30 October 2007

Halloween Music For the Masses...Finally!


OK so the 2007 Halloween cd has finally been produced. Well almost. The art work should be done tonight but the set list is complete and I will share with you below.
This year we decided to go on the theme of how scary and terribly destructive girls are. This picture is what I think will end up as our cover. It's Vampira from the movie Plan 9 From Outer Space. Anyway, this is a unique cd. Usually we have a core of songs that goes along with the theme but this year ever single song (except for the intro piece) is about girly badness (with a few we had to stretch the interpretation). Jon did a brilliant job of ordering the tracks. Jon went with the theory that with evil (and women) we follow this progression: "First we fear/despise it, then we tolerate it, then we embrace it' but (we end it) with a sort of victimization coda." Also we substituted the usual movie quotes with stanzas from The Raven as read by Christopher Walken. We've wanted to use this for a number of years and fortuitously the poem is all about a man going insane from the haunting memory of a woman. So here's the list and explanation of the song progression:
-
1. It's Halloween - The Shaggs (Intro)
2. Scarecrow - Beck: the hero's journey begins
3. Burn the Witch - Queens of the Stoneage: the hero discovers the antagonist and recognizes her evil
4. Reptile - The Church: although this song i think is about the post effects of being wronged, i'm still putting it toward the beginning in the 'despise' phase since that's what the narrator feels
5. Strange Brew - Cream
6. Witch Queen of New Orleans - Redbone
7. Voodoo Dolly - Siouxsie and the Banshees
8. Spookshow Baby - Rob Zombie
9. The Beast - Concrete Blonde: acknowledgement and respect for the evil
10. Out of Limits - The Markettes: a thought process
11. Spooky Little Girl Like You - The Classics IV: an apparent infatuation
12. Be My Druidess - Type O Negative: a proposition
13. Heart of Lilith - Inkubus Sukkubus: an acknowledgment of desire for what is wrong
14. One Caress - Depeche Mode: longing for darkness
15. Cold From Fever - Sunshine Blind: confusion
16. Rainbow in the Dark - DIO: seclusion and betrayal
17. Dead Heaven - Gary Numan: numbness and angst
18. Exit Music (for a Film) - Radiohead
-
All the song notes come straight from what Jon told me for his reasons. He deserves full credit. I did none of this. I'll happily take credit for the theme, suggesting some songs and some of the cover art, but all the creative stuff I leave to the pros. Especially this last week. Jon has worked like a Jon possessed. Thanks hard Jon.
So I'm way happy with this cd. I've been wanting to use some of these songs for years including Rainbow in the Dark and Spooky Little Girl (the song that led me to our theme) and Out of limits. I discovered some great new songs like Scarecrow by Beck and Voodoo Dolly by Siouxsie Sue.
So anyway, if you want a copy, let me know. I realise it's a little late this year but well too bad. I had an out of town wedding and a baby born and Jon went to Hawaii. Be happy we did it at all.
Now I'm finally ready for the big day. HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

2 comments:

joN. said...

uhh, what are you talking about dude? you pretty much did all the work. i just supervised.

my word verification is zashregl. that's an awesome word.

J.R. said...

That's right. If I recall your part of the work was at one point you said "The cd should have the word 'Halloween' on it." I was pretty disappointed.