Asha Bhosle Reveals The Real R.D.

Bhosle, Asha – Asha Bhosle Reveals R.D. Burman (Times Square)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/13/06
Bollywood hits by one of its favorite composers and singers. Nitin Shankar “reproduced” the songs, and Sudesh Bhosle provides male vocals. Most songs on the first CD have a distinctly Latin flavor to the syncopation, and most have a huge orchestral feel.
Songs seem to end slightly short.
No FCCs. I like track 4 best, but all with 3 stars are fun.
CD 1:
1. 1:38 Asha talks about Burman – in Hindi. No music.
2. 4:11 **dramatic beat, flute, then orchestral pop with female chorus, Latin horns and beat. A bit uptempo, definitely upbeat.
3. 6:03 ***sounds for all the world like “Oye Como Va”. Nice midtempo minor key Latin vibe. There’s even a Santana-like guitar solo. Also a bit of spy movie vibe…
4. 4:13 ****Somewhat uptempo Latin vibe… with vibraphones. Total cha cha. Fun lyrics, happy dance number.
5. 4:15 ***cool syncopation, slinky vocals
6. 3:38 **highly orchestrated, but with very cool hand drums, midtempo slightly relaxed shuffle. Vocal duet.
7. 4:49 *midtempo relaxed shuffle with marimbas, vocal duet.
8. 4:35 *slightly uptempo, lots of different instruments and a chorus, as well as a male vocalist. Syncopated handdrums, but I can’t put my finger on what to call the beat.
9. 4:07 *slow and spacey, in a very polished cinematic way. Turns into another midtempo syncopated orchestral shuffle. All male vocals by Sudesh Bhosle.
10. 4:56 ***downtempo and downbeat with a bit of cha cha feel. Lovely (and famous) vocal line.
11. 5:06 *quite slow and quiet, sounds rather reverential.
12. 3:52 similar in feel to previous track, male vocals by Sudesh.
CD 2:
13. 4:43 ***swingy midtempo hip-swivveler. A bit mysterious.
14. 5:02 **Somewhat uptempo mambo, duet.
15. 4:29 ***Drums and electric guitar, energetic. Sudesh sings lead, Asha does backup.
16. 3:51 *Odd little vocal exchange at start, midtempo swingy groove, vocal duet.
17. 4:22 *Upbeat cha cha groove with rather goofy vocals by Sudesh.
18. 5:16 *Very downbeat, with a more distinctly Indian flavor than most tracks. Was a HUGE hit several years ago. Sudesh sings.
19. 3:58 ***Midtempo aggressive dance with electric guitar. Sudesh does most vocals. Fun musical bits, like short horn solo.
20. 5:20 ***Midtempo, mysterious, cool music, Asha sings.
21. 4:53 ***Great drums (very Indian flavor), some interesting vocalizations by Asha. I swear I hear a berembau, too.
22. 4:03 **Midtempo hard rock a la James Bond.
23. 6:26 ***Yet another version of Dum Maro Dum! This is midtempo with electric guitar and bongos and kind of a hiccuppy beat. Switches to a rather uptempo rendition of Piya Tu with mega-bongos.