Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easily their best album, August 16, 1999
By A Customer
This is Cornershop's best album -- much tighter than "7th time," none of that album's doodling around and wasting studio time. The blend of Indian music, hip-hop, and rock really works, and there are some great songs ("Jullander Shere" on the ethnic/world end, "Roof Rack" on the rock end). Nothing as catchy as "Brimful of Asha," but not everyone wants that phrase etched into their brain stems anyway. If you liked "7th Time" but thought of the phrase "ego trip" while listening, this album doesn't present that problem; it's original and it rocks.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
These Western Orientals Are Going Full Circle, March 21, 2001
Tjinder Singh admitted in an interview in 1997 that it'll probably take 10 years to get "Woman's Gotta Have It." He continued to state that "When I Was Born for the 7th Time" is a bit more "accessible." I agree with him, although it hasn't been 10 years before I bought "Woman's Gotta Have It." Cornershop's sophomore stab at "Woman's Gotta Have It" was one of the most innovative and original albums released at the time. Kula Shaker simply cannot be compared to the uniqueness of Cornershop. Their seamless concoction of pop-rock, funk, DJ culture, and Punjabi folk music put them well ahead of Europe's flirtations with the South Asian music prevalent today. Unfortunately, they have also been erroneously lumped in with this broad movement known as the Asian Underground. The group's songs range from traditional Indian music backed by the sitar, dholki and tabla, to guitar-based rock sung in English. However, their best songs combine the two varied influences: "Camp Orange" with its tribal chanting and break-beats (similar to that in "When I Was Born ..."), "Wog" with superb guitar strumming, chanting and lyrics in Hindi and English, and "Jansimram King" with its groovy bass-line meddled with Indian lyrics. This album is a great predecessor to their more "accessible" Brimful of Asha-album.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bollywood gone indie, August 20, 1999
They call it "Bollywood". It's the Indian cinema industry. India, in case you didn't know, is the single most productive movie maker in the world. You must have seen how those movies look like: ridiculous costumes, essentially the same plot in all of them, and above all -- that choreography and music. Oriental melodies over disco beats. The recording -- as well as the cinematography -- is unintentionally faulty, 'cuz hey -- that's the best equipment they have. Now replace the disco beats with an indie noise band a-la Pavement, replace the professionally trained but poorly recorded indian singer with a self trained (but intentionally poorly recorded) British-Pakistani rocker -- and you've got Cornershop.This is not some "mixed-culture phenomenon", "world music" or "ethnic rock" mockup. This is a kicking rock band with an attitude. They've got the grit of Velvet Underground. Their guitar noise experiments remind of the best moments of Sonic Youth, while their sitar and percussion parts are truly authentic and go far beyond those of, say, the Beatles. This is not a 50-50 album. It's 100% rock and another 100% ethnic. Easily Cornershop's best.
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