Monday, 3 August 2009

Shankar Jaikishan: An Evening In Paris (1967/1975)

3.8.09    20 comments

An Evening In Paris

This one's marred by rubbish (horribly distorted) sound as well, damnit. Although I'm a bit on the fence in regards to 'An Evening In Paris' [review] [2]; I keep thinking I should like it a lot as it's Shankar Jaikishan in their good period, there's plenty of rock'n'roll, Paris... the problem is I'm not able to find many strong melodies to latch on to.

OK, the title track is quite good, and 'Leja Leja Leja Mera Dil' is pretty close to excellent, but that's basically it. The rest kind of feel like missed opportunities. I dunno, maybe I'm too demanding; two (or one and a half) out of nine really ain't that bad as soundtracks go. Maybe it'll still grow on me.

Annoyingly, it's the best song here that suffers from the worst sound quality, ever. So as a bonus I've added a DVD rip of 'Leja Leja' to the download; it's still not very good but at least less distorted. And in case it's just my copy of this that sounds like crap (the vinyl looks pristine enough though, so I'm guessing it's the entire pressing) and anyone has a better version, please feel free to share in the comments.

Track listing:
1. Mohd. Rafi: An Evening In Paris
2. Mohd. Rafi: Akele Akele Kahan Ja Rahe Ho
3. Mohd. Rafi: Diwane Ka Naam To Puchho
4. Mohd. Rafi & Asha Bhosle: Raat Ke Hum Safar
5. Mohd. Rafi: Aasman Se Aaya Farishta
6. Asha Bhosle: Zuby Zuby Jalembu
7. Mohd. Rafi & Chorus: Hoga Tumse Kal Bhi Saamna
8. Sharda: Leja Leja Leja Mera Dil
9. Mohd. Rafi: Mera Dil Hai Tera

[Update: See comments for improved version of Leja Leja]

20 comments:

  1. PC3 August 2009 at 22:11:00 CEST

    http://lix.in/-57be87

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mister Naidu4 August 2009 at 00:57:00 CEST

    Thanks PC. Any Shankar-Jaikishan is always welcome! The DVD rip of Leja Leja Leja Mera Dil is definitely an upgrade. Thanks for including it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stephen H4 August 2009 at 01:05:00 CEST

    Yes, it's the whole pressing of this 1975 reissue that's to blame - not your copy. If you can, keep a look out for the original 1967 release on the Angel label (3AEX-5144). It has far better sound and also does not fade out some of the tracks as early as the '75 version does:

    http://www.bollywoodondvd.com/aeipangel.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  4. PC4 August 2009 at 01:16:00 CEST

    Thanks for the info Stephen, I'll definitely keep an eye out for it (not that I'm holding my breath, as I cannot recall ever having come across a copy). And yeah, was wondering about track lengths, as the DVD Leja Leja is substantially longer than on the record.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jeff4 August 2009 at 04:25:00 CEST

    Thanks for posting this, despite the sound problems -- this is one of my alltime favorite Bollywood movies, as incredibly cheezy as it is..

    ReplyDelete
  6. litlgrey4 August 2009 at 07:17:00 CEST

    Regardless of any shortcomings, this is a classic - thanks for posting it, and thanks Stephen for the insight!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Harshi4 August 2009 at 08:54:00 CEST

    One of the eternal classics of Hindi cinema. Every song is catchy regardless of the clean plagiarized version of "Leja Leja" from the Shadow's "Man of Mystery". Thank you so much ! Another gem to your site :)

    Harshi :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. PC4 August 2009 at 08:58:00 CEST

    Ah, I'd forgotten about the Shadows tune... you're right of course!

    ReplyDelete
  9. PC4 August 2009 at 10:50:00 CEST

    I've just noticed that AEIP is available via iTunes - and that they've probably used the '75 pressing as master. Same rotten sound, and they've left Leja Leja out, I'm guessing because it's really too rubbish to sell.

    ReplyDelete
  10. phil4 August 2009 at 12:23:00 CEST

    I havn't dl as already have this one
    Is my rip any better ?

    http://sitardream.blogspot.com/search?q=paris

    ReplyDelete
  11. PC4 August 2009 at 12:40:00 CEST

    Based on that one MP3, no. I checked yours yesterday before posting mine :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. memsaab4 August 2009 at 20:41:00 CEST

    Shammi Shammi Shammi!!!! *snoopy dance*

    I love Aasman Se Aaya Farishta from this.

    I'll send you my copy of Leja Leja...maybe my ears are not as finely tuned as yours but it sounds decent to them :) If you like it better I can send all of them if you want.

    ReplyDelete
  13. PC4 August 2009 at 21:38:00 CEST

    And here it is: http://www.sendspace.com/file/bwpu60

    There's a tiny (negligable) glitch in the intro, but other than that, the best one yet.

    Thanks Memsaab :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. PC4 August 2009 at 22:32:00 CEST

    The above is tagged as sung by Asha btw, which is wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Harshi6 August 2009 at 03:04:00 CEST

    Please try my version of "Leja Leja" its 4 mins 30 secs and sounds much much better.

    http://www.mediafire.com/?kjnnmh12zjw

    Thanks!

    Harshi :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. PC6 August 2009 at 17:55:00 CEST

    Same one as the above I think, but thanks :-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous29 November 2011 at 04:03:00 CET

    Can you post a new link to this soundtrack? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  18. MFT3F29 November 2011 at 07:31:00 CET

    Not necessary, at least one of the existing links still work.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous1 December 2011 at 16:56:00 CET

    None of the links worked, or else I wouldn't have asked you. I've tried them all. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. MFT3F1 December 2011 at 17:22:00 CET

    Try again. I've just downloaded it via Megaupload; worked fine.

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.