THE BLACK AND ORANGE ALBUM  -  VARIOUS ARTISTS

YEAR:  2010
LABEL:  Wonderful Wonderblog
TRACK LISTING:  Welcome to Horror Hotel  -  Daniel Roebuck,  The Gourd's Prayer  -  Cult of the Great Pumpkin,  Batman Wolfman Frankenstein or Dracula  -  The Diamonds,  Chamber of Horrors  -  Radio Spot,  Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde  -  The Who,  Dracula's Lament  -  Jason Segel,  The Devil's Rain & the Virgin Witch  -  Radio Spot,  Ghostbusters  -  Run-DMC,  Goosebumps Theme  -  TVToons,  Grim Grinning Ghosts  -  Barenaked Ladies,  Halloween  -  Betty Grable,  Halloween  -  Radio Spot,  Happy Halloween  -  The Fuzztones,  Haunted House  -  Flexi-Disc,  King Kong vs. Godzilla  -  WAKY Radio Spot,  Keepin' Halloween Alive  -  Alice Cooper,  Magic  -  Radio Spot,  Monster Movie Ball  -  Spike Jones,  Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives  -  Mel Torme,  To Cause A Witch To Die  -  Vincent Price,  Mr. Monster's Movie Marathon  -  Peter Pan Singers,  Dawn of the Dead  -  Radio Spot,  Dry Bones  -  Fred Gwynne,  Punky Punkin (The Happy Pumpkin)  -  Rosemary Clooney,  Purple People Eater  -  Judy Garland,  Ghost Whisperer  -  TVToons,  Scarecrow  -  The Wellingtons,  Secrets of the Crypt Keeper's Haunted House  -  John Kassir,  The Blob  -  Wolfman Jack,  The Headless Horseman  -  Pickwick Records,  The Headless Horseman  -  Thurl Ravenscroft,  The Island of Dr. Moreau  -  Radio Spot,  Monster Hop  -  Bert Convy,  The Night Before Halloween  -  Bill Buchanan,  Trick or Treat  -  Elvira,  Vampires Quote  -  Boris Karloff,  Zombie Jamboree  -  Rockapella,  Fairly Lame Ending Track  -  Daniel Roebuck
IMPRESSIONS:  Once again we have a non-commercial release like the previous post.  This is one of many compilations originating from the great blog called "Wonderful Wonderblog".  The first thing that strikes you is the lovely spoof on Metallica's "Black Album" cover; what could be more fitting for Halloween than a "Black and Orange" album cover?  After that laugh, we get a nicely-chosen selection of Halloween tracks  -  most of which I admittedly already possessed in my vaults  -  but once again it's always great to hear someone's selection of a playlist.  And this is a good'n.  I kinda like the inclusion of radio spots and movie trailers in between the songs; it gives things a nice Halloween party air.  There are several old favourites of mine appearing here:  The Who's rare "Jekyll & Hyde" song showing John Entwhistle's abiding love of the horror genre, the Spike Jones track (originally credited to "The Fiend-ager") from that beloved "SPIKE JONES IN STEREO" album I played to death in my youth (and which is discussed in depth on this very blog), and the tracks by Mel Torme, Vincent Price, The Diamonds, Rosemary Clooney, Judy Garland, The Wellingtons, Thurl Ravenscroft, Bert Convy, Bill Buchanan, Elvira, and Rockapella have long featured in my Halloween listening.  However, it was only with this "BLACK & ORANGE ALBUM" that I first encountered Run-DMC's terrific cover of "Ghostbusters", the Cult of the Great Pumpkin's "The Gourd's Prayer", and Alice Cooper's "Keepin' Halloween Alive" tracks.  There are many, many Halloween compilations all over the internet and I love all of them; it's a wonderful practice and albums like this one are a great example of how to do it right. 
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  The Gourd's Prayer  -  Cult of the Great Pumpkin,  Chamber of Horrors  -  Radio Spot,  Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde  -  The Who,  Ghostbusters  -  Run-DMC,  Halloween  -  Betty Grable,  Haunted House  -  Flexi-disc,  Keepin' Halloween Alive  -  Alice Cooper,  Monster Movie Ball  -  Spike Jones,  Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives  -  Mel Torme,  To Cause A Witch To Die  -  Vincent Price,  Mr. Monster's Movie Marathon  -  Peter Pan Singers,  Dawn of the Dead  -  Radio Spot,  Punky Punkin (The Happy Pumpkin)  -  Rosemary Clooney,  Purple People Eater  -  Judy Garland,  Scarecrow  -  The Wellingtons,  The Headless Horseman  -  Pickwick Records,  The Headless Horseman  -  Thurl Ravenscroft,  Monster Hop  -  Bert Convy,  The Night Before Halloween  -  Bill Buchanan
FACT SHEET:  "THE BLACK AND ORANGE ALBUM" is a compilation of Halloween tracks produced by the "Wonderful Wonderblog" website.  The 2 Daniel Roebuck tracks are taken from Dr. Lady's "HORROR HOTEL" album.  "Dracula's Lament" is taken from the film "FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL".  "Grim Grinning Ghosts" is a cover version of the Thurl Ravenscroft song and appears on the soundtrack to the "HAUNTED MANSION" movie starring Eddie Murphy.  The "Halloween" track by Betty Grable is taken from an old radio broadcast.  The Fuzztones' "Happy Halloween" is a cover version of a Zacherley song.  "Monster Movie Ball" is taken from the 1959 "SPIKE JONES IN STEREO" album.  Mel Torme's "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" appears in the short film "DAFFY DUCK'S QUACKBUSTERS".  "Dry Bones" is taken from an episode of "THE MUNSTERS" with Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster.  "Scarecrow" by the Wellington's is taken from the Disney TV show "THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH" starring Patrick McGoohan.  "Secrets of the Crypt Keeper's Haunted House" is taken from a 1997 episode of HBO's "TALES FROM THE CRYPT".  Thurl Ravenscroft's "The Headless Horseman" is a cover version of the original song sung by Bing Crosby in Disney's 1949 film "THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD & MR. TOAD".  The Bert Convy who sing "Monster Hop" is the same actor/TV host who appeared as a regular on "THE SNOOP SISTERS" as well as hosting the TV game show "TATTLETALES" and others.  Bill Buchanan is one half of the duo of Buchanan & Goodman who brought us the classic original "break-in" record "The Flying Saucer". 

