I was planning on doing this for a while but due to wordpress temporarily shutting me down, I wasn’t motivated enough to finish it. My blog has been pretty stagnant for the last couple of weeks for exactly that same reason but fuck it, WordPress can shut me down if it wants to.

Back to the topic, this is more like a compilation than a mix of some of my favorite Bollywood(I hate that term) from the yesteryear. It features music from Kalyanji-Anandji, R.D Burman and the always funky Bappi Lahiri. This is by no means a comprehensive mix since I tried to keep it around the hour mark and there are a lot of good tracks that are missing here but perhaps I will include them in Volume 2. If you liked Bombay The Hard Way Vol 1 & 2 that I posted a while ago, you will definitely dig this compilation.  Some of the tracks are not in the best quality since they come from vinyl rips but I find that when it comes to vintage music, I don’t mind some irregularities or hisses since it adds some sort of character to the music.

Thanks to Punjabi Folk Singers and Music From The Third Floor for providing the music.

Once you ignore the cheesy sounding album title, you will realize that this compilation released by Sublime Frequencies packs quite a range of different sounds.

A swan dive into perhaps the most astounding radio treasure chest the world has ever known, this amazing collection of audio art is a testament to India’s Museum of Sound. This two hour listening experience features Radio Collage of music-only edits on disc one, with a more adventurous mix of music, radio commercials, news, DJs, and miscellaneous sound dimensions on disc two. Contents include: plenty of traditional folk oddities, choice pop hits and film themes, spectacular Classical music, incorporated styles from beyond the subcontinent, and an indescribable cache of raw sound materials edited from hours of bulk tapes recorded on location in 1989 and 1996 from Bengal to Rajasthan and many points in between. Ragas, Bollywood breaks, electric guitars, chenai and violin bliss, creepy folk songs and top-notch vocalists make this the best introduction to India’s music scene ever assembled! – Sublime Frequencies

This is about as obscure as garage gets. For two years, 1970 and 1971, a cigarette company in India sponsored some kind of battle-of-the-bands competition, with the winners going to Calcutta to record for compilations called Simla Beat. Each year an LP was released with no info about the bands other than their hometown. Also issued was this 45 released with two of the better tracks and some silly liner notes on the back of the sleeve. Some people think this is a hoax, or that the recordings came from somewhere other than India. It’s true that some bands have a similar sound, though this could be from sharing a studio and perhaps instruments as well. Also, the bands lean heavily on American rock of the time and show very little British influence.

The Confusions from Madras cut this amazing original, Voice from the Inner Soul. Tough, heavy sound with a rudimentary beat. Sharp, bluesy guitar fills and an organ sound right out of 1966. The Dinosaurs, from Bangalore, contribute a fine cover of Creedence’s Sinister Purpose, giving Fogerty writing credit, somewhat surprisingly given the usual global practice of song appropriation. This one’s got nice fuzz guitar and gravely vocals — ( Pictures and information taken from www.garagehangover.com)

Additionally, there was also a 2-disc compilation that was re-issued featuring the winning tracks from the 1970 & 1971 All India Simla-Beat Contest. A link to this compilation it posted at the bottom of this post.

Personally, I am still not sure how I feel about this. After listening to this compilation several times, I have a hard time believing that these tracks are actually from India. If someone gave me this album without all the information, I would easily assume this compilation to be of American origin. I didn’t know India was producing this kind of music in the last 70s. One would think that if these tracks did come from India, it would have some sort of Indian influences like a tabla or a sitar but it doesn’t. The compilation definitely has some great tracks. Some of my favourites are The mod trade, Voices from inner soul, Simla beat theme, Proper stranger and Psychedelia. Those 2 tracks from the 45 that I mentioned before also made it to the compilation. Here is the artwork for the compilation.