Just like the movies, even the music was disappointing last year. Only 'Ek Villain' and ‘Haider' were the albums that I loved to the core. Vishal Bharadwaj is back to the form he was in during 7 Khoon Maaf tracks, while Mithoon yet again gives me song of the year composition. Unlike last year, Amit Trivedi features only once in my list, which is a very quality album ‘Queen’.

A.R Rahman again had okish year, ‘Highway' does make to my top5 but I expect his albums to be in top2, and then he also did a very poor ‘Lekar Hum Deewana Dil’ whose songs I don’t dare to listen again now.

As I had said last time that Vishal-Shekhar will bounce back, and so they did with excellent music in 'Hasee Toh Phasee’, even Bang Bang and Happy New Year had some decent songs.  While Himesh Reshammiya in his own film ‘The Xpose’ gave forgettable music, his work in ‘Kick’ definitely reminded of his good old days, still not at his best.

Sachin Jigar disappointed me, expected a lot after 'Go Goa Gone', their music in Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania and Happy Ending appeared creative but nothing worth listening on repeat mode.


Here’s my list of Top10 Albums of 2014 :

                                                                                                              1. Ek Villain

Mithoon along with 2 other composers takes the 1st position this year, last time his Aashiqui2 was on 2nd place in my list. Complete album with exception of Hamdard (which I don’t dislike but not fond of listening) is a gem, mainly in terms of the romantic and emotional feel the compositions provide. Creatively, you may argue that its just another routine album but thats never the only yardstick to measure a album for me! Mohammad Irfan’s ‘Banjaara’ is simply magical, specially if you listen it in peaceful place or at late night/early morning, and yea its my song of the year too. Ankit Tiwari’s ‘Galliyan’ composition is lovely, but its Shraddha’s haunting version of it that gets my special attention. Soch band comes up with ‘Awari’ that is very appealing, and I prefer this version over their private album one. Mustafa Zahid’s ‘Zaroorat’ is good but not as much as his past hits.
Favs : Banjaara, Galliyan (female version), Awari


                        2. Haider

I have been fond of Vishal Bharadwaj music, almost waiting for his albums like I do with Amit Trivedi or A R Rahman. With Haider, Vishal gives me that album which I can fully love after quite a long gap. The moment you saw Haider trailer with ‘Aao Naa’ song, the expectations increased and how well he lived upto them. And not to forget, Gulzar is the lyricist. Vishal Dadlani does a compelling work at Aao Naa, and the composition is madly addictive. Even its other version ‘So Jao’ creates a haunting atmosphere especially in the movie with that sound of ‘digging grave'. Sukhwinder Singh gives another song to remember for lifetime ‘Bismil’, its choreography in movie takes the song to further leaps. Its other version ‘Ek Aur Bismil’, different kind of remix with pacy tunes but different lyrics, is very likeable specially the part ‘al vil, al vil, alvida.. dil vil, dil vil ki adaa' Arijit Singh who has been over-used throughout the year, gets a very romantic ‘Khul Kabhi’ track bang on.  Vishal Bhardwaj gets himself  singing ‘Jhelum’ that describes the state of Kashmir at a particular point of movie efficiently, as just a audio song, it does offer less though. Suresh Wadkar voice is lovable in ‘Do Jahaan’, but the composition as a whole with Shradda Kapoor voice in kashmiri lyrics fails to deliver. Other two tracks, 'Gulon mein rang bhare' and 'Aaj Ke Naam' were avoidable for me.
Favs : Aao Naa, Bismil, Khul Kabhi
                                                                                                                3. Queen

