RSSNusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party [extended]
- Mustt Mustt [RealWorld, 1990] *
- Devotional and Love Songs [RealWorld, 1993]
- The Last Prophet [RealWorld, 1994]
- Intoxicated Spirit [Shanachie, 1996] A-
- Supreme Collection, Vol. 1 [Caroline, 1997] ***
- Rapture: An Essential Selection [Music Club, 1997] A-
- Greatest Hits [Shanachie, 1997] A-
See Also:
Consumer Guide Reviews:
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Mustt Mustt [RealWorld, 1990]
sometimes--"Tracery" feh, "Sea of Vapours" pee-yoo--the master modernizer of Sufi song, well, transcends the New Age art-rock Michael Brook vouchsafes him ("The Game," "Taa Deem") *
Devotional and Love Songs [RealWorld, 1993]
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: The Last Prophet [RealWorld, 1994]
Intoxicated Spirit [Shanachie, 1996]
Look, it's simple. Do you want Michael Brook strumming and arranging and practicing right reason, or do you want the most awesome singer in the known universe manifesting his proximity to the divine for your voyeuristic delectation? Whatever rules apply to anyone else--Brook has done handsomely by Cheb Khaled, and most virtuosos should damn well hone their inspirations in the studio before bestowing them on the marketplace--don't apply to Nusrat. This album grabbed me not just because it's uncut--four unfaded tracks lasting 23, 24, 12, and 14 minutes--but because its Sufi ecstasy runs so close to the surface, far wilder than on RealWorld's equally uncut The Last Prophet. Students of song form may want to try Devotional and Love Songs, its harmonium and percussion augmented by a mandolinist-guitarist less distracting than Michael Brook. Me, I'll stick with Nusrat and his boys galloping off into the stratosphere--his wails, his flights, his tongue twisters, his ululations, his naming party for God. A-
Supreme Collection, Vol. 1 [Caroline, 1997]
two unwesternized late-'80s CDs, eight tracks, budget-priced, so how much do you want/need? ("Tum Agar Yuhi Nazren") ***
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Rapture: An Essential Selection [Music Club, 1997]
Although 100 albums in 10 years may be an exaggeration, I doubt even Urdu speakers need the entire Allah-channeling oeuvre. On the other hand, I'm so sure non-Urdu speakers don't need RealWorld's polite introductions that I do hope to try one of his Pakistani cassettes someday. Meanwhile, there's this compilation, cherry-picked from his U.K. catalogue by a supersharp Brit discount label, which means that like those cassettes it's cheap. But that's not why I don't mind the rock drums and guitar on one track. It's because this cherry-picker knew where the juicy ones were. A-
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Greatest Hits [Shanachie, 1997]
I can see only one upside in the dreadful rumor that Khan has blown his voice, seriously if not permanently--it will inspire entrepreneurs with a conduit to the American audience RealWorld developed and misserved to license Khan's Pakistani plethora. Whatever "hit" can mean in qawwali, the world-music veterans at Shanachie tell us these four extended tracks were selected with care, not grabbed at random. Their pure power somewhat less intense and fanciful than on Intoxicated Spirit, they're a special boon for late converts who never got the point of his crossovers anyway. A-