Shalimar

Shit like this on the list is both refreshing and infuriating. Refreshing because it is good, fun, interesting, and also not something I would regularly be exposed to! It's why I started this project and keeps me coming back. It's infuriating because the fact that it is included here means that Robert Dimery, the original author of the 1001 albums list is aware that music like this exists. He's clearly aware that there is an entire world of music out there. SO WHY HAVE I LISTENED TO 200 80s BRITISH NEW WAVE ALBUMS AND 200 SCOTTISH ROCK ALBUMS FROM THE 90S??!!?

I did like this album, but I wonder how familiar the author of 1001 albums is with Indian music and whether they would have selected this movie soundtrack if they had the same breadth of familiarity that they obviously have with american & english music.

This was a funky listen! Also, indicative of how much of an afterthought world music is to this list. The original entry was "Shalimar/College Girl" because the list author had a bootleg album that threw two unrelated soundtracks together! 😆 "College Girl" is also worth checking out. The track "College Girl 'I Love You'" lifts a chunk of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" which is fun, and "Everybody Dance With Me" uses the riff from Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vita"... Fave track (on Shalimar) - "Countess Caper (Music)" - loved that Bollywood spaghetti western vibe! The opening track "Title Music" was also very atmospheric...

I don’t think I need to listen to anymore albums after this one. Shut ‘er down boys, we’re done.

Guessing the plot to this film, I’ll go - A police constable is on a holiday cruise, stopping over in India somewhere, he’s not adverse to other cultures, such as dancing the cha-cha-cha early in the film but does see himself above it. Gets himself embroiled in a local crime of passion falling for the daughter of the victim as they have to combat someone bringing back colonialism to the region. They succeed, but he has to go back to his life and they share an emotional farewell on the docks as he boards. As she cries and waves him off, he comes up Behind her, choosing to stay. It’s never explained how he got of the boat. They embrace. Credits roll.

Burman is like the John Williams or Hans Zimmer of Bollywood: he’s iconic and he’s the master of composing for film. I’ve heard a lot of his work together with Asha Bhosle, but never this soundtrack. I hadn’t heard of Shalimar, but a Bollywood movie starring Rex Harrison seems super interesting. The title credits music has a James Bond-esque feel to it (not so much as the vocal Bond main themes, but the “James Bond Theme”, “007 Theme”, or the “Suspense Motif” by Monty Norman, John Barry, and David Arnold, respectively). The rest of the songs follow some excellent Bollywood dance numbers interspersed with great suspenseful film music and (what I assume are) leitmotifs. I’m really glad this album was included in the 1001. This was new to me and this is not the type of music I’ve come to expect from the book.

This absolutely slapped

LET´S DO CHAHACHABURU

This was pretty fun to listen to but really just in a kitschy way. It's not very good.

"Shalimar" is a movie soundtrack composed by legendary Indian music director and actor Rahul Dev (R. D.) Burman. The movie "Shalimar" is a 1978 bi-lingual Bollywood film. The soundtrack album opens with "Title Music." Drums and an Indian melody that you hear when a guy is dealing with a cobra. There's horns both like in a big band and jazzy. Wow, this goes all over the place. I think a harbinger of things to come. "One Two Cha Cha Cha" starts out with 60's sounding music and a synth background which quickly goes to the Cuban cha cha. Horns are added. The songs ends with a sitar on top of a Carribbean beat. This is fun. "Dialogue Tum Ek/ Hum Bewafa Hargiz Na Thay (I)" starts out with movie dialogue and people chanting. Kishore Kumar takes lead vocals with a soaring, romantic delivery. Backing chanting vocals and a rhythm with a more African style. Layered strings on top of it all. "Mera Pyar Shalimar" is a ballad sung by Asha Bhoule. Bass, strings, a carribean beat. The melody is aided by what sounds like a harp and is probably a veena. A flute. Very dramatic and probably a key point of the film. "Hum Bewafa Hargiz Na Thay (II)" closes the album. More laidback than Part I with Usha Uthup on lead vocals. A gentle way to end with strings. I think the movie had a happy ending. This was a great experience. I had no idea what to expect. I thought soundtracks were not part of this challenge unless entirely by one band; I'm glad this one got in. This album should be the poster child for not boring. A lot going on. A lot of songs are busy and changes styles. Carribean, baroque, Indian, 50/60's pop, jazz, polka, Spanish, Cuban, African (and I'm missing a few I know). I might need to watch this movie. An album to pick up if you see and definitely listen to.

