Frolic in Unsettled Doom

Three more Halloween compilations for your disgusting delectation ...

MA-23 - Disc of Doom:

01 - Count Chocula Intro - Count Chocula - 1979    (0:41)

02 - Trick or Treat - Halloween - 1984    (3:12)

03 - Have You Ever Seen? - Boss Martians - 2000    (3:15)

04 - Spook Opera - The Hawaiian Pups - 1982    (3:02)

05 - TV Monster Show - The Munsters - 1964    (2:05)

06 - Land of the Dead - Voltaire - 2007    (1:58)

07 - Dracula's Deuce - Freddy & the Four-Gone Conclusions - 2000    (2:36)

08 - It's Spooky in Here - Baha Men - 2001    (2:42)

09 - The Green Slime - The Green Slime - 1969    (2:19)

10 - My Body's a Zombie for You - Dead Man's Bones - 2009    (4:28)

11 - Spooksville - Nu-Trends - 1963    (2:37)

12 - The Mummy - Radio Ad - 1959    (0:49)

13 - The Ballad of Vlad the Impaler - Bettie Blackchurch - 2010    (1:32)

14 - Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? - Matthew Sweet - 1995    (3:12)

15 - Exorcist Theme - Halloween Remix - unknown - 2012    (5:00)

16 - I'm Gonna Scare You - Sue Rose - 2001    (2:40)

17 - The Bat - Children of the Night - 1976    (2:33)

18 - Munsters Theme Halloween Edit - Figure - 2007    (2:43)

19 - Return of the Living Dead - Ghoultown - 2002    (3:32)

20 - Martian Hop - Ran-Dells - 1963    (2:10)

21 - Halloween Party Music - Andrew Gold - 1996    (3:01)

22 - The Haunt of Room 402 - Wally Wingert - 2001    (2:57)

23 - Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati - Rose & the Arrangement - 1973    (2:08)

24 - Rockin' in the Graveyard - Jackie Morningstar - 1959    (2:40)

25 - Banditos Halloween Mash - Jonathan Rubinger - 2010    (4:48)

26 - Phantom of the A-Go-Go - Don Hinson & the Rigamorticians - 1964    (2:33)

27 - Castin' My Spell - Marci Lee and Johnny Otis - 1959    (2:10)

28 - Attack of the Killer Tomatoes - Lewis Lee - 1978    (2:50)

29 - Werewolf - Five Man Electrical Band - 1974    (3:29)

MA-23 is one of my early aggregations, dating to around 2011.

***

MA-205 - Unsettled Spirits:

01 - You Have Booped Your Last Boop - Helen Kane - Bela Lugosi - 1933  (0:31)

02 - Trouble - Bonnie McKee - 2004  (3:59)

03 - The Devil Train - Rhys Evans - 1957  (2:19)

04 - Diggin' That Grave - Jesters of Destiny - 1986  (4:52)

05 - Frankenstein (live) - Kaye Stevens - 1963  (2:12)

06 - Ilonka's Dance (from House of Frankenstein) - Hans Salter - 1944  (1:45)

07 - Teenage Brain Surgeon - Eddie Davis - 1958  (2:04)

08 - Dr Poop - Howie Post - 1969  (2:09)

09 - The Headless Ghost - The Nightmares - 1959  (1:43)

10 - A Practice of Evil - The Fraudulent Frauleins - 1967  (2:52)

11 - Doin' the Zombie - Chubby Checker - 1997  (3:12)

12 - Night of Fear - The Move - 1966  (2:15)

13 - Things Go Bump in the Night - Mel Street - 1969  (2:06)

14 - Is There an Exit? - Absolute Body Control - 1981  (4:10)

15 - Bloodsuckers of the Universe - Spider Babies - 1984  (2:15)

16 - Haunted House - The Raftsmen - 1967  (3:59)

17 - Night of the Living Dead - The Alley Cats - 1982  (4:03)

18 - Hello There Mr Grave Digger - The Creators - 1962  (2:26)

19 - The Graveyard Hop - The Chants - 1959  (2:37)

20 - Can You Get Me Out of This Place - Four Commandments - 1968  (3:13)

21 - You're Gonna Die (live) - Destroy All Monsters - 1979  (2:50)

22 - My Friend the Ghost - Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra - 1955  (2:55)

23 - Ghost Hunter - No Strings Attached - 1968  (2:47)

24 - I Love My Monsters - The Voronas - 2004  (4:21)

25 - Danse Macabre - Sylvia Houtzager and Band - 1991  (2:54)

26 - You'd Scream If You Knew What I Did Last Halloween! - Zombina and the Skeletones - 2003  (1:45)

This one is new to you.  Please note that several vinyl-sourced tracks have surface noise or pops ...

