The Melodious 90’s CD series

[Deleted member 15865]

Those of you still on CDs and born in the 80’s or before, give the ‘Melodious 90’s’ series of CD by Tips a try. Yes, the era of Sanjeev-Darshan, Nadeem Shravan, Jatin-Lalit et al. - already sounds nostalgic!

If you can overcome that slightly disturbing reminder of having aged by 20 years, there’s indeed some melodious time journey in here. While Hindi film music (rather overall Indian film music) has evolved/matured in the 00s and 10s, with more complex pieces being composed, with harmony and rhythm taking centerstage, it has been at the cost of melody and innocence - something the naughty nineties were full of.



It’s quite a stress buster to play an entire album at full blast having Alka, Udit, Abhijit, Anuradha, even Sunidhi crooning at their highest pitch, backed by strings and horns which especially shine during the interludes. The dholak and traditional percussion chugs along and you have an hour long happy time - yes, almost all these songs are happy romantic - unlike the current day songs which are mostly existential and sad (that’s a different charm).

Priced reasonably at Rs 200 odd, there’s a large collection usually at Amazon etc. The sound quality is pretty decent, lot more open than RPG CDs of the era. The dynamics are good, soundstage engaging, but don’t expect a Bahubali here.

Nostalgia has a kind of healing effect, as it gets us in touch with our past. The 60s songs never left us - we kept listening to them throughout - so they don’t feel nostalgic. But the 90s do as we (most of us) didn’t listen to it for almost two decades - so going back does some magic.

 

[Ashenden]

Yes, even AR Rahman had his best releases (arguably) in the mid 90s. I had a few from this series, I think from Pardes, Gupt, which had thin cases but had good enough sound quality.
Current day songs, at least those released in the past decade have never appealed to me. Occasionally there are good albums that come out like Udaan, Lootera, Mirzya etc which are original and bucks the trend, but the rest I found to be drab and pretty much repetitive. Looks like I'm stuck in a time warp

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Yes, even AR Rahman had his best releases (arguably) in the mid 90s. I had a few from this series, I think from Pardes, Gupt, which had thin cases but had good enough sound quality.
Current day songs, at least those released in the past decade have never appealed to me. Occasionally there are good albums that come out like Udaan, Lootera, Mirzya etc which are original and bucks the trend, but the rest I found to be drab and pretty much repetitive. Looks like I'm stuck in a time warp

If you like those, you should try other film albums of Shantanu Moitra and Amit Trivedi. Shantanu’s melody is remindful of old times, not surprisingly he usually scores period films. Trivedi has a large oeuvre - almost all hits - and has wonderful musical vision. Also try listening to Vishal Bharadwaj’s scores. Between these three and ARR you’d cover most of the better current day music. The rest is mostly Sufi Rock repackaged and rerepackaged or loud Punjabi dance fare. Of course there are one off surprises like Dhanak (Tapas Relia, excellent folk fusion) or Masaan (Indian Ocean) that you need to keep an eye for.

 

[skroderider]

Yes, even AR Rahman had his best releases (arguably) in the mid 90s. I had a few from this series, I think from Pardes, Gupt, which had thin cases but had good enough sound quality.
Current day songs, at least those released in the past decade have never appealed to me. Occasionally there are good albums that come out like Udaan, Lootera, Mirzya etc which are original and bucks the trend, but the rest I found to be drab and pretty much repetitive. Looks like I'm stuck in a time warp

You are not alone I cannot tolerate most Bollywood music after the early 90s, except for some A R Rahman. I like his earlier albums, like Thiruda Thiruda, Roja, Kadhalan, Gentleman, Bombay, Kizhakku Cheemayile, Maymadham, even Super Police. After Dil Se and Taal I probably stopped following his releases religiously. Some of these albums are not strictly Bollywood, some of them had remakes or Hindi versions - but I am referring to the original Tamil versions.

Everything these days seems to be either too pretentious, or unnecessarily loud, or just plain bad - with very few exceptions (talking about Bollywood only).

 

[Ashenden]

If you like those, you should try other film albums of Shantanu Moitra and Amit Trivedi. Shantanu’s melody is remindful of old times, not surprisingly he usually scores period films. Trivedi has a large oeuvre - almost all hits - and has wonderful musical vision. Also try listening to Vishal Bharadwaj’s scores. Between these three and ARR you’d cover most of the better current day music. The rest is mostly Sufi Rock repackaged and rerepackaged or loud Punjabi dance fare. Of course there are one off surprises like Dhanak (Tapas Relia, excellent folk fusion) that you need to keep an eye for.

Oh yes! Dhanak and Lakshmi from Tapas Relia were excellent. In fact most of the music from Nagesh Kukunoor's movies were very good and original. Few other's would be Masaan, Guzaarish and Moitra and Swanand Kirkire in Parineeta. Vishal Bharadwaj, I've liked Maachis and Satya, but they were in the 90's
Main issue nowadays seems to be finding good ones is a difficulty, more like searching for a needle in a haystack. In the 90's it was the other way round

 

[Ashenden]

You are not alone I cannot tolerate most Bollywood music after the early 90s, except for some A R Rahman. I like his earlier albums, like Thiruda Thiruda, Roja, Kadhalan, Gentleman, Bombay, Kizhakku Cheemayile, Maymadham, even Super Police. After Dil Se and Taal I probably stopped following his releases religiously.

