Occult/Early "New Age"/Bizarre Spoken

The secret knowledge of all mankind, the Black Arts, witchery, otherness, ethereal powers, parapsychology, paranormal activity, cosmic overlords, mystic forces, "outsider art," inspired dementia, enlightened hallucinating, transcendental meditation, kooky cults, alien torturers, cattle mutilation, rains of frogs, the zodiac, hypnosis -- all of these and more are the Stuff of Life for a few eccentric people who happened to have tuned into a different station. Whether "spoken word" (narrative) or music or some combination of the two, occult records can be impossible-to-find cult documents or 1960s camp classics.

Many of the best and strangest narrative records have occult themes. And dark, spooky musical records run the range from serious attempts at Satanic rock (Black Widow) to hip, electronic "Black Mass" material (Mort Garson's Moog LPs, a Les Baxter soundtrack) to the ubiquity of astrological references and songs. But nothing beats the craziness of a lone southern voice ranting against the "Cosmic Watergate" or the "Red Torture" of communists firing laser beams from satellites. Space is the place, except for a 1970s detour into the earthier, primordial "New Age," where guitars, sitars, and flutes gradually gave birth to a new age of relaxing ersatz. Where else could a "doctor" (Ph.D. anyway) intone you to "relax to the sound of my monotonous voice" over a background of strange Moog-made sound effects.

Mort Garson, Bruce Haack, Moondog, Sun Ra, Eden Ahbez, Harry Partch, Marlin Wallace, John Rydgren, and others all explored various musical terrain "where no man had gone before" and likely could never return, at least not easily. And there are others, from accomplished musicians with a penchant for astrology to the elite, "Fortean event" crowd of paranoid eccentrics. Apart from Haitian and Cuban sacred cult music, and quirky Christian evangelists, this is the Twilight Zone of records. THE WORLD ENDS TOMORROW AND YOU MAY DIE!