HMV's Golden Collection - A Compilation.
SAMIUDDIN MOHAMMED
>
> Here is a compilation, as requested by Sami, of some of the
>collections of old Hindi film songs that HMV has been releasing from
>time to time.
Thanks a million Sats! I guess I'll have to starve for a couple of months to get all these gems. It probably will be worth the cause :-)
>5. Mukesh
>6. Hemant Kumar
>7. Manna Dey
>8. Suraiya
I'm surprised to see a GC dedicated to Suraiyya. IMHO, she wasn't all that great
except in a few films such as Mirza GHalib.
>10. Rafi and Asha Duets
>
> Rafi-Asha, what else do you need? Get this now! :)
Will do sir, will do! :-) This really must be a great one!
>11. Naushad
>
> Spans 30 years of Naushad's excellence in Hindi film music,
>with almost a song from each year starting from the 40s to the 70s.
I had posted the details of this collection earlier. It IS a must buy!
Excellent collection.
>12. S.D.Burman
>
> Not seen this. Must be good.
I think so too.
>13. Shankar Jaikisan
>
> A dissappointment. Doesn't do justice to SJ at all!
Somehow, I'm not surprised!
>A better collection could have been made.
I really doubt it :-)
>16. Khayaam Ghazals
Does anyone have this one ? Any comments regarding this collection will be
highly appreciated. I hope to buy this some day.
>19. Quawaalis from Hindi films
>20. Bhajans from Hindi films
>21. Love songs from Hindi films
>
>These three are the ones that are based on a particular theme and not
>on any personality. The Quawaali collection is really a treat - from
>Roshan to R.D.Burman, all songs are great, (also has some from Madan
>Mohan, Naushad, Usha Khanna, LP etc). Since the quawaalis are a bit
>long, the number of songs are a bit less. The other two collections
>(bhajans and love songs) must also be good.
If the Love songs u r refering to is the same as "Songs of love from Hindi films", then it's great and worth buying.
>22. Hits of Dev Anand
>23. Hits of Amitabh Bachchan
>24. Yahoo! Rafi sings for Shammi Kapoor!
>25. Hits of Rajesh Khanna
>
> Hmmm..what names - Dev, Amitabh, Shammi, and Rajesh!! The
>Rafi solos for Shammi are really great! The Amitabh collection is
>also good - with songs from Abhimaan, Kabhi-Kabhi, Silsila being the
>pick of the lot. Haven't seen the Dev Anand collection, but looks
>like Sami doesnt like them. No idea about the Rajesh collection.
Yup, the dAnand collection cud have be much better. Although I had been warned
about the selection, I just cudn't help feeling disappointed after listening to it. Cassette #2 has some very good songs.
>26. Talat Mahmood duets
>27. Duets of Geeta Dutt
>28. Duets of Lata
>29. Duets of Asha Bhosle
>30. Kishore Kumar duets
>
> The Kishore duets collection has songs of Kishore with
>Shamshad Begum, Geet Dutt, Lata, Asha and even one with Leena
>Chandavarkar! (spanning nearly 3 decades of Kishore). The Talat one
>has his duets with Suraiya, Geeta Dutt, Lata, Asha. Most of his
>popular songs find their way into this album. Haven't heard the other
>three.
U'll love the Talat duets if u enjoy the golden oldies, ie. the pre-70's songs.
Some of the duets are ab. gems! I discovered some real good songs which I
hadn't heard before. One of those, which I liked immensely was the title
song from "Lagi nahi chhooTe Rama", music by Chitragupt. A truly melodious song indeed!
>Other than the "Golden Collection" series, HMV also has other 4
>cassette set albums under different names. Here are some of them..
>
>
>==-- Other 4 cassette set collections from HMV --==
>
>1. Lata - In Her Own Voice
>
> This collection has Lata talking about her Music directors,
>her co-singers and the songs. She introduces each song in this
>collection which has almost one song with everyone that she has worked
>with in her career. Also there are views from Naushad, Sajjad, Dilip
>Kumar, Jaya Bachchan, Manna Dey, Talat etc. on Lata in between the
>songs. Nice buy because of the comments and also the great songs.
