Shakespeare's Palpable Hits

'Marvellous sweet music!'

-- Gonzalo, 'The Tempest'

'Excellent good, i' faith!'

-- Sir Andrew Aguecheek, 'Twelfth Night'

'By my troth, ["Sigh No More, Ladies" is] a good song.'

-- Don Pedro, 'Much Ado About Nothing'

'O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound, that breathes upon a bank of violets.'

-- Duke Orsino, 'Twelfth Night'

'Why, this is a more exquisite [collection of Shakespeare] song[s] than the other [ones on the market. Dog Legs & Feet have really outdone themselves!]'

-- Cassio, 'Othello'

"Shakespeare's Palpable Hits" is an album of catchy, modern versions of songs from the plays of William Shakespeare. Texas-based Dog Legs & Feet put together this "greatest hits" compilation after several years of scoring plays in Austin's vibrant underground theatre scene.

Shakespeare's plays contain dozens of songs -- but only the lyrics. For the most part, the original melodies are unknown, so music for the 400-year-old words must be created afresh for each new production. Like costumes and sets, music helps translate the play from page to stage.

This is not your grandfather's Shakespeare music. A bunch of rustics in the forest might break into a rollicking country jam; a starstruck lover might express his feelings in a sultry jazz number; a witty song mocking the opposite sex might turn into a campy cabaret. Just like the plays from which they come, these songs are a mixed bag of old and new, bitter and sweet, fast and slow.

The album also contains four "non-Shakespeare" tracks. "Sweet Sweet Viola" and "Cats and Dogs" were inspired by specific Shakespeare plays, and "A Sheep-Shearing Song" and "Irish Dement" have been used repeatedly in Austin-based Shakespeare productions.

By turns beautiful and bombastic, modern and medieval, "Shakespeare's Palpable Hits" is an album no Shakespeare lover should be without.