A typical album by Amit Trivedi whose every song appeals with movie, specially Ranjha, Jugni, Badra Bahaar and Taake Jhanke who despite been good songs I prefer listening with movie only. Shefali and Nikhil shine in a very peppy composition ‘O Gujariya’. Nandini Srikar is once again terrific in a sad number ‘Harjaiyaan', one of under-rated singers at present, remember Dua from Shanghai or Bhare naina from Ra.One. While Mohan Kanan gives me another track to admire after his Barbaadi from Aurangzeb last year. His song ‘Kinare’ reminds of Dev.D’s Ek Hulchul Si, both inspiring songs making us believe that life is all about moving on from the bad incidents.  Sonu Kakkad, Labh Janjua and Neha Kakkad comes up with a punjabi song that is gonna be heard at marriages for a lifetime, ‘London Thumukda’ has lyrics you wanna dance on, specially the re-worked ‘latte di chaadar’ lines. But, the song I totally loved was ‘Hungama’, a old classic of Asha Bhosle where her voice was kept intact but the composition was brilliantly changed by Trivedi with addition of extra lines from Arijit that provide a certain angst to the song.
Favs : Hungama, Harjaiyaan, O Gujariya


                          4. Highway

A R Rahman after Rockstar, finally has a album whose songs are addictive. Nooran sisters compliment each other so beautifully in ‘Patakha Guddi’ while Rahman gives rock beats to its male version which he sings himself. Its really hard to choose fav among both tracks at times for me. ‘Maahi Ve’, a soft  number very well sung by Rahman, has that romantic as well as spiritual feel, depending on how you wanna listen it. ‘Kahaan Hoon Main’, a slow track sung beautifully by Jonita Gandhi where you question your own life, particular love the lyrics in this song. Jonita has another track ‘Implosive Silence’, a plain background number with no lyrics, works with movie mainly. Sunidhi does well in ‘Tu Kuja’, yet this religious track failed to impress me like past such Rahman tracks have done. ‘Wanna Mash Up’ is that typical Rahman song in album where he experiments heavily, its a song with dose of flirt and seduction in it, not special but still  a track that you don’t mind listening to. ‘Heera’ and ‘Sooha Saaha’ were only songs that I totally disliked.
Favs : Patakha Guddi (both versions), Maahi Ve, Kahaan Hoon Main


                                                                                                        5. Hasee Toh Phasee

Vishal-Shekhar are back with a very good album. They take the stage in ‘Drama Queen’, giving it that club/party feel, the song works for its composition and lyrics, wish female singer was Shilpa Rao though. ‘Ishq Bulaava’, is a very lovely romantic track whose lyrics have punjabi flavor,  and sung by Sanam Puri and Shipra Goyal. ‘Shake it like Shammi’ is my most fav track from album, it has amazing beats and lyrics that makes you wanna dance, Benny Dayal is one hell of a singer when it comes to songs full of energy! Despite super rendition by Shafqat Amanat Ali, ‘Manchala’ has that heard before feel in it right throughout. ‘Zehnaseeb’ is worth listening for Chinmayi rendition, though as a whole the song is just passable. ‘Punjabi Wedding Song’ is very much forgettable track of Sunidhi.
Favs : Shake it like shammi, Ishq Bulaava, Drama Queen
                           6. Kick

When you listen ‘Tu hi Tu’ track, you feel Himesh Reshammiya as a talented composer is still there, not totally gone yet. Though I like both versions, I prefer Neeti Mohan’s one much more. Despite Salman’s non-singing abilities, ‘Hangover’ is a decent listen too though a routine singer would had been much better! ‘Hai Yehi Zindagi’ sung by Mohammad Irfan works with movie only. The two dance numbers ‘Jumme ki raat’ and ‘Yaar na miley’ are fantastic, specially the latter which has Jasmine Sandlas in quite a heavy voice fitting the song, plus I love the last antara sung by Honey Singh which is very unusual from his routine rap stuffs. Special mention to Jumme ki raat signature tune, its very catchy.
Favs : Yaar na miley, Tu hi tu, Jumme ki raat
                                                                                                        7. Khamoshiyan

