Sunday, January 3, 2016

Lucifer - Black Mass (1977)

In the late 60's and into the 70's Mort Garson's music got epic. Switching over from pop arrangements to Synthesizer driven concept albums, he released a slew of classic albums. Electronic Hair Pieces, a moog staple to this day; Plantasia, a favorite among hip hop samplers and crate diggers alike; An Electronic Odyssey, under the alias The Wozard Of Iz and regarded by many as the best of his experimental phase. The Zodiac Cosmic Sounds, probably a cash-in on the late sixties star sign/zodiac craze, so popular it also spawned a series of synth albums devoted to each individual sign. The Unexplained, a late 70's transcendental album bordering on New Age and at times even disco, but, for the most part sounding like an Euro-Italian Goblin soundtrack for an Argento film. I could go on, and probably will post some of these gems on future blogs.

 My favorite however, is Black Mass. He recorded under the alias "Lucifer" and this album is filled with some great electronic moodscapes, or moogscapes? Ride of Aida is the track that made me seek out the album. Incubus, under the heavy pulsating electronic rhythms, has pleasure moanings laid in the mix. The Evil Eye sounds like late night B-movie sci-fi, whereas Exorcism reminds me of the type of music Raymond Scott was working on a decade earlier.

I passed it up once, regretted it, and was happy when I found an even cheaper (and cleaner copy) than the first one I skipped. If you find this gem, don't pass it up. Still one of my favorite electronic records.

Download album here!

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