# 6 Days Till Halloween



## Dinosaur1972

6 Days Till Halloween
10/25/2013

*Loop Noir – Paranormal Sound Design*
This is a really interesting CD. Not necessarily spooky, but definitely eerie and unusual and electro-ambient. 

*Scary Sounds of Halloween (1991)*
From K-Tel, a half-hour track. All the same screams and howls we’ve heard before. Nothing special.

*Screamin' Halloween Sounds (1998)*
Looks like another K-Tel, this one is 73 minutes. It has bits of narration here and there, lots of moans and chains and screaming victims. It might not be as appropriate for the very young. Still has a few of the classic sounds, though.

*Sounds of The Night (2008)*
Pretty cover art, but the sound are nothing special. Again they go for shock a bit with chainsaws and gunshots and gurgling nasty sounds and even a car crash. I’m OK with scary sounds, but not a huge fan of violent sounds. 

*Spooky Scary Noises - Halloween Sounds (2009)*
This might be some forum member’s sounds from 2009. 24 minutes. Atrocious artwork that came with it, and it sounds way too much like something I’ve heard before. I’m not going to keep it.

*Spooky Sounds - Enter If You Dare (2007)*
From Digiview Productions. Ten tracks, each 5-7 minutes long, with no track titles. It’s OK – spooky but not nasty. Bubbling, chains, a few screams, creaking … not a lot of variety from track to track though. The same bubbling is heard throughout, the same creaky door.

*The Haunting - Chamber Of Horrors (1988)*
Here’s an old interesting cassette. Side A has narration throughout, and several Scooby-Doo-like musical cues. Side B has more music … a “Thriller” opening, followed by classical music, then some kind of bizarre disco-jazz-improv with flute and then trumpet. The sound effects are oldies but goodies.

*Topstone - Horror Sounds of the Night (1985)*
A classic cassette. Opens with the “Phantom of the Opera” sounds from “Sound Effects Vol 13”, which I love. Wonderfully old-fashioned.

*Ultimate Horror Sounds - Halloween Horror - Scary Sounds and Music (2008)*
Expectations are high with “Ultimate” in the name. Starts with an 8 minute instrumental song that is actually pretty good. After that it is all sound effects – some tracks work better than others. “Torture Chamber” gets a little graphic. “Hell” is kind of a fun track. It’s OK, but not great and certainly not ultimate, because I’m listening to another one next.

*Ultimate Scary Sounds and Music for Your Halloween Bash (2008)*
They can’t BOTH be ultimate. This one starts with a dance remix of “Night on Bald Mountain”. (You heard me right.) “Jungle Sacrifice” isn’t bad. Most tracks have way more music than traditional sound effects. The last few tracks are short and simple sound effects.

*Wade and Melissa Hooker - Cemetery Of Screams (2011)*
These two must be pretty new to the world of horror sound effects, but they’re off to a quick start … this is the first of 3 of their recordings. Nice cover on this one. Track 1 is “Graverobbers”, but is pretty much just 10 minutes of a LOT of screaming with some background music. Track 2, “The Coffin Opens”, starts with a coffin opening (who knew?), then monster sounds and footsteps with the occasional scream, and piano throughout. This 10-minute track is about 5 minutes too long. “Buried Alive” has a guy yelling “let me out” with “Psycho”-like strings. For 10 minutes (again … too long). So you get the idea … each track is pretty good, but once you hear the first 2 minutes of the track, you won’t hear anything new for 8 more minutes.

*Wade and Melissa Hooker - Cries From the Crypt (2011)*
Again, each track is 9-11 minutes long. Again, each track has lots of background music, but again each track is just the same thing for 10 minutes. The music doesn’t change, the sounds don’t change. “Midnight Maniac” has a very John-Carpenter-Halloween-esque piano part throughout … only Carpenter manages to change the key every few bars. 

*Wade and Melissa Hooker - House of Horror (2011)*
Same story. Different track titles. 10 minute tracks, but in each, the last minute sounds exactly like the first. I like “The Snake Pit” for a few minutes – at least it is unique. The music and effects are actually very good, but to hear them go for 10 minutes at a time is nigh unbearable. 

*Captain Audio – Scary Halloween Ambience for Trick or Treaters (2007)*
I’m hitting a big fat sound-effects wall with this stuff. It is all seriously sounding the same. This one sounds all the rest of them. 

*Hallmark Cards - The Sounds of Halloween (1986)*
This one’s a little more fun and kid-friendly … and only 18 minutes.

*Halloween - Haunted Sounds And Scary Tales ~ Spooky Sounds (1990)*
A bit more narration, and I know I’ve heard some of this before. It has a “Pit and the Pendulum” bit I heard on Holly Music’s “Spooky Tales and Scary Sounds” (“first a tickle … then a trickle … of BLOOD”). And this one ENDS with the “Phantom of the Opera” sounds from “Sound Effects Vol 13”. Crazy. 

*Martha Stewart Living - Spooky Scary Sounds for Halloween (2000)*
The last of the Sound Atmospheres. It’s pretty well done. S’pose Martha had anything to do with it? I don’t think that’s her screaming. 

