The Cabinet of Disco Volante

If you pay attention to pop culture at all, there is a good chance you've heard about the experience of viewing the film The Wizard of Oz while listening to the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. I'd heard about this phenomenon many times over the years, but never bothered to try it, until this weekend. It was enjoyable, if not mind-blowing, and there really were a whole lot of fun coincidences lyrically and musically. More than anything else, the film and album just went together nicely, and the various moods of the music fit the moods of the film very well. That said, I think that anyone that thinks that there was any intent on the part of Pink Floyd to synch the album to the movie is out of their everlovin' gourd.

Anyway, this brings me to a similar discovery that my wife and I made several years ago, but sort of forgot about until now. There is a really great, creepy, German expressionist silent film from 1920 called The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is considered by some to be the first horror film. Being a silent film, there is a classical score on the soundtrack to the version that we have, and apparently there have been various scores created to go with the film over the years. However, one time a number of years ago, we put on the film with the sound turned down, and I happened to put on the Mr. Bungle album Disco Volante as the film was beginning, and we were amazed at what unfolded. We did it a couple of times again soon after, and then forgot about it. But the whole Oz/Floyd thing rekindled our memory, and we again watched Caligari/Bungle this weekend. It is amazing! This album perfectly complements the movie musically. Lyrically, there is very little similarity between the film and record, with the exception of one or two very well placed lines (it is difficult to decipher the lyrics to most of Patton's vocals on the record anyway without reading along), but musically, it is practically perfection. The pacing of the music and film are almost exact, and there are many, many times that the music suddenly stops or changes in perfect sequence with the plot and camera shots. The album has twelve tracks, but each song (as with most Bungle songs) is eclectic in and of itself, and changes musical movements incredibly often, sometimes every few seconds. And there are so many times that the music suddenly changes to fit what is happening on the screen. It's really extremely cool. If you can get your hands on the movie and album, I highly recommend watching them together in the dark. You want to start the album the moment that the film begins, that is, when the title appears onscreen. You will not be disappointed.

Next I'm going to try Porky's II: The Next Day along with Simon and Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. I'll let you know how that goes.