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Fortean-Themed Albums, Songs & Music

'666' by Aphrodites Child, in particular the track 'The Four Horsemen'?

Such a fantastic album!

Big fat kaftan-wearing Demis Roussos, Vangelis on keyboards...truly brilliant. Totally bonkers Old Testament-concept album but much, much more listenable than it sounds. One of my faves.
 
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Hope this is the right spot for this...
Dr. Creep has said he didn't predict the 2019/2020 outbreak of coronavirus but his lyrics specifically mention corona virus and 2020 and a global pandemic (written in 2013) so I'm gonna give it to him.
 
The Spying Game

Bentwaters Airbase has stored nuclear weapons, been the scene of UFO sightings and was almost bought by yogic flyers. Now, as part of the Aldeburgh festival, it is to be the venue for a haunting piece of music inspired by espionage.

The Guardian
30 May, 2002


A week tomorrow, though, as part of the Aldeburgh festival, this small blank corner of the airbase is to be reoccupied. There will be temporary lighting and electricity, and the building's interior has been touched up a little, but it is hoped that enough of its Cold War atmosphere will linger for the first British performance of a conSPIracy cantata, a recent work about spying and secret government activities by the young Anglo-Cypriot composer Yannis Kyriakides.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/may/31/artsfeatures



For the entire composition, search YouTube: 'conspiracy cantata'.
 
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Great stuff.

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One of the strangest, most unique and twisted hip-hop albums ever made.
 
Would this qualify?

I remember, way back when his album, 'Zaragon' was hardly ever off the turntable, reading about John Miles being interviewed as a suspect!

"The headlines at the time in the tabloid press in England also carried stories about John being questioned by the police about the infamous Yorkshire Ripper murders, because of the subsequently widely disproved Northeast accent hoax tapes sent into the police, John's Ripper orientated 'Nice Man Jack' song from the Zaragon album, and the fact that his tour dates coincided with the place of two of the Yorkshire rippers murders . The NME made comments about John's manic laugh during the rendition of Jack during the show."

http://john-miles.16mb.com/h_about.htm

Still a great (and quite unexpected) guitar riff!

 
Would this qualify? ...
Assuming you can't tell what other readers are (or are not ... ) seeing, here's what appears in your post:

Vid-Block-A.jpg

The number of embedded video postings being blocked by third-party content owners has been dramatically increasing in the last year or so. Such notices provide no clues as to how widely such blocks are being applied.
 
The number of embedded video postings being blocked by third-party content owners has been dramatically increasing in the last year or so. Such notices provide no clues as to how widely such blocks are being applied​
Wow! Thank you for pointing this out. Ironic of course because I live in Scotland!

So, can you see it south of the border? :D

Leave this with me, I might have a solution.
 
So, can you see it south of the border? :D
Someone in the UK will have to answer that.

My only point was to illustrate that embedded media postings are increasingly restricted and decreasingly guaranteed to be visible (and hence informative) to others.

This is a growing problem.

Naturally, you (the poster) can't tell that what you posted may be invisible to others elsewhere. Similarly, anyone seeing the "Unavailable" message can't tell whether the restriction / blockage is limited to their locale / nation alone.

I'm as yet unable to find a general work-around or solution to what seems to be a growing problem with territorialized media content that may or may not be visible to other forum members.

It doesn't happen at just one place / level. Some blockages may be imposed by sole providers, while others are imposed by intermediate hosts (e.g., YouTube). It's a mess ...
 
The number of embedded video postings being blocked by third-party content owners has been dramatically increasing in the last year or so.
This was annoying!

And again thanks for highlighting same - as you point out, I would have no idea that some could not watch the video!

So....

A: Because I am a YouTube Premium subscriber and pay... (Sorry... what do you mean by, "chancing it here...".)

B: Because STV will not remotely care about that 1978 copyright nowadays.

C: Because although release of the song as a single is on YouTube, this live version includes a haunting introduction, not therein.

The subtle piano inclusion of 'Frère Jacques', known in English as "Brother John" - a nursery rhyme - is especially so.

D: Because I think it's just brilliant - such a talented all-round musician and vocalist.

E: ... 'E' is an alert that it's maybe one of those songs which you, 'can't get out of your head' and go around, 'silently singing, "It's a pity there aren't more like him"... John Miles expressing, overall, that Jack was possibly a least likely suspect.

I'm almost certain reading a contemporary interview with Miles, where he talks about being interviewed re the, 'Yorkshire Ripper' investigations, as he was playing, 'nearby' on the night of some incidents.