This ought to be a good buy if Lata hasn't sung those songs all over again (as she did in Shradhanjali)
>5. Singing Father's Singing Sons!
>
> This is a new release. Kind of interesting. This collection
>has non-film songs written by Hasrat Jaipuri and sung by four singers
>who are the sons of four famous singers - Amit Kumar (Kishore's son),
>Nitin Mukesh (Mukesh's), Shahid Rafi (Rafi's) and Khalid Mahmood
>(Talat's)! Haven't heard this though.
> (But a general warning: Don't buy this because of the names of
>the fathers of all the singers! :)
Thanks for the warning :-)
> HMV also releases 2 cassette-set albums under different names
>like - "All Time Greats", "Rare Gems", "Unforgettables" etc. These
>collections have atleast 15 songs in them. Here are some of them..
>
>
>==-- 2 cassette set albums from HMV --==
>(All Time Greats/Rare Gems/Unforgettables)
>5. Rafi sings for Shankar-Jaikisan
>
> This is supposed to be a good collection. (because of Rafi? :)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
NATURALLY !! :-)
>6. Roshan
>
> Songs from movies which have music by Roshan.
This one has some very good songs, but a lot of "fillers" (to use Amit's terminlogy) too.
>7. Mukesh - Rare Gems!
Mukesh's gems are rare alright!! :-) Naah, I do like a lot of Mukesh's songs.
>8. Mukesh and Asha
>9. Mukesh - Unforgettables
>
>If you are a Mukesh fan, you need to have these in your collection!
>Esp. the Mukesh-Asha duets collection. Some of the rare songs are in
I wasn't aware that Mukesh/Asha sang so many duets.
>these collection. (Incidentally I saw two songs from "Boond Jo Ban
>Gayi Mooti" credited to Satish Bhatia in one of these collections! :)
:-)
>10. Lata and Kishore - live concert
>
> Well, if you want to listen songs that are sung live on stage
> shows, go for this. (Not recommended though!)
I somehow don't enjoy these live shows .... I mean listening to the recorded
version. The background music is usually pathetic and singers often stray
from the actual tune.
There's also a 2-cassette collection of Kaifi Azmi in the All-time greats category... MadMohan's too.... both have some really nice songs.
>PS: BTW, I dont have anything to do with HMV, I am just happy with
>what they do. The quality and choice of songs are really nice in these
>collections, but the quality of the cassettes and the recording is not
>worth talking about.
I agree.... the recording of Gulzar's "Dil dhoondta hai" was terrible, esp. cassette #2.
Sami Mohammed (A Naushad fan).......who thanks Sats once more.
kishore krshna
I've added comments/ recos based on what I own: BTW, these collections
are good only if you are beginning a collection - if you already
have a decent collection of (say) talat/hemant/manna dey you're not
gaining much from these. Also, if you start off with the golden
collections, don't even think about the all time greats (ATG)
/unforgettables(U) as options. The golden coll(GC) completely
encompasses the 2 set collns.They appear to have discontinued
ATG and replaced it with 2 cassette GCs', viz: Kishore Kumar,Hridaynath
Mangeshkar etc
They've also introduced a new series called Anmol Rattan containing
10 tapes of the featured artistes, viz: lata, asha, mukesh,Kishore
: - (set1),lata-rafi duets (set1) and manna dey/ hemant/ talat (set 1)
If you're buying these avoid any selections from the other series' by
the same artistes (excepting rare gems).
In article <Cto4v...@news.cis.umn.edu>,
Satish Subramanian <subr...@milli.cs.umn.edu> wrote:
> Here is a compilation, as requested by Sami, of some of the
>collections of old Hindi film songs that HMV has been releasing from
>time to time.
What follows are recos for specific albums. As this article is already
very long, I'll discuss the rare gems series separately - There are a lot
more selections there that are worth buying if you are a serious fan
of hindi film music (of course only if there's any interest/ requests).
