By Pavan R Chawla, Editor – RadioAndMusic.com

Instrumental renditions of the best Film Hits of 2000-2010

5 CDs, 70 tracks.

Label: Sony Music India

Price: 399
 

First there was Sunil Ganguly, the best Hawaiian guitarist India has ever known, who gave us instrumental hits of the most difficult kind of film songs, the best ghazals, nazms and geets Lata Mangeshkar sang for the likes of Madan Mohan and Shankar Jaikishan. Then there was piano accordionist Enoch Daniels, who too prolifically churned out instrumental renditions of popular film hits. Much later, it was – is – Brian Silas, who brought out a huge number of piano instrumentals of hit songs. All these stars produced some of the best instrumental versions of Bollywood hits, and each song was recorded from scratch, and therefore sounded entirely different from the original in terms of the orchestration, even though it evoked the memory of the original.

Sony Music India has taken the concept of instrumental tracks of popular film hits to an entirely new level, and its 5-CD set entitled Unchained Melody under the umbrella series of Perfect 10, showcasing what the company claims to be the best selections from the first ten years of the new millennium, lives up to its series title. Thanks to something that was never done with instrumental hits production in the past: this time round, for all tracks owned by it,  Sony has retained the international music track of the original, and merely replaced the vocals with exquisitely played instrumental tracks that capture every quicksilver twist and turn, every murqi, with evocative ease.

So, whether you're listening to the title track of Saawariya, or melodies from films like Jodhaa Akbar, Wake Up Sid, Ka bhi Alvida naa Kahna, Kubaan, Rajneeti, Jannat, My Name is Khan, Dostana, Saathiya, Kal Ho Na Ho, Veer Zara, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Life In A Metro, Asoka, Lakshya, Dil Se, Raaz, Kisna, Mohabbatein, Aisha, I Hate Love Stories, or Kailash Kher songs, or lilting instrumental  melodies from A R Rahman, Bickram Ghosh, Naveen & Sivamani, Sandeep Chowta or Rahul Sharma, the beauty of the listening experience is in the production and the performance.

The 5 CDs, entitled Essential Love, Soul Search, Psycadellia, Never Say Goodbye and Rhythm and Groove are exquisitely recorded. And Sony has bought rights of several songs from other music labels, just to ensure that the compilation does include most of the best of the decade that will end on 31st December 2010. So if you're looking for the perfect elevator music for a party at home, or want to immerse yourself into lovely instrumental renditions of some of the most popular film hits of the first decade of the new millemium, Unchained  Melodies is a great buy, especially at 5 CDs and 70 tracks for the price of a single international CD. Perfect 10 is right