The song might not have helped...

www.forteanmedia.com/Nice_Man_Jack.mp4
 
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Hope this is the right spot for this...
Dr. Creep has said he didn't predict the 2019/2020 outbreak of coronavirus but his lyrics specifically mention corona virus and 2020 and a global pandemic (written in 2013) so I'm gonna give it to him.
Remember, though, that coronaviruses are a group of viruses with the distinctive crown (corona) shape. The group includes SARS (there was an outbreak in 2002) and the common cold. At the moment, we do not have a pandemic of "coronavirus" but of "a coronavirus".

This is like predicting a plague of "rodents": you will be equally correct if there is later a plague of mice, or of rats, or squirrels, or — perhaps more entertainingly — beavers or capybara.

2020 is a round number, the two halves of the date are identical which is good for rhyme and rhythm. There is also the association with 20/20 vision which sort of feeds into the meaning of a song about a vision of the future.

Coronaviruses were well-known long before 2013/14, and I can tell from the lyrics that he put some thought and research into writing the song.

Change of subject, still on Fortean music:
My main interest in music is the rockabilly of the 1950s. At that time, there was a general feeling that flying saucers were real, and contact with aliens was imminent. The expression "little green men" came about during this period — although these days the alien occupants of flying saucers are conventionally represented as grey.

Two flying saucer/alien songs that spring to mind are linked below. Reassuringly, both songwriters assumed that our first interaction with aliens would be rock and roll dance lessons.

Flying Saucers Rock and Roll by Billy Lee Riley and his Little Green Men. A classic rock and roll/rockabilly song in a frenetic style.

The Martian Hop by the Ran-Dells. A fun novelty song that was later covered by Rocky Sharpe and the Replays who had a hit with Rama Lama Ding Dong in 1978.

One of the many offspring of classic rockabilly is the genre of psychobilly, exemplified by bands such as the Meteors, the Guana Batz, and Demented are Go. Psychobilly borrows and builds on the style of the original 1950s rockabilly, blended with elements of punk. The songs tend to be about things of interest to Forteans including serial killers, aliens, monsters, and pretty much any B movie horror trope you can think of.

Here's an example: the Necromantix, Gargoyles Over Copenhagen which describes a gargoyle attack. (I hate it when that happens.)
 
My main interest in music is the rockabilly of the 1950s. At that time, there was a general feeling that flying saucers were real, and contact with aliens was imminent. The expression "little green men" came about during this period — although these days the alien occupants of flying saucers are conventionally represented as grey.
Damn it mate....

Way back in the early years of t'internet - when every other page was, 'Under Construction', somebody had a tiny web site which listed all their known songs about this very thing!

I remember being loads - along the lines of someone who had studiously catalogued them!

The overall song theme was, 'little green men in flying saucers from Mars'!

I believe the author noted that a key influence in this being popularised was Disney cartoons?

Does this help!

https://www.amazon.com/Out-this-World-Flying-Novelty/dp/B000M6XKFY
 
Change of subject, still on Fortean music:
How quite extraordinarily Fortean this is....

Whilst enjoying our eclectic topic and browsing for early, related recordings, I have inadvertently come across something of elemental importance.

Consequently, likewise, 'Change of subject' and to note that on YouTube, there is a brief video regarding, 'flying saucers' which seemingly has a recorded quote from Kenneth Arnold concerning his founding observation.

Although I obviously know of his clarification, unless memory fails here, I have never heard Arnold actually confirming it in a radio interview.

All to be revealed on the appropriate subject threads, in a moment.
 
Damn it mate....

Way back in the early years of t'internet - when every other page was, 'Under Construction', somebody had a tiny web site which listed all their known songs about this very thing!
There is an incomplete but interesting list on Wikipedia.

Although not a song, here's a recording of a John Cooper Clarke poem: (I Married a) Monster from Outer Space. Lyrics copied below.



(I MARRIED A) MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE​

The milky way she walks around
All feet firmly off the ground
Two worlds collide, two worlds collide
Here comes the future bride
Gimme a lift to the lunar base
I wanna marry a monster from outer space

I fell in love with an alien being
Whose skin was jelly – whose teeth were green
She had the big bug eyes and the death-ray glare
Feet like water wings – purple hair
I was over the moon – I asked her back to my place
Then I married the monster – from outer space

The days were numbered – the nights were spent
In a rent free furnished oxygen tent
When a cyborg chef served up moon beams
Done super rapid on a laser beam
I needed nutrition to keep up the pace
When I married the monster from outer space

We walked out – tentacle in hand
You could sense that the earthlings would not understand
They’d go.. nudge nudge …when we got off the bus
Saying it’s extra-terrestial – not like us
And it’s bad enough with another race
But fuck me… a monster …from outer space

In a cybernetic fit of rage
She pissed off to another age
She lives in 1999
With her new boyfriend – a blob of slime
Each time I see her translucent face
I remember the monster from outer space
 
From 1947, could this be the first, 'flying saucer' song released?
The, 'Buchanan Brothers' again, this time from 1946.

