# 10 Days Till Halloween



## Dinosaur1972 (Mar 28, 2007)

10 Days Till Halloween
10/21/2013

Here’s what’s left … the “Classical” music, which is a little intimidating thanks to “The 99 Darkest Pieces of Classical Music”. A couple of audiobooks like “War of the Worlds” and “The Thing on the Doorstep”. The Midnight Syndicate / Nox Arcana folder. The “Mixes from Miscellaneous Blogs” folder, containing Halloween mixes that bloggers released, but they never did it more than once. Old Timers (pre-60’s music), which I will hit next week because I LOVE IT SO VERY MUCH. A few Halloween radio shows, like Dr. Demento’s Halloween show from 1984, Zacherley from 1988, and a “Night Moves” show from 1982. And all the “Sound Atmospheres” and “Sound Effects”.

Today, I’ll listen to the miscellaneous blog folder, but I will skip songs I’ve heard too many times already (except MM). Even with that, it’ll be slow going, because most of these bloggers carefully selected rare and unusual tracks.

*Bent Halloween Mix – I’m in the Mood for This October (2007)*
A quick scan of the list of tracks tells me I’m not skipping much here. Songs by Lum Hatcher, Grave Danger, Batmobile, Deadbolt … lots of stuff I haven’t heard yet. Oingo Boingo is here, but not the usual tracks … it’s “I’m Afraid”. The Cramps are here, but it’s “What’s Behind the Mask”. Highlights: “When the Moon is Full” by Bruce Joyner and the Plantations, “Sambra Macabre” by Harry Breuer, an awesome samba rendition of “Danse Macabre”, “I’d Rather Be Burned as a Witch” by Eartha Kitt, a couple of Deadbolt tracks, “Happy Halloween” by the Fuzztones (covering Zacherley). Very good mix.

*Dane's Halloween Mix (2007)*
When I downloaded this, I deleted many of the tracks that I already had several copies of, like “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and “Season of the Witch”. There are some fun songs … “Lotion” by GreensKeepers, a solid “Season of the Witch” cover by Lou Rawls. I’m pretty sure this is when I first heard the delightful “Re: Your Brains” by Jonathan Coulton. Still, this isn’t so much a mix as just a collection of songs. Haven’t heard “Cry Little Sister” since high school … same with “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”. Last song was “Moon Over Bourbon Street” by Sting, and it was hard to NOT hear “Fortress Around Your Heart” afterwards – I listened to that Sting cassette a jillion times as a kid. To the Caesars, who covered “Don’t Fear the Reaper” … where is the cowbell? And to Kristin Chenowith, who covered “Witchy (WitcHAY) Woman” … I think I love you. Call me.

*Essential Ghoul's Record Shelf (2005)*
Some fun stuff here … Red Sovine’s “Phantom 309”, “Yodeling Ghost” by Patsy Montana, plenty I’ve heard, but some I haven’t. He’s got a bit of a blog dedicated to this stuff, which I clearly need to revisit. I think I first heard the Jimmy Castor Bunch song “King Kong” here.

*Galactic Scoundrels - Ain't No Party Like a Halloween Party (2011)*
Another Halloween mixtape … here is where I got it (http://galacticscoundrels.com/2011/10/29/mixtape-aint-no-party-like-a-halloween-party/) … it is pretty good stuff. Fun throughout. It says that this is the final installment in a 3 part series, so I have to find the other two!

*Halloween Damage (Oddio Overplay inspired mix) (2006)*
Not sure HOW this was inspired. It’s pretty much a mix of stuff from movies … The Omen, Alien(s), Jaws, Scream, Psycho, etc. Nothing special though. I might not keep it.

*Halloween Haunt Megamix (2009)*
Mixed and produced by Laptop Punk. This is an outstanding mix. Only thing I don’t like about it is that my copy is 128 kbps … I’m not some kind of bitrate or FLAC snob, but 128’s a little lower than I’d like. This is a well-thought-out mix, it isn’t just tracks with transitions. Here we got just enough of a song to recognize and enjoy it, then the mix jumps to the next. There are movie quotes in there, sound effects - I love it. The “Haunted House of Rock” over “Superstition” makes me curious – OK, I have verified that the first 23 minutes of this mix were what I heard on “Evil Twin of Monster Mash-Up”. Curiouser and curiouser! And the “Sunglasses at Night” mixed with “Somebody’s Watching Me” was on that same CD (“Evil Twin”) … this “Laptop Punk” has to be Cheekyboy.

*Halloween in May (mix)*
Don’t recall where or when I found this batch. It’s OK … fairly typical … opens with a Haunted Mansion intro, there are lots of oldies, some rare tracks. Highlights include Pat Duke’s introduction to Halloween, “Little Jack O’Lantern” by the Dead Elvis, “The Spider and the Fly” by the Wicked, “Vampire Girls” by Koo-Koo Boy, “What’s He Building” by Tom Waits.

*Happy Halloween 2005 (Blurst Mix)*
This one is all oldies. The only one that I didn’t recognize was “Blood On His Lips” by Scientist, and one called “The Bug” – no idea who sings that one (I had to tag this mix myself). The rest are oldies I’ve heard. Way to much Bob McFadden on this mix.

*Meat For The Beast - Halloween 09 (2009)*
With a title like that, you almost expect this to be heavy-metal or something like that. It’s not … it’s actually a very good mix of fairly recent songs. It gets a bit silly (“The Batty Bat” from Sesame Street, “Chuckie” by the Geto Boys, “My Creepy Girl” by Tom Servo from MST3K), but overall it is OK. “Helber Mensch” by Einsturzende Neubauten is freaky sounding. 

Holy crap, no Monster Mash today!? What the heck?


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