London Dreams (Music) - Another great album from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy!!

Movie - London Dreams (Hindi)
Director - Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Producer - Vipul Amrutlal Shah, Aashin Shah
Music - Shankar/Ehsaan/Loy
Cast - Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Asin, Rannvijay, Aditya Roy Kapur, Om Puri

Lyrics - Prasoon Joshi
Singers - Vishal Dadlani, Roopkumar Rathod, Shankar Mahadevan, Feroz Khan, Mohan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Milind, Abhijeet Ghoshal, Zubeen Garg
Release Date - 30th October 2009.

Music from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy rarely disappoints. This one is no exception either. They have come up with another great album with some really nice songs. These guys have earned the No.2 spot in Indian film music right after AR Rahman. Now we know why. They have been consistent in giving good songs throughout their career. This movie is a musical and the music plays a very important role as the lead actors (Salman, Ajay, Asin) are all playing musicians in the film. The national award winning lyric writer Prasoon Joshi joins hands again with S-E-L after the wonderful Taare Zameen Par. So we expect nothing less than a great album which has 8 straight tracks and 3 remixes.

The first track 'Barso Yaaron ' opens with the base guitar and then goes into full blown rock mode. Vishal Dadlani begins the vocals in his trademark husky voice and the songs gets a highly energetic start. A complete rock track. Vishal is an expert at such songs and he does a great job here as well. Completely different from what S-E-L had done in their previous rock outing, Rock On!!. Roopkumar Rathod joins in towards the middle of the song. I was wondering what a classical singer like him is doing in a rock track by reading the inlay card. But his contribution to the song is amazing. It brings in a completely Indian feel to this rock song.  You never expect him to sing rock so well and he does it brilliantly. He also brings out an emotional angle to the song. The Hanuman Chalisa chant at the end is totally awesome. Roopkumar Rathod's voice goes to extreme high pitch by the end of the chant. Wonderful!! We can expect Ajay performing to Vishal's voice and Salman bringing in the Indian flavour with Roopkumar Rathod's voice. An excellent opening to the album. (4.5/5)

The next track is the lovable 'Manko Ati Bhavey ' by Shankar Mahadevan. It is such a fun song to hear and the lyrics are written so well by Prasoon Joshi with words which are rarely used in routine Hindi film songs. Singing fun numbers like this comes easily to the national award winning Shankar Mahadevan. He brings in that naughty fun element in this song. The video promo is already out featuring a very naughty Salman along with a beautiful Asin dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum. Definite hit!! (4/5)

The next track is 'Tapkey Masti' by a new singer called Feroz Khan. A bhangra number with a little bit of qawwali thrown in as well. The rock pattern is still followed in the orchestration of this folk number. The instrumentation deserves special mention. But the singing is ordinary. Maybe someone like Daler Mehndi or Mika would have made some difference. Nothing special about this track. May or may not work well in the movie. Just an average song. But if it is Salman who is performing on screen for this, it might turn out to be a superhit track after all. Since he has that ability to turn average songs also to a good watch on screen. (2.5/5)

'Khanabadosh' is the next track. The song opens with a chorus piece led by Shankar Mahadevan's voice. But the track has vocals by yet another new singer Mohan. Quite an interesting track, which might be picturised as part of a rock concert again. This song has the title of the movie, London Dreams coming in it. Mohan impresses with his vocals, though his voice is very similar to the composer Shankar Mahadevan himself at many places. Prasoon Joshi writes some good imaginative lyrics as usual. A great track yet again which can work very well in the movie. (4/5)

'Khwab Jo' by Shankar Mahadevan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is the best track of the album. The song has a soft rock feel and has two completely different singers doing a great job behind the mike. Great lyrics again by Prasoon Joshi. He is a wonderful addition to the list of great lyric writers of Hindi cinema. Can be the right successor for Gulzar Saab (who is still writing awesome lyrics, by the way. Dhan te nan!!). The song talks about achieving your dreams. And borrows from the tagline of Rock On in the end, when it goes; 'Live your London Dreams'. A beautiful song. The song ends with a round of applause. We also feel like applauding. :) Sure to be the highlight of the movie. (4.5/5)

Next is 'Yaari Bina' by Roopkumar Rathod and Milind, a folk number about friendship. Most probably picturised on Ajay and Salman in Rajasthan. A great track again with awesome lines like, 'Yaar kahe, aa seene se lag jaaye.. Duniya bhaad mein jaaye'. This is exactly why I compared Prasoon Joshi to Gulzar Saab. Such fun in lyrics are usually there only in Gulzar Saab's songs. Roopkumar Rathod does a great job. And the other singer Milind supports him well. Though one misses a powerful singer like Sukhwinder Singh, Roopkumar Rathod more than makes up for it. A fun, earthy number. (3.5/5)

The next track is 'Jashn Hai Jeet Ka' by yet another new singer Abhijeet Ghoshal. An interesting composition supported with heavy orchestration. The chorus part is wonderful. But the vocals by Abhijeet Ghoshal could have been better. Somebody experienced like KK would have made a huge difference. The orchestration and the chorus make this song rise from being an average track to a pretty good one. Again, sounds like a song which would be picturised as being performed on a stage. A pretty good energetic track, which can impress once the visuals are also out. (3/5)

The final song is 'Shola Shola'. Zubeen Garg (famous for Ya Ali) sounds like Himesh Reshammiya, and that puts one off. At certain parts, the tune also sounds familiar. In spite of this, it is a pretty decent track. Zubeen Garg's voice sounds like a mix of Himesh and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. An average track yet again. (2.5/5)

I wouldnt like to talk about the remix tracks as I am not at all interested in them. I do not know why every composer includes remix tracks of their good songs in their albums. Leave that job to the DJs. People interested in remixes will hear them like that. 

On the whole, the album is yet another good one from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Last year, when Rock On released, many people said the music was just ordinary, and had to change their words once the movie was out. It went on to become one of the most popular albums of the year. Some critics even re-reviewed the music of Rock On after its release. This one impresses on first hearing itself. I hope the visuals from the movie do justice to the songs. I am doubtful how Ajay Devgan is going to be convincing as a rockstar. Salman is playing a villager who later becomes a rockstar, which is interesting. 

The unique thing about this album is that all the songs in the album are performed by male singers alone. There is not a single female voice, even in the chorus, in any of the songs, in spite of having a lovely leading lady, Asin. I think this is the first music album of a Hindi film without  a single female voice in it. All in all, a great album which can sound even better once the movie is out. 

Rating - 4/5