Last night TheWife walked in the door to be greeted by the sounds of AC/DC's Stiff Upper Lip being played way too loud. I was in the middle of cooking dinner (tomato and garlic saute/reduction thingie, served over bruschetta with fresh mozzarella...honestly, an excuse to drink some nice red wine. (And hey, we're no snobs - the wine was Red Truck. You want snobbery? Check out this review bit: "It's a jovial quaff, but the fruit outruns minimal acidity, leaving a pudgy beverage that seems as much like a 'spiked' glass of fruit juice as wine." Whoa.)

Anyhow, the reason for the garlic in the air and the wall-shaking music was that the house was empty. This is not a common occurence around here. Earlier that day, my folks had left for a trip down to Pennsylvania to visit my niece. So it was just me, the GreatestCockerSpanielInTheWorld™, and the circa-1825 house itching for some action. Brian Johnston and the Young Brothers provided the soundtrack.

This morning's Listen is coming to you from the comfort of my living room couch. The opportunity to hang out in the emptiness was too much to pass up. Midday yesterday I "scheduled" an impromptu vacation day....and here I am.

The Falcon And The Snowman soundtrack isn't the quietest thing you've ever heard. In fact, given the nature of the film itself, it's got quite a bit of tension-building and foreboding chunks of sound. It's also got David Bowie doing "This Is Not America".

That's still not why I picked it.

The opening "Psalm 121/Flight of the Falcon" contains one of those moments that can cause a person to well up. The human voice is such an amazing instrument. Here it's inspiring to witness the voices of the Abrosian Choir swell as "Psalm 121" explodes joyously into "Flight of the Falcon". The feeling I get when hearing that bit of music is very much like how I felt this morning when I realized that I was on vacation. Oh yea.

Now I've just gotta figure out what's for dinner tonight.