Deewar Review
DATE
Jun 26, 2003
PUBLICATION
US Magazine Jang News
COUNTRY
PK
AUTHOR
Zubair Haider
 

Album: Deewar
Genre:Rock/Funk/Retro

Hey Fella's salaam!

Hope that this section is being appreciated. Like I mentioned before do write in and let me know what changes to make. Let me start of by apologising to Mr. Faraz Anwar. I wrote in the Mizraab preview that the album was mixed and produced at the Mikaal Hasan studio but in actuality, the album was mixed and produced by Faraz Anwar at home! My Humblest of apologies!

Okay lets move on to the album on preview today. The sultans of rock are back with a new album and with hope that this album will shock and awe us all. Well NEWSFLASH the plan is working! The album is a stark contrast to the previous albums junoon has brought us. This album is most definitely their most experimental and different sounding to date.

I guess with time everything must grow and evolve and to reproduce the same material repeatedly will most definitely leave a sour taste in the mouths of all the Junooni's out there.

There are some tracks that will leave you open mouthed with the approach Junoon has taken this time round. 'Pappu Yaar' is one track that springs to mind. A reggae rock number that has Bob Marley stamped all over it! An all out masti number rendered by Ali Azmat gets you swinging. A lot of groove and emphasis on the Funk Phenomenon this time round. 'Ghoom Tana' is another interesting track with guest vocals from Ali Noor. This will also be the first single out from the album for which a video will be made. Asim Raza will direct the video.

The most happening and fast paced track in this album is 'Maza Zindagi Ka' a song that was aired a few months back. Besides that one song, all the other tracks are easy paced. Doesn't Sound very Junoonish now does it?

Well this album features keyboards and samples, I mean who would have thought that Junoon would head in this direction. It is a welcome change from the Sufi rock that they were playing and in my opinion was getting out of hand. There are thirteen tracks altogether in this album. Most of the songs on this album are co-written by Sabir Zafar and Salman Ahmed. It's not so much the lyrical content but the music that has one mesmerised. Branching out is most definitely an understatement! Salman Ahmad has his say on the microphone as well. He has three songs to his credit. 'Hungama', 'Balaama' and 'khawab 2003'. 'Baarish' and 'Maza Zindagi Ka' are two songs that Ali and Salman both sing on. Another milestone in the history of Junoon is that their song 'Garaj Baras' has been selected for the soundtrack of an Indian movie.

Hurrah!

Junoon has come a long way and the evolution of Junoon is a process that many of have seen from their early days to Azadi and finally to Deewar. Its safe to safe the Godfathers of rock have come up with some inspired material. Whether this album is a hit or a miss it is most definitely an album to check out.