Everything these days seems to be either too pretentious, or unnecessarily loud, or just plain bad - with very few exceptions (talking about Bollywood only).

Good to hear that there are others on the same boat Thiruda Thiruda could arguably be his most experimental and best score till date. Amit Trivedi got inspired to take up his calling after hearing that on a loop (that's what he said in the interview)

 

[COOLDUDE7808]

In 90's people had the same thing to say ...they said R.D.Burman and Kishore/ Rafi / Lata etc were the best and Nadeem Sharvan / Anand Milind etc were just noise .... We used to listen to Tracks like Gupt on the loop and the older generation had a different opinion

Anyway I do agree with most of what has been said ...I feel the number of good Music Directors and Consistency is now less ....

In 90's we had Nadeem Sharvan , Anand Milind , Jatin Lalit , Anu Malik ,A R Rahman , Shankar Ehsaan Loy and some very good singers and almost every Album had Sameer as the lyricist . There were lot of genuine Chartbusters ....

From the current crop only Amit Trivedi is good .....others are mostly repetitive and also it has become a multi composer scenario now in many movies.

Also Music was a big business in itself ....Gulshan Kumar (T-series) , Tips , Venus invested in artists and promoted them ....it was a thriving business ....that is not the case today ....When Music and Music rights sold to Audio Companies formed a substantial part of the film revenues .....it got the attention it deserved ....that's not the case now

 

[Ashenden]

In 90's people had the same thing to say ...they said R.D.Burman and Kishore/ Rafi / Lata etc were the best and Nadeem Sharvan / Anand Milind etc were just noise .... We used to listen to Tracks like Gupt on the loop and the older generation had a different opinion

I used to listen to and like Madan Mohan, RD/SD Burman, Khayyam, Naushad a lot in the 90s along with the then current crop of musicians

 

[Vinay2013]

Looks like every old generation hates songs of new generation. My parents never liked 90s songs while i was a big fan of Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan etc.
Same thing is happening now that we discard current generation songs by telling it noise but our kids like them. If I look objectively, I can see that now we have better singers and songs with excellent recording quality than in 90s although it was a big business then.

Off topic, do we have evergreen bollywood songs that we call of audiophile quality?

 

[Barun7]

In 90s, songs were more about melody. After that, instrumentation became primary. So, in other words, 90s were the transition period between music and noise.
There are a very few exceptions in 2000s. Like Tum Bin, Jab We Met(two of my personal favourites). Nowadays, almost all the songs sound more or less similar let alone humming the songs in leisure!
Also, as day in and day out we used to listen those songs, the songs are there in our heart. I remember waiting eagerly for Chitrahar and Rangoli! And of course the good old cassette deck. My personal opinion is that most of the things in 90s(not limited to music only) were there in the right proportion. The previous decades had too less and the later decades have too much.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

In 90s, songs were more about melody. After that, instrumentation became primary. So, in other words, 90s were the transition period between music and noise.
There are a very few exceptions in 2000s. Like Tum Bin, Jab We Met(two of my personal favourites). Nowadays, almost all the songs sound more or less similar let alone humming the songs in leisure!
Also, as day in and day out we used to listen those songs, the songs are there in our heart. I remember waiting eagerly for Chitrahar and Rangoli! And of course the good old cassette deck. My personal opinion is that most of the things in 90s(not limited to music only) were there in the right proportion. The previous decades had too less and the later decades have too much.

Barun, I agree current day songs are not melody-centric and not hummable. They are therefore difficult to commit to memory. However, then being instrumentation heavy don’t make them noise. Far from it. I urge you to listen to any of Amit Trivedi’s albums with an open mind and you’d be surprised at the harmony and orchestration he is able to achieve while playing with various influences. Yes, a lot of current film music is repetitive and noisy, but there’s about 20% that’s gold - extending musical boundaries of the Indian listener.

 

[Barun7]

Sachin, I completely agree with you. It's not that all compositions are bad today. Even 90s had lots of crap!
There are a few exceptions like Amit Trivedi. That's the saving grace!

 

[Ashenden]

Hi Sachin, it's true that composers have a major role in coming out with a melodious score, but I have felt that they often steal the show and very little credit goes to the lyricist. If we consider Gulzar, perhaps one of the finest poets in mainstream music, he had some exceptional albums in the 90s like Lekin, Rudaali, Swami Vivekananda, Maya Memsaab, Dil Se, Maachis, Hu tu tu, Satya. It was sort of a continuation to his works from the 70-80s. In 2000s and 10s he has been less involved, but wherever he has penned the lyrics as in Leela, Mirzya etc the melody has returned.
Same goes for Amit Trivedi's collaboration with Amitabh Bhattacharya, who is also very promising and Shantanu Moitra with Swanand Kirkire in Hazaaron Kwahishein Aisi and Parineeta.
The reason why majority of current fare is not so great could also be attributed to the very poor and catchy lyrics to go with the remixes which unfortunately seems to be the norm

 

[bnilesh]

Those of you still on CDs and born in the 80’s or before, give the ‘Melodious 90’s’ series of CD by Tips a try. Yes, the era of Sanjeev-Darshan, Nadeem Shravan, Jatin-Lalit et al. - already sounds nostalgic!

