Alright, for the first time, I don't know where to begin or what to say.
Nothing I say will do justice to the type of divine music that I have been
hearing all day today in AR's new soundtrack, Couple's Retreat. Well, anyway,
here's an attempt.....
First of all, when I got wind that ARR would be doing this soundtrack for this
movie, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew that AR would likely
compose light hearted tunes, since this was romantic comedy. In fact, there's
lots of music in this album of the kind that I expected to hear. However, what
I didn't so much expect and what has completely blown me over are 2 things:
1) The range and sweetness of sounds in this soundtrack and the almost
exclusively acoustic nature of the soundtrack, something I have been craving
for from ARR. Didn't expect this in Couple's Retreat, but that's ARR for
you....expected the unexpected! I expected more of a typical hollywoodish
score with some hip hop and spanish type of music consistent with a comedy, but
no way did I expect this....totally and completely blown away!!!
2) The enormous range of global sounds including some very Asian and Indian
percussion, styles, instrumentation, alaaps, etc. Now, that was a big
surprise, but not really surprising, if you know what I mean!!! After hearing
Rahman say that there would be "a touch of Indian-ness in this soundtrack", I
knew we would be hearing some influences, but to the extent and depth and
beauty of the range of sounds, instrumentation, the craftiness of each
composition, the unpredictability within the compositions, this I never
predicted!!!
And you know what? Despite all the range and variety that we're hearing in
this album from a sound and genre perspective, the whole album sounds coherent
to me....there is a strong thread largely bound by the sweet melody from John
and Cynthia's Suite that weaves in and out of the whole soundtrack in various
avatars.
Mindblowing........amazing.........beautiful.......glorious.....enchanting
.......scintillating..........I'm trying to find the right word, but nothing
will match up to what I feel about this music.......
I just can't believe the amount of acoustic instruments he has used for this
soundtrack from both East and West genres......I could go into detail about
this now, but I think you understand what I'm saying. Listen to this
soundtrack on headphones and you will know what I mean!!!!
Ok, you wanna talk about sound quality? Here we are listening to only 192 kbps
an we're still loving it all. The overall light treatment of the soundtrack
gives a lot of breathing room in the music with beautiful dynamics, both loud
and soft shades bowing in and out like a true artiste would create a painting
or a sculpture with various shades and hues.
Finally, I'm thinking that the music is quite serious in parts for a romantic
comedy!!! Will be interesting to see how these gorgeous sound sculptures are
used in the film.
I tell you what, traditional, conservative hollywood snobs may scoff at such an
album...those who only appreciate Stephen Speilberg type symphonic scores, but
any open minded lover of global music and instrumentation from both East and
West will absolutely adore this soundtrack. Don't be surprised to hear bad
reviews of this soundtrack from traditional hollywood people who only
appreciate symphonic type or Western oriented scores.
Never expected such a large representation of the orient in this soundtrack, so
beautifully and seamlessly carved and crafted within the backdrop of sweet
symphonies and melodies.
Sorry for the long winded post, but I was just gushing with excitement and
happiness after listening to Couple's Retreat. This album is an absolute
highlight of ARR's career and what a way to smash into hollywood with this.
In all honesty, I have never heard in my life as beautiful a musically global
album as this one. ARR, you are unbelievable....your legend continues and
continues to get bigger......I BOW TO THEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
