Indian Ocean - Desert Rain: Indian Ocean Live

All Music Guide

Indian Ocean started essentially as a Jam band and Desert Rain showcases the early creations of the band in their most raw and spontaneous shapes. Recorded live at Delhi and later reengineered, the songs here have structured compositions yet on the hindsight appear to be the output of spontaneous jams and thus provide a vital link to the development of the music and the band's early inspirations. It's easy to notice what clicked with Indian Ocean a focus on the East Indian folk music which quickly gained attention from the urbane youth, an almost unplugged sound that compliments their cultural attention, a rigid compact lineup with each member bringing in his unique technical preeminence that roll into a perfect body of work. These early compositions were written by Susmit and Aseem and later ‘handmolded' into rock based rhythmic structures by inclusion of Rahul Ram's Bass and Amit's percussions, giving this album an importance of epic proportions. The importance of their albums is fu...rther augmented by the fact that Indian Ocean has no imitators despite their roots in ethnic music. Desert Rain is a more vibrant and stylish album than the band's later releases if not as popular and after a release as a limited edition copy in 1997 for circulations around Delhi, it was rereleased in 2002 following the massive popularity of the band. - Bhasker Gupta, All Music Guide Read more Less