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Musicbox
Face to Face
George Michael may abhor Westlife for their play-it-safe commercial formula of success, dismissing them as mere coyote ugly entertainers catering to women and girls. In fact, their last bombed venture (a tribute to Frank Sinatra: Allow Us To Be Frank) almost proved that; but their latest album Face-to-Face speaks volumes about their diverse fan following.
Their modus operandi still hasn’t changed one bit even on their seventh album, still relying on love ballads to take them places. Yet, amazingly enough, it still works for them despite the fact that the world is rocking to an entirely different tune. One of the reasons for their success could be their reverent sticking to Adam Smith’s aspirations for division of labor and specialization. So for all intents and purposes they may be nothing more than cabaret players; but this attitude has brought them a long way in this field.
The highlights of the album have already scorched the airwaves many times over. In the grandeur album opener You raise me up, the band for the first time ever, makes use of bagpipes, which is quite strange for an Irish band since all the other big shots including the Corrs, U2 and Boyzone made use of them early in their careers. Then follows the duet with Diana Ross, When you tell me that you love me.
The album does fall short on original lyrics, as the majority of songs are remakes of older ones including She’s back (Human Nature); Desperado (The Carpenters, Eagles and others); Colour my world (Backstreet Boys); In this life (Bette Midler, Ronan Keating) and Heart without a home (Nick Carter). That leaves hardly three or four original numbers — not good if you’re a newbie looking to showcase your talent, and worse if you’re a veteran of seven albums and still can’t come up with something to show for yourself, even if the covers have been rendered exquisitely. Perhaps they should take some leads from their native ex-manager Ronan Keating in this regard. All in all, a good album to have in your collection if this genre is your cup of tea. — Saqib Khan
Aik PalFishing around for an excuse to muckrake musicians? Try Faisal Ali Khan. Hearing is believing, and if ever there was a compilation of sorry renditions in Pakistani pop music, Aik Pal would top the charts hands down. Or perhaps Khan was just testing his fancy at all the little buttons on his electronic keyboard instead of putting an album together.
The CD coughs off with Tu jo dekhey, a compilation pimpled over with painful “tu roo roo roos”, oral “tadak chik tadaks” and electronic-keyboard generated rhythms that even a four-year-old can play.
Itne dinon is a slower track with some effort to actually create a song but still using extensive e-keyboard strings. Highly forgettable. Needless to say, perhaps, that shallow lyrics are part of the package. Kudi is next – a disturbing attempt at creating a quasi-bhangra number. As for Kundan se badan —- stay away. Perhaps the only memorable endeavor is Bandar road —-a tribute to the original — that too because of the high nostalgic value, catchy tune and quaint ‘ghoda gaadi on Karachi streets’ aura of the parent song. Woh shamain is a slow one with god-awful lyrics, awkward beat and extensive keyboard auto-functions. Some one needs to keep their fingers off those little buttons.
Hamain kho kar is a pseudo-remix of Roona Leila’s original beauty, Jab hum nahin hon ge. It’s an ear-sore at best. Masum is another sorry play at romance that seems to have been written by a fifth grader – one of those all-time W-11 favourites which last only until the next bus-stop.
Peer tere, a Punjabi number, tries to clean up the muff with some pretty decent ethnic instruments like flute, simulated matka and dholak, but by the time one reaches this stage, its hard to excuse the singer for his earlier inflictions. Jab woh tanha vainly attempts at feigning musical maturity with heavy implications at morbidity … but the singer has a long, thorny path ahead before reaching that stage.
Though one admits that Khan has the voice to make it work, he seriously needs to boot up to create something listenable. It’s brain-rattling why he even made the effort to create Kalla Banda, while Deewane — blissfully the last track on the CD —seems to be an ‘inspiration’ from Ali Haider’s style. Um … album endorsements, anyone? — Mehreen F. Ali
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