*Sounds From a Night of Terror (1992)*
I don’t have much information on this one. Starts with a monster voice yelling “Welcome … to a Night of Terror! A-hahahaaa!”, then it’s scary sounds (heartbeats, growls, screams) with dramatic music in the background. It’s pretty good .. more music than most of the atmosphere records I’ve listened to, less violent content, 

Made it through “Sound Atmospheres” … though frankly, I probably have some CDs that are in “Sound Effects” that are really “Sound Atmospheres”. I’m not even gonna look through them though. On to the Oldies!

*Halloween Oldies (2010)*
I think a forum member shared these 3 years ago. I love these, so I’m gonna tell what tracks there are.

THE FIRST BATCH:
Bert Williams – You Can’t Do Nothing Till Martin Gets Here
Sodero’s Band – Dance of the Skeletons
Nacio Herb Brown – The Sneak!
Premier Quartet with Billy Murray – The Skeleton Rag
Phil Napoleon and his Orchestra – The Cat
Borrah Minevitch – Ghost Walk
Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra - As Long As You Live (You'll Be Dead if You Die)
Anita O'Day - The Walls Keep Talking
Jupiter Jones - The Spook Spoke
Archie Bleyer - The Rockin' Ghost
Buddy Morrow and his Orchestra - The Raven
Laurie Croisette - Ghost Town Jamboree
Phil Harris - Tennessee Hill-Billy Ghost

THE SECOND BATCH:
The Brian Sisters - Boogie Woogieman
Rosemary Clooney - Punky Pumpkin
Grace Berrie - Stone Cold Dead in the Market
Daniel M Quinn - More Work for the Undertaker
American Symphony Orchestra - Hallowe'en Dance
The Mellowmen - Trick or Treat
Chopin's funeral march
Arthur Collins - Suicide Blues
Paul Whiteman with Johnny Hauser - Gloomy Sunday
Monotones - Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Cab Calloway - The Nightmare

*Halloween Stomp (1990)*
This is an actual CD release, so you can find the tracklisting somewhere on the intarwebs. It is terrific.

*The Haunted House (20 Tracks To Make You Jump In The Night) (2000)*
This is an actual CD release, so you can find the tracklisting somewhere on the intarwebs. It is terrific.

*Halloween Swing (2008)*
I believe this was also shared by a forum member. A few tracks in common with the other batches up there. Here’s the track listing:

Alex Bartha's Hotel Traymore Orchestra - It Must Be Swell To Be Laying Out Dead
Henry Hall's Dance Orchestra - Hush, Here Comes The Bogey Man
The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra - Dr. Heckle And Mr. Jibe
Chick Webb & The Savoy Ballroom Orchestra - Midnight In A Madhouse
Artie Shaw – Nightmare
Cab Calloway - The Ghost Of Smokey Joe
Fred Astaire - Me And The Ghost Upstairs
Gracie Fields - He's Dead But He Won't Lie Down
Ella Mae Morse and Kirby Grant and his Orchestra - Quoth the Raven
Fred Waring & his Pennsylvanians - Dry Bones
Peggy Lee - Riders In The Sky
Betty Grable – Halloween
Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters - The Yodellin' Ghost
Monotones - Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Salty Holmes - Ghost Song
Rosemary Clooney - Punky Pumpkin
Mellomen - Trick or Treat
Jimmy Kish - Wolf Girl of Devil's River

*Vintage Halloween Wax (2008)*
Also shared by a forum member, I think, is this batch of oldies.

henry burr & the peerless quartet - the ghost of the terrible blues
harry a. yerkes dance orchestra – mystery
woody herman - who dat up dere
jelly roll morton's levee serenaders - midnight mama
arthur collins - suicide blues
earl fuller's rector novelty orchestra - graveyard blues
sodero's band - the vampire
american symphony orchestra - hallowe'en dance
john yorke altee - the devil's march
billy murray - i'm afraid to come home in the dark
daniel m. quinn - more work for the undertaker
fred van eps banjo orchestra - the vamp

I really have covered most of my archives now. I did not hit the Midnight Syndicate or Nox Arcana albums, a couple of audiobooks (not sure I’ll ever bother with those), some classical stuff, some old Halloween radio shows, and the majority of the sound effects. Next week, I’m looking forward to the radio shows in particular. Then I’ll listen to stuff I’ve found this year, such as:

Monster Mash-up 2013: The Haunted Mashion
A Haunted Journey & Pumpkin Guts (shared on the Halloween Music forum)
Screeches, Clanks & Howls (no Oxford comma?)
Nightmare Manor - Monstrous Music From Beyond
Midnight Syndicate – Monsters of Legend
Figure (though I’m not sure I’ll be in a dubstep mood anytime next week)

And then I’ll listen to the stuff I really, really, really wanna listen to.


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## talkingcatblues

I keep picturing your neighbors/coworkers listening to all these screams and crashes and yowls and other assorted mayhem coming from your direction, with their hands hovering shakily over the telephone...



Dinosaur1972 said:


> And then I’ll listen to the stuff I really, really, really wanna listen to.


Whew! And looking forward to seeing what that is!


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