BTW, these 2 sets of ATGs' (2x2=4 cassettes) are absolutely incredible
if you can get them - Romantic Duets from the 60s.
Kishore Krshna
krs...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
The HMV's "Golden Collections" - 4 cassette set
1. Lata
2. Lata with Mukesh
3. Lata with Rafi
4. Lata with Kishore.
- there are 2 sets of no. 4 now
- go for the 10 cassette version for no.3 :it's great!
5. Mukesh
- there's a mukesh: in retrospect album you may want to consider
as an alternative (ditto for rafi and kishore)
6. Hemant Kumar
-awesome! BUY!
7. Manna Dey
8. Suraiya
>The Manna Dey collection is really great.Hemant Kumar collection is
>almost exhaustive!
9. Lata sings for Madan Mohan
> This is a beauty of a collection. Especially, the cassette
>numbers 2 and 3 have some real gems. "vo bhooli daastaan", "naina
>barse rim jhim", "aap kyon roye", "mera saaya saath hoga", "tere bin
>saawan kaise beeta", "nainon me badra chaaye", "baiyaan na dharo",
>"teri aankhon ke siva".. are some of the songs in this album.
-also repeated in hits forever - lata (3 cassettes)
10. Rafi and Asha Duets
> Rafi-Asha, what else do you need? Get this now! :)
-YES!!
11. Naushad
> Spans 30 years of Naushad's excellence in Hindi film music,
-You can just buy the actual soundtrack combos of movies w/ N's music.
You can't go wrong.
12. S.D.Burman
-ditto
13. Shankar Jaikisan
> A dissappointment. Doesn't do justice to SJ at all!
-Haven't seen a single decent coll - the 1 cassette, as well as
2 cassette ATG are both pathetic.
14. O.P.Nayyar
15. Songs from V.Shantaram's films
> Very old classics from the movies directed by V.Shantaram.
-not really - spans all of his movies from maya macchinder to
the last one (sehra?) the selections from stree, navrang, boond jo..,
geet gaya...,jal bin...,jhanak...,do ankhen...etc. make it worthwhile
16. Khayaam Ghazals
-I've heard people rave about this - but I haven't heard it
17. Bhupinder and Mittali - Ghazals
18. Jagjit Singh - geets and ghazals.
> These three are the only Ghazal collection I think in this
> series. Haven't heard any of them.
18 b? Beghum Akthar - ghazals
19. Quawaalis from Hindi films
-incredible; excepting the miserable "haal kya hai dilon ka..
by Kishore and another Kishore quawaali where he conclusively
proves he can't sing Q (please god - no one read this far and
we won't see the Great War: The Sequel)
20. Bhajans from Hindi films
-great stuff; check out Yesudas for bappi lahiri on cassette 4
in Kariye kshama : the lyrics are: He Naaraayana, kariye kshama..
He sings" He na raina, kariye kshima...Hilarious!
21. Love songs from Hindi films
-must buy!
>The Quawaali collection is really a treat
>(bhajans and love songs) must also be good.
22. Hits of Dev Anand
23. Hits of Amitabh Bachchan
-check out the music india 4 cassette collection also
there's 1 cassette of comedy/ 1 of romance/ 1 of action/ 1 of
sentiment - basically dialogues and songs interspersed. most of
his films in the early 80s/ late 70s' were released on music india
(naseeb, AAA, yaarana, dostana etc) not on HMV.
24. Yahoo! Rafi sings for Shammi Kapoor!
-must buy!
25. Hits of Rajesh Khanna
>Rafi solos for Shammi are really great! The Amitabh collection is
>also good - with songs from Abhimaan, Kabhi-Kabhi, Silsila being the
>pick of the lot.
>Dev Anand collection - Sami doesnt like them.
26. Talat Mahmood duets
-second the reco
27. Duets of Geeta Dutt
28. Duets of Lata
29. Duets of Asha Bhosle
30. Kishore Kumar duets
30b? rafi duets
-good stuff
>==-- Other 4 cassette set collections from HMV --==
1. Lata - In Her Own Voice
> This collection has Lata talking about her Music directors,
>her co-singers and the songs.Nice buy because of the comments and
>also the great songs.
