My records show that its been six years since I brought you 10 slices of Halloween ham for your delectation. The 2019 round up is here and the 2020 one here. Not sure why the gap existed. Anyway...
#10 - The Dracula Trot - Hans Conried and Alice Pearce - this 1959 number appeared on an RCA Victor album called 'Monster Rally'. Conried and Pearce were both actors; the former voiced Captain Hook and Snidely Whiplash (the latter ripped off by Paul Winchell for his Dick Dastardly voice on Wacky Races), while Pearce’s is perhaps best known as the first Mrs. Kravitz on TVs Bewitched (she died young of cancer at the age of 48). The musical director is listed as “Frank N. Stein” but was likely the arranger/conductor Joel Herron, who is credited as co-writer on seven songs on the album.
#9 - Werewolf - The Frantics - hailing from Seattle, Washington, The Frantics started out as a duo called the Hi-Fis. After recruiting a bassist and a drummer, they were known as the Four Frantics and finally just The Frantics. The band at various points included three members of Moby Grape. 'Werewolf' was released twice; it was a B side of a 1959 Dolton Records single and then re-released a year later, again on Dolton, as an A side, with an instrumental version of the song on the B side. The spoken section is performed by Dolton's founder Bob Reisdorff, quoting lines from the 1941 movie The Wolf Man.
#7 - Mad Witch - Dave Gardner - although this was recorded in 1957 somehow it feels a lot older. 'Mad Witch' was the first single by Tennessee born Gardner - nicknamed 'Brother Dave' following a one-semester term as a Southern Baptist ministerial student - who came to the attention of RCA Records when his amusing between song chats propelled him into the national eye, along with the first of several appearances on national television talk/variety shows such as The Tonight Show. As a comedian he was variously described as a 'Southern Lenny Bruce' or 'Billy Graham with a sense of humour'. There aren't many laughs in this rather amphetamine fuelled backwoods number, but it's a good 'un.
#6 - The Crewnecks - Rockin' Zombie - ever wondered where Lux Interior went for his inspiration? Pennsylvanian vocal group could be the answer; or one of 'em anyway. A five piece, all students from Wilkes College, were active between 1957 and 1961; Rockin' Zombie dates from 1959. After a successful touring nightclub act and extensive TV appearances, the band eventually broke up because of military service commitments.
#5 - The Ghouls - Dracula's Deuce - the 1964 brainchild of Gary Usher, an American rock musician, songwriter, and record producer, who worked with numerous California acts in the 1960s, including the Byrds, the Beach Boys and Dick Dale. Just one of a billion acts to have taken their inspiration from the 1962 smash hit 'Monster Mash' by Bobby (Boris) Pickett And The Crypt-Kickers, The Ghouls comprised seasoned session players like Bill Cooper, Dick Burns, and Richard Podolor and, unlike many of their contemporaries, actually organised themselves to record a whole album of this stuff, also titled 'Dracula's Deuce'. It's pretty good!
#4 - Frankenstein's Party - The Swingin' Phillies - 1957's only single by this Philadelphia vocal group composed of Charles Cosom, Philip Hurtt, Richard Hill, Ronald Headon and Al Hurtt, the founder of the combo. The boys formed after discovering each other at their church. A pre 'Monster Mash' song, as well as the usual suspects this also references 'Blueberry Hill', a song which had become a massive smash covered by Fats Domino a year before this, 'Long Tall Sally' after the 1956 Little Richard hit, and Mighty Joe Young, a 1949 King Kong sequel which has been re-released into cinemas the year this single came out.
#3 - Dr Frankenstein's Disco Party - Johnny Wakelin - On this side of the pond for a change, Brighton's Wakelin was born in 1939, his biggest claims to fame being two songs about boxer Muhammed Ali, 'Black Superman' and the proto Burundi hit 'In Zaire'. But it was his 1977 album 'Africa Man' that yielded this internationally released classic. "All his invitations are delivered by a bat; Transylvania they do it like that" purrs Johnny, in between repeating the title...a lot.
#2 - Witchfinder General - Carl Douglas - staying with da funk, albeit a little more authentically, is disco king Douglas, born in 1942 in Kingston, Jamaica. After moving to the UK to study sound engineering, he had some success in the 1960s both as a solo artist and as part of the group 'Carl Douglas And The Big Stampede'. While his biggest hit was 'Kung Fu Fighting', the first track on his 1974 debut LP 'Kung Fu Fighter' issued a year later (and named to cash in on the popularity of Bruce Lee and martial arts), the second track on the album was this bizarre homage to Matthew Hopkins, the 'Witchfinder General' of history, popularised in Michael Reeves's 1968 film of the same name. "Says he's got a thing about burnin' witches, ooh, some of these were mighty fine bitches, nobody knows if he's doin' right, another cord, he does 'em all, ride right through the night" sings Carl. Of course he does.
#1 - S.O.S - The Marshmallow Ghosts - this track is taken from The Marshmallow Ghosts 2019 LP 'The Old Witch's Cavern'. The MGs have been bringing out a Halloween themed vinyl every year since 2009; there's something about their sound that encapsulates the kind of holiday I've always wanted, a bit trashy, a little bit scary, American but not too American. The story behind this LP is that the band - actually a collective of musicians who put out music on the Georgia based Graveface Records label - came across some tapes used in a now closed haunted mine attraction in that State and set them to music. Full disclosure; I paid a LOT for this album and will continue to support their annual seasonal releases because for me, this is Halloween.
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