"Spook Stuff For Hallowe'en" Record

It's the first Friday of October, and that can mean only one thing...

The return of Freebie Fridays!

Every Friday in October, I dig up one of the vintage novelty Halloween soundtrack cassettes, CDs, or vinyl records from my ever-growing collection and share it with all of my fellow classic "spooky sounds" junkies.

I've been doing this for quite a few years now, and I still absolutely love doing it. It's a great way to share the love during the Halloween season, and a great way to (re)discover some really neat-and-or-hilarious old novelty soundtracks from Halloweens long past.

So let's get down to business!!

Up first, we have Spook Stuff For Hallowe'en dating all the way back from 1960! This is an early classic and a no-brainer addition to your collection based on the amazing cover art alone!

(During the same year, this was re-released with a new title, Howlin' Hallowe'en: The Sounds Of Spook Stuff with equally amazing cover art. It's not in my collection yet and although it's the same audio with a different cover, it still ranks high on the want list.)

A Haunting 40 Minutes Of Scary, Spooky Stories-In-Sound - Also Suitable For Dramatic Sound Effects And Party Fun The Year 'Round

If you have grabbed any of the other offerings here in Octobers past, you will immediately recognize many of the sounds on side one, as they have been used countless times over in later releases. Howling wolves and wind, crying cats, cracking thunder, cackling witches and goblins, bubbling cauldrons... but it's just SO GOOD!! Don't forget this was put out in 1960! Groundbreaking sound effects for the time that set the tone for the "spooky sounds" genre to come (including four years before Disney's iconic Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House!) that still hits the Halloween nostalgia vibe.

Side two continues the collection of sound effects, this time loosely segmented into themes: Haunted Mine, Cemetery At Midnight, Halloween At The Haunted Castle, etc. The descriptions on the back of the record sleeve are more inspiring than the sound effects themselves, but the whole side is still a really fun listen. Especially the super kooky Halloween At The Haunted Castle vocal effects tracks! From there, the last three tracks devolve into hilarious vocal effect weirdness, straying from traditional "spooky sounds" and experimenting with then-modern oscillation, echo and reverb.

All in all, a really great piece of Halloween "spooky sounds" history and a great piece to add to your collection.

DOWNLOAD "SPOOK STUFF FOR HALLOWE'EN" HERE.

  

The Scary Dream... for 6 Hours, 6 Minutes and 6 Seconds

Here's a fun one for the weekend! In my never-ending quest to find nostalgic, old "spooky sounds" Halloween records, tapes and CDs, I recently came across Dewmar Campfire Records.

Their modern novelty Halloween releases really nail that old, nostalgic spooky feel! I grabbed the Sinister Sounds of Halloween Horror record, mostly based on the incredible cover art alone. And I was not disappointed when I dropped the needle. Glorious spooky sounds that land this release square in the heart of my collection. They really did their homework on this release and it's highly recommended for your collection, as well.

One of the standout tracks is "The Scary Dream." They even went so far as to release this track on its own, stretched out to exactly... 6 hours, 6 minutes and 6 seconds. So good! And perfect to use as a soundtrack in your yard haunt. Dewmar really know their Halloween business!!

Enjoy this one in your Halloween display, in your Halloween playlist, or just because it's the weekend!

  

"Horror Sounds Of Terror" Record

Yikes, here we are already at the last Friday of October, so it's the last chance for a Freebie Friday grab! Overall it has been a pretty solid list of cassette offerings, but we are going to finish the month off with a real classic served up on a vinyl platter!

Horror Sounds Of Terror is a 1978 release from HRB Music, and is actually part of a double-LP collection called Goofy Gold (it's more familiar name). The collection is split up on two separate records, the first (Goofy Gold) being a collection of fairly popular "novelty" Halloween-ish songs including Monster Mash, Purple People Eater, Alley Oop, Chantilly Lace, etc. And while I'm going to completely skip this half of the compilation, I DO want to show the insanely cool TV spot that was made for it. Enjoy this!

Now the part we ARE going to focus on is the second record of the compilation, called Horror Sounds Of Terror. This one is a mandatory addition, based simply on the incredible illustration on the cover. A green vampire face with some really cool hand painted horror fonts. I was totally sold!

The record itself is actually pretty great, too. There is no doubt that this is from the 70s with its standard "spooky sounds" cuts interspersed with small bits of dialog on both sides. And while some of the sounds have been heard on a handful of other releases produced around the same time, the dialog really stands out this time. Some goofy, some attempting to be more serious, but all are of a higher production quality making this entire record a lot of fun!

The only negative is that each side only clocks in at just over twelve minutes, making for a short offering. But even with that, Horror Sounds Of Terror is a wonderful slice of nostalgia and a quality release that still holds up today. And it makes for a really great way to close out the final Freebie Friday segment for this October...

DOWNLOAD "HORROR SOUNDS OF TERROR" HERE.

  

Winchell's Donut House - "Hear The Monsters - Spooky Sounds & A Scary Tale"

Welcome to the first Freebie Friday of the new season, where I rummage through and share my ever-expanding collection of old novelty Halloween records, cassettes and CDs! 

