There are some holly grails a mere mention will send an obsessive nut packing his bag, to mythic plateaus where it's said in hushed whisper there are man eating trees. Or under the ground, looking for tombs, only to be rewarded with finding a room strewn with junk and artifact alike. Such is the makeup of this doctor, but my objects are to be found not in the Artic deserts but flea markets, combing through crates that smell of stale basement and forgotten purchases.
It was at a then local flea market where under the broiling summer heat of 1988 I stumbled across this oddity. Sandwiched between Boston Pops and Eagles records was this Milton Glaser like cover. It showed Jesus as green skinned Imp, his sides flanked by mock demons. The title alone was worth more than a passing curiosity: The Electric Lucifer"...At that point of the late 80's most older people were tossing out the contents of their youth. Beside the endless stream of CSN&Y, Derrick and the Dominoes and the like, Switched On style records were showing up. I had been burned enough times that I was getting wary of records that featured the Moog. Checking the back cover and it's nearly impenetrable liner notes, I discovered no cover songs. Good sign number 1. From what I could make out from the liner notes, the album was attempting to paint Lucifer as his first incarnation - The Light Bearer. Fortuitous omen number 2.
The tipping factor? It was a white label promo cover, with boxes suggesting to DJ's what tracks to play...and none of them has been checked...
As I wrote earlier, I'm not a fan of Switched On LP's. For the most part they become a listening affair punctuated with observations along the lines of "Look! The lead line in Winchester Cathedral is being played with multi timbre", or "so that's not a bass"? I prefer electronic records where something new is being tried, and that's exactly what I got.
Straight off the bat with the first cut of the album opens with this carnival spook house song, clownishly cavorting in. The singing voice vocodered to almost unrecognizably. Images of Betty Boop trapped in a haunted Bakelite radio, besieged by demonic cathodes.
From here the LP straddles the fence of serious electronics and a children's record. Infectious melodies are broken up by blasts of heavy echo and sine waves. And why wouldn't this all sound like a Freak Out for the Sesame Street set? Unknown to me at the time, Haack made a living doing children's records. Years later those LP's were reissued and they have the same quality as Electric Lucifer. The main message is think for your self, rebel from constraints, do your own thing. All the things Anton LeVey suggested, even with the same Sunday Funnies take on the Horned One.
My then room mate (I have mentioned him before, he's the one who got the hot foot while sleeping) came in to my room wide eyed and smiling. "What is this"?! It fell out of the realm of what I knew, I didn't know. At that point in history, ESPdisk sides while somewhat obscure were pretty easy to obtain, and concurrently Nonesuch electronic records had elements of adopting some rock music but never came close to this. This was pop music for a brightly colored Will To Power future. The room mate and I marveled at the cover with it's promo slick, could this really have been released on a major label?
As the LP played on, a uncredited male voice doing his best Jim Morrison psychedelic croon, adding another layer of accessibility. I guess Satan was really trying his best to convert the teeny boppers...
Like most records of the late 60's and early 70's, the Vietnam war had to be addressed. Used as a template for art, here it's simply called "War". Perhaps the heaviest track, it starts as a break neck Walter Carlos fugue, and then for further comedic affect the focus shifts to a lopsided military march, punctuated with machine gun fire. Eventually the Musique Concret is stopped short. A child intones "I don't wanna play any more", then fades out as a mournful dirge / lullaby.
Even with the Switched on Bach move used in the above track, there really isn't any reference point for what your hearing. Just like Trout Mask Replica is of it's time but from an alternate universe, Electric Lucifer has that same feel. At one point a track called Super Nova condenses A Rainbow In Curved Air to five minutes, but even then it seems like it's coming from left field.
With such an auspicious introduction to the mainstream what could follow? Haack had already been a guest on quiz shows, debuting his latest home made Synths that plays a persons electro magnetic aura to the delight of the studio audiences. He'd composed pop songs for Theresa Brewer, did music for commercials, and incidental music for theater. The world with it's newly turned on ears would fall at his feet...no...he sunk back into undeserved obscurity.
Bruce died in 1988 (ironically the year I found this, one of my favorite records). In between the year of The Electric Lucifer and his death, to pay the bills he made more children's records, along with two more parts to Electric Lucifer. The history is a little sketchy as to where the second part (called Book Two) released posthumously a few years back falls. There seems to have been two Book Two.
By now, the children's records have a harsher edge to them, and the Book Two is down right bitter and angry. The cartoon music is still the bedrock, but the words are now from the point of a leering Pit Boss.
And perhaps rightfully so...Reagan and Bush I were invoking the other end of the dark forces; strength without a hint of compassion. Children's minds in school were not being engaged, but merely numbed with repetition. The smart ones to the office, the dumb ones to the front lines, and the odd? Marginalized...
The Omni Group has reissued Electric Lucifer with a alternate tale of the opening track, and half hour interview with Haack on Canadian Radio promoting the LP. Here he goes on at length for his love for rock music, especially The Beatles and The Moody Blues.
Do your mind and soul a favor and go by this CD. Perhaps it'll remind you of a time when evil meant just rebellion, and good was not an excuse for a totalitarian movement.
Please click on the review title for selected track: Program Me
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