The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[PARAMASHIVAN]

1983 should have more interesting albums! App anna has a a "marathon" to complete

[app_engine]

nanRi, skr!

I need to key in two songs today to catch up and both will be from Anandhakkummi...

[app_engine]

#104 ஒ வெண்ணிலாவே, வா ஓடி வா
(ஆனந்தக்கும்மி, 1983 ஜானகி / ஷைலஜாவுடன்)

One male + 2 female songs are not a rarity in TFM (though not as commonplace as reNdu poNdAttikkArarkaL in TN ). The famous ones that come to mind quickly are nAnoru ponnOvium, nAn onna nenachchEn, Ayiram malarkaLE malarungaL. And so is this sweet number that has SPS adding to the best-of-the-duet-pairs-in-TFM. Song was a little more popular than thAmarikkodi on radio and buses.

I simply love the bass score of this song, especially the "transition to saraNam" part of the interludes. On the melody part, 'nALai indha vELai emai nee kANa vA, O pAl pOla vA' anupallavi part is unadulterated honey IMHO. On the lyric part, well, sweet but so, so - 'nilA nilA Odi vA nillAmal Odi vA' kind of pallavi which gets a little better in saraNam, overall quite average considering the umpteen nilA songs in TFM.

I know very well that AK was months later to kOzhi koovuthu and in my scale nowhere compared to that killer of an album. In a way, the recording & SPB were the major plusses of the album that helped it reach a level where A-kummi can even be discussed on the same line with k-koovuthu. kk is perhaps among the top-few innovative albums EVER in TFM. (Why compare these two? because both were IR family productions from the same time period). That way, though it had evergreen songs, personally, AK was a less satisfying album (despite thAmaraikkodi).

[app_engine]

#105 ஊமை நெஞ்சின் ஓசைகள் காதில் கேளாதோ
(ஆனந்தக்கும்மி, 1983 , ஜானகியுடன்)

Vairamuthu in decent form in this song, with his special 'oomai nenjin Osai' cover drive. Despite some mAne thEne here and there which were necessary for filmy lyrics those days (may be to accommodate some Raja tunes), this song has such interesting phrases and the smooth flowing melody makes this song sweet. With SPB-SJ effortlessly delivering the goods, this one becomes easily the second pick of the album for me. And what a terrific second interlude with that sweet guitar phrase as the cream on the top!

Ofcourse there's simply no right emotion (if pathos had been intended) which is a common problem for all the songs of this album. thAmaraikkodi sounds like a war-cry (compared to kAdhal kEli), oomai nenjin sounds like a thAlAttu (supposedly pirivuththuyaram), O veNNilAvE sounds like children school song (and not a lovers' memorobilia). IR/SPB - who are supposedly the best in the business when it comes to that area (of emotions in TFM), went without a clue in this album. Sweet but not evoking strong feelings of the right kind or any form of nostalgia Quite strange that way!

I think this album came in the 4th sem when we all had single rooms in the Emerald hostel. I had a Philips transistor radio (from grandfather as his home had a big stereo now, thanks to his last son-in-law-who-was-living-with-them, a mech engineer and big-time into music, even had a recording center later on in that city of Kamarajar). However, some friends had big stereos / walkmans in the hostel and life became a lot more musical. One of them -brother of a MLA and my badminton teammate - had that famous Panasonic stereo player (the same model with the Paul Mauriat demo which I've posted earlier about) and this one was to be the source of great music for most of us for the rest of the stay

[rajkumarc]

Beautiful write-ups App for Ninaivellam Nithya songs, your writings mixed with nostalgia are such a pleasure to read and for sure transports us back to those times. Great start to 1983

[Nerd]

App,

Which was the most popular song in AK at that time? The female duet oru kiLi uruguthu is the most popular today. And I have listened to O vennilaavE in the FM channels. The other two are not popular at all. Thamaraikkodi is almost forgotten. Thanks to people like you and complicateur (in that lovely writeup in Times of India) the song is getting some new listeners.

[app_engine]

App,

Which was the most popular song in AK at that time?

'mainA, mainA' was the most popular and 'O veNNilAvE' the next. The others were occasionally on radio / buses.

Interestingly, as per the existing culture, many people recorded all songs (except may be the 'machchAn mAtteekkittAru' and 'aNNanmArE thambeemArE' that turned off such "recorders" due to the irritating first line). 'thAmaraikkodi' enjoyed reasonable popularity with such private cassette players (i.e. in my observation) along with thiNdAduthE & oomai nenjin OsaikaL.

[V_S]

Beautiful write-ups App!. You are carrying us with Raja's music, your wonderful college memories simultaneously, along with various insights and anecdotes which gives a thoroughly entertaining and nostalgic read.

[app_engine]

nanRi, V_S!

1983 will be as exciting a year as 1982, having tons of Raja albums with adequate SPB presence.

[PARAMASHIVAN]

nanRi, V_S!

1983 will be as exciting a year as 1982, having tons of Raja albums with adequate SPB presence.

App anna

Wasn't Salangai Oli released in 83 as well ?