Pink Floyd & Lost Souls in Fish Bowls

A has this obsession with high-end electronic items which I don’t much care for. We have this huge dissonance on definitions of beauty and power. I like my objects small and he likes them monstrous. So, if we were to be at a BestBuy or Sony Mony store, I’d gravitate towards the Bose satellite speakers while he’d moon over the Yamo tower(ing) speakers. Usually he prevails and occasionally when I do, I have to put up with incessant cribbing about how if a man cant even buy the music equipment of his choice, then where has 60 yrs of independence gotten us. Such tripe, I tell you.

Did I say I don’t much care for his monstrous and convoluted home theatre apparatus? Till about 6 hrs ago I didn’t. Now I do and the reason is David Gilmour. Watched Gilmour’s 2001 Meldtown concert on DVD and I can easily say it was one of the best evenings I’ve had this year. Packed the maid and D off to bed, poured a nice stiff Blue Label, and soaked myself in so many of the songs I’ve been hearing for the past decade but felt like I was hearing them for the first time ever.

Anyway, to come back to why all the tracks on the Meltdown Concert DVD sound so spectacular: I think one of the reasons is because they are softer, slower, unplugged versions of the famous PF songs. I always like unplugged versions more than the originals. However, the real beauty of this album is the slow, throaty, haunting sound of Caroline Dale’s cello (I didn’t know her name but was so mesmerised that I googled her at 2 am!!). Nothing much beyond Roger Waters’ or Gilmour’s vocals and the latter’s stupendous guitaring had made an impression before, but as I listened to the moody accompanying notes of Dale’s cello, I was awestruck that she could give the old guy more than ample competition. This collaboration is made more evident & memorable in numbers like ‘wish you were here’, ‘high hopes’, ‘shine on you crazy diamond’, ‘comfortably numb’ and ‘coming back to life’.

Last evening reassured me. 

I first heard ‘Wish you were here’ nearly 9 years ago when A played it for me on his guitar in a shabby 1-BHK we shared in those days. He’d play this song along with Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’ and I think that was the beginning of a lifelong love. Last night as Gilmour started to strum the first notes of ‘Wish you were here’, I did something I usually never do. Called him at work & asked him to come home fast. He returned at 10.30 pm, lil over an hour later, and we sat watching the concert on dvd till the early hours of the morning. For once, we dismissed thoughts of waking up early next morning, workplace deliverables, EMI calculations and just soaked ourselves in the music with ours arms around each other. And the doubts at rest.

Life is often a bummer, but occasionally the good things happen. A good job offer, a winning streak at the stock market, a chance meeting with someone who completes you, and you wonder:

Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
And where were you when I was hurt and I was helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun

……………………………………………

I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life