Why, 'Fortean music'... had to think about that.. Arguably because, 'atomic power' was to some at the time, a perceived, 'anomalous phenomena'?

It didn't come from anyone but God, that's for sure!

Then, of course, a year later and before you know it, them doggone 'flying saucers' have arrived, as well...

Atomic Power

 
'Flying Saucers'... bad sign...

Was there ever a belief they might have benevolence... as in, 'Angels'?

 
I wanted to note another song that has a similar mysterious narrative that has been entranced fans over the years - Helen Reddy's Angie Baby:

Like others, I had forgotten the song (but knew every word as it played). It's like an episode of Inside No. 9 - efficiently, and effectively, weird.
 
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For everyone disappointed at the Pentagon report today:

This was on the Top of the Pops repeat last night! Mostly the stuff with Mac from Mac & Me.
 
A short compilation of 'UFO inspired compositions through the ages'. :)

Now that the lockdown is all but over, I hope I can get out more..

Robert Gordon with Link Wray - Flying saucers Rock & Roll


@https://youtu.be/AqBR_RvD8U8


Bloody Violence-Colares UFO Flap


@https://youtu.be/PCueq_DPt3g


"Black Triangle Blues"- Music Video- w/ Black Triangle UFO Sighting Compilation



@https://youtu.be/JLGa_b6ddig
 
From Goat. A video to make your eyes go funny and an epic guitar solo too:
 
Devo's new video looks/feels Fortean:
The video looks like it was rotoscoped.
 

I just came here to suggest this myself. The Night Monitor is fantastic.
I will also recommend Spacemen Mystery of The Terror Triangle: https://thenightmonitor.bandcamp.com/album/spacemen-mystery-of-the-terror-triangle
As well as This House Is Haunted: https://thenightmonitor.bandcamp.com/album/this-house-is-haunted
Bought all of them in one fell swoop a while back, which I've never done with anything before. Truly the perfect accompaniment for all your Fortean activities.
 
I just came here to suggest this myself. The Night Monitor is fantastic.
I will also recommend Spacemen Mystery of The Terror Triangle: https://thenightmonitor.bandcamp.com/album/spacemen-mystery-of-the-terror-triangle
As well as This House Is Haunted: https://thenightmonitor.bandcamp.com/album/this-house-is-haunted
Bought all of them in one fell swoop a while back, which I've never done with anything before. Truly the perfect accompaniment for all your Fortean activities.
I think I must have mentioned them somewhere but check out the Heartwood Institute if you dont know them. Another very Fortean inspired group.
 
Spotted in The Wire magazine recently - Fonolith Records - tick all the boxes for Fortean-themed music. An extract from the article:


Fonolith Records is where one man's obsession with occult folklore and vintage technology is recorded into dark electronic journals. Blackpool artist Neil Scrivin began the label in 2016 as a way to release music without restriction. "I'd been lucky enough to have had a few releases on Skam Records," Scrivin says. "But it had become a slow process, and creatively I was suffering from it.” On Fonolith, he regularly releases several projects a year under a cast of pseudonyms. There's Phono Ghosts, a project using the cassette tape to capture the sound of dreams, and Hyperlink Dream Sync, a collaborative effort between Scrivin and Eric Sferro that explores the digital big bang of floppy discs, AOL and CD-ROMs. Material under his own name is more wide-ranging, some of it recorded in the 2000s. His newest solo project The Night Monitor is a sonic research voyage through Scrivin's interest in the paranormal.

In the 1970s and 80s when paranormal media was booming like never before, a young Scrivin was exposed to curious magazines such as The Unexplained, Usborne's World Of The Unknown books and Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World television series. He consumed it all voraciously and remembers "being scared as a kid by things like the infamous Newby Church ghost monk photo, images of spontaneous human combustion or poltergeist activity and the creepiness of the alien encounters illustrated in The Unexplained. In fact, all these things still inform my creative mind today."

Through The Night Monitor, he transforms these early fascinations into albums based around specific cases of paranormal activity. The music hints at other artists - a whisper of Tangerine Dream, echoes of John Carpenter, etc. One element wraps it all together in the form of retrofuturistic synths that fuzz like an old TV playing an 80s murder mystery drama.


Check them out on Bandcamp:
https://fonolith.bandcamp.com
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/fonolith.records?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
 
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