(AP - Hanover, NH)
The worldwide euphoria that greeted Scientologist/indie rocker Old Major's new "Outlaws EP" has begun to die down as fans and scholars prepare for the daunting task of interpreting and appreciating this masterpiece. This is not unusual, as Old Major's work has inspired a cottage industry of sorts based on critical appreciation and analysis of his work. Just last fall, a collection of essays entitled "Old Major 1, God 0" investigated the divine and prophetic aspects of his music, and a multi-volume biography is due later this year. It is only a matter of time before the academic community turns its full attention to the new EP (available for download here: http://rapidshare.com/files/209393542/Old_Major_Outlaws_EP.zip).
The first scholar to attempt a serious analysis is Dr. Rupert Huffington, professor of film studies at Dartmouth College. Dr. Huffington is one of the leading figures in the growing academic movement of film synchronization, which refers to the process of transposing ostensibly unrelated music albums and films in order to glean new meanings or thematic connections. His pioneering work in this field is unparalleled, meticulous in its dissection of visual connections and deeply philosophical in its theoretical extrapolations.
Although this field of film synchronization study is still in its relative infancy, more and more critics and scholars have been incorporating this method into their work. Unfortunately, the most well known example of this field of study is the utterly preposterous pairing of Pink Floyd's seminal album "Dark Side Of The Moon" and the horrible "classic" film, "The Wizard Of Oz." This theory initially received a modicum of attention in the media several years ago as scholars and stoners nationwide investigated the curious claim that the transposition of these two works somehow yielded a synchronization of sorts. This supposed connection has since been discredited by the film synchronization community at large, and is currently viewed as little more than an embarrassment. Dr. Huffington led the critical charge in rejecting this with a scathing scene by scene dissection in a trade journal article titled "'Us And Them' Is Not About Dancing Munchkins You Stupid Fucking Assholes : A critical analysis of the 'Floyd/Oz' connection." (That work was later cited for a Pulitzer Prize that Dr. Huffington received two years later.)
Dr. Huffington's own work is much more cerebral in its exhaustive analysis of thematic and symbolic connections between his music and film subjects. His first major study, published in the spring of 1998, presented a two-hundred page analysis of the astonishing number of visual and thematic connections to be found in the transposition of King Crimson's classic prog rock album "In The Court Of The Crimson King" and Jim Carrey's 1995 film "Dumb and Dumber." The work of two years of intensive study with a team of selected colleagues, the analysis found over a hundred instances of visual or symbolic connections that were so undeniably precise that the possibility of coincidence has been definitively ruled out. For those who have not experienced the amazing number of connections found between the two works, just start the album at the exact moment that the dog van enters the first scene then let the album play through two-and-a-half times in the course of the film. And get your revelation hat on: what will follow is nothing less than an epiphanic, life changing experience.
This study is considered a classic in the canon of film synchronization works, although it has since been the source of some controversy. Logically, it would seem that Carrey's film, which was released twenty-six years after the album, must have been intricately structured to correspond with the album. But "Dumb and Dumber" writer/directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly have been reticent to acknowledge the connection. This has led some scholars to consider the possibility that Robert Fripp et al could have somehow seen the film and then travelled back in time to 1969 in order to craft the album to match the film before returning back to the present day. This intriguing debate is still ongoing within the film synchronization community at Dartmouth. (Unfortunately, Dr. Huffington's follow up study on the connections between Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Tarkus" album and the abysmal "Dumb and Dumberer" sequel was not as warmly received by most scholars.)
His next breakthrough study - which is widely regarded as his greatest work - came three years later with the publication of the exhaustive, three-hundred page analysis detailing a litany of connections between the director's cut of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now Redux" and the Doobie Brothers' 1978 "Minute by Minute" LP. Coppola in particular was so affected by this evocative theory that he immediately ordered all prints of the film to be destroyed so he could definitively replace The Doors' "The End" with the Doobie Brothers' "What A Fool Believes" in the opening scene.
Therefore, it was a quite momentous occasion when Dr. Huffington announced earlier this week that his next project will involve a detailed comparison of Old Major's new "Outlaws EP" with a yet unnamed Stanley Kubrick film. Conceptually, this is a perfect fit; Old Major is a decidedly Kubrickian sort of artist in his meticulous approach to his craft and the dense, multi-layered symbolism that can be found in his music. A possible connection between these two visionaries could result in revelations of unimaginable proportions.
OldMajorInc.blogspot does not currently have any specific information as to which Kubrick film Dr. Huffington has selected, so speculation is running rampant on the internets and in bars worldwide. Perhaps "Outlaws EP" will be paired with the evocative visual mastery of "2001: A Space Odyssey" or the labyrinthine symbolism of the much misunderstood "Eyes Wide Shut" or possibly with the similarly anti-authoritarian "A Clockwork Orange." But here at the offices of OldMajorInc.blogspot, the consensus has coalesced around the most obvious choice: "The Shining." Much like Old Major's music, the film's eerily compelling basic structure only hints at the deeper thematic agendas bubbling beneath the surface. The symbolic complexity "The Shining" transcends the horror movie genre with the incorporation of an array of political and psychological themes. Old Major's work transcends the genre of Scientologist indie rock in much the same way.
Dr. Huffington has announced a tentative date of 2019 for publication of this work in order for his team to completely immerse themselves in their work. Old Major himself was not available for comment, as he is currently working on his upcoming "Working For The Masons" album due later this year. The world is waiting.
(Special note to OldMajorInc.blogspot readers: For true fans of Kubrick's "The Shining," we have hidden a special message in the preceding article. Readers who can "shine" should find this special hidden message, then "shine" their answer to oldmajorinc@gmail.com and the first ten winners will be "shined" back a free t-shirt and two half-price passes to Six Flags Great Adventure (while supplies last). Readers who do not have the "shining" should not have read the preceding two sentences.)
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