The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Just fulling your leg, faramu.

I know ...

[app_engine]

kAngEyam kALaikaLE from inRu nee nALai nAn, somewhat in the 'veththala veththala veththalaiyO' format is quite sweet but not a hit - not even on radio and I'll have to skip.

Same goes with vA puLLE nalla puLLE from the same movie, a duet with his sis, possibly reminding mAmEn oru nA malligappoo. I do remember hearing this song a few times but the number got totally overshadowed by the three biggies and calls for a skip button in this thread

[app_engine]

That was what happened to a lot of average / above average songs of rAsA during those glorious eighties. Since there was a downpour of great numbers / rocking patti-thotti hits, such numbers often didn't get any focus at all.

Which could be one of the reasons for IR to carefully (& cleverly) get such unnoticed numbers recycled in star movies later on This vA puLLE & kAngEyam sounds so similar to some hits from masAlA movies later on...

[app_engine]

nee onnum paththini illa is another SPB / SJ / Samuel Grubb(?, sounds like his aNNE aNNE voice) song, that I'm hearing for the first time. This 1983 number too has to be skipped as it was quite unknown to me those days.

[app_engine]

#113 சிரிச்சா கொல்லி மலைக்குயிலே
(ஜோதி , 1983 , சாயாவுடன்)

What a sweet song, with Chaya, a Kannada singer (thiraippAdal incorrectly states SPS). As one can see from this dhool link, this was Manivannan's first movie it seems. Obviously, not a popular movie but the song was quite popular on radio / buses and recording center fans. To me, the female voice sounds 'rombappAvam' - may be musically ok but otherwise no match to the lovely singing by SPB. Nice folksy tune with pleasant arrangements (which were going to be the mainstay during grAmarAjan days later on).

Sometime back we had a phenomenal interview on a TV show by Manivannan, calling himself a rAppichchai when it came to Maestro's melodies. It was quite an emotional and interesting analogy - but he also stated that while he was happy to live with those tunes discarded by other directors, rAsA always reserved for him something too!

Ofcourse, sirichchA has to be one of those numbers that rAsA kept aside, knowing that someday or other this fellow will make it to directordom! And what a terrific career he had as a director and later on as an actor! Obviously, he was not the best when it came to getting songs from IR but he did get one of the best ever BGM treats from IR - for nooRAvathu nAL!

[Sureshs65]

app,

The 'Jyoti' song is a terrific one. I have this album with me and it is a freakout album with some fun songs of MV. I think this is the only SPB song in this album. It was a very late discovery for me and I think lot of people don't know about this song. (BTW, the same album also has 'Ethanai Konam Ethanai Paarvai' which has the lovely unreleased 'vidhaitha vidhai')

[V_S]

Superb and rare pick. Soft melody. Second interlude flute is a beauty. I too have credited SPS in my listing, corrected it The first time when he sings the word 'Siricha' I sounded like MV to me. There is one solo song 'Aasai madhanaa singaara vadhanaa', I think this one by SPS. It has some freak'ish guitar, tabla arrangements for fun folk song. Fast song which I used to listen and SPS would have sung beautifully, just like SJ.

[app_engine]

nanRi Sureshji & V_S for the comments on the Jothi song!

Manivannan has a special place in my books - mainly thanks to his rAjavishwAsam but he also had a few outstanding products...

[app_engine]

#114 கீதம், சங்கீதம், நீ தானே என் காதல் வேதம்
(கொக்கரக்கோ, 1983 , ஷைலஜாவுடன்)

There are two version of this song in the album - each with a different set of arrangements, this link has the Ekkam kind -solo- while the other one has arrangements similar to 'dEvan kOyil deepam onRu' along with female voice. Nothing is remembered today other than this popular song, which was a regular on buses & other places. Definitely a SPB special as he enjoys singing this with log of feelings. Possibly GA was the director and the heroine Ilavarasi (who acted as a school girl in vAzhvE mAyam but within a couple of years got promoted to heroine role...I think nAn pAdum pAdal where she did a side role came a little earlier).

This was perhaps the time when the "echo" label was at its top for vinyl records, almost monopolising IR's output. They even had a separate title card for a full screen-size, like 'indhappadaththin pAdalkaLai echo recordkaLil kELungaL' featuring their elephant logo. IIRC, it started with payaNangaL mudivathillai. We students even thought those days that it was Raja's own company...and he was making some decent money thru this channel, better than royalty etc...looks like it was not, going by the recent legal adi-dhadi

[groucho070]

Siricha....I recall it as one of the songs we recorded when it was played on radio. We always have an empty tape, with record/pause mode. When a good song starts, mom would yell, and one of us would run and un-pause it. In that way, we had cassettes of songs with the first few seconds missing

but he also stated that while he was happy to live with those tunes discarded by other directors, rAsA always reserved for him something too!

app, would this explain the presence of Ponni Nathi in Muthal Vasantham....come on folks...en mandaiyee vedichidum pola irukkee....