In the meantime y'all can get down with my Halloween themed mega mix...
Here's a special seasonal barrage of creepy, scary, spooky & murder themed tunes and even a few movie promos for y'all...
I may add a few more in the next couple of days if I have time, but here's what I have ready today...
First up, a scary "stereo" record of "scary sounds" put out by Winchell's Donuts in the 1970's, with a creepy guest named Mr. Jack O' Lantern, who likes to remind kids to trick or treat safely but seems kinda like a spoil sport. I found this mp3 in a search engine fed off the fabulous Oddio Overplay servers...but have no idea on what page of their fabulous site you might find this out of print puppy...
Winchell's Donut House Halloween Record - Hear The Monsters
Well if that didn't scare ya enuf, what could be scarier than Metallica... Unplugged?
Well, it happened one day in 1997 on KSJO radio, with special guest Pepper Keenan from C.O.C in the studio with them.
If only the stupid DJ didn't need to shut up & get bitch slapped by Hetfield so bad during the intro...Metallica - Creeping Death
What would halloween be without werewolves...and sure I could put up the obvious Warren Zevon werewolf song, but his ghost might come and kick my azz...
So instead, here's some different werewolf related material, but stay tuned as I might add a certain British werewolf track in the coming days, just not the version you expect...
Movie Promo - I Was A Teenage Werewolf
Five Man Electrical Band - Werewolf
This version of Dead Joe by Nick Cave's early 80's combo The Birthday Party surfaced on their out of print Drunk On The Pope's Blood LP. The sonics are slightly altered and more spooky overall than the version found on their Junkyard release.
The vocals jump out more, the guitars growl louder and the mood is simply more frantic & freaked out than the other one and so we give this Halloween approved version.
The Birthday Party - Dead Joe
I don't know much if anything about this next track, other than some clown named Hugh Romney included it in a bootleg collection called four Hairy Policemen, and it includes an old movie promo as well...
Ding & Bat - (the Rape Killer promo) Hearse On a Surfari
This next track is a rework of the song "The Crusher" originally by the Novas, but this version is by an on old Mexican 60's era garage/surf rock band. Somehwat obscure, they actually have lots more material available on their Anthology CD which seems to be hard to find, but oddly enough is easily available at I Tunes of all places.
Los Shains - El Monstruo
More "Los Shains" at I Tunes
What would Halloween season be without a an appearance by the original rock n roll fright king... Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Long before Alice Cooper or Marilyn Manson, Screamin Jay was out there scaring the kids (and inseminating the females)...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Feast of The Mau Mau
Available on the great comprehensive collection: Spellbound...
There are of course hundreds of Screamin' Jay tracks out there since he debuted in the 1950's, and in his last years he recorded for the re-resurrected Bizarre imprint in the early 1990's. If you'd like to grab all 18 of these classick tracks from those years, there's an MP3 collection on Amazon's download store for just about $8 that includes raunchy classic like "Shut Your Mouth and Shit", "You Make Me Sick" and a song Screamin' Jay might understand better than most of us "Fourteen Wives"...
Movie Trailer - Graveyard Tramps
One of San Francisco's great late 70's era punk groups, The Mutants were SF art Institute scene refugees who had a lively twisted theatrical show biz sensibility. Here's a rare track recorded live in 1979 at the Deaf Club above Valencia St from this much loved entertainment diversion that still occasionally do reunion shows with the now scattered remaining members.
The Mutants - Monster of Love
Another obscure California indie rocker, put of more recent vintage is Haunted George. This desert rawker based out of the Mojave desert outpost of Llano Del Rio has put together a couple releases for the Oakland based Hook or Crook Record Company in the last few years. It's hard to say what I'd make of this crazed cowboy, if he's snorted too much sand or eaten too many of the wrong type of cactus. Anyhow without further adieu, here's Haunted George and his song Howlin' from the Cd Panther Howl...
Haunted George - Howlin
from "Panther Howl"
(Hook or Crook Records)
Speaking of Howlin'
Let's go back to the real deal...
Howlin' Wolf should need no introduction to fans of the blues, and his gravel voiced delivery became of a favorite of the British kids who would go on to form bands like the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Cream and others. In 1970 many of these kids returned the favor to their hero by recording a record with Howlin Wolf in London for Chess. This song here was a big hit for him on Chess back in the day, and this recut version of the track wasn't the one released on the initial album, and it's likely because the Wolf sounds a lil' sluggish. Here is a studio outtake that finally saw the light of day in 2003, a cut that sounds like the ill ol' man had maybe had a few drinks by this take. But even if it's not as vocally ripping as the other versions I've heard, it's still got a serious rock n roll pedigree pumping it out. Joining Wolf's regular guitarist Hubie Sumlin is Eric Clapton and on this track Ringo Starr was apparently on drums, with Klaus Voorman on bass.
Howlin' Wolf - I Ain't Superstitious ( London Sessions alternate take)
Another musician influenced by Howlin' Wolf, and no stranger to a few drinks, or being appropriately creepy to make it into this mix was Jim Morrison...
This a recently released track recorded in 1970 from a newish collection called The Doors: Essential Rarities, that I suppose provides essential royalties to the band members.
The Doors - Who Scares You
Not sure if the ghost of Jim Morrison is as scary as Ray Manzarek & Robbie Kreiger suing John Densmore for his refusal to sell the Doors musical legacy out to advertisers...
Anyhow, Densmore says he's fat & happy enough from the past without trading his dignity for a TV commericial or a lame reunion tour with the guy from the Cult pretending to be The Lizard King.
Imogen Heap is a moderne chanteuse of sorts who I first took notice of when she did a Cure cover. She resurfaced on my radar not long after with a reworking of another oldie but goodie for a soundtrack album for some Reese Witherspoon vehicle called Just Like Heaven. It's a great old song she's reworking, one that has many great versions, my faves probably being by The Zombies and I also am fond of the Dusty Springfield version. While I can't vouch for the film it appeared in, or the rest of the soundtrack it's on, I dig Imogen Heap's version of Spooky...
Imogen Heap - Spooky
Speaking of spooky...how about DJ Spooky.
Here the illbient maestro from a soundtrack excerpt to one of the scariest fright flicks ever made...
no, I speak not of the Friday The 13th or Halloween slasher genre, but one done in the silent era.
This track is from the soundtrack he did for his reworked version of the old silent film Birth of A Nation. D.W Griffith premiered his epic film Birth of a Nation in 1915 under the title The Clansman, based on a book by the same name by Thomas Dixon.
The technically groundbreaking film has remained controversial for it's Civil War themed plot which embodies racist stereotypes and features the KKK portayed as noble heroes and Southern blacks who are played as dumb cariactures prone to savage villany and as sexual predators against white