# 50 Days till Halloween



## Dinosaur1972 (Mar 28, 2007)

50 Days till Halloween
9/11/2013

Halfway there! I’ll pull over quick and take a look at which of my Halloween folders I’ve listened to and what remains unheard …
•	Ambient – Listened to most of it
•	Book and Record Sets – Haven’t touched it
•	Classical – Haven’t touched it
•	Ghost Stories – maybe 40% done
•	Gothic – None (this is Midnight Syndicate and Nox Arcana)
•	Kids – None
•	Miscellaneous Music – DONE
•	Miscellaneous – maybe 20% done
•	Mixes From Blogs – perhaps halfway
•	Modern Mixes – DONE
•	Modern Music – Haven’t touched
•	Novelty – Untouched
•	Old Rock – DONE
•	Old Timers – Untouched
•	Radio Shows – Untouched
•	Rockabilly – Surf – Maybe 20%
•	Sound Atmospheres – Not much
•	Sound Effects – Untouched
•	Sound Effects (classic) – Untouched
•	Soundtracks – 20% or so

So, wow … I have a long long ways to go here. Probably no way I can listen to it all. Some of the folders are pretty easy … book and record sets I could get through in a morning, novelty in a day. But others … sound atmospheres (CDs with an hour of spooky sounds), modern music (anything released after the 60’s really) will take some time. Maybe I do 200 days of Halloween listening next year? Cripes.

*Reverend Frost’s Bloody Halloween Mix #17 (2012)* – He billed this as the final mix, but he left the door open a crack and said he might continue to pump out a Halloween mix once a year. Keep your fingers crossed on that, because his mixes are really terrific. This one doesn’t disappoint either. We get two songs by the Reverend himself, and he’s a very capable horrorbilly musician. This mix features the familiar and the unfamiliar like his other mixes, and the transitions from song to song are as classy as ever. Thanks again to the Reverend Tom Frost.

I thought I’d do more of the Mixes From Blogs folder, but now I think I’d better settle in and knock out some of the other folders on the list just to see if I can check a few off. So … let’s do some novelty records, which are kind of old timey (and therefore shorter!).

*A Merry Monster Christmas (1964)* – Hard to believe such an album even exists. Says here that Len Maxwell did all the voices, screams, and bat flutters. Maxwell was a voice actor in advertising mostly, though he also was Nick Diamond on MTV’s “Celebrity Deathmatch”.Maxwell does a solid Boris Karloff, a mediocre Bela Lugosi, and an OK Peter Lorre. The puns are silly, the songs are cute … just feels weird listening to Halloween / Christmas music. In September.

*Andrew Gold – Halloween Howls (1996) *– Andrew Gold had a top 10 hit “Lonely Boy” in 1977, and also wrote “Thank You for Being a Friend”, which is well-known as the theme to the old comedy “The Golden Girls”. He was a session musician that appeared on lots of other pop music records as well. What possessed him to do a Halloween album? Who knows, but this is a fun one for kids. It’s got covers (such as “Monster Mash”) plus some good original songs. “Don’t Scream (It’s Only Halloween)” has a cool New Orleans sound. Good, clean, harmless fun.

*Bob McFadden and Dor - Songs Our Mummy Taught Us (1959)* – One of my least favorite novelty records. I can only hope it was funnier in 1959. I guess I can stomach “The Shriek of Agony” … but that might be it. Several non-Halloween tracks not only disappoint because they are not Halloween, but also because they suck.

*Bobby 'Boris' Pickett - The Original Monster Mash (1962) *– A classic. Great, silly stuff. A good variety of musical styles.

*Cool Ghoul's Phantasmagorical Funky Fonograf Record (1972) *– Talk about a change in style, from happy early 60’s silliness to early 70’s funk/rock silliness. The Cool Ghoul was one of those late night spook show hosts, this one from Cleveland. Some of these tracks are annoying, but “Ten Foot Two, Eyes of Glue” is fun.

*Count Floyd Flaherty - Halloween Fun (1982) *– Count Floyd was an SCTV character from the early 80’s. This little EP is kinda funny… “Treat You Like a Lady” isn’t that Halloweeny, but it is kinda funny. Each of the four songs has its moments.

*Creepy Clyde - Spooky Town (2002) –* I have no idea who Creepy Clyde is. I think he might be a current horror host in Detroit. Musically, this is a decent blues/rock album. Lyrically, the songs are cute without being particularly funny or clever, but at least they are Halloweenish. So, the lyrics and vocals are on the mediocre side, but the musicians are actually pretty good. “I Just Want to Drink Your Blood” and “Man-Eating Plant” are my favorites. Stick around for the “hidden” track at the end.

*Don Hinson and the Rigamorticians - Monster Dance Party (1964) *- This one naturally opens with “Monster Mash”, which I’ve heard for the 25th time now … 14 by Pickett, 6 as part of mashups, and 5 by other artists. Lots of other good songs on this one, including “Riboflavin Flavored Non Carbonated Polyunsaturated Blood” covered later by 45 Grave. It is musically very similar to Pickett’s classic album. 

*Dr. Demento Presents - Spooky Tunes & Scary Melodies (1994) *– An album with no surprises. “Werewolves of London”, “Nightmare on My Street”, “Haunted House of Rock”, all your basics are here. Except “Monster Mash” … OK , so that counts as a surprise. Still, while this is a very small subset of great Halloween rock songs, it is a good subset. Plus, “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” and “Nature Trail to Hell” are terrific. And it is hard to criticize anything from Dr. Demento, who has done so much for the novelty music industry. I have lots of great memories listening to his show, especially at Halloweentime. I’ll revisit him sometime (hopefully) when I hit the “Radio Shows” folder … I’ve got a recording of his 1984 Halloween show, and it really takes me backward in time.

*Gene Moss - Dracula's Greatest Hits (1964) *– Not my favorite, but it certainly has character. It lampoons some pop songs of its time, with “I Want To Bite Your Hand”, “Drac the Knife”, “Carry Me Back to Transylvania”. And the Bela Lugosi impression is good enough. And the Jack Davis artwork is truly amazing. I think I just got too tired of hearing it when I listened to Never Ending Wonder Radio’s “Weirdsville” station.

Whew … halfway through the Novelty folder already. That’s pretty good.


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