Favorite Albums

When I wrote about Arjunaru Villu... being my #1 workout song, I mentioned that I also loved listening to it while driving. And I do listen to it often while driving, the reason being that I like all the songs in Gilli. So I actively seek out the CD with Gilli songs and pop it into the CD player, knowing that I'm not gonna skip over any of the songs. But I've realized that that doesn't happen with a lot of other CDs.

A film's music has a rather short life for me. I rarely go back and listen to older songs whether in my car or on the iPod(connected to the stereo system) at home. Right now the only songs I listen to are the ones from Pachaikkili Muthucharam, Mozhi, Sivaji and Chennai 600028 but I can't say that 6 months from now, I will specifically go looking for songs from any of these movies, to listen to. I'm sure that the songs from other new movies - and there are a few to look forward to - will catch my fancy and take over my playlist.

The other reason I don't listen to songs from older movies is that I get saturated with them. If I like a movie's album, the songs are almost in repeat mode on all my players and I end up listening to them 2 or 3 times every single day (and more when I go on a long drive). So I get my fill of them and don't go back to them unless I really love them. And since I hate skipping over songs, I must like every single song in a film's soundtrack for me to go looking for that film's audio CD and start listening to it.

That said, there are a few albums that I've found that I keep going back to repeatedly. Based solely on the number of times I've listened to them, I picked the top 5 and I guess I could call these my 5 favorite albums in the last 5 years or so.

#5 - Parthiban Kanavu
Vidyasagar's albums always have something for everyone and are quite eclectic in the genres of songs. Just that in Parthiban Kanavu, the songs in each of the genres turned to be among the best in that genre.

#4 - Raam
Aaraariraaro... would count among my all-time favorite songs. Wonderful lyrics and a simple tune make it soulful and I forget myself each time I listen to it. But the Raam soundtrack surrounds this fantastic number with more great songs.

#3 - Pudhuppettai
Though I've heard it so many times, nothing would change in my review of the soundtrack if I wrote it today. One of Yuvan's best albums, it is very experimental(which I usually don't end up liking) but still great.

#2 - Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu
This album is a dream come true for lovers of melody. Every song, barring one, is a wonderful melody (this might be the only album where even the hero's introduction number is a melody!) and very catchy and likeable.

#1 - Chellame
Picking the first was actually the easiest task on this list. Chellame is an amazing album where every single song is catchy, wonderfully sung and has terrific lyrics. I think it might be the only album where I liked every song on the first listen itself and still like them.