Coleman´s Mathematics of the Aeon

The first sentence of Aleister Crowley´s Onion-Peelings runs: “The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General at the Expense of the Particular, quoth FRATER PERDURABO, and laughed”. The various disciples of Perdurabo perceived this Joke differently. Some saw the joke and laughed, while others saw only tragedy the “Universal Sorrow”. Meanwhile, Frater Perdurabo was beyond either of these perceptions, as he realized that the truth can not be expressed.

The central message of Onion-Peelings is that all life is in essence tragic. It is this theme of tragedy, sorrow and suffering that pervades the work of Jaz Coleman and Killing Joke. Furthermore, it must be the main reason why Killing Joke chose this piece of Crowley on their album Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, on which I wrote before.

The theme reappears on the last song of the Joke’s 1994 Pandemonium album: ‘Mathematics of Chaos’. On the album, the song is remixed by bass player and trance producer Youth. The original version is, as expected, different and is called the Aotearoa Mix. The word ‘Aotearoa’ is Maori for New Zealand, the country where Jaz Coleman lives. On this original mix a laughing person can be heard. I interpret this to be a reference to someone laughing at the Universal Joke of Frater Perdurabo. Possibly even Jaz himself!

In the first verse, Coleman paints a picture of chaos and suffering and concludes, rather gloomily, that “every time we try to impose order we create chaos”. Humankind´s feeble attempts to put an end to the chaos, can only spawn chaos. Chaos comes from our innate aggression. “Nature, red in tooth and claw”, as Alfred Lord Tennyson put it over more than a century ago. Aggression and the creation of chaos is part of our nature and the cosmos. As a result, relief can be found nowhere. Or, it must be the realization of Coleman that at the end of his life “all is as it was always meant to be”.

The second verse is devoid of hope and relief as well. There is only irony, cold irony. The meek shall not inherit the world, no matter what the Bible says. The person that takes care of others is struck by a lethal disease and dies of cancer. Coleman cries out to the godhead and asks for love in a universe filled with suffering and chaos. But no relief is coming, the loving god is absent. This absence of relief is enhanced by the music of the track. The song seems to march relentlessly forward, the forward movement is reinforced by the trance-like mix of Youth. Which is precisely the reason why I prefer the album version over the Aotearoa Mix.

In the last verse, the powerlessness of humankind is showcased by the UN, unable to stop ethnic cleansing. The verse ends with the realization that life, the cosmos must be a joke. Although, Coleman refers to the fact that men can perceive the chaos and suffering and is unable to stop it, I think that the joke refers to the Practical Joke of Frater Perdurabo.

The idea that chaos rules the universe returns to the work of Coleman. Centerpiece of the Democracy album is ‘Aeon’. In that song Coleman again deals with chaos ruling the universe. The same sense of helplessness is felt by Coleman. However, this time all is not lost. As I wrote elsewhere, the entire album has a new-agey feeling to it and is therefore far more uplifting than any other Killing Joke record.

The last verse of Aeon offers visions of the blissful state that we get after tapping into the Aeon, the New Age. Could Jaz Coleman have found a way out of the chaos and suffering that permeates the universe between recording Pandemonium and Democracy? I think that it is even possible that Coleman himself has experienced this blissful state first hand. After all as he has hinted that he received magical training.

I interpret  ‘Aeon’ as the end of the quest to get out of the chaos, suffering and helplessness that is the world view offered in  ‘Mathematics of Chaos’. ‘Aeon’ offers relief and salvation and therefore stands out as a lone beacon of hope in the work of Killing Joke.

U2’s remasters and the case for a sessionography

Axver presented a nice overview of the bonus material on the remasters. He adds some interesting information on songs recorded on the various sessions. I realised that we have little knowledge regarding the various songs recorded by U2 through the years. We have the U2 Live book that presents us with set lists and facts on almost all U2 concerts. We lack a similar listing of all the songs recorded during the various sessions. In the book that accompanies the Joy Division Heart & Soul box set there is an overview of their recording sessions. In a similar fashion, this site lists Joy Division’s studio sessions. It shows which songs were recorded and if they appeared on an (official) release. This is relatively easy for Joy Division as they had a short life-span. But there is nothing that stands in the way of U2 sessionography. Such a sessionography would not only make clear what is still in the vaults, but also how complete the digital Complete U2 was.

