Pure Sinister Evil
I just can't get enough of that "dark side" we're supposed to outgrow in our 20s. Case in point: Spooky, sinister creepy evil sounding music. The past week I've been in the midst of a severe BLACK SABBATH jag, for the 50th time or so. That stuff NEVER gets old, and have been listening to more of the later- post SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH stuff, not that crap with that creep DIO, the albums like TECHNICAL ECSTASY & NEVER SAY DIE. Not bad, but decidedly more "mature" (lees scary) than the first 5 LPs (the PERFECT discography- if you do not have them then you need them all- Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Vol.4 & Bloody Sabbath). On another note, my search for spooky recently led me to that Popeye chicken commercial-singin' DR. JOHN, who's first few albums are FULL of spooky southern Voodoo rhythms & hoodoo lyrical content - absolutely mystical in places. I challenge you to listen to ANGOLA ANTHEM in the dark ( if it helps, put on headphones & hide under the covers). This stuff is LOADED with the sounds & imagery of midnight incantations, chicken blood & old scratch himself, yet tumbles with a deep-fried eroticism, the sound of nocturnal blood orgies in the woods & swamps. The first time I heard the tune here it was a trendy new-wave version by THE FLOWER-POT MEN I borrowed from Burl- fun and zippy, but utterly friendly. Mac's version sounds like a warning, dark & foreboding. On an interesting note, the album it's from GRIS-GRIS was recorded in the night using studio time & space (and musicians!!) from a SONNY & CHER recording session that Mac was a musician on after the hippy-dippy duo had left for the evenings! Makes it even spookier if you ask me. Dig...
