And now for something completely different…
 
I’ve always enjoyed Al Stewart’s unique lyrics and mood-inducing melodies but certainly wasn’t familiar with his extensive repertoire.
 

Gates of Vienna turned me on to his “Between the Wars” album, a wonderful compilation that evokes the events, sounds and sensibilities of the years between the first and second World Wars ~

The collection includes songs about the Spanish Civil War, William Randolph Hearst’s mistress, Charles Lindbergh, Britain’s inter-war prime ministers, and Woodrow Wilson — all different, each spellbinding in its uncanny ability to summon up a lost era.

 
“Night Train to Munich,” the first track on the CD, is reminiscent of an old black & white spy thriller (think Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps – and of course the movie that presumably inspired the song), one in which – if you failed in the mission – you might just disappear…