2. Gulzar collection - Dil Dhoondta hain
3. Gulzar collection - Fursat ke raat din
- I thought these were 2 cassette collections.
> These have been mentioned in RMIM before. Include Gulzar's
> inimitable commentary in between songs.
4. Lata Diamond collection
> One more of Lata's innumerrable collections!
5. Singing Father's Singing Sons!
-oh please no!
>==-- 2 cassette set albums from HMV --==
>(All Time Greats/Rare Gems/Unforgettables)
1. Asha Bhosle - all time greats
> This is a superb collection of some brilliant songs from Asha.
- buy set1 of the anmol rattan series and wait for set2
2. Lata
-ditto
3. Lata with Rafi
> This has some nice duets between Lata and Rafi. Popular songs.
-ditto
4. Kishore - All Time Greats
> This also has some of Kishore's representative songs (comedy,
> serious etc). Songs with OP, Madan, SD, RD etc.
-there is also K - tribute to a legend, U etc. Pick and choose
5. Rafi sings for Shankar-Jaikisan
> This is supposed to be a good collection. (because of Rafi? :)
> Haven't seen it though.
-sometimes there's no logic for a choice; why not a rafi sings for
Naushad?
6. Roshan-ATG
- also for other MDs: S-J, N, SDB,OPN,Ghulam Mohammed, Anil Biswas,
Husnlal Bhagatram (apparently ancient folks!); and 25 yrs of RDB,K-A
and L-P.
7. Mukesh - Rare Gems!
-choice of songs is weird, but still worth it if you're a bhakt.
8. Mukesh and Asha
-get this; has great stuff like "sansar hai ek nadiya, sukh dukh do
kinaare hai..." etc.
9. Mukesh - Unforgettables
-must buy
>If you are a Mukesh fan, you need to have these in your collection!
>Esp. the Mukesh-Asha duets collection.
9b? rafi - unforgettables, kishore -u
-both are great buys
10. Lata and Kishore - live concert
>(Not recommended though!)
11. Talat solos - rare gems
> All his soft/sad/romantic solos
12. Guru Dutt - Unforgettable. - songs from Guru Dutt films.
> Has songs mostly from S.D.Burman and O.P.Nayyar. Lot of
> Geeta Dutt songs.
======================================================================
Satish Subramanian
Hi all!
Here is a compilation, as requested by Sami, of some of the
collections of old Hindi film songs that HMV has been releasing from
time to time.
--
bye
satish
-==================================================================-
The HMV's "Golden Collections" are 4 cassette set albums dedicated to
a particular theme or artist. Each album might have about 40 to 50
golden-oldies in them. Here is a list of albums that I have seen or
read about. I dont think this list of complete - I might have missed
quite a few. New albums under this "Golden Collections" banner are
now released almost one every 2-3 months by HMV! I have tried to
group the collection into related sets here.
=====================================================================
==-- 4 cassette set Golden Collection series from HMV --==
1. Lata
2. Lata with Mukesh
3. Lata with Rafi
4. Lata with Kishore.
All these were released to "Celebrate 50 Golden years of Lata's
playback singing". Should be a good collection, all of them.
5. Mukesh
6. Hemant Kumar
7. Manna Dey
8. Suraiya
These are some of the other individual singers who have had a
Golden Collections on their name. All these are solos, with maybe one
or two duets out of the 50 odd songs in them. The Manna Dey collection
is really great. It has a neat collection of Manna's light, funny,
serious, semi-classical, classical songs. Hemant Kumar collection is
almost exhaustive! All songs you know of his are there and much more..
Not sure about the other two.
9. Lata sings for Madan Mohan
This is a beauty of a collection. Especially, the cassette
numbers 2 and 3 have some real gems. "vo bhooli daastaan", "naina
barse rim jhim", "aap kyon roye", "mera saaya saath hoga", "tere bin
saawan kaise beeta", "nainon me badra chaaye", "baiyaan na dharo",
"teri aankhon ke siva".. are some of the songs in this album.
