Vidyasagar seems to have hit a purple patch. He has been among Tamil cinema's more successful music directors in the last one year. His compositions for Rajnikant's "Chandramukhi" have wormed their way into almost every aspect of life in Chennai. It was a tough act to follow, but he outdoes himself in "Kanaa Kandein".

The "Kanaa Kandein" cassette contains only five songs. But the quality makes up for the quantity.

The album starts off with the peppy "Chinna Ponnu" sung by relative unknown Sayonara Phillip. Her voice is husky. The song is quite enjoyable and could get you tapping a meditative foot or two at the first listen itself.

Even the second song has a "Chinna" to its name, "Chinna Chinna". But it sounds a lot less Western than "Chinna Ponnu". The song, belted out by Tippu and Sunitha Sarathy, is, in a single word, awesome. As one finishes listening to this song, one begins to feel that Vidyasagar has indeed outdone himself.

The third track, "Thai Sollum", however, is not as great as the preceding two. If you are the kind who is never happier than when listening to (what sounds like) a wizened old man singing to folksy rhythms, however, you may actually end up humming the tune.

This is followed by Srinivas and Kalyani rendering a soft, rather lovey-dovey duet ("Kaalai Arumbi") that should tug at some heartstrings. Kalyani's voice is mellifluous and worth a special mention.

Udit Narayan's voice is something one can never tire of. It was because of this that this reviewer looked forward to the last track, "Aiyya Ramaiah". The track starts off with beats that are reminiscent of such doyens of trance music as DJ Ziggy and the like. It is after this that the track comes alive to Udit Narayan's baritone. This track is definitely the piece de resistance of the entire album.

"Kanaa Kandein" is definitely among the better albums of the last few months.