On a side note, am I the only one who’s missing the lyrics on the song Speed of Life? On the recordings of the Dublin show on February 26 in 1980, Bono is singing some lyrics. However, there is no singing by anyone on my bonus disc. Is this another misprint just like the War-booklet? Or did they left the song unfinished? They could have pulled a Wave-of-Sorrow, since they were in the studio recording Angels Too Tied to the Ground earlier this year.

End of an era: Robert Butts passed away

Today, I learned that Robert Butts died some time ago. Butts is primarily known for the fact that he recorded the so-called Seth sessions. Seth was an entity channeled by his wife Jane Roberts from 1963 on. Much of the ideas that became part of the New Age as it evolved in the 1980s were introduced in the books channeled by Seth. One of the most important themes in this corpus is that you can actually create your own reality. This idea was used within the New Age community primarily by Shakti Gawain. Nowadays, you can find it also in self-help books as The Secret.

Jane Roberts always maintained that as soon as she slipped out of trance, she had no recollection of what happened. She didn’t know what Seth said through her and as a result Robert Butts wrote the entire conversation in short-hand. Before a session, they wrote down the questions they would like to ask and the main direction of the session. However, some sessions were entirely devoted to writing. That is, Seth dictated and Butts wrote. The first book produced in this fashion was Seth Speaks, others followed.

The relationship of medium and scribe is a common one in the esoteric/occult world. For instance, magician and mathematician John Dee couldn’t come into contact with other beings through his crystal. Instead, he used Edward Kelly to gaze into a crystal. Kelly asked the questions to whichever beings he saw in his crystal. In the nineteenth century, Emma Hardinge Britten related she had been a crystal gazer for a secret occult society group as a young girl.

Album remaster: U2’s War

In an earlier post, I already explained my reasons for purchasing remasters. In this particular case, I like the packaging very much. The inclusion of the full-scale original single artwork is great as well. So much for the pros of this remaster. The downside of this release is its lacking of interesting bonus material and incomplete liner notes.

Let’s start with the bonus material. Yes (almost) all the b-sides are there, but apart from Endless Deep and Treasure the rest are all remixes of Two Hearts Beat As One and New Year’s Day. Weren’t there any radio sessions available to include? The answer to this is: No. Searching the U2 Live book it seems that no radio sessions were done. However, in March 1983 U2 performed a live session for the television show ‘The Tube’ which included three songs from their then just-released album. Broadcasted radio shows on the other hand, were exclusively live performances. The album Under A Blood Red Sky features one song from a concert in Boston that was broadcasted. Other broadcasts, on radio as well as on TV, included various festivals, such as The US Festival in Devore CA., Werchter in Belgium and the Loreley Rockpalast festival. The latter provided some songs that are featured on Under a Blood Red Sky. On some bit torrent networks demos of Two Hearts are available. There are not that much interesting, but it’s inclusion would in my opinion make it a more interesting bonus CD.

On the other remasters, The Edge provided liner notes on the bonus material. On this release, much to my annoyance, nothing is said about Angels Too Tied to the Ground . I know I’m not alone in my craving for more information on this song. I would really like to know what’s the story behind this one. What’s the reason why it was abandoned during the War-sessions? Why adding vocals to it? Why? Too much questions and unfortunately no answers. I even have a misprint, so the first few days I didn’t even know that they had a recording session earlier this year. So concluding, this release doesn’t live up to its expectations in stark contrast to the other two titles.

Album remaster: U2’s October

The second album is usually considered to be a difficult album to make. This was certainly the case with October, as Bono lost most of his song ideas when his suitcase was stolen on the last leg of the Boy tour and the band had trouble to combine their Christianity with a rock-and-roll lifestyle. When U2 released their first best of, The Best of 1980-1990, no song from the October album was featured. Only the title song appeared as a hidden track. So, in hindsight the band wasn’t very proud of it. Looking at the album sales it is clear that the fans themselves share this sentiment.

When you listen to the record you notice that a lot of songs are good ideas, but get never pass this stage. I mean what the heck is Is That All? about? The same is more or less true for the songs Fire, Scarlet, With a Shout and Stranger in a Strange Land. And yes, later U2 songs suffer from the same the-song-never-got-past-the-embryo-stage problem, but on this album it is most obvious. This lack of ideas and lack of songs, and most of all lack of good songs, is also reflected by the b-sides of the two singles: Fire and Gloria. They both feature live performances of their debut album.

