Out Of Tune

Lorenzo to Jessica in the final act of The Merchant of Venice, sounding suspiciously like Shakespeare's spokesman in these matters: The man that hath no music in himself, / Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, / Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils, / The motions of his spirit are dull as night, / And his affections dark as Erebus: / Let no such man be trusted… I suppose we're meant to take this to some degree as ironically referring to Jessica's father, though in an odd way Shylock has by far the greatest music of the play in simple terms of utterance. But at the moment I feel my own motions are dull as night and it sounds as if I'm being addressed directly. I don't seem to have been listening at my best for weeks. That's partly explained by the fact that Noi likes to listen to the local Malay radio station during fasting month and in the general Hari Raya period, and I'm more than happy to go along with that as it adds considerably to the atmosphere of the season. But I don't seem to have had the energy lately to apply myself to sweet sounds as they deserve and I certainly feel treasonable as a result.

I must, and will, remedy this in the coming weeks and to this purpose, along with just being a greed-driven cog in the machinery of capitalism as manifested by the music industry (dreadful term - surely oxymoronic) I've bought a few CDs in the last few weeks which are waiting for more than a mere airing - they await the justice of the ready open ear. These are: Springsteen's Magic (latest CD, played once, sounded great), Live in Dublin with the Sessions Band (not played at all yet), The River (old favourite I once had on vinyl but which I've never owned a CD of); Dylan's Infidels (remastered CD, played three times now); Roger Waters's The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (had no interest when it came out, but wanted to see how it compares to Gilmour's solo work - played twice, not terribly impressed); Amy Winehouse's Frank (heard her live on Later with Jools and liked her voice - played CD once but distractedly); Richard Hawley's Lady's Bridge (also heard him live on Later - played twice, wonderful); Arctic Monkey's first CD (played once, wonderful); and The Style Council's Our Favourite Shop - Deluxe Edition, remastered 2 CD yadayadayada (played three times - Mr Weller can do and never could do any wrong.) Just listing this stuff makes me feel better. There are riches in store.