Even before a putting the CD in the player, I need to give credit where credit is due. VIP records have (hopefully) set a precedent in the industry of actually having a price (£5) incorporated into the CD cover design of 'Pure Desi Vol 1', 10/10 for that! In order to resuscitated the anaemic industry which has been bled dry by piracy, this a positive step to providing music at reasonable prices. It is a self confessed 'bhangra compilation' album, which does normally send alarm bells ringing but let's give it a listen.

The show gets on the road with 'Teri Tok Vek ke'. As the title suggest, we are going to be in for a dhol filled experience and that's exactly what we get. An almost constant dhol tempo accompanies throughout. For those who understand the lyrics, it all combines to make what I'd describe as a 'happy song', with a sort of a feel good vibe. I could easily see this as being a more of a modern revamp with a quicker tempo but that's not taking away from this track, which is pretty good. Some praise goes out to Bobby B and Jay Jagpal for the production.

'Dil Koke Vich' is altogether more sombre track, much more emotion, which incidentally is fantastically conveyed by the singer Ranjan Mitte and makes the song in my opinion. The production courtesy of Ryan Singh is simple and not anymore complicated than it needs to be; good live tumbi from Raj of Tigerstyle, although what they call Indian percussion (and I call snake charmer music) is a quirky addition.

Literally dripping with dhol is 'Tarrak Tarhi Sak', it's as desi as it gets. The music by Saq throughout is done very well, with the tumbi by Manak-e. Maybe it's just me but a small section reminds just a tiny bit of 'Billo' from Northern Lights 'Sparked' album. The vocal arrangement just seems like it's slightly out in places and so makes it difficult to get into the song. The chorus sounds fine, just somewhere along certain verses it tends to lose its way.

The main man himself VIPS gives us 'Mahi Mera' and as he has been credited with it you know the production value will be high, and just as predicted it is appreciably more so compared to any of the other tracks so far. Another slight twitch of 'Billo' in there (I seriously must be hearing things) but then again it would be as it's the same instrument. Anyway, the vocals again aren't reaching out to the listener and thus the track suffers from lack of appeal.

The most commonly used song name, 'Put Sardaren De' is up next. To be brutally honest, you will have heard many better tracks with this as the title. The thing that has let down Northern Lights, a fact that is the common theme throughout the album, is the lack of attraction to the listener created by both the vocals and the lyrics. The silver lining, which screams out to me like a teenager in a horror film, is the quality of production; the music is fantastic, a really innovative blend of various instruments and beats, something that should in no way go unnoticed, you really have to listen to understand what I mean.

'Lak De Hularian' with VIPS back on the production is unfortunately the worst so far. The vocals are in my humble opinions are atrocious, devoid of any passion or enthusiasm that I feel is required for the lyrics in question. Expression of love shouldn't be made whilst sounding like you've just won the lottery but lost the ticket. The dhol beat loop along with the music in general is like vanilla ice cream, safe, nothing fancy, giving you the minimum you require and dare I say boring? The 'Oi's sound too much like a Bally Jagpal trademark: anyone that's been listening to bhangra for any considerable period of time will know what I mean.

We switch the tempo on the metaphorical dial to what can only be described as 'desi disco' with 'Sada Lut Ke Lai Gaya Dil.' Music by DJ Kunal totally takes over in this one, relegating the role of the vocals as just being an interested spectator. Although not technically perfect, it's an excellent creation of a particular vibe, which is what music should be about and in this case it has been done very well. I can easily imagine people making fools of them selves dancing to this.

For those of you familiar with Bikram Singh, you will recognise 'Chaklo Gandasay' as a typical example of his style. For those of you in the dark, I'll explain, it's a very strong beat created with a mixture of dhol and synthetic sounds accompanied obviously by his vocals, which in this case are just as strong and dominating. A good track overall.

Lets be realistic, we weren't expecting to find tracks which will live long in the memory on a compilation CD now were we? This CD provides a blend of decent DESI tracks, for all those you have been malnourished in this genre due to the market not being geared to those of you who are that way inclined. It's certainly not my cup of tea, but that aside and taking things on merit, the majority of the tracks are good without ever threatening to be 'wow.' But the take home message here needs to be how the label have gone out of there way to make sure the music gets to us at a price that is both palatable to us and will keep musicians funded for them to continue in making high quality music for us to enjoy. In terms if value for money at half the usual price at just a fiver it's a bargain and one we recommend that you buy if you want to see more CD's at this price. Final rating? 6.8 out of 10!