After my last selection walked the line
between “new to me” and “from the stacks” I wasn’t sure how I was going to pick
my next album.
I decided to go with a random roll from the
stacks and was rewarded with this little amuse bouche to get me back on
track; the CD equivalent of a 45 single on my road back to regularly scheduled
programming.
Disc 1318 is… O Fortuna
Artist:
Apotheosis
Year of Release: 1992
What’s up with the
Cover?
A smiling gal counts her fat stacks of counterfeit cash. You can tell it is
counterfeit because the 5s are printed backwards. That winning smile isn’t
getting those past the grocery clerk.
How I Came to Know
It: This was a crowd favourite
at my local dance club back in the day. I liked it so much I went and did
something I almost never do. I bought a single.
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Apotheosis album, so it can’t
really stack up. Frankly, it isn’t even an album.
Ratings: 3 stars
In my wayward youth I spent many a night dancing
at a place called Scandals; a dingy, cramped and altogether awesome alternative
nightclub that was a big deal in Victoria back in the late eighties and early
nineties. The apotheosis of my experience there was when the DJ would drop the
needle on “O Fortuna”.
I used to go to Scandals at least once a week,
and sometimes two or three times, but the best night was Alternative Tuesday,
where they played the heavier stuff. This was the golden age of industrial dance
music, before techno music became the exclusive realm of the shoe-gazers. This
was the era of Ministry telling you how Jesus building their hot rod, and My
Life With the Thrill Kill Kult turning you on like a tiger baby. For me, nothing
compared with Apotheosis’ “O Fortuna.”
“O Fortuna” is mostly forgotten now,
but back in 1992 it was a sure-fire way to fill the dance floor. It was
basically a liberal sampling of the most hard-core sections of Orff’s “Carmina
Burana” crossed with a thumping back beat, plus a bunch of other synthy sounds
so your hands had something creative to do while the magic happened. There was no
better way to waste five minutes of your life away; more if the DJ was feeling
charitable and extended the experience.
My CD copy has all the variable versions you
could desire. There is the “Apocalypse Choir Mix” (although all the versions
feature the choir), the “7” Single Edit” which appears to just be
shorter, but otherwise the same and the “Live Action Remix” which has…live
action. I like the “Apocalypse Choir” version best but I’ll take
whatever the DJ is slinging on a given night. I’m not picky when it comes to “O
Fortuna”.
For most versions, “O Fortuna” starts
off with a clanging, awkward set of notes, then a synth flourish. If you rushed
the floor fast enough you would arrive in time to raise your fist in triumph as
the full apocalypse choir from Carmina Burana blasted you with all the pomposity
it could muster.
It isn’t too complicated from there. One of two
things is going to happen. There is going to be a slammin’ mosh pit where you
will lovingly shove – and be shoved – by strangers or you’re going to claim
your 2 ½’ x 2 ½’ of floor space and protect it with the sheer awesomeness and ferocity
of your dance moves.
I like to think I was pretty hot stuff on the
dance floor back then. Not the best, but good enough to take a guest run as Speaker
Dancer when the designated Speaker Dancer took a bathroom break or got a drink
and left their post unattended. These bouts of glory always ended all-too-soon with
a polite request for me to get off the speaker, right when I was (in my own
mind) really killin’ it. But I digress…
The important thing was that “O Fortuna”
never failed to fill me with joy. As it wound itself up in techno-ecstasy I would
pull out all my signature dance moves. The Forward Hand Shuffle, The “My Hands
Are Two Repelling Magnets” and my personal favourite, the “Two-Minute Hate” Arm
Pump. The latter move consists of engaging
in the 1984 “X over the head” move from the Orwell novel (in time with the
music, of course). This was designed to make it clear that while I was having a
wicked good time, I was also aware of the ironic ramifications of my happiness.
I was an early adopter of irony.
Anyway, there isn’t much more to be said about
a single song. It came on, I danced, and under the flashing strobe lights of
Scandals I got some much-needed oblivion from life's troubles. Anyone who
thinks youth is wasted on the young has simply forgotten what makes youth so great
in the first place.
Best tracks: Of the three versions of “O Fortuna” on the CD I’ll
go with the “Apocalypse Choir Mix”. The B-Side, “The Volume Is Loud,” is also good.
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