Track 1 is lifted from a 1933 short, Hollywood on Parade.  Track 6 is the delicious Gypsy dance from House of Frankenstein.  Track 8, “Dr Poop,” has nothing to do with body functions!  Track 10 has an interesting witch-trial interlude.  Track 25 is a breathtaking take on Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre.”

Have fun discovering the charms of the other tracks!

PS yes, the staked vampire featured on the disc art is yours truly!

***

MA-215 - Freaky Frolics:

01 - Voodoo Doll - The Interiors - 1959  (2:36)

02 - Ghost on the Highway - The Gun Club - 1981  (2:45)

03 - Demons - The Clique - 1967  (2:21)

04 - Jack the Ripper - David Lastie and His Rippers - 1961  (2:46)

05 - Godzilla - Kicks - 1980  (4:31)

06 - It Was a Nightmare - The Beach-Niks - 1966  (2:14)

07 - The Raven - Bobby Russell and the Impollos - 1958  (2:26)

08 - The Face of Death - The Soft Boys - 1989  (3:14)

09 - I Created a Monster - Glenn Barber - 1967  (1:51)

10 - Green Slime (live) - Last Four Digits - 1982  (1:54)

11 - The Gates of Hell - Sorrells Pickard - 1968  (3:40)

12 - It Was a Dream - Billy David - 1959  (2:05)

13 - Dr Terror's House of Horror - Roy Castle - 1965  (3:58)

14 - Vampirella - Copy Cats - 2000  (4:27)

15 - Long Black Veil - Paul Thomas - 1959  (2:14)

16 - Nightmare - The Marvels - 1962  (2:38)

17 - Death on the Elevator - Super Heroines - 1981  (1:28)

18 - The Halloween Dance - Reverend Horton Heat - 1998  (3:09)

19 - Undead - The Undead - 1991  (2:33)

20 - Superstition - The Green Beans - 1965  (1:47)

21 - Who Is My Killer - Charlie 'ungry - 1980  (5:40)

22 - Pumpkin Punk - John Bartles - 1986  (2:09)

23 - Wolf Man - Laurie Allen - 1962  (2:03)

24 - How to Make a Monster - Zombina and the Skeletones - 2014  (3:05)

25 - Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 2009  (3:41)

26 - Honky Tonk Halloween - Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures - 2009  (3:05)

Here is another unshared-before frisky fresco of spooky sounds, with musical genres running from Sixties psychedelia to Western swing, hard rock to doo-wop.

Have a wild weekend, my creepy cousins!

  

I Love the Ladies

In the Sixties and Seventies, monster models were so much fun! The surfer tropes of Big Daddy Roth faded, and the creatures seen in Universal's Shock Theatre syndication package drew the attention of countless kids, age five to fifteen.

This ad filled the back cover of Superboy #124, cover-dated August 1965.  I bought 'em and built 'em, but over the years they lost their sets and accoutrements, leaving only the ladies themselves.

But they still have places of honor in our decorations!  You'll see the Witch on the left, behind the Wolf Man and Frankenstein.  On the right, the Bride reclines supine at the front.

Above is what's left of the Bride.

The Witch is sitting on her skirt.  Her ankles and feet vanished long ago.

What creepy leftovers from YOUR childhood are still kickin' around?

See you Friday with three more Halloween music comps!

  

Read in the Light

Scary Books, Kiddies!

One Dark Night – Troy Taylor

 LOTS OF FUN, A FEW FORMAT BOOBOOS

             This is a fun read and well written.  Taylor is a good narrator.  He bundles these tales of mysterious figures and odd crazes as tales of “sinister strangers.”  Which is a nice penumbra for topics from clowns trying to grab kids into vans, to so-called black ghosts or vampires American-style.

            I was mildly irritated by Taylor’s inability to decide how to handle an en dash in his text. Sometimes we have a single hyphen, sometimes two hyphens—sometimes in the same paragraph!

Some photo captions have a period at the end, some do not (pp 184-85 for example).

There are a few line-spacing issues near some of the photos, which I have encountered myself when dealing with photos and text in WORD.

            Most of the tales woven by Taylor were news to me.  I bought the book because of its subtitle.  My parents were born and raised in Mattoon—home of the Mad Gasser and his 1944 reign of fear—and to my eternal regret, I never quizzed them on THEIR memories or thoughts anent the fellow.

            I certainly DID NOT know that the Mad Gasser had a very similar precursor, in Virginia, in the winter of 1933-34!

            There are a few proofreading issues, but not a lot.  The most silly is on page 232 when Taylor says that the Mad Gasser case “left an edible mark on our history.”  The correct word, of course, is “indelible.”

            I was very happy to see a bibliography and list of sources at the end.

            Overall, I recommend this book as a sometimes creepy, sometimes wry recounting of some “sinister stranger” tales that you too might not have heard of—until now.

See you on Wednesday!