Although I’ve said a lot of negative things about this album, I still think some songs are great or sound very uplifting. In the last category is definitely Rejoice. It has this uplifting quality that is shared with the first seconds of The Three Sunrises. Furthermore, being an aspiring guitarist myself, I like the guitar parts of the song very much. Hearing live versions of Tomorrow allowed me to appreciate the song more. In a live setting, the songs and the performance give something extra to the songs that isn’t captured very well on a U2 album. This is the reason why Under a Blood Red Sky is one of my favorite U2 albums.

Luckily, the extras on the bonus CD are not only the live tracks of the b-sides. It is the never re-released A Celebration that I like to hear again. I have the song on a tape somewhere, but I haven’t heard it in ages. I am not aware of the amount of radio sessions U2 performed, but the fact that the Richard Skinner BBC session was the only time Scarlet was performed live makes the bonus CD very interesting. Although, I think that this song is not much more than a very interesting demo, instead of a song to be featured on an album.

Album remaster: U2’s Boy, Part II

Looking back, it feels like some U2 songs belong together as they were played one after another. For instance, on their debut An Cat Dubh precedes Into the Heart. Other examples include The Electric Co. and I Threw a Brick Through a Window which precedes I Fall Down and A Day Without Me respectively. However, some of those songs weren’t around when they toured the Boy album. So, which song followed The Electric Co. and which one preceded A Day Without Me?

Well, the excitement of the The Electric Co. was usually followed by an instrumental song, a b-side actually, called: Things to Make and Do. Although I didn’t witness them playing this song live, I can’t imagine the crowd going wil with enthusiasm for this one. In hindsight the band probably weren’t that proud about it either as it didn’t appear on the second disc of The Best of 1980-1990. Only their next album provided their final sequence Electric Co. followed by I Fall Down. The latter title was sometimes not very far removed from the truth. As Bono climbed into something high during Edge’s guitar solo and could return to the stage just in time.

The October-album provided I Threw a Brick Through a Window whose end was a drum segue that launched A Day Without Me. During the Boy tour this song isn’t played in pairs with another song. During the last, American, leg of the tour it is played as an encore.

Album remaster: U2’s Boy

In the coming weeks, U2’s debut album will be re-released in three versions, including one with b-sides and rarities. The album was recorded during June through September 1980. For this album some old live favorites were abandoned and new songs were recorded. This is can be seen by comparing the track listing of their sellout concert in the National Stadium in Dublin on the 26th of February 1980 with the actual track listing of Boy.

U2’s last date on their Irish tour, brought them a deal with Island Records that led to the release of their debut album some eight months later. That’s why it is interesting to compare the two. Of the sixteen tracks performed live on that evening only six songs would eventually become part of their debut: Stories for Boys, Another Time, Another Place, Shadows and Tall Trees, A Day Without Me, Twilight and Out of Control. Some of these six tracks were prior released as singles, as was the case with Stories for Boys and Out of Control that appeared on U2 Three and Twilight which was the b-side to the Another Day single.

With six songs becoming part of their first album, U2 were leaving behind ten songs. In some cases those songs eventually turned up. The song Trevor became the b-side to the 11 O’Clock Tick Tock single and was renamed Touch. The New Year’s Day single featured a reworked Pete the Chop under the guise of Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop?). Unfortunately, the remaster doesn’t provide us with all these lost songs. Only Cartoon World, from the Dublin gig, and Speed of Life are on the remaster. Although the song Saturday Night could be another song from their live set under a different name, but we have to wait to be sure.  Furthermore, the digital box set The Complete U2 is lacking those songs, so much for being complete. So, this remaster leaves us wanting of songs never recorded, but part of early U2: Silver Lining, The Magic Carpet, Pete the Chop, The Dream is Over, Cartoon World and Jack in the Box.

Finally, I’m curious whether this remaster includes the 30 second snippet of Fire, as my old vinyl album features.

U2 Under a Blood Red Sky

There have been rumours lately that there will be an anniversary release of the great Under a Blood Red Sky live album. Like the other scheduled U2 remasters, it will probably feature a second disc with rarities. As the final track list is not released, I can only speculate what is on that disc. What would be interesting is to add songs from both the Denver gig, recorded at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and the Loreley Rockpalast festival.

