Raghu Dixit - The Review

So, the album finally launched, here are my thoughts. I felt the album might have been tailored to be a bit more populist and I dont blame him for doing so - hey you've got to earn dough don't you! Good effort - hopefully his brand of music catches on and his next album is more booming vocals and more indo-folk-fusion - which is what Raghu's brand/genre to me is.

First, you can buy the music online at Music Yogi or its now widely available in most music stores, I've seen it my local Planet-M and at Crossword too.

Album starts off large with "Hey Bhagwan", reggae/guitar comes to mind, its also the first video Raghu has released - good start. If that song woke you up, the next "Mysore Se Ayi", ofcourse is a Raghu classic, the album version is good but its a kind of song that amazing live and its Raghu at his best blending folk / rock. You're just getting over the solo music piece at the end of when "Gudugudiya Sedi Nodo" kicks off, by far the best song for me on this album - its in Kannada, I had to read the lyrics to understand what it meant - its by a Kannada poet, first the song blows your mind and the lyrics are just phenomenal. Amazing song and amazing soundscapes.

After the high of "Gudugudiya..", comes "Ambar", which I felt was a needless love ballad that goes on and on, not for me and not what I would associate Raghu with, after this point the album seems to go into a "populist" mode (for me) - lets add a ballad, a "foot tappy" Hindi rock song "Khidki".

"No Man Will Ever Love You Like I Do" is soulful, perhaps he wrote it for his amour! "I'm in Mumbai Waiting For A Miracle" follows - which for people following Raghu is ironic because he's really beeen waiting quite long for a miracle! :) Lyrics are predictable and I've heard better songs about Mumbai - a throwback to Remo Fernandes (Bombay City) - ah the good ol days.

The album ends with "Soruthihudu Maniya Maligi ", another Kannada song - nice, but not even close to Gudgudiya, which for me was the gem of this album, I've heard "Mysore" too many times perhaps!

Good beginnings - Raghu's forte I think is his live performances and his crazy booming voice - I read someplace (facebook) - where someone referred to him as having "big pipes" referring to his vocal strengths - thats fits totally. Its a good start for Raghu, hopefully his next is more indo-folk. Just for support I'd say go buy the album - but objectively it was an average attempt for me. Good sound - but the only song that pulls me back is Gudgudiya.

BTW the album design is PHENOMENAL - I dont buy too many physical CD's nowadays - but probably the best designed CD I've seen ever. Kudos to his brother I think who designed it.