10. Rafi and Asha Duets
Rafi-Asha, what else do you need? Get this now! :)
11. Naushad
Spans 30 years of Naushad's excellence in Hindi film music,
with almost a song from each year starting from the 40s to the 70s.
12. S.D.Burman
Not seen this. Must be good.
13. Shankar Jaikisan
A dissappointment. Doesn't do justice to SJ at all! A better
collection could have been made.
14. O.P.Nayyar
15. Songs from V.Shantaram's films
Very old classics from the movies directed by V.Shantaram.
16. Khayaam Ghazals
17. Bhupinder and Mittali - Ghazals
18. Jagjit Singh - geets and ghazals.
These three are the only Ghazal collection I think in this
series. Haven't heard any of them.
19. Quawaalis from Hindi films
20. Bhajans from Hindi films
21. Love songs from Hindi films
These three are the ones that are based on a particular theme and not
on any personality. The Quawaali collection is really a treat - from
Roshan to R.D.Burman, all songs are great, (also has some from Madan
Mohan, Naushad, Usha Khanna, LP etc). Since the quawaalis are a bit
long, the number of songs are a bit less. The other two collections
(bhajans and love songs) must also be good.
22. Hits of Dev Anand
23. Hits of Amitabh Bachchan
24. Yahoo! Rafi sings for Shammi Kapoor!
25. Hits of Rajesh Khanna
Hmmm..what names - Dev, Amitabh, Shammi, and Rajesh!! The
Rafi solos for Shammi are really great! The Amitabh collection is
also good - with songs from Abhimaan, Kabhi-Kabhi, Silsila being the
pick of the lot. Haven't seen the Dev Anand collection, but looks
like Sami doesnt like them. No idea about the Rajesh collection.
26. Talat Mahmood duets
27. Duets of Geeta Dutt
28. Duets of Lata
29. Duets of Asha Bhosle
30. Kishore Kumar duets
The Kishore duets collection has songs of Kishore with
Shamshad Begum, Geet Dutt, Lata, Asha and even one with Leena
Chandavarkar! (spanning nearly 3 decades of Kishore). The Talat one
has his duets with Suraiya, Geeta Dutt, Lata, Asha. Most of his
popular songs find their way into this album. Haven't heard the other
three.
===
Other than the "Golden Collection" series, HMV also has other 4
cassette set albums under different names. Here are some of them..
==-- Other 4 cassette set collections from HMV --==
1. Lata - In Her Own Voice
This collection has Lata talking about her Music directors,
her co-singers and the songs. She introduces each song in this
collection which has almost one song with everyone that she has worked
with in her career. Also there are views from Naushad, Sajjad, Dilip
Kumar, Jaya Bachchan, Manna Dey, Talat etc. on Lata in between the
songs. Nice buy because of the comments and also the great songs.
2. Gulzar collection - Dil Dhoondta hain
3. Gulzar collection - Fursat ke raat din
These have been mentioned in RMIM before. Include Gulzar's
inimitable commentary in between songs.
4. Lata Diamond collection
One more of Lata's innumerrable collections!
5. Singing Father's Singing Sons!
This is a new release. Kind of interesting. This collection
has non-film songs written by Hasrat Jaipuri and sung by four singers
who are the sons of four famous singers - Amit Kumar (Kishore's son),
Nitin Mukesh (Mukesh's), Shahid Rafi (Rafi's) and Khalid Mahmood
(Talat's)! Haven't heard this though.
(But a general warning: Don't buy this because of the names of
the fathers of all the singers! :)
========================================================================
HMV also releases 2 cassette-set albums under different names
like - "All Time Greats", "Rare Gems", "Unforgettables" etc. These
collections have atleast 15 songs in them. Here are some of them..
==-- 2 cassette set albums from HMV --==
(All Time Greats/Rare Gems/Unforgettables)
1. Asha Bhosle - all time greats
This is a superb collection of some brilliant songs from Asha.
Has atleast one song from each Music director she has worked.
2. Lata
3. Lata with Rafi
This has some nice duets between Lata and Rafi. Popular songs.