SPIKE JONES IN STEREO - Spike Jones

YEAR: 1959

LABEL: Warner Bros.

TRACK LISTING: I Only Have Eyes For You (Vocal by Dracula and Vampira), Poison To Poison (Interview with a Famous Poisonality), Teenage Brain Surgeon (Vocal by the Mad Doctor), (All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings (Vocal by Dracula and Vampira), Everything Happens To Me (Lament by Frankenstein), Monster Movie Ball (Vocal by the Fiend-Ager), Tammy (Vocal Duet by Dracula and Vampira), My Old Flame (Vocal by I.M. Arson), This Is Your Death (featuring Dr. Jekyll and Other Ghouls) and Two Heads Are Better Than One (Beatnik Duet), Spooktacular Finale (Vocal by the Entire Ghastly Cast)

IMPRESSIONS: I first bought this record in 1977 at the hoary old Sound Odyssey at the Cherry Hill Mall again. I had previously been a fan of Spike Jones & His City Slickers (what kid WASN'T?!?!?) and I previously owned not only some 45s (that had belonged to my mother) but two RCA Victor LPs of "Best Ofs"; not only that but both my grandparents and my friend Ed Jacoby had original 78s I'd heard PLUS the dear old Dr. Demento regularly played Spike as well. So when I saw this LP in the Sound Odyssey bins featuring not only Spike Jones but also a bevy of monsters on the cover, I snatched it up immediately and fell in love with it when I got it home. No wonder this album inspired a young Creepy Clyde to do what he does. The wacky stereophonic tricks also didn't go amiss to my young ears; as the back cover states: "Have you ever heard a belch move from one corner of the room to the other, then retrace its tracks?" Well, you would when you dropped the needle onto the outer groove of this spooktacular record! This record came out right at the height of the monster boom (I'm sure it was deliberate) ignited by the Shock Theater package of Universal monster movies released to TV played by horror hosts like Zacherley -- not to mention the launch of Forrest J. Ackerman's "FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND" magazine the year before. One only wishes there were extra tracks to be found languishing in the Warner Bros. vault so we could get even more of this delectable Halloween treat.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: I Only Have Eyes For You, Poison To Poison, Teenage Brain Surgeon, Everything Happens To Me, Monster Movie Ball, This Is Your Death/Two Heads Are Better Than One, Spooktacular Finale

