On a hat trick!. Review on Raam Songs

Raam - The new soundtrack from Yuvan Shankar Raja has come out after his successful 7GRC & Manmathan. So expectation was high to see whether this whizkid is up for a hat trick. This film's director Ameer and Yuvan had worked before for Mounam Pesiyathe (*ing Surya and Trisha). Though the film was only a moderate hit, couple of songs in that movie were just excellent (chinna chinnathai and en anbe). I was waiting to listen to this album for long time. It was released on 12th Jan by Star Music. The album comes with lyrics listed in the inlay card with photographs of the recording sessions. Package is nicely done.

The album has totally 7 tracks: one dance number, four melodies, one repeat and one small musical bit.

Every album starts with dance numbers these days. Audio marketing people believe that catchy and rhythm based songs will get listeners attention fast and make them to buy the albums. So this album is not an exception either. Boom boom sung by Yuvan, Jyotsna, Premji, and Tippu starts with a rap kinda chorus and beats. Both are catchy and the chorus has been used several times in the song. The lead guitar coming in the second interlude is good...The whole song has been done with catchy techno orchestration. Voice modulation is there in many places and ok https://lyrics. Overall an enjoyable song and very apt for dance clubs. My rating: 8/10

There is a small instrumental piece comes before the second song. It starts with Flute and there is ''Raam raam'' chanting in the background. One female solo chorus in middle east style comes and finishes off the instrumental piece. Then Arrariraro by KJJesudas starts with beats. A song with a different concept, a lullaby song being sung by a son for his mother. KJJ's amma endralikkatha song is a trademark amma song. He proves again that he is excellent for this type of songs. Snehan has done a wonderful job in lyrics department. Before the album came out, the director said in one of his interviews that KJJ was touched by this song while singing it. Orchestration is not heavy. The flute in the first interlude is very good and so is the techno sound. This song is one of the best songs in recent times. A nice melody and my rating: 10/10

Vidikinra pozhuthu by Madhumitha A female solo song set in a mood while she is longing for her lover. The interesting thing in this song is chorus. Yuvan has used chorus in an innovative way in the interludes (first interlude: Male and female, second interlude: female) and also at the end (female). Snehan has come with good lyrics again. A good melody and my rating: 10/10

The fourth song Yarro Arivaal by Madhu Balakrishan is a bit song. This is a pathos song and is about the pain the hero is having for some reason. After Mathu's rendition, kathakali music comes in and ends with orchestra piece. My rating: 9/10

Manithan Solkinra sung by KJJ, Vijay Jesudas and Ranjith. Pallavi has fast beats with veenai kind of instrument. The beats and a few lines in the beginning reminded me of 'Doli doli'' from Bose. When ''Poorana biramam....''comes, the tune goes high pitch and sounds different. In the interlude, a sanskrit sloka is coming and the following charanam sounds better than the pallavi. A serious song comes with shades of his nanda songs. My rating: 8/10

Nizhalinai nijamum by Viyay Jesudas and Yuvan is the male version of third song. With different lyrics and chorus by Yuvan make this song better than the female version. The pause, guitar and chorus coming in the second interlude is also very good. Vijay Jesudas has sung it very well. This song will go to his one of the best. Another pathos song but made it like a fun song. Snehan's lines are very good. My rating: 10/10

Music Bit An instrumental piece that comes for very few minutes. It has got shades of 7GRC theme music.. sounds ok. The preview of this movie has a different background music. They should have included that in the cassette. My rating: 5/10.

Verdict:

Yuvan is well known for using techno/electronica kind of sounds in his albums, many people complain about using such sounds. In this whole album he has used them but in a subtle and enjoyable way. He has also excelled in the rhythm section, very well done. Although the album has some serious songs, he did not come up with usual run-of-the-mill type sad songs. Songs sound very fresh. Snehan has come up with his best for this album. This is a great album for Yuvan to start the new year. A must buy for music lovers.

Credits:

Lyrics: Snehan

Additional Keyboard Program: Premgi

Live Drums and percussions: V Kumar

Flute: Naveen

Trumpet aud.kanoon (??) and Banjo: Babu

Chendai: Kesavan

Phakwaz: VL Prasad

Program co-ordinators: Subbiah and V Karthik

Recorded and mixed at: Kalasa studios

Recorded by: J Selvam, Guru and Arun

Mixed by: Thukkaram and Mahesh

Label: Star Music