Really good as far as movie soundtracks go!

what the fuck

This is offensive and this album should NOT be on the list!!! We're music critics goddamnit! You think this is a game...?! It is NOT a game! Ok. Now that we've gotten that out of the way this is a straight five. It's way too much fun for this list and that's what I like about it. Way cool, and way fun in a retro old-world sense. It invokes otherworldly nostalgia that give me curiosity wiggles. It's just awesome. And yes, I'd totally listen to this again. Oh! Let's get this Shalimar thing on the big screen!

I'll take a lot more where that came from. What a bright spot! It seems to have an optimism that might have been more common a decade earlier, combined with that wonderful Indian sound that brings me right back to Jaipur.

see this is the exact kind of stuff i love to listen to in this project. an album i otherwise would have never listened to or even known about. is this album mindblowing? no. is it an interesting sample of music from another country? yes, absolutely. what i really liked is that it feels like a 70s spin on traditional indian music. there's some funky stuff here, for sure. does feel like corny 70s music sometimes, but i'm into that. really pleasant to listen to and is definitely relatively unique amongst all the other albums on this list. engaging and really fun to listen to.

It's nothing something I would listen to over and over again, but that is just because of my own cultural and generation biases.

R. D. Burman is a behemoth of a workhorse within the Bollywood industry. Between his start in 1966 to his final film in 1987 (a mere 7 years before his death), Burman would have release 331 film scores. Shalimar is just one piece of his long legacy. Almost coming full circle, the characteristics of South Asian music that influenced psychedelic music are now giving a psychedelic edge to this soundtrack. Shalimar was apparently slated for crossover appeal to America, allowing Bollywood to break out and garner worldwide success. Too bad it was anything but. Given the 70's track record of soundtracks tinged with psychedelia (see: Shaft in 1971, Superfly in 1972), it makes sense for this soundtrack to follow relatively close behind. As far as soundtracks go, this one is fine. I don't know much about Bollywood nor do I find it particularly captivating, so the appeal of this soundtrack is sadly limiting.

Interesting, I don't think I'd listen to it again but I enjoyed it.

this is why the queen was so keen to keep hold of the commonwealth, she was bang in to this stuff. i on the other hand am not bang in to this.

This album was great. I wish more albums like this, surprises, and not the obivous classics along with the severely over-represented 80s and 90s albums from the UK, were on this list.

I'm jamming out to the Bollywood vibes when I'm hit with Baby Let's Dance Together! 6/5 for that song alone.

What a true delight. I loved how funky it was. I loved how sloppy it was. I loved how shrill it was. I loved it!

Hey! This was pretty nice. Again wouldn’t mind hearing more world music but hey, gotta make room for TWO BETA BAND ALBUMS

The first song has a train horn as an instrument. What is it with indians and trains?

Some of this is pretty interesting, particularly the weird funky tracks, and the album gets better in the back half - especially on Romantic Theme and Baby Let’s Dance Together, but overall I had a hard time staying interested in what Shalimar had to offer.

While I still appreciate getting albums like this, this is the first one I didn't enjoy very much. The last few songs were pretty good but the rest were more annoying than anything.

i literally could only listen to two songs but they were nice !!!!!

I'm happy to hear something outside of english/american rock/pop and whatever Electronica is. On the other hand I would find it immensely offensive against my culture if the only album from my country is a soundtrack of a movie. Imagine the only album of your country out of 1001 albums you must hear is the soundtrack of "Forrest Gump".

Very disappointing to get some bilingual version of a bollywood soundtrack with mediocre songs. This list assumes we cannot deal with the real non-western (uk/usa) version of indian music. So it should be bilingual or made with western musicians. It makes me sad.

I’m not gonna listen to this

I can't stand Indian music to begin with and this doesn't help. Christ almighty what a tough listen. WTF is what the Yoko Ono-esque screeching? 2/10.

There are better examples of Bollywood music than this surely? It's so stylised and anglicised I find it awkward. To add to all this I thought we weren't allowed 'Various Artist' albums. Never mind.

Oh my. Again, not sure WHY such a poorly recorded collection of songs from a 1978 Bollywood OST must be heard before someone dies. Not that the composition or effort in writing each song is bad, but good lord, the worst of my CDs I would get from a 1994 Columbia House or BMG subscription seem to best this. This seems like a box-check on a diversity and inclusion requirement.

Never even heard of this but terrific

All I knew before is that Shalimar was the name of my grandmother's favorite perfume. Apparently this is my last album in the project. I'm so happy that it was something different from the usual themes and it felt like a wonderful discovery on my last day listening to assigned music. What a great variety of sounds and styles! I think I'm going to have to watch this movie. Goodnight, everybody!

