illayaraja was a beautiful experience! Sounds like a conversation with Scott Joplin, Gershwin, Bartok and Weather Report! He was kind to show me his handwritten score and graciously took some of my inputs as we came up with some interesting guitar parts!"


I found that one a bit interesting, knowing how Raaja works. But the output is phenomenal. 

kamalaakarsh wrote:For me, it is that 5 minutes of instrumental piece (titled Monkey Chatter?) that beats all the songs. I think it was a phenomenal composition where the colour of the composition changes constantly while some of the lead melodic notes do recur. The way Raaja takes us on a journey of various moods while still letting us gravitate towards one central theme is amazing. I think this is easily an underrated gem by him. I cannot even think about how he would have written the score for this.

By the way, recently, guitar Prasanna shared it on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152529334733956&id=7536103955

"Recording guitars for this challenging piece of music with Illayaraja was a beautiful experience! Sounds like a conversation with Scott Joplin, Gershwin, Bartok and Weather Report! He was kind to show me his handwritten score and graciously took some of my inputs as we came up with some interesting guitar parts!"


I found that one a bit interesting, knowing how Raaja works. But the output is phenomenal. 

Aah thanks. Maniacs on twitter took that and snidely commented on "how the creator of music was co-composing with a guitarist." I was thinking Guitar Prasanna and Mumbai Xpress but couldn't catch the post. Raaja has done that previously with Noel Grant the drummer (Raaja himself has shared it) and it is way different when a musician gives an input and in his own words, the composer was gracious enough to accept and implement them and mostly, the composer is open with that from when a music director asks inputs from the musicians and calls it his composition.

And to add on that, Raaja only accepts inputs from musicians of the caliber of a Guitar Prasanna and a Noel Grant and not any Tom, Dick and Harry. And even here, it is not always that he goes to them for musical ideas but only implements when they come up with something he finds worthy to enter his composition. Importantly, he does not ask them to come up with something interesting.

The reason I chose to leave out the theme pieces is just so we can have a fair game. Apples Vs Apples.

Wizz - where is your vote?

Fantastic album choice Nerd   . Finding it really hard to take the Theme music out of my mind when voting. 

Love Poo Poothathu, soothing melody except for that terrible start of the song by some little kid. That's the only sore point and as DM pointed out wonderful jazzy orchestration. Lovely rendition by ShreyaG especially towards the end of the charanam. 

Vande Maataram worked for me as well in the movie's context, very innovatively styled, fun-filled song. Still remember Maniacs in the Hub claiming this as IR's effort to ridicule ARR's album, something of the sort of ARR took Vande Maataram to great heights and IR did a mockery of that   

Coming to the vote, I'm torn between Kurangu Kayil Malaai & Yelae Nee Etti Po.
-- Kurangu Kayil Maalai - What a mindboggling postlude and an almost manic ending to the song before it took a soothing turn at the very last moment and ending with a repeat of the pallavi, talk about innovative song structure)
-- Yelae Nee Etti Poo - A totally racy number, love the rockish start right after the first pallave - amazing guitar & drum work, I always fall for that.

Will try to vote by tonight. Need to listen one more time  

UPDATE - Voted for Yelae Nee Etti Po.

kamalaakarsh wrote:For me, it is that 5 minutes of instrumental piece (titled Monkey Chatter?) that beats all the songs. I think it was a phenomenal composition where the colour of the composition changes constantly while some of the lead melodic notes do recur. The way Raaja takes us on a journey of various moods while still letting us gravitate towards one central theme is amazing. I think this is easily an underrated gem by him. I cannot even think about how he would have written the score for this.

By the way, recently, guitar Prasanna shared it on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152529334733956&id=7536103955

"Recording guitars for this challenging piece of music with Illayaraja was a beautiful experience! Sounds like a conversation with Scott Joplin, Gershwin, Bartok and Weather Report! He was kind to show me his handwritten score and graciously took some of my inputs as we came up with some interesting guitar parts!"


I found that one a bit interesting, knowing how Raaja works. But the output is phenomenal. 

That's very interesting, thanks for sharing. Any idea which other albums Prasanna has worked with IR on?
The vote is a no-brainer as kurangu kaiyil is the only song I like from the album.