This segment has become my absolute favorite. There's just something so fun and nostalgic about listening to the old gems (and the stinkers!) that populated store shelves each Halloween. And getting to share these old classics every Friday brings back so many great Halloween memories.

So let's dive in!!

Whooooo, oooooowheeeeeeeee! Ghosts and the wicked witch. A rattling skeleton. A scary swooping bat. And more! What a way to liven up a Halloween party.

So listen to the stories and shiver with fright. Then play the sounds of Halloween at the end of the record. And turn your party house into a haunted castle. Hahahahahahahaha!

I had seen this particular novelty record quite a few times and finally added it to my collection earlier this year. The Winchell's Donut House "Hear The Monsters" Halloween record from 1976 is a 45 flexi mounted directly to a cardboard backing, so sound quality and shelf life were traded in for cheaper mass production. But in this case, the pops and clicks only add to it's greatness.

The record itself is a 7-minute story about a talking jack-o-lantern (he could talk after eating a Winchell's donut) sprinkled with a few trick-or-treat safety tips, a silly Winchell's jingle, and a few random "scary sounds" at the end.

But about half way through the story, it takes a rather creepy turn when the jack-o-lantern convinces the children to take him trick-or-treating. He then makes scary sounds and tells them a story of a haunted house. And it gets pretty intense for a children's story!

"You take the seventh step..."

I was surprised at how much I liked this one. It really checks all the boxes of a great novelty Halloween record. It's silly, it's spooky, and it's fun.

"Winchell's donuts do magic things to your mouth."

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD WINCHELL'S DONUT HOUSE "HEAR THE MONSTERS" HERE.

  

"Ghostly Sounds" Soundtrack

Rattling Chains, Squeeky Doors, Ghostly Screams...

A Haunting Experience

With only a few hours to spare, I make it in for one last Freebie Friday for 2018! And this one is worth the wait!

If there's one thing that I have learned during my time of collecting and sharing my ever-expanding collection of classic novelty Halloween records and cassettes, it's that the rules never really applied. I have at least three different labeled cassettes that contain the exact same soundtrack and now I have at least two records with the exact same name. And this particular soundtrack even has two different release versions!

Power Records out of Newark, New Jersey was another of the novelty record labels that existed during the late 1960s through the late 1970s, releasing everything from Halloween novelty records to Superhero spoken word children's stories.

One of their most popular releases was 1974's Ghostly Sounds Halloween novelty record. Or was it called Ghostly Sound Effects? It depends on which side of the record sleeve you were looking at.

It says Ghostly Sounds on the cover, so I'm going with that. Of course this version is not to be mistaken for the other Ghostly Sounds soundtrack by Peter Waldron (although that version is really great, too!).

This version has 11 tracks, all of which are traditional, novelty sound effects. But all are really well composed. The standout track for me being The Phantom of the Cathedral, with its spooky array of classic organ, laughing and howling wind sound effects. So good!

Oh, and if you're an even bigger collector of Halloween novelty records than I am, you'll need to go out and find the second version of this record. The other version has similar tracks, the only difference being that it includes the narration of the track descriptions that are printed on the back sleeve. You can listen to one of the tracks here, although I like the original version better.


DOWNLOAD "GHOSTLY SOUNDS" HERE.

  

"Halloween Sound Effects" Soundtrack

This is an absolutely horrible record album that no collection should be without!

This collage of gruesome sounds is perfect for Trick or Treaters who need (or deserve?) a little terror in their lives, and can set the mood or be the life of your Hallowe'en party. Many of you have bought this ghoulish collection for the sheer pleasure of it all, however, a word of caution: Use headphones to avoid disturbing the squeamish!

Wait, what!?

Welcome to the first Freebie Friday of 2018! Every Friday during the month of October, I share another gem from my ever-growing collection of old novelty Halloween records and cassettes. And today, I'm kicking it off with an infamous classic!

Halloween Sound Effects Vol. 1: Music and Effects of a Terrifying Nature is a well-known entry in the novelty Halloween sounds market. And that first sentence from the record sleeve pretty much tells it all...

Released in 1982 on Canadian label, Total Records, this novelty soundtrack must have taken all of one afternoon to record and produce. Side one, simply entitled "Hallowe'en," is your run-of-the-mill spooky sound effects collection that sounds like it was recorded in someone's basement with a cassette deck. 17 bizarre and goofy tracks that clock in at under 11 minutes. 

The standout track on this side is definitely "Gluttony and Belching From Satisfied Monsters." And yes, there are actual, somewhat-awesome belching sounds and laughter included. There is no way that the artists who recorded this were taking it seriously.

And while side one is pretty much a throw away, the saving grace for this record is side two.

I'm not sure how the audio on side two can be considered "Hallowe'en In Space," but there are actually some cool ambient sound effects here. And with incredible track names like, "Cosmic Lunacy," "Plutonian Ice Caves," and "Honing The Light Sabre" (no copyright laws in Canada??), it makes the release all worth it.

Yes, it's another goofy novelty release overall, but the oddness of side two makes it a keeper in the collection. It's just too bad that the artists never created a Volume 2!


DOWNLOAD "HALLOWEEN SOUND EFFECTS VOL. 1" HERE.