Now for something completely different, and that is a good thing. I appreciate the exposure to new works. Is this the end of our list????

Well, all right. I really hope this actually is our last album because this is right where I want it to end. Fun and 70s and new to me. That's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it! Thank you so much, Alexander!

This project has been 1089 straight days of listening to an album a day. It’s become such a part of my life that it was hard not to dream about what the final album on this incredible journey might be. Reviewing yesterday’s Pavement album, one of my associates listed a bunch of deserving artists who have not appeared on this list which only added to my anticipation. What will it be? Something that will make me scream in agony - more Elvis Costello anyone? Someone underrated I was hoping to see like the Pointer Sisters? Or maybe something in-between - a Britpop band from the early 90s I’ve never heard of for a real “meh” finale? When I saw the cover of this Bollywood soundtrack from the 70s show up it was completely unexpected - beyond my expectations of the unexpected - unexpectedly unexpected! Will this be a satisfying way to conclude this project? The title track sounded like a funky 70s police drama set in India. Groovy, exotic, I’m digging this. Ok… ok… Hmmmm… this is up my alley… A wackadoo sitar-infused cha cha cha song is up next… ONE TWO CHA CHA CHA… and then… “That’s the way, uh huh uh huh, I like it.” A KC and the Sunshine Band callout!? Didn’t see that coming… I transferred listening to my headphones for a visit to the grocery store as Hum Bewafa Harris Na Thay ended with “Whirrrr Whirrrr CH CH CH CH CH”. Don’t know what is happening and don’t much care because I’m grinning from ear to ear! Countess’ Caper came on and suddenly I’m in a 70s spy thriller slinking my way through the produce aisle until spotted - resulting in a mad dash through the store. At least that’s what my soundtrack was telling me. Naag Devta is a fantastic tune... and Baby Let’s Dance Together was pure 70s bliss. The closing track brought it all home as I could see the credits roll to the La la la la la la la la la la las and Hmmm Hmmmm Hmmm Hmmmmm Hmmmmmmms. As I listen to this album a second time I think it is a really fitting and suitable end to this list. It’s a lot of strange and nostalgic fun that managed to surprise and delight me even after so many other albums. Somehow it seems like a perfect end to this project. Terrific!

Better than every Bond soundtrack by a mile.

This is why I'm here

Sample heaven. Desperately want to see this film. This was a great soundtrack. Some real bangers. Naag Devta is rad. This whole album is rad af. Funky, jazzy Indian disco. Wish there was more like this on this list.

françois de roubaix vibes shalimar one two cha cha cha countess' caper naag devta aaina wohl rehta hai romantic theme mera pyar shalimar

The grooves are slick and irresistible. And the singers involved are all incredible in their own ways. Who knows a soundtrack of a Bollywood film from the '70s could slap so hard? Unique, refreshing, and fun experience.

loved!

Beautiful soundtrack!

This album blew me away! Was not expecting it. Very layered and textured with some great vocal performances. Lots of various instrumentation and cool time changes

this is awesome even if tracking it down was confusing

This was a better album than I was expecting romantic theme is a great song

This is an amazing soundtrack. I'd say as a soundtrack for a movie it's almost perfect. Shalimar did a great job of mixing Western music norms with Indian ones and the result was excellent!

Fantastic album. The kind of music I signed up for when I downloaded the app. Nothing I would have sought or listened to on my own but so fun and good and clocking in under 60 minutes. Spaghetti westerns, bollywood sounds

Excellent soundtrack, excellent album!!! One two cha cha cha is an absolute banger which I already listen to on the reg! Excellent dinner party music and all round good times! Fun to listen to the soundtrack, I haven't seen the film but I really love a bit of Bollywood. So much talent packed in there, interesting and fun sounds. This kind of music always puts me in a great mood and also the automatic next track from Spotify was another banger so that's great too.

Locura total de banda sonora setentera bollywoodense. Salta del jazz al funk de guitarras wawa, del italowestern de trompetas y cítaras al chachachá, del folk hindú al easylistening. Entretenido y muy bonito. Sorpresa total

Id listen to this movie all day

Crazy but I’m totally into this. I’d have never thought I’d enjoy it so much. I’d definitely listen to this again.

j'adore, très riche musicalement

Actually quite good! Never heard of the movie but willing to see it based upon the soundtrack!

Kind of odd this is the Bollywood the editor chose. Also, there should be more Bollywood than the amount of mid Britpop and 60s rock on this list.

A very enjoyable listen but I have no idea how representative it is of either Bollywood in general or Burman's works in particular. It seems, at least, a bit Westernized, for the possible crossover of the film.

