Boom Box

GREATEST
Duran Duran
EMI-Milestone, Rs. 125; CD: Rs. 525

Duran Duran were the product of the New Romantic scene in English pop music of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Formed in 1978 (some even say the band came together in 1977), Duran Duran comprised of Simon Le Bon (vocals), Andy Taylor (guitar and keyboards), Nick Rhodes (keyboards), John Taylor (bass) and Roger Taylor (drums).

After the usual round of local gigs, the band released their first album, Harvest in 1981, which contained the radio hits, Planet Earth and Girls on film. But it wasn’t until 1983, and the release of their third album, Seven And The Ragged Tiger, that the band broke out internationally.

Their rise to prominence coincided MTV’s birth and burgeoning popularity both in the U.S. and in England. Young girls preferred to watch five good looking men than the odd-looking Elvis Costello. And, Duran Duran exploited this to the hilt, putting out a series of stylish music videos shot in such exotic locations as Sri Lanka and Antigua.

Seven And The Ragged Tiger spawned the world-wide hit Union of the snake, and its 1984 follow-up, Arena spawned Wild boys. The band, by this time, was touring to sell-out audiences world-wide. 1985 proved equally profitable for the band when A View To A Kill from the Bond-flick of the same name ignited charts the world over.

And then disaster struck. Personality clashes erupted, and John and Andy Taylor - incidentally none of the Duran Duran Taylors are related - left the band to join Robert Palmer on an independent band called Power Station. The rest of the band continued to play on as Arcadia, and even put out an EP, but the MTV-set, which had eugolised the band, had deserted them and found other icons.

One of the reason the band split was that Simon Le Bon, Rhodes and Roger Taylor wanted to move into “serious” music - as opposed to the bubble-gum pop music they played. John and Andy didn’t want to upset a successful apple-cart, and so the band split. The point, however, is that the critics never considered Duran Duran capable of “serious” music. Their success was attributed to fortuitous timing and their personal vanity.

Power Station and Arcadia didn’t do much by way of sales, and perhaps realising this, the band got together for Notorious (1987), which spawned a hit for the band. It’s follow-up, Big Thing (1988) was a wash-out, as were two other albums the band released in 1990 and 1997 (Electric Barbarella). Between these, the band did put out an excellent eponymous album in 1993, which contained the haunting, rocking ditties, Ordinary world and Come undone.

The tape in question contains all their “hits”, and some of their misses. One of their “misses” is an excellent song called Serious (1990), which came at a time when the band was searching for a musical identity.
With 19 songs on display, the tape is sure VFM.

RAINDANCE
Stewart and Bradley James
PolyGram, Rs. 95

The in-lay blurb calls this “an ambient musical experience inspired by native American chants”. For once, someone got it right. The unusual album is, indeed, “an ambient musical experience”, and also pretty “inspirational”.

Produced and arranged by Stewart and Bradley James, the album contains 12 tracks of traditional Red Indian chants set to a danceable beat. One hasn’t a clue what the chants stand for - although the titles offer a clue, but the music they are enconsced in have universal appeal.

Specially mesmeric and rhythmic are Dance of the warrior, Dance of the bear, Honouring the horse (check out the excellent production on this one), and the evocative Nighthawk.

THE ORIGINAL FOUR SEASONS
Vanessa Mae
EMI-Milestone, Rs. 125; CD: Rs. 525

Vanessa Mae is a true prodigy, and like all truly gifted musicians has the knack of making the complex look deceptively simple. Vanessa also has another knack. She can makes classical instrumental music sound as “happening and now” as pop music.

The Original Four Seasons showcases just that talent. She has a formidable control over the classical technique, musicmanship and repertoire, and she uses this control to project the dazzling power and virtuosity of her music to a larger audience.

Vanessa Mae’s music is now as much part of the classical lexicon as it is popular language. And she bridges both with consummate ease. Tracks that stand out are Devil’s Trill, a finely etched violin solo set in techno-acoustic garb; and Reflections, which is taken from the Walt Disney animated movie, Mulan.
Vanessa’s music is a very evocative, and easy to listen to. Go for it.

INDIAN SMASH HITS: Vol.1
Various
RPG-HMV/BMG-Crescendo, Rs. 60

HMV and BMG-Crescendo come together for this “best of ...” compilation that contains some of 1998’s biggest pop hits. Featured are Dooba Dooba (Silk Route), Duniya (Raageshwari), Piya re, piya re (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), Ho gayi hai mohabbat (Aslam), Dhuan (Vikas Bhalla), O oh jaane jaana (Kamaal Khan), Saawan mein lag gayee aag (Mika), Kesariya (Suneeta Rao), Sun soniye (Nitin Bali) and Mere khwabon mein (Lata Mangeshkar).
What else can one say, but VFM.

MTV JAI JAI SHIV SHANKAR DANCE MIX
Various
RPG-HMV, Rs. 60

Okay, you have heard most of these songs, and you also probably possess most of them in various combos and compilations. But what you haven’t heard is what producer Ram Sampat has done with songs like Piya tu ab to aaja, Om shanti Om, Khaike paan Banaras wala and a few others.

Well, what he is done is contemporarise the score, make it dance-friendly, give it a few quirky twists in remixing and make it all the more enjoyable. By retaining the base voices he ensures connectivity, and by modernising the tracks he has made it all the more relevant.

As a rule - and at the risk of sounding moralistic - I’m against remix album. But on this one, one is forced to make a concession. This one is worth all the trouble.

Oh! and by the way, this album is not a showcase for Ram Sampat’s production talent. This is meant to highlight the singing talents of Anupam Amod and Pratyusha Thakur, who won MTV’s Video Ga Ga contest. Well, they feature in the album opening remix version of Jai jai Shiv Shankar. Frankly, they have to sing something original song if one is to rate their performance.