4. Kishore - All Time Greats
This also has some of Kishore's representative songs (comedy,
serious etc). Songs with OP, Madan, SD, RD etc.
5. Rafi sings for Shankar-Jaikisan
This is supposed to be a good collection. (because of Rafi? :)
Haven't seen it though.
6. Roshan
Songs from movies which have music by Roshan.
7. Mukesh - Rare Gems!
8. Mukesh and Asha
9. Mukesh - Unforgettables
If you are a Mukesh fan, you need to have these in your collection!
Esp. the Mukesh-Asha duets collection. Some of the rare songs are in
these collection. (Incidentally I saw two songs from "Boond Jo Ban
Gayi Mooti" credited to Satish Bhatia in one of these collections! :)
10. Lata and Kishore - live concert
Well, if you want to listen songs that are sung live on stage
shows, go for this. (Not recommended though!)
11. Talat solos - rare gems
All his soft/sad/romantic solos can be found in this
collection.
12. Guru Dutt - Unforgettable. - songs from Guru Dutt films.
Hit songs from movies that had Guru Dutt involved in them.
Has songs mostly from S.D.Burman and O.P.Nayyar. Lot of
Geeta Dutt songs.
======================================================================
bye
satish
==
Pradeep Dubey
One of my favorites is the following 2-volume (2-cassette) set
titled: KISHORE: RARE GEMS.
Even though I consider myself a die-hard Kishore fan, I was
pleasantly surprised at some songs that I had never heard.
Among the others, all except 2 or 3, were missing in
my collection (although I had heard them).
Since I happen to have the cassette covers right next to me,
let me try to type the list:
song : film - md - lyricist
1. agar sun le tu ek nagama: ek raaz - chitragupta - majrooh
2. bhuja do deepak: darpan - LP - anand bakshi
3. jee bhar ke dekh loon: deedar - UK - verma mallik
4. aankh meri galti se lad gayi: jyoti - SD - anand bakshi
5. aankhen tumhari do jahan: kuch bhuli hui yaaden - ghanashyam - rajinder k
6. yeh tooti botal ke tukde: bandagi - SJ - rajinder k
7. saath mein pyaara saathi hai: dil daulat duniya - SJ - shailey shalendra
8. bheega hua aanchal: tanhai - UK - Lata Aman
9. roop yeh tera jisne banaya: sanjog - RD - Anand Bakshi
10. jaane jahan rootha na karo: hifaazat - RD - majrooh
11. phir suhanai shaam dhali: badhti ka naam dadhi - KK - Irshad
12. ek ladki le gayi dil: naya nasha - sapan chakravarty - AB
13. turu ru ru turu ruru, tera mera pyar shuru: jwar bhata - LP - rajinder k
14. kali se baharon se nazaron se: dhamkee - ganesh - verma malik
15. tumhari berukhi se: yauwan - sonik omi - omkar verma
16. tune humen kya diya re zindagi: zindagi zindagi - SD - AB
17. har koi chahata hai: ek muthi aasmaan - madan mohan - indeewar
18. ruk jaana nahin: imtihaan - LP - majrooh
19. dekho ye mere bandhe haath: bandhe haath - RD - majrooh
20. saathi milte hain badi mushkil se: ek huns ka jora - jaidev - indeewar
21. qusoor teri nazron ka tha: nirdosh - LP - asad bhopali
22. chup ho aaj kaho kya hai baat: 36 ghante - sapan chakravarty - sahir
23. badal kala koyal kali: ang se ang laga le - pradeep roychowdhry - naqsh l
24. tere baghair jaane jaana: anari - LP - majrooh
25. dekha hai zindagi ko: ek mahal ho sapnon ka - ravi - sahir
Number 16 is truly a gem, and I cannot forgive myself for
being ignorant of its existence until now. Numbers 1, 3, 15, 22, 24, 25
although popular, are rarely found on Kishore cassettes. Number 17
appears in full length (some 4 or 5 stanzas).