I enjoyed this album waaaay more than I expected to. Fun listen!

A perfect example of this list’s strengths. Wouldn’t have found this without it, likely, and it carries a good variety of familiarity and newness in its tracklist.

Really cool and refreshing work on this list. I enjoyed it a lot. It's obvious listening to it that it's from a film. The score aspects are fun. The sung musical parts are fun.

This was a pretty good album overall for a Hindi movie soundtrack. The best way to describe it is Indian Pop mixed with funk, and some of the songs even had a Western feel to them. Even though this was my first time hearing it, it felt like I’d heard it before, probably because this album has definitely been sampled in modern music. Right away with the first track, I recognized it because I know Dan the Automator sampled it. I can’t remember the exact song or project, but he definitely used it. But even beyond that, this album is full of beats and percussion that have been a big influence on hip hop and pretty much any other kind of music that uses breakbeats.

This frustrates me SO DEEPLY because clearly this means the author KNOWS music from other countries at least a little bit and yet I am going to be subjected to intolerable amounts of 60s-80s UK hits. Get me OUT OF HERE !!!! This goes crazy, though.

I dig this. I think some of the ideas could have been a bit more fleshed out, but what's here is working.

Albums like this get me coming back to this generator. Feel like I need to see the movie now. Really interesting mix of sounds throughout but also felt distinctly Indian at the same time. Great Listen

Cool soundtrack.

Fun and interesting. I would love more Bollywood and Indian music on this list.

They don't make it like this anymore!

Ohh, more indian albums, exciting! Putting the controversial topic of having movie scores on this list aside, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this. There is a good mix between more orchestral tracks, a bit similar to something from the early James Bond movies, and more "modern" music. It blends elements from (what I consider) Indian music, and western, as well. 'Aaina Wohi Rehta Hai' for example sounds very Indian, or middle eastern, with the female vocals and percussive elements, while 'Countess Caper/Shalimar' sounds typically french with the accordion, and 'Baby Let's Dance Together' almost sounds very funky with the wah wah pedal guitar. The sound quality is not that good, but other than that I found this to be a really fun record to listen to. All songs stood out well and caught my interest without difficulty. Solid 4 star record, will definitely come back to some songs from this!

What a ride! You could tell it was a movie soundtrack with a great mix of styles and songs. From the psychedelic intro to the western movie inspired parts of "Countess' Caper". I feel like other movie sound tracks we have had, the music was not as good without knowing the film but here I think this is not the case. I really enjoyed the mix of styles and felt i wanted to see the movie to understand more. It may be a bit front loaded but it was still fun. Very refreshing compared to all the other stuff on this list. 4 star.

Unexpectedly fun!

More of this please. Different and fun.

Pretty awesome

I was so ready to be a hater, I was soooo ready. Truly an amazing blend of sounds and styles. Not only deserving to be on the list as a soundtrack, but among the best things we've heard thus far.

this is such a good film score and also just so fun to listen to in the car

Fruity! But I still find it strange that only some soundtracks are included here.

What a surprise.

Vet cool. Not for all the moments. But that’s some powerful music

What a charming record! I've never listened to Indian music before, and this was a surprise, and a very pleasent one, as I can feel it was done with passion. So glad to discover things like this

Fun and interesting. This is the type of music I was expecting to find on this list , not crap like kid rock!

Ennen kuuntelua on sanottava, että levykannen perusteella oon jo vakuuttunut. Sen verran on kyllä taustatietojen perusteella sanottava, että vaikka onkin aika hyvä levy, nii tietty se Bollywood-soundtrack joka listalla on, on leffasta jossa on länkkärinäyttelijä ja joka julkaistiin länsimaissa myös. Koska kuinka voisi olettaa että musatoimittaja, joka laatii tällaista kirjaa, tekisi pohjatyötä :)

slaps. a lot of different styles, felt a lot more experimental/adventurous than modern bollywood.

3.5

This one grew on me. Not an every day listen, but cool

I've never heard of this film or the composer of its soundtrack, but I've seen this album cover on the visual list of albums, and I've been curious as to what it would sound like. I'm looking forward to experiencing something new and unknown on this dreary Monday morning! I enjoyed listening to this soundtrack a bit more than I thought I would. I find it difficult to appreciate a soundtrack or score if you haven't seen the movie; even something as well known as the soundtrack to Shaft was somewhat difficult to appreciate the context of the film. This was even more difficult to appreciate since I have no idea what this movie is about, but after listening to it, I read about the plot of the movie, and I have to say that I think this soundtrack probably captures the visual feeling of this movie pretty well based on what I read. The main title theme had a very 'James Bond' feel to it that really hooked me in. The arrangements on this album were really rich and deep, and I thought the composers made great use of stereo sound to make the depth much more immersive. There were some pretty unusual instruments used as well, but they were used in such a way that made the sound exotic but still accessible. I figured that there would be some songs that were Bollywood dance numbers, and I didn't expect to enjoy those songs, but I found them pretty fun, despite my expectations. This was an enjoyable album to listen to, and I certainly wouldn't be opposed to checking out the movie.

