The rough guide to psychedelic Bollywood

"There is one other issue with The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Bollywood, and it's a tough one to get past. Bollywood, especially in the `60s and `70s, was never known for the quality of its sound recording. And, despite whatever remastering has taken place, most everything here is almost unbearably tinny and shrill, with distortion and clipping not at all uncommon. It can't be helped, but it stops the album in its tracks. Just imagine listening to Sgt.Pepper blared through a bullhorn while stuck in a narrow aluminum cylinder. This factor alone precludes any "everyday listening" you might wish to undertake".

"During the 1960s and '70s, the soundtracks of India's Bollywood film industry included some of the wildest, most imaginative pileups of genres and musical ideas ever commited to tape ... [This Rough Guide takes] an immensely fun swing through some highlights from scores by R.D. Burman and the composing duos Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. The set is split between madcap instrumentals that veer from surf to big band jazz to psychedelia and showcases for some of the finest playback singers".