Asha Puthil’s magnum opus The Devil Is Loose is a massively underappreciated pop disco underground classic. Although the album was not a commercial success, it would later be a massive hit in the hip-hop sampling world; the song “Space Talk” most notably sampled by the currently scrutinized and controversial Sean Combs in the 1997 song “The World Is Filled…” by the late Notorious B.I.G. Other notable samples of the hip-hop producer staple are “Girl Is Mine” by rhythm and blues boy band Jagged Edge, and Your Old Droog’s “2001: A Space Yodyssey”.
The album kicks off with the sexy dance track “Flying Fish”. Asha sings with shivering sensuality and alluring vocals about a “silver-tongued” woman with a “silky” body and “slinky hips.”
She wishes to fly and swim like the woman she speaks of, not because of jealously, but in admiration and infatuation of this majestic, mythical woman who dances as graceful and seamless as a fish swims. “What do I have to do to fly and swim like you?”
The title track “The Devil Is Loose”, also serving as the first of two singles on the album, is a beautiful insight about self-indulgence, giving in to temptation, and allowing yourself to let your devil loose.
Two minutes and twenty seconds into the song, Asha shows off her incredible vocal range with a scream that could make the most stoic man’s heart pitter patter. “The Devil Is Loose” is unequivocally one of her best singles ever released.
Skipping and frolicking its way to the third track, “Hello Everyone” has the shortest runtime of the album’s songs. A splendidly cheery track; Asha sings of pure gratefulness to be alive and well. She melodies about her perseverance and her ability to stay strong during hardship, “every bird can sing, but not too many last through spring” … “I’m surprised my wings can still fly. If not, this time I could rely on words. For I hear that words. Words have wings”.
We’re now halfway through Puthil’s third full length album. “My Buddy and Me” is an adorably loving sentiment about a relationship that straddles between a friendship and situationship.
Asha sings a particularly touching line, “Cause me and my buddy are part of the past, and part of the future, as long as it lasts. What we wanna give is what you wanna take. We’re part of the present. Part real and part fake”.
Heading into the latter half of the loose devil, we’re met with my favorite track on the album “Say Yes”, and honestly, my favorite in her whole discography.
A song exemplifying longing in its purest form. True desperation and desire for a love that she worries is resistant to her magnetic pull.
Finally at the album’s end, we are greeted with the funky and soulful “Space Talk”. Hypnotic, seductive, and filled with electronic synthesizers, Space Talk will lull you into a spacey, lustful hypnosis if you’re not careful. The light voiced Puthil finds a perfect pocket and dichotomy between groovy and seductive.
While Asha Puthil never quite hit mainstream fame, she is a widely renowned idol in her home country of India. In her early life, she studied Indian classical music and opera, which undoubtably contributed to her vocal prowess.
Later in early adulthood, Puthil would audition for, and receive, a dance scholarship from Martha Graham. After modeling for a portrait drawn by Ved Mehta in the issue Jazz in Bombay, John H. Hammond at Columbia Records would sign Puthil to CBS Records after hearing a rough demo.
Eventually this would all culminate to the release of the album we’re reviewing today; The Devil Is Loose. Arguably Puthil’s best full-length album put forth by her in a discography that accompanies eleven other full-length albums.
The loose devil is a must if you decide to delve into her discography, especially because most of her discography is not made available on streaming services. So, get to vinyl digging!
Album Score: 7.5
