The Bombay Royale – You Me Bullets Love
Reviewed by Sadie O., 5/25/12
The sound of 60s-70s Bollywood, recreated and revved up by a gonzo (and seriously talented Melbourne cadre. An homage to Bollywood at its goofiest and most creative era, when it was soaking up every possible musical style. Superb rock band and horn section cover surf/spy/lounge/etc, and the two vocalists could play Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi when someone makes the film of their lives… I absolutely LOVE this – there isn’t a duff moment on the CD.
No FCCs (I don’t think!) – all in Hindi.
1. 3:34 ***instrumental - tinny keyboard chords intro, then driving mid-tempo 60’s rock/spy movie sound, with huge horn section. Gets kinda theremin-y in the middle. Cool! Squeebles of Mystery at end.
2. 4:37 ***big surf/action movie sound, very energetic. Bollywood-y vocal duet, fantastic bass.
3. 4:28 ***beating of those native drums intro, then uptempo, high energy mod-a-gogo twist-a-rama. Male vocals, a Spanish tinge to the horns.
4. 4:15 ***big fat PSYCH spy movie. Gnarly! Female vocals.
5. 3:40 ***psychedelic electronics, Blaxploitation guitar. Female vocals in English, occasionally impossibly upper-register.
6. 4:17 ***uptempo surf-a-rama/spy movie romp – sweet female vocals and menacing male vocals. I wish there were a Bollywood music video to go with this!
7. 3:41 ***60’s rock/spy/surf, cute female vocals. Turns inexplicably into a 4th of July parade. Gosh!
8. 2:40 ***the love song from the action movie that takes place on the beach at Cancun. You know the one.
9. 3:47 ***gronch! Startling opening, then Blaxploitation action groove. Vocal duet. Lots of wah-wah all over.
10. 7:26 ***mellow sway with tabla, sweet female vocals. Turns into downtempo South Asian Reggae. Huh! Woobly and odd. Back to tabla and sway and some truly fabulous Carnatic vocal acrobats.