The whole Red Rocks set list was 19 songs long. However, of those 19 only two appear on the Under a Blood Red Sky album. Even the accompanying video doesn´t include all the songs! So, they can right this wrong by putting the concert including the six missing songs on the second disk.

As I wrote earlier, Germany is like the US a big music market. So, this successful festival appearance did in Germany what the Red Rocks gig and it subsequent broadcasts did in the US. Especially, as the whole festival was aired live throughout Germany. As a spin-off, their was a Germany-only single of “40″.

By including both shows, it would give us a chance to compare the various performances. As, there must have been reasons why they chose the Loreley performances over the Red Rocks show. Speculating even further, I would opt to include the Loreley show on a remastered UABRS video. Ideally this remastered video, would include all the 19 songs from the Denver show as well. Well lets wait what the future has in store for us U2 fans.

Reading Blavatsky, part II

The first part of the book is titled: The Western Esoteric Tradition. Before Blavatsky turned her face predominantly east, she was interested and well-versed in the Esoteric traditions of the West. She travelled mainly in the West, including the Middle East. Although, she claims to have visited Tibet prior to 1873.

The first chapter presents HPB’s journey from Spiritualism to Occultism, as its title signifies. What is meant by Spiritualism is pretty clear. This is the phenomenon that was started at the home of the Fox sisters in early 1848. The table-rappings became in a very short period of time very popular in the US and abroad. Most mediums communicated with dear ones on ‘the other side’. Other mediums could make the spirits visible, or let objects appear out of thin air. Apart from being very popular on stage, there were lots of people who conducted seances in the privacy of their homes. In a sense it was a very democratic pass-time.

What is meant by “Occultism” is much harder to describe predominantly because it was introduced in the English-speaking world as something other than Spiritualism. So, in a sense Occultism is was Spiritualism isn’t. However, it is not always this easy so a little history lesson is in order here. In 1856 Eliphas Lévi published his Dogme et rituel de la haute magie in which he used the term. He was not the first one to use it, but he was a major factor in its popularisation. Spiritualist medium Emma Hardinge Britten used the term as well. In her work Ghost Land (1876), she used the two terms to clearly distinguish two separate phenomena. Whereas, Spiritualism was essentially passive, mediums passed messages of spirits, Occultism was not. In the works of Hardinge Britten, magic and the active role of men stood at the centre. This active role of men towards “psychic” phenomena is exactly the stance of HPB when she approached Spiritualism in the 1874.

So, why did HPB dabbled with Spiritualism when she wanted to promote Occultism? According to Goodrick-Clarke, HPB wanted to cultivate Spiritualism to combat both scientific materialism and foster the growth of esotericism in the Western world.

Reading Blavatsky

I’ve recently been reading Helena Blavatsky edited by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. At the time of this volume’s publication Goodrick-Clarke was Director of the Centre for Western Esotericism at the University of Wales, Lampeter. Since then, the Welsh University closed down this centre for reasons unknown to me. However, a couple of years ago the University of Exeter welcomed Goodrick-Clarke as director of the Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism. This Centre not only studies esotericism but provides, with the University of Amsterdam, MA degrees in Western Esotericism.

Goodrick-Clarke not only edited this volume on Blavatsky, but is General Editor of the Western Esoteric Masters Series of which this book is a part. Other titles are on equally illustrious figures as Jacob Boehme, Emanual Swedenborg and Paracelsus. Apart from editing, Goodrick-Clarke published some books on the relationship between Western Esotericism and politics. He studied the relationship between esotericism and right-wing political movements. Although, I haven’t read them myself the studies are regarded as well-balanced and careful scholarship.

In this book, selected writings of Helena Blavatsky, one of the co-founders of the Theosophical Society, are presented and put into context. Ten years earlier, Joscelyn Godwin presented Blavatsky and the occult milieu of the late nineteenth century in an in-dept study. Godwin’s thesis was that Blavatsky was the pinnacle of this milieu. Hanegraaff later concluded that Blavatsky and Theosophy were both essential for the development of the New Age movement in the late twentieth century. Both claims warranted a book with selected readings of Blavatsky’s works. So, lets take a closer look at some of her insights…