Music Monday – 14 November 2011

A week ago, Daylight Saving Time came to an end in the majority of the United States that, for some silly outdated notion, still takes part in it. Furthermore, the nights are growing longer in the Northern Hemisphere, the northernmost part experiencing sunlight for the last time until the sun rises again in January.

This week’s Music Monday is all about the night and the wonderful magic it brings, as well as some interesting adventures. Make the jump to see the selections below, my friends.

And speaking of magic — or rather, magick — Page & Plant conduct their own ritual during this performance of “In The Evening” at Knebworth in 1979. Even John Bonham’s drums are touched by the left hand of Aleister at the start of this song!

And to take this whole analogy a bit further, here is “Moonchild” from Fields of the Nephilim, led by Carl McCoy, a practitioner of Crowley’s teachings who goes so far as to extend the automatic writing technique into his singing.

Moving from the mystical to reality — which in this sense is just as frightening — Ghost Dance’s Anne-Marie Hurst warns of a one-way journey on the “River of No Return,” a song that would be at home on the soundtrack of an ’80s horror film like Lord of the Flies. Also: Check the fringe on her leather jacket!

It would have been too easy to choose “In The Air Tonight” from Phil Collins’s solo debut. Thus, “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” from Genesis off of their 1986 album Invisible Touch. This song not only made a near-full-length appearance during an episode of Magnum, P.I. but was part of a Michelob beer advertising campaign at the same time, one that featured the aforementioned “In The Air Tonight” also.

Finally, since winter usually comes with the growing darkness, here is a fan vid of “Driven Like the Snow” by The Sisters of Mercy, featuring filtered drums for a softer impact as well as scenes from Lost Highway for that proper feel of cold-driven madness.

Tagged as: Aleister Crowley, Anne-Marie Hurst, Carl McCoy, cold, darkness, Daylight Savings Time, Fields of the Nephilim, Genesis, Ghost Dance, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Music Monday, night, Northern Hemisphere, Phil Collins, Robert Plant, The Sisters of Mercy, winter