Zeitgeist by Smashing Pumpkins

After 7 years of silence the legendary Chicago based Smashing Pumpkins are back, back to celebrate the spirit of United States of America (Zeitgeist).

Broken in 2000 and reunited in 2005 again, this band has seen a lot of ups and downs - Release of their first single "I am one" in 1990, platinum hits like "Tonight, Tonight", "1979", "Zero", A huge wave of success during 95' - 97' and then death of their keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, firing of their renowned drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, Corgan's depression and finally the split in 2000. Chamberlin rejoined the band in early 2000 and today only Corgan and Chamberlin are the only former members left in this band.

A very bold, heartfelt and much awaited album, Zeitgeist, was finally released in early July 2007. This album is sixth in the list and strongly depicts the dedication and will and spirit of Corgan and Chamberlin. These cool dudes surely have a never die attitude.

Zeitgeist, begins with the typical Pumpkinish alternative style number - "Doomsday Clock" followed by cool numbers like "7 Shades of Black", "Bleeding the Orchid" (one of my favorites), "That's the Way", "Tarantula" (super smash hit), "Starz" (another favorite - good drums), "United States" (Begins with a cool drum pattern and got some cool guitar effects later on. Its a good song however you might want some patience to listen to this 10 minute song), "Neverlost" (strictly OK, nothing exceptional), "Bring the Light" (another favorite), "(Come On) Let's Go" (another typical Pumpkin song), "For God and For Country" (I simply loved this track)! and finally "Pomp and Circumstances" (not too sure about the rest, I hated this one).

"Tarantula", one of their best songs so far, has already climbed up the Billboard charts and sitting on #10 as of today(Let me make it clear - I said 'one of their' and not 'the' :-) ). It beats all other songs in the album hands down. The video is not exceptional though. I bet you won't regret buying this album! Its a must have.

I would give this album 8/10 .

The Train

The Train is one of those albums that catches on quickly. It will be a fad, but will fade out. Nothing thats eternal except one song.

The album starts with Woh Lamhe - Its a kind of a groovy track and is very foot tappy. The hindi rap kinda thing in between is catchy aswell. Shilpa ao does a fine job with Mithoon for support. Shilpa seems to have a unique voice and the songs fits her voice perfectly.

Then theres song where KK seems to be at real ease. Beetein Lamhe, is another of those Love lorn songs which KK excels in. Its not much of a challenge for KK, its tailor made for him to sing. The song is decent.

But the real highlight is "Mausam" sung by the music director Mithoon and its just mesmerizing. Very intense and sung with that intensity. I love this song !!! Will be the only one I would remember for a long time. It is sure to top the charts.

The others are remixes of all kinds and are made for Dance Floors..

In all a good start by Mithoon - Music director for the first time, after assisting for a long time. Well done to him. Its CD worth the listen and buy.

Kandukondain Kandukondain---Rehman's best...without a doubt

Ah...there we go...1st post on music and what do I have for you??A Tamil music album. Well, this is not just another music album. Its the finest of the lots. Lets have a closer look.

For starters, this post(and the album eventually) is not meant for south indians only...if you are a music lover, you gotta love this album. Alright, the movie starred big names like Tabu, Aish, Mamooty, Abbas and Ajith. Agreed, these names sell. But what sold more than the movie was the soulful music. The songs are melody personified. No song is louder than say, today's Pop songs are. This was done on purpose, keeping in mind the lovable and feel-good theme of the film. The album hits of with 'Konjum Mainakale' sung well by Sadhna Sargam. Nice and soft introductory song for Aish. However, when I come to think of the song, I definitely think of singers who could've sung it better. Then, comes the title track sung by Hariharan and Mahalaxmi Iyer. Smooooth is how it goes. Hari in top form and Mahalaxmi gives him good support.

'Smiye Aai' is much more contemporary (not loud though) and is a crowd favorite. The reason being it has a typical peppy Rehman number which has some English words along with catchy music. On a personal note, I feel its a good song, though not a great one. Now come the best songs of the album. The first one is 'Enna Sola Pokirai' by Shankar Mahadevan. This has been Shankar's best song to date in my mind. The lyrics are difficult(mind you, even I couldnt grasp) still Shankar's tone conveys the message clear that the main protagonist is waiting for his girl's reply......The last one is a creamer. A lover's delight. 'Kannamoochi'...If you are in love, you cant miss it...and if u ain't, listen to it and you'll come to know what you are missing. For me, it is one of the most melodious songs (music+lyrics) ever made. It is love and lust conveyed in the most innocent way.....Hold on...there's more...there are 2 renditions of the song....the first a female solo by the ever-so-sweet Chitra herself and the 2nd one a duet by Chitra and Yesudas. Yesudas adds class to the cute song. Listen to the song, the album and enjoyyyy...Am sure language wouldnt be a barrier at all for this album. The album connects to the soul......