Bhatt camp and multiple composers seems to be becoming a routine now. Jeet Ganguly gives ‘Khamoshiyan’ title track, sung by Arijit which is addictive despite average lyrics, ‘Baatein yeh kabhi na’ again sung by Arijit works both as composition and lyrics and easily is best track of album though its female version fails terribly. Bobby has composed ‘Tu har lamha’, guess what, sung by Arijit again, if you ignore first 2-3 lines of song that I found very ordinary, the rest song is worth a listen specially the part ‘tu har lamha tha mujhse juda’, ‘Subhan Allah’ is more of a reprise version of tu har lamha, and is sung by Anupam Amod whose voice I like quite a lot, has the same feel, but unfortunately they changed best part of lyrics to subhan allah here, which I didnt like. ‘Kya khoya’ sung and composed by  Naved Jafar, has superb lyrics, more of motivational in a different way and is brilliantly sung too. Ankit Tiwari for a change fails, as his composition ‘Bheegh loon’, sung by him only,  has nothing in it except for a catchy starting tune to the track. Its female version by Prakriti Kakar is very much forgettable too.
Favs : Baatein yeh kabhi na, Kya khoya, Tu har lamha
                          8. PK

Raju Hirani-Shantanu Moitra team up after 3 Idiots, and give us a very good album, not magical though like the last time around. Its such a pleasure to listen to Shaan voice after a long time in ‘Chaar kadam’, would had liked it solo track, Shreya has habit of destroying many songs. ‘Love is a waste of time’ has Sonu and Shreya together, a fun track that is very enjoyable, like the bhojpuri touch Sonu gives it. And Sonu takes it to a complete emotional level in ‘Bhagwan hai kahan re tu’, he should definitely sing much more. Special mention to the pleasant PK theme instrumental. ‘Tharki Chokro’ looks nice with film only, and ‘Nanga Punga Dost’ might appeal to die-hard shreya fanatics, I found it boring. ‘Dil Darbadar’ looks completely odd track in the album, sung by Ankit Tiwari, makes you feel that suddenly you started listening some Bhatt camp movie track.
Favs : Chaar kadam, Bhagwan hai kahan re tu, Love is a waste of time


                                                                                                           9. Citylights

Jeet Ganguly gets a solo album, and he does come up with some very good songs. ‘Muskuraane’ by Arijit has a very good romantic feel, though I like it most for its lyrics. Its unplugged version by Mohammad Irfan is pretty good too. ‘Soney do’ by Arijit is another track where lyrics gets extra attention, infact Rashmi Singh has written awesome lyrics for entire album. ‘Ek Charraiya’, if you see the film, almost describes the entire movie perfectly, though I found it too slow to listen as audio alone. ‘Darbadar’ beautifully rendered by Neeti Mohan tells the struggling tale of a guy, the music used compliments the composition very well. Sad to see Usha Uthup wasted in the title track of Citylights, only bad composition of album.
Favs : Muskuraane, Darbadar, Soney do
                                10. Two States

I didn’t like Shankar Ehsan Loy work in this album much in terms of worth remembering songs like he did with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. The best track ‘Locha e ulfat’ sung by terrific Benny Dayal has some cool lyrics ‘ban ke musibat peeche padi hai, yeh comedy hai ya tragedy hai’, the music at times did remind me of Dil Chahta Hai’s woh ladki hai kahaan. ‘Offo’ by Aditi is used in narration very well, but the song doesnt work for me. ‘Mast Magan’ and ‘Iski Uski’ are also songs that I prefer to ignore. ‘Hulla Re’ gets the happy occasion feel spot on along with the punjabi flavor and tamil lyrics (I guess?), but not a song that would get your repeat button busy. ‘Chaandaniya’ is a beautiful separation song sung by  K Mohan and Yashita Sharma.
Favs : Locha e ulfat, Chaandaniya


Albums that missed my list but worth a mention : 

Kill Dil
Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania
Khoobsurat