If you're talking about packaging, you really can't touch this. Salim-Sulaiman who have done hefty hi-tech takes for techno-savvy directors like Sanjay Gupta and Ram Gopal Varma get to do a full-fledged score.
And boy, do they make the best of it!
Animal instincts ooze out of the robust vocals as a cluster of crooners get together for a binge of serious grooving.
Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan and the neglected Richa Sharma and Kailash Kher extend their vocal chords into a field of screams.
"Tauba tauba" and "Kaal dhamaal" are aimed specifically at the solar plexus. They succeed spectacularly.
Anand Raaj Anand chips in with that one-track attack "Nassa nassa" which stirs up a hornet's nest. Though not meant to cover new ground, this album will get the adrenaline - and the CD sales - soaring. That's what it's meant to do.
The soundtrack is bound to be a winner. It doesn't give the listener the option of not listening.
With the options for composers narrowing down dangerously for big filmmakers (Karan Johar has vowed never to work with Jatin-Lalit and isn't too keen on Anu Malik either);
Salim-Sulaiman, along with Shankar-Ehsan-Loy and Vishal-Shekhar (who did the fabulous though ignored "Karam" soundtrack), seem to be the sound of tomorrow.
Ever since he did his first directorial venture, Johar has been looking at life through a song. The music in "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" and "Kal Ho Na Ho" were spectacularly successful.
"Kaal" is a Karan Johar production directed by a new recruit to the organisation, Soham Shah.
Says Johar: "Originally we didn't plan to have songs in the horror film. But later we thought an album could be conceived around the theme.
We also got Shah Rukh Khan to perform for the credit titles, hence the track, 'Kaal dhamaal', where you'll get to see Shah Rukh and Malaika Arora together again after 'Chal chaiyyan chaiyyan' in 'Dil Se'.
"And as in 'Kal Ho Na Ho', where we legally bought the rights of the pop song 'Pretty Woman', we've legally acquired the rights of the number 'Eye Of The Tiger' by Survivor and used it in our album."