GUEST ARTISTS: Paul Frees (vocals on "I Only Have Eyes for You", "Poison To Poison", "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings", "Tammy", "My Old Flame", "Everything Happens to Me", "This Is Your Death" and "Spooktacular Finale"), Loulie Jean Norman (vocals on "I Only Have Eyes For You", "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings", "Tammy", and "Spooktacular Finale"), Thurl Ravenscroft (vocal on "Teenage Brain Surgeon"), George Rock (vocal on "Tammy" and "This Is Your Death/Two Heads Are Better Than One"), Ken Stevens (vocal on "Monster Movie Ball"), Alvino Rey (producer)

FACT SHEET: SPIKE JONES IN STEREO is Spike Jones' 2nd album. It had the alternate title of SPIKE JONES IN HI-FI for the mono version. The album was produced by lounge orchestra leader Alvino Rey. The spooktacular cover painting is by Jim Jonson. Paul Frees, known as "the Man with a Thousand Voices", impersonates Dracula as well as countless other voices. Loulie Jean Norman was a sought-after studio vocalist and dubbed Diahann Carroll's singing voice in the film version of "PORGY AND BESS" the same year as she voices Vampira for this album. Thurl Ravenscroft of course was not only the voice of Tony the Tiger but also appeared on countless Disney projects, dueted with Rosemary Clooney on "Where Will the Dimple Be" and Georgia Gibbs on "Dance With Me, Henry" as well as singing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" on the beloved TV special "HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS" to name a few. "My Old Flame" is a stereo re-recording of Spike Jones' monster 1940s hit single which features Paul Frees here impersonating Peter Lorre anew. George Rock sang on Spike's only number one hit single "All I Want For Christmas Is (My Two Front Teeth)". "Poison To Poison" is a lampoon of Edward R. Murrow's popular interview programme "Person To Person" and features Paul Frees impersonating Alfred Hitchcock while "Everything Happens To Me" finds Frees doing his Boris Karloff impression. Sadly, Spike Jones intended to do a follow-up to this album tentatively called "GHOUL DAYS". Some of the song concepts were entitled "My Darling Frankenstein", "Holiday For Strychnine" and "Moonlight and Rodents" but the project had never gotten past the planning stage when Jones died on emphysema in 1965.

THE HAUNTED MANSION - Various Artists

YEAR: 1969

LABEL: Disneyland

TRACK LISTING: The Story and Song of the Haunted Mansion Part One, The Story and Song of the Haunted Mansion Part Two

IMPRESSIONS: This is an album I've had ever since I was a kid. Sadly, the interior booklet with great ghost art by Collin Campbell went missing over the years but you can see how beautiful the album cover is! It's an album I played all year round and consequently can recite it all verbatim. I never realized until years later that Mike is voiced by Ron Howard; only a year after he stopped playing Opie for Andy Griffith. Robie Lester, of course, is a familiar voice at Disney; it's her beautifully macabre tones which narrate that famous orange-covered "CHILLING SOUNDS OF THE HAUNTED HOUSE" album -- who can forget her intro: "You are a bold and courageous person afraid of nothing...." Disney used the beloved Thurl Ravenscroft often over the years as well (Yay, "Twiterpated"!); not to mention being the voice of Tony the Tiger. I can remember listening to this album with the covers pulled over my head and the lights turned out in my room; even if it was broad daylight with the windows open on a lazy summer afternoon, THE HAUNTED MANSION was guaranteed to make a seven-year old's flesh creep.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: The whole album - there aren't individual tracks

FACT SHEET: The actual title of the album is really THE STORY AND SONG OF THE HAUNTED MANSION; the only reason to use this title, however, is to distinguish this first album version from the several shorter records which came out after this. This album is a 33 1/3 LP which had a booklet included inside the gatefold album cover featuring an abbreviated version of the story and beautiful drawings of the ghosties by Disney illustrator Collin Campbell. The Haunted Mansion, of course, was the brand new attraction at Disneyland. The album stars Ron Howard . . . yes, THAT Ron Howard as Mike and Robie Lester as Karen -- our two heroes. The magnificent Thurl Ravenscroft appears as narrator as well as singing the song "Grim Grinning Ghosts". The Ghost Host is played by Pete Renoudet; the Ghost Host's voice on the actual Disney ride was voiced by the man of a thousand voices Paul Frees.