I’d be interested in knowing the titles of what can be called Mad Organist/Evil Carousel/Psycho Circus type music. Something the Phantom of the Opera might play when he’s feeling especially maudlin. It can be any genre: rock/metal/classical most probably.
I’m thinking along the lines of Ozzy Ozbourne’s Mister Crowley or Rick Wakeman’s Judas Iscariot, but not something too pretensious.
Of course I don’t know the complete name, but a particular Bach fugue is the king of creepy, evil genius organ music. Look up some of those and you’ll find the perfect (in my opinion) example.
You’d be thinking of the D Minor Toccata, the first half of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, which has been used throughout the past century in horror movies. Peter Lorre played it in MAD LOVE, Erich von Stroheim played it in SUNSET BOULEVARD.
Other Fun Fact: The Phantom of the Opera’s personal composition was called “Don Juan Triumphant,” although he never played it for Christine in the novel, as he felt it was too potent a piece of work for her delicate shell-like ears.
Now…the album you might want to pick up is the soundtrack to Herk Hervey’s 1962 cult film CARNIVAL OF SOULS, in which Candace Hilligloss plays a church organist who may or may not have died in the first five minutes of the film, and spends the rest of it haunted by spectres and zombies. Full organ soundtrack, most of it spooky as hell.
Charles Ives might do the trick. Many people find his dissonant compositions unpleasant, but they are definitely interesting.
Bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp-bomp-bomp-bomp-bomp-bomp
In-a-gadda-da-vida ho-ney, don’t you know that I lo-ove you
The Carny
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, on the album “Your Funeral…My Trial”, and also on the soundtrack to “Wings of Desire”
Real spooky funhouse music, and a storyline straight out of some horror film
The soundtrack to The Abominable Dr. Phibes (a film, after all, about a mad organist) might bear looking at… original music by Basil Kirchin and Jack Nathan, according to IMDB.
I once heard a bit of “Night on Bald Mountain” played on CSU’s organ, and it’s still the soundtrack to my nightmares, 30 years later.
Check out an organist from New Orleans named Mr. Quintron. If you ever get a chance to see him play live, I highly recommend it. He does the one-man psycho organ thing while his wife (“Miss Kitty” I think is her name) does a puppet show.
No, really. A puppet show.
He has several albums which I am sure you could find on the net somewhere.
For upbeat wacky organ music, try anything by Billy May and his Orchestra.
Who or what is CSU?
Colorado State University (Ft. Collins).
They had what was at that time the second largest organ in the US, and it could be heard several miles away on a still night. As it happens, my mother brought me to a Halloween performance, which included some seriously creepy music.
Bad move, Mom.
Mancini’s Baby Elephant Walk creeps me out no end.
JB
Organ Donor by DJ Shadow on his “Endtroducing” album.
Yes, i know. A very bad pun. good tune, though.
Devil Doll’s “The Sacrilege Of Fatal Arms”
Hard to track down, but it would absolutely fit your bill.
You already chose my favorite piece of Mad Organist music – Rick Wakeman’s Judas Iscariot from Rick Wakeman’s Criminal Record.
You might try the actual score Wakeman did for The Phantom of the Opera. I hated it, myself. Or try Wendy/Walter Carlos’ original compositions. And I think his rendition of Berlioz’ “Symphonie Fantastique” sounds pretty mad.