1. Ellapugazhum: Requisite "big opening" to the song...nice to hear the claps, vocals and the guitar chug to achieve the bigness of the sound, instead of the trumpets and timpanis and such...also, the opening sounds are very minimal and still owing to their sound design convey the bigness properly...but then, the ensuing rhythm is a let down..kind of wimpy...though the rhythm seems to carry the song, its a letdown for me...I like the way the song is tuned...a straight forward minor scale tune, with no elaborate ornaments and all...and eschewing the tired pallavi-charanam format...But why the Michale Jackson like imitation at one point? It may or may not have been intentional, but kind of robs something for me... I like the solo horn(s) in the interlude...the arrangements become dense and light at the proper moments conveying a nice punch (hey thoda after the first charanam for example)...a very different end to the song with some high pitched vocals...
2.Ponmagal: Couldnt quite warm up to this song...the rap turns me off...liked the charanam though...nicely built up, and ARR even "samples" the original singer from the old original song at couple of points...that was a nice twist... 3.Kelaamal: Another disappointment for me...depending on my mood. Of most of the times I heard this song, it sounded tired..the tune, arrangements and all...Blame my perceptions, but the tune sounded nomadic...couldnt quite get the direction of it...seemed to wander...And the arrangement was a bigger let down...standard 4/4 kick and bass, with some gated sounds and arps and some bells and whistles...The violin pieces only added to the normalness of the song...I guess I would have loved this song, if it were given some Narumugaye like arrangements...On the other hand, if I am in a good mood, I can just listen to it as it as and not be bothered by it...but its not happening much with this song... 4.Nee Marilyn: Now this I adore...the playfullness in the song is very evident without beating me over the head...nice buildup right from the beginning...the DJ naan phrase is absolutely tasty...the singers had the perfect delivery...the FMish synth lead, the portamento motif are delicious...also love the way the song is structured...in short, I like everything about the song (lyrics I dont understand)...and best of all, I can bob my head to it.. 5.Maduraikku: The tune sounded vaguely familiar...but I love the timbre of the voices...made a huge difference...I love the way the charanam is tuned...and the way the female singer finishes off the second charanam is an absolute delight...made me wish that she had sung the whole song in that octave...her timbre is raw and beautiful there...I have never been disappointed in general by ARR's nadaswaram solos and they dont disappoint here either...the drums sounded a bit weak and cramped for me though...it cud be the speakers...but I remember the rhythm sections in Sangamam being more punchy, breathy and spacey, and Sangamam employed a huge range of percussion... 6.Valayapatti: Another delightful song for me...A natural progression for Kummi Aadi...or rather a better version of Kummi Aadi...love the introduction, the female voice introducing the more sombre part of the song...the following arrangements make a better sense when viewed over the course of the whole intro, rather than the individual parts...how they say about sum being greater than the parts...and then some instruments introduce us the valayapatti melody line and the male singers just rush from there...the whole pallavi makes for an interesting listen...with the male voices being rumbunctious and rushed, while the female lines are subdued and relaxed...couldnt make out much out of the first interlude, probably works better on the screen...the charanam arrangements are very nice again for me...pa pa ni sa lines are introduced as swaras by the male vocals in the first charanam, while the female sings some lyrics to the same tune in the second charanam...and the remaining lines are the same pattern over diffeent set of notes for the male and female voices...like it when the whole chorus joins in saying the raga name...observe the weak and strong accents of the bars when saying kalyani, bhagyasri, neelambari versus sindhubhairavi...a change from where the vocal emphasis is more rhythm oriented to something lyric oriented...I am a zero in carnatic , but I like the way swaras sound...neways, I think I am ramblng on...but this song works for me... overall, i cud appreciate ARR doing varied projects at the same time, but from this album, I would come back and listen to nee marlin and valayapatti frequently, and i wud listen to ellapuzhagum and maduraikku now and then...what i mean is it cud have been a better album, so in a sense, some sort of disappointment...Now ARR definelty knows better than me on how the songs are and how they shud be like,....its just that for my tastes, it wasnt a complete match...not that it matters what i feel or like...