BTW, I remember once we were trying to compile a list of
female lyricists and we could not go beyond Usha Khanna (also MD)
and Maya ?? (the name slips me). But this collection
adds one more to that list of two: Lata Aman (as in Mumber 8 above).
Pradeep
Alok Goyal
You have forgotten two very good colections:
1) Sentimental Favourites from films
These are slow and sad songs but the collection is just too good.
2) Classical songs from Indian Films
This collection is really great, not only for those who know classical
music but for everyone. This came out quite some time back but isn't
too popular somehow.
Alok
Satish Subramanian
> They've also introduced a new series called Anmol Rattan containing
> 10 tapes of the featured artistes, viz: lata, asha, mukesh,Kishore
> :- (set1),lata-rafi duets (set1) and manna dey/ hemant/ talat (set 1)
Any more info on this "Anmol Rattan" series?
>13. Shankar Jaikisan
>> A disappointment. Doesn't do justice to SJ at all!
>-Haven't seen a single decent coll - the 1 cassette, as well as
>2 cassette ATG are both pathetic.
Hmm.. at this rate, all of will have to agree with Sami
that SJ weren't great after all. But we know that, that
is not true! :) Hopefully they will make a good collection
of SJ soon.
The "Yahoo! Rafi sings for Shammi Kapoor" has a better
selection of SJ songs than this Golden collection.
>19. Quawaalis from Hindi films
> -incredible; excepting the miserable "haal kya hai dilon ka.. by
> Kishore and another Kishore quawaali.
Yes, they should have removed these two songs and let
the Rafi-Asha ones "na toh karwaan ki talaash" and
"raaz ki baat keh doon to" to be heard in their full
glory. These two quawaalis were chopped off miserably
in this collection to make way for some pathetic numbers
like "haal kya hain dilon ka" etc. But otherwise a nice
collection to enjoy anytime.
--
satish
SRINIVASA R RAGHAVAN
>
> Here is a compilation, as requested by Sami, of some of the
> collections of old Hindi film songs that HMV has been releasing from
> time to time.
> a particular theme or artist. Each album might have about 40 to 50
> golden-oldies in them. Here is a list of albums that I have seen or
> read about.
> PS: BTW, I dont have anything to do with HMV, I am just happy with
> what they do. The quality and choice of songs are really nice in these
> collections, but the quality of the cassettes and the recording is not
> worth talking about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in my opinion, though these collections offer u an opportunity to hear a whole
lot of good songs in one place, the poor recording quality reduces its worth.
======================
i have noticed that, if there are songs in these collections from movies in
the 80s, they are invariably not in stereo.
in general, for most of the songs, the recording
is much worse than recordings of the same songs in other HMV cassettes. this
truly bewilders me!! i cannot understand why HMV does not have master
recordings of EVERY movie?! if they had this, then the recording of the same
song in different collections would be uniformly good. instead one has to
just hope for the best when he buys tape(s) - not knowing how good the
recording quality is going to be. moreover the quality of the tapes themselves
leaves a lot to be desired - there is fadeout from one channel, even after a
few days (as a result of which the sound is louder on the L/R side if u hear
it with headphones).
personally, i have recorded a lot of old songs from LPs and usually the LP to
tape recording is far superior in sound quality (treble and bass) than those
in the tapes which HMV markets. i have also tried buying HMV CDs, hoping that
at least in this case, each CD would offer a uniformly good reproduction of
a song. unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case - i have two CDs in
which there is a marked difference in the quality of the sound - and in the
recording of the same song as well!
when i was in India i had written a letter on this subject to HMV, but i never
received a response. IMO, HMV is taking its customers for a ride!! if u hear
the (pirated) tapes of T-series etc., the recording of the song is often
better than what HMV has to offer! (though, very often their cassettes wear
out much faster than HMV's). since HMV seems to hold the sole copyright to
most of the old songs, they just don't care enough to give their customers
value for their money.
i don't buy the argument that for old Hindi songs the recording quality doesn't
matter. there are quite a few songs that i have disliked initially , but
later developed a liking after hearing the same with the full breadth of sound
reproduction.
if anybody else have had such experiences, maybe we could do something about it.
srini