If you can overcome that slightly disturbing reminder of having aged by 20 years, there’s indeed some melodious time journey in here. While Hindi film music (rather overall Indian film music) has evolved/matured in the 00s and 10s, with more complex pieces being composed, with harmony and rhythm taking centerstage, it has been at the cost of melody and innocence - something the naughty nineties were full of.

View attachment 37676

It’s quite a stress buster to play an entire album at full blast having Alka, Udit, Abhijit, Anuradha, even Sunidhi crooning at their highest pitch, backed by strings and horns which especially shine during the interludes. The dholak and traditional percussion chugs along and you have an hour long happy time - yes, almost all these songs are happy romantic - unlike the current day songs which are mostly existential and sad (that’s a different charm).

Priced reasonably at Rs 200 odd, there’s a large collection usually at Amazon etc. The sound quality is pretty decent, lot more open than RPG CDs of the era. The dynamics are good, soundstage engaging, but don’t expect a Bahubali here.

Nostalgia has a kind of healing effect, as it gets us in touch with our past. The 60s songs never left us - we kept listening to them throughout - so they don’t feel nostalgic. But the 90s do as we (most of us) didn’t listen to it for almost two decades - so going back does some magic.

I also like the songs & music in this album. But do you know all songs in this album are not original compositions & copied from various sources?
Here is a link explaining more on that :

 

[buxx]

Those who like 90's music are the ones who were in school/college those days and had some crush to pine for

 

[Deleted member 15865]

I also like the songs & music in this album. But do you know all songs in this album are not original compositions & copied from various sources?
Here is a link explaining more on that :

Nilesh, I didn’t know, but I am not surprised to know either. Post the golden era of the 50s and 60s, I don’t assume that a Hindi film song’s tune was original - in many cases they are lifted from international records. And that includes songs by famous music directors from 70s to 90s. The trend has abated since the 2000 perhaps due to globalisation of the music industry and easy access to international music for Indian audiences online.

Having said that, these songs are enjoyable, not just for the tune, but the singing and orchestration too. Also, that post of mine was to highlight the ‘Melodious 90s’ series of albums released by Tips which are reasonably good in sound quality.

 

[COOLDUDE7808]

copying has always been there ...when I started listening to Elvis Presley quite late in my life ....I realized that some of the Shankar - Jaikishan tunes have been copied from his music ....Even R.D.Burman was accused of copying ...

 

[Deleted member 15865]

....Even R.D.Burman was accused of copying ...

You must listen to this:

There are some more iconoclastic comparisons elsewhere on YouTube.

In RD’s defence (of questionable plausibility) you could still argue that RD added his tune bits, changed the tempo, pitch etc. and added exceptionally innovative orchestration to take the songs to stratospheric heights. That‘s not what those following him could manage. RD remains a genius for me, but not for his tunes.

AR Rahman is criticised by many lovers of old Hindi songs. They say his tunes are repetitive. Possible, but he is a true composer! Though he isn’t among my favourites (I find his orchestration too ‘in the face’, especially in his later albums), I have respect for his originality.

The 90’s music - which is the topic of this thread - was a bridge between RD and Rahman. It served its own purpose - and the albums are quite listenable/enjoyable, but these intermediate music directors would not be counted among the industry’s all-time greats.

There are trend-setters (like Anil Biswas, Naushad, RD, Rahman... ), and there are the peculiar virtuosos (Madan Mohan, Ravi, Vishal Bharadwaj...), and then there are the above average but commercially intelligent ones (Shankar Jaikishan, OP, LP, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin-Lalit, SEL..). It‘s a fascinating mix, this Hindi film music industry which has continued to go strong for 80 years now. Hardly any non-classical genre has remained as popular for that long anywhere in the world!

 

[bnilesh]

Nilesh, I didn’t know, but I am not surprised to know either. Post the golden era of the 50s and 60s, I don’t assume that a Hindi film song’s tune was original - in many cases they are lifted from international records. And that includes songs by famous music directors from 70s to 90s. The trend has abated since the 2000 perhaps due to globalisation of the music industry and easy access to international music for Indian audiences online.

Having said that, these songs are enjoyable, not just for the tune, but the singing and orchestration too. Also, that post of mine was to highlight the ‘Melodious 90s’ series of albums released by Tips which are reasonably good in sound quality.

As you said I also like the orchestra in the album & many other album in meledious 90's & also agree about TIPS sound quality.

I have came across such copying or inspiration for old songs & you have given examples also.
But lifting all songs in a album from other sources is too much for a music composer.