All My CDs, pt 31: Pilgrim Heart

Pilgrim Heart - Krishna Das

I've been told on multiple occasions that the music I like is repetitive. I shrugged off such disparagement until Pandora Radio, an algorithm which selects music based on the qualities of songs I already like, identified "repetitive phrasing" as one of those qualities. Apparently, I do like repetitive music. And I love this album.

I hesitate to describe Pilgrim Heart as "Hindu chanting with folk percussion accompaniment", even though that's what it is. All but a few of the tracks consist of a few Sanskrit devotional lines sung over and over with little or no variation, sometimes for several minutes at a stretch. The occasional melodic or instrumental liberties do little to interrupt the flow. Yet in the very repetitiveness there is a channel for trancelike, mystical experience, and it is entirely by design. This is one of the traditional means of worship in Hinduism, which boasts one of the oldest and most robust traditions of mysticism in the world.

There are two copies of this CD on my shelf, and neither is home-burned. It happens that I borrowed the first copy when I was a child, and loved it so much that I was reluctant to return it; eventually I forgot even who I borrowed it from, but felt bad about the accidental theft and bought another copy to restore some sense of balance. (If you're the owner of the first CD and know who you are, feel free to come forward and claim it.)

When I first began listening to it, this album and its explanatory liner notes were my first detailed introduction to Hinduism. Although I never adopted it completely (even continually-trendy hatha yoga never held my attention long), Hinduism's polytheistic monism was influential to my developing spirituality. To this day, meditation and music remain my two central means of experiencing spiritual oneness, and the trance-inducing music on this album perfectly combine the two.

Then, as now, my favorite track was the first, Namah Shivaya. Consisting of six Sanskrit lines sung repeatedly over seven minutes, it is typical of the rest of the album. But there is a subtle complexity in the interaction of voices with the mixed percussion, and with a gradually-increasing presence of electric guitar playing under it all like the flow of water visible beneath the slats of a bridge. Unexpected vocal harmonies appear like a gust of sudden wind, propelling the music forward joyfully. When I play the track through from beginning to end, and give myself over to the experience, I find myself leaning closer to god.

Next: All One

All My CDs, pt 30: Doctor Who vol. 4

Doctor Who, Original Television Series Soundtrack Vol. 4 - Murray Gold

I’ve been watching Doctor Who for a few years, and my enthusiasm for the series varies. At one point the background music of a certain episode was so ear-catching that I was moved to buy the soundtrack for that season. But I don’t often go for soundtrack music for my casual listening, so after the first few months in my car stereo it mostly languished on my shelf.

I do enjoy listening to it, though. But come to think of it, none of the soundtracks I own get very much attention from me. I think this is because listening to a soundtrack by itself is a little like eating a condiment by itself; it’s all flavor and very little substance. When I do listen to soundtracks I find I enjoy them most in the car, where there is some movement for the music to enhance by making it feel like an action scene.

But as soundtracks go, this is a good one. As in the show itself, there is a broad (very broad) range of moods and themes tracing their way through the music, as well as a lot of different kinds of sounds coming from different kinds of instruments. Most is, of course, orchestral, but there are also more modern or electronic sounds going on such as electric guitar and synthesized percussion. Voices appear as well, mostly invoking a nonverbal “choir of angels” effect or faux-foreign-language chanting; I can’t say I’m too fond of those parts but I can’t deny they are pleasant to hear.

A couple tracks stand out to me as especially evocative. “Life Among the Distant Stars” expresses perfect loneliness, even if it’s a bit cliche in execution. “The Source” is even more stirring, as is “The Greatest Story Never Told.” “A Pressing Need to Save the World” is one of the best action-sequence soundtracks I’ve ever heard, and I seem to remember it was part of that track that originally drew me toward buying the album. But above all, the penultimate track “Song of Freedom” is the one that more than anything stands alone as a beautiful piece of music.

If you’re into Doctor Who and/or soundtracks, I’d go so far as to recommend this one.

Next: Pilgrim Heart

All My CDs, pt. 29: God Shuffled His Feet

God Shuffled His Feet - Crash Test Dummies

After I’d had Jingle All The Way for some time, and knowing that Crash Test Dummies had a few other albums out, I decided to check one out. I listened to it a few times when I first got it, and once in a while since, but it was still mostly unfamiliar to me when I put it on to prepare for this review. I took a good week of listening to only this album before beginning to write about it.

My first and largest impression is that the songs are generally catchy, upbeat and fun to listen to. It’s also not hard to notice a certain cerebral humor in the lyrics. But the lead singer’s deep bass voice isn’t always easy to understand, so I rely on the liner notes to actually follow along with the songs’ meanings. Once I do, I am usually surprised at how dark, sinister, or cynical the lyrics turn out to be compared with the overall mood of the music.

Afternoons & Coffeespoons, for instance, is one of the catchiest tunes of the lot. When you sit down and read through the lyrics, it tells a tail of failing health and the looming specter of old age. Medical imagery also appears in Here I Stand Before Me, which is similarly cheerful-sounding, but describes the uneasy, disembodied feeling the narrator gets from looking at his own x-ray - an experience so disturbing as to inspire nightmares.

