Aleister Crowley was never as influential on me as he was on some people. Although I had Magick Book IV, I think I was 5 years younger than when most—obsessed by British punk/post-punk—poured over his volumes of work. By the time I got to firsthand Crowley, I was already aware of many of his key writings and passages, and I was already being pulled in directions by Franz Bardon, Kenneth Grant, and Rudolf Steiner. This always gave me an outsider view/perspective on Crowley's work and personal life, allowing me to evaluate each independently and uncover value where it lie.

Recently, JD Holmes was running a sale, and I impulse bought a copy of Mandrake Press Limited's The Tango Song. This lovely publication was printed on hand-made paper and limited to 125 copies. It consists of a small booklet reprinting Crowley's Tango play from The Equinox, as well as a much larger music sheet with the song itself and the music notes. The production quality of the item alone is fantastic. The play is short, but effective, and clearly aligns with Crowley's obsessions (ecstasy, desire, high society).

What I find even more fascinating is that a decade back Jason Louv found a YouTube video of Marc Almond covering the Tango Song. Louv pulled this from the 93 Current Thelema resource site.

The cover in question:

Marc Almond is a fascinating character because most only remember him as the singer to New Wave group Soft Cell and their cover of "Tainted Love." But outside of having a rather quality solo career, Almond's early career was spent with much more subversive noise in the punk/post-punk genre. He participated in many side projects and collaborative efforts, and was close friends with the members of Coil. Coil actually did their own cover to "Tainted Love" as a haunting addition to an AIDS benefit program. In the video for the cover, Marc Almond appears as the angel of death.

Almond himself was steeped in esotericism, but more importantly, was highly anti-establishment. He joined the Church of Satan during the peak of his youth with John Balance attending his induction.

Of course, I've been reading England's Hidden Reverse, which comes on the heels of Everything Keeps Dissolving, so I've been surrounded by the post-punk industrial for a while now. Almond was very much a recurring character in the underground occult musick scene that England was festering at that time, but his range as a singer won him accolades outside of the post-punk niche.