The Sounds of India

Okay culturally. Seemed more of a lesson than an artistic piece to be enjoyed.

Couldn't figure out why this is so low. Then I listened to it. Clearly it was picked based on the cultural impact and not the musical quality. There's much better ravi Shankar albums. But this isn't one of them. This is on the level of a children's instructional album.

How often do you get a walkthrough of the music before you actually hear it? Certainly gives you a deeper appreciation of the melody compositions, but it's still sitar music and sounds like its just made up as he goes, like experimental jazz

A few records back, there was another sitar focused album, which was a better album, but this was very educational. Probably won't listen to it again, but it was a good time. Mid 3

This indian guy explaining stuff long before the youtube indian guys explained stuff.

but i'm not open for this music

Delightful and educational! Absolutely an album that merits its place on the list.

It's ok.

Very rough to rate. Not really enjoyable to listen to, but obviously very artistically impressive.

Ravi Shankar is great at ragging a Sitar and making it sound insane. I couldn't ever mirror what this guy is playing. The explanations of how the Sitar and Indian Classical music work serve as a nice introduction, but take away from the album as a whole imo. Still, can't go wrong with any Ravi Shankar album consisting of some nice Raga's.

I understand it's influence but it really is much too trance-inducing for me.

The Sounds Of India is something that does what it sets out to do fine enough but isn't very good as an album. This album was made as a way for the Indian sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar as a way to introduce and explain Hindustani classical music to the rest of the world. I say it does a pretty decent job at that as it does explain some of the characteristics of this kind of music in an intuitive and easy to follow way. However, as an album, it falls flat. Once the novelty of this being a unique genre wears off, it just becomes really repetitive and the songs become really hard to differentiate from each other. This album does it's job as a introduction and explanation of Hindustani classical music well enough but as an album, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Best Song: An Introduction to Indian Music
Worst Song: Sindhi-Bhairavi

Long form, patient music that unfolds gradually and experiencially. Gorgeous meditative stuff, it works perfectly to quiet the world and let you focus in and zone out. While the improvisations and melodic flair give you something to pay attention to consciously the the repetitions and drones encourage the mind to wander, a delicate balance of presence and abscence. The drumming and rhythms intensify and relax building and releasing tension.

I very much appreciate the uniqueness of this album while having no interest in listening to it again.

Part of me wondered should I be meditating to this? While another part thought where’s my bong and a giant stack of naan and pot of vindaloo?

The actual music is fine but i dont really want the explanatory detail. Not sure i will ever revisit this album but kind of enjoyed the experience of listening to it at least once

This got off to a great start when I realised it was 5 tracks but 53 minutes, and one of those tracks was greyed out on Amazon, so I had to find it on YouTube. Plus the only track on Sgt. Pepper I have never liked is the one inspired by Ravi Shankar. But Ravi told me I had to listen with an open mind, so I really did try...

Less an album to listen to for entertainment and more a sitar lesson, I can absolutely see they're skilled musicians but it's just not for me. I would rather listen to his daughter (sorry Ravi, but Come Away With Me is a lovely song).

2/5

I didn't enjoy it at all, but literally just having an album which is not from the US or UK makes me want to give this 5 stars. I will settle somewhere in the middle, but not without repeating that there should be more international albums!

I don't usually listen to Indian music, but this was interesting. Also the explanations were interesting and quite impressive what one can do with such an instrument

I appreciated the lesson to learn more about the genre, but it was still a very hard listen.
It gave a bit more context to some of the King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's microtonal explorations (KG, LW)

I can appreciate how talented Ravi Shankar is, the historical significance of this album, and I even enjoy this music style, but ultimately this is just background music to me. I don't even disagree with its inclusion in the 1001, I just can't rate it higher than a 3 - something that was fine but I wouldn't seek it out again.