A tricky album to rate as it's in a foreign language and is for a movie which I've never seen, but I enjoyed it. It was varied, interesting, unique at times, and well performed.

One two CHA CHA CHA. This record got the girls up and dancing – Dorothy treated us with an enigmatic saunter around the room over dinner. A really brilliant record that, and without meaning to sound at all patronising, has touches to it that feel so modern as to be portentous. The title track, in particular, is an astonishing jam. Has a crispness, flow and energy that I’ve felt from Blaxsploitation cinema but never Bollywood (surely my error). Anyway, if J Dilla had it on “Donuts” it wouldn’t be at all surprising. Brilliant songs littered throughout. Bravo.

I really gotta check out this Bollywood movie. Soundtrack slaps.

Meget positivt overraskende! Jeg tænker som regel på soundtracks som baggrundsmusik, og det her var ret godt. Det var godt nok i sig selv at høre noget med indisk instrumentation, men jeg var mest overrasket over hvor ueksotisk det lød. Det mindede mig meget om soundtracks fra italienske film fra den periode, Danger Diabolik og den slags

4.0

No clue what was going on the whole time, thought it was great regardless. Fav Songs: The one where she's singing shalimar

the instrumental tracks are far better than the tracks with vocals but still. very fun ost

Very enjoyable, but then I’ve always had a soft spot for Bollywood movies as there was always one on late Sunday night when I got home from a 4 hour train ride back from seeing my girlfriend! Again I would question whether this was an “essential” album or if it were even the best of this genre but it made a pleasant change.

It was quite a fun listen overall, and I guess that Bollywood soundtrack was selected because of its tongue-in-cheeks winks to Western music, sprinkling the mix with references a non-Indian listener might find amusing or entertaining going from a lot of Ennio Morricone-adjacent pieces to funk (the one about KC And The Sunshine Band's "That's The Way (I Like It)" on "One Two Cha Cha Cha" had me laugh out loud). The moods and tones are also varied, and can make up for enticing, vintage background music. And the compositional work and arrangements are often stellar. That said, I'm not sure those assets are enough to include that album in a list of mandatory listens. We're reaching the limits (and even the slight absurdity, let's admit it) of the 1001 Albums project here. I bet there are dozens of other great Bollywood soundtracks out there, given how pivotal music is in the Indian film industry. I dunno... Maybe this album should be presented in a separate book listing motion picture soundtracks instead. I shouldn't even grade this thing. Going for a pretty positive one, because the record isn't bad by all means. It's just that its fun parts are very derivative anyway, which is a very conscious choice from its composer, and therefore not a flaw. And yes, there are also beautiful songs in that record. Yet until I know more about Bollywood music, if I ever do so one day, I won't decide in one way or another if this should be a mandatory listen for everyone. Number of albums left to review: the 80-ish extra LPs listed on this app, included because different past editions of the book have mentioned albums that have since been dropped in subsequent editions. Number of albums I'll keep in my own list: half, approximately Number of albums I *might* keep: a small quarter, approximately (including this one) Number of albums I won't keep: a large quarter

Hressandi og skemmtilegt. Áttundi tugurinn var góður víða.

I enjoy world music, but I always feel like the picks are something out of left field just to be included and not the best or most accessible options out there. This does have a cool retro-exotic vibe that feels missing in modern times. It sounds like there's an adventure underneath it all.

I can't fit this in any sort of continuum of music I normally do and don't like. It was totally left field for me as an album. I didn't even listen to it in the same circumstances that I've listened to most of these other albums. That said, I kind of loved it.

Loved that!

Is this the greatest Bollywood album ever made? I have no idea, and this book is clearly not going to provide me with enough context to know before I rate and review Shalimar. What I will say, though, is that it’s a ton of fun! Half groovy referential disco mixed with kitschy, sappy movie romance songs. Both of those things are right up my alley, and no language or cultural barrier could ruin those good vibes for me. Maybe I should dive a little deeper into Bollywood soundtracks, clearly.

Interesting!!