Others seem at first glance like they might have some deeper meaning, but after reading the lyrics I find not much of interest there. Maybe this is by design. The title track, God Shuffled His Feet, tells a fanciful anecdote of God having a picnic with his created people. The people take eager advantage of this audience with a deity, and ask what they think are profound questions. God responds with a decidedly unprofound (or else inscrutably cryptic) story. God shuffles his feet, the people clear their throats. There just isn’t much communication going on.

The song I find most musically beautiful is Two Knights and Maidens, and also holds the honor of most covertly disturbing in imagery. I fell in love with the compelling and haunting melody, but only caught a few of the words until reading them. There I was confronted with a story of young men sexually propositioning some women, who dispose of their unwelcome suitors by drugging them, then watching while the stupefied men are attacked by tigers. No morals, no commentary, just a straightforward telling of events.

I’m not quite clear about what you just spoke -
was that a parable, or a very subtle joke?

I’m not sure if I want to know.

Next: Doctor Who, Vol. 4

All My CDs, pt 28: Jingle All The Way

Hey, shouldn’t you wait a few months and do this one in December?

No. I’m doing it now. So shut up.

Jingle All The Way - Crash Test Dummies

This is another album I have NPR to thank for. I forgot the exact context, but one December during a Christmas-themed show a song came on that I immediately knew I had to acquire somehow. I listened for the name of the band, did some googling, and soon had the Crash Test Dummies’ Jingle All The Way in my CD player. To this day it remains my favorite Christmas album - even though my own father made a Christmas album that I am genetically obligated to like more, and even though Christmas music (or at least Christmas pop music) is a source of rage for at least one sixth of each year.

What makes this different from most Christmas pop music is its deliberate divergence from and simultaneous honoring of tradition and convention. Little-known carols are given the attention they have long been denied and thus seem new, while the played-out, cliche-ridden ones are given an extra spark or stylistic twist that almost amounts to affectionate parody.

The latter is especially apparent in the two most commonly-played songs. The version of White Christmas on this album is the only version I will tolerate, and in fact enjoy, and it is only because of Brad Roberts’ droll, almost sarcastic delivery of the vocals. And Jingle Bells is nearly unrecognizable as the bland and cheery ditty we all know and are pretty tired of by now (it is this song that was played on the radio and persuaded me to buy the album). Both songs really must be heard to be believed.

Other songs are religious rather than secular, and are played straight or with a more subtle breakage from cliche. Good King Wenceslas, which is somewhat known but rarely sung in my experience, has an imaginatively theatrical aspect befitting the story it tells. And two other songs, which I had never heard before and I doubt many of us have, are treated the most beautifully: In the Bleak Midwinter and The Huron Carol. The latter deserves some extra explanation.

The Huron Carol was written by a Jesuit missionary wanting to tell the story of Jesus’s birth in words that the Huron Indians would understand. So he described Jesus as being born in a bark lodge, visited by hunters and foreign chiefs bringing gifts of fur. Think what you will of the resulting song - I know some might consider it cultural misappropriation, or a relic of European imperialism - but I think it is the single most beautiful song on this album, and its history makes it all the more interesting. I see it as an acknowledgement of the cultural diversity of our world, and perhaps an attempt to reconcile it with the globalization and homogenization we may have to expect in modern times. Either way, it’s worth listening to.

Next: God Shuffled His Feet

All My CDs, pt 27: Armed Forces

Armed Forces - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

After I had known and loved The Juliet Letters for several years, it finally occurred to me to find out what Elvis Costello had done otherwise. One of his songs, Big Boys, had appeared on Pandora, so it seemed as good a place as any to start. So I got the album that song is on, Armed Forces.

I had read that Costello was described as “punk”, but honestly I can’t see any resemblance between his music and the punk I am familiar with. Then again, I never have been very clear on what punk is supposed to be (or not be), and genre distinctions in general can get pretty fuzzy sometimes. An impression I got from this album is that parts of it would make a good soundtrack for an action movie - Goon Squad in particular feels somewhat “James Bondish,” as I described it to a friend. But from listening to the lyrics, it’s possible that an action-movie aesthetic was invoked on purpose in order to comment on or even parody some of the values and attitudes associated.

For instance, the song I have found myself enjoying the most on this listen-through (and singing to myself in quiet moments) is Oliver’s Army, which has a definite anti-military agenda. Even so, if I am driving with the windows down, I tend to spin the volume down during the end of the second verse. I can’t count on random passersby being aware that Costello is using the n-word satirically.

Aside from that, what I really like best is two covers that appear toward the end of the track listing. What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding is a refreshingly unironic social commentary. His rendition of My Funny Valentine (which appears as a bonus track on my extended-edition copy) is, as far as I’m concerned, the definitive version of the song (I never did care for jazz standards).

I know just from casual listening that Costello’s original songs are cleverly lyricized, and deserve a good critical reading when I have the headspace for it, but have never gotten around to seriously dissecting all the words. Even now that I am committed to listening critically in order to make a review, I find myself focusing more on the music than the words. When I do listen to the words, I find myself following them only as long as the song itself is playing, and then moving on to the next one without really retaining any intellectual understanding. Maybe I need to take a break from this project. Someday.

Next: Jingle All The Way