Good music is good music, right? Surely it's as simple as that; you hear a beat, melody or vocal and it either hits or it misses, bringing a smile or a move towards the fast forward button. Not quite.

When a big track comes out some time after an album drops, I often scurry back into the review to see how we rated it. There are sighs of relief most of the time if we said it was decent, but there are surprises. For example, one of the hottest desi tracks on road at the moment is 'Soorma', from Jazzy B's album Romeo. Now, back in January when that album dropped [click here to view album review] , I took it as a filler at the end of the album which didn't do much for me and labelled as that and said "this isn't a memorable track".

The video, promotion and weight behind 'Soorma' took some seven months and suddenly in July I walk into my local and see the whole pub stop to sing "kera jampeha sooooormaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" as it rings out of the jukebox. My local is the Garden Gate in Handsworth Wood, one of the best desi pubs in Britain and you know a tune is big when it gets that reaction in The Gate. That was a few months back and it's still number one on the jukebox, and I said it wasn't memorable. Who feels silly?

Jazzy B - Romeo

I'm gonna defend myself and my colleagues now. When we do reviews, we're given an album and we bang out a review, normally done within a couple of days and a couple of plays of the album. We have to decide whether a tune is catchy, technically well made, has good content or statement and then decide why and by how much we rate it (or not in Usman's case!).

When our pulse is at a different beat to Jasvinder Public, we sometimes look silly for thinking something's average when really it's quite special. I normally embrace hate mail, but when a review is on there and I'm getting some hassle from a fan when I've changed my mind and actually rate the song is annoying. It's like your brother having a fit girlfriend, but you can't say you want piece because she's your brother's and then your mate's calling you gay because you don't fancy her.

So why do we occasionally get it wrong? There's a few reasons, and I'll be honest and say the main one is we simply don't like the track when it comes out. For example, I initially gave Zeus's 'Unda The Influence' a 7.5 out of 10 [click here for album review], as it had some big tracks - 'Kangna', 'Ah Ni Kuria' - and the rest were decent but not outstanding tracks. However, as I listened to it more. I began to really rate a few more tracks on the album - 'Gwandian Da Dhol Mix', 'Mele Wich Jatt', 'Dil Goriay' - and then I realised it was album of the year. And it's those sorts of albums which last longest; ones that are good, but when you take it in more you realise that the quality breathes throughout. Like with films, the Shawshank Redemption was a near flop at the box office but ask anyone and they'll have it in their top ten favourites.

Our most famous mistake to date was probably when Usman said 'Das Ja' was average [click here for album review] and also that he "didn't want to be overcritical." Usman knows his music, no question of that and his summary of the track is spot on: simple and effective. However, it gets dropped at a couple of weddings and suddenly it carries much more potency and is actually one of the most hectic tunes of recent years. But it's number three on a seven track album, it had the relatively unknown Lembher Hussainpuri on vocal and there was no reason why it should've been that big. It's a song for dancing with an aunty to at a wedding. That blows a balloon.

Bally Sagoo's 'Hanji' album is another with lots of quality which at the time went unnoticed [click here for album review]. DJ Dev reviewed that and said it was alright, but his thoughts now differ slightly. "Listening back, the albums full of anthems," the London-based reviewer commented. "Sometimes you've got to listen to an album in the right kind of atmosphere to fully appreciate them." I think that there were too many big tracks on there for them all to be appreciated but as DJ Dev remarks, they're all heavy tunes. "Tracks like Bottlan Sharaab Diyan, Billo Ni Tera Dil Mangda and Punjabian Di Challe Glassi still rock dancefloors to this day, and I know I can drop them anywhere at anytime and people will lift their ears, arms, legs or something."

When a track or album comes out also has a mad effect on how much people rate it. The phrases 'ahead of its time' or 'out of fashion' are very important and my Jazzy B example from earlier proves this to a T. When the 'Romeo' album came out we were all loving a little bit of fusion, be it with a dance beat or hip-hop sound and that was what made the album good at the time, along with some alright virsa desi stuff dotted about. Nine months later and there hasn't been a good hip-hop/desi cross for ages and now we love listening to a dhol, tumbi and singer. Moviebox realised this and threw 'Soorma' back into the cauldron where it was now the kuttah's tutte and fast became an anthem.

But the reality is I can't tell you for certain what is going to be massive within the desi scene in the six months time. The only people who do are the record company executives who push certain artists and thus styles of music into the airwaves and into your ears. There have been so many times I've said "I can't stand that track!!!" and then when it's on A list, B list, and C list on radio it's kind of injected into the side of your brain which likes music. I don't care what anyone says, Baby H's 'Mere Nasaeb Mein' is a rubbish, unoriginal track but I've heard it so many times I think it's alright.

DCS

Maybe that was the case when Usman reviewed DCS's 'Old Skool - Nu Skool' album [click here to view album review]. The opening track went by the name of 'Tenu Kaul Ke' and is one of my favourite tracks ever. Initially, Usman saw it differently: "It uses the classic formula of 'slow verse, short repeated lyric preceding a fast chorus' cant really blame them for using it as it has served many artists well, but not in this case. All in all it's just a lot of noise… My point is, it's the same here really, not really memorable." Scathing, harsh, call it what you wanna call it but that was an opinion. Given that album again I'm sure his analysis would be different.

But what can we do? We're never going to on the pulse all the time because everyone has different pulses, especially Irfan's, which is really slow because he's always got it under control. We could go out, lick ass and say everything we're given is good, but that would be immoral. We tell you, Jasvinder Public, what we think and honesty is the best policy. Would Jeremy Clarkson tell you the Ford GT was a good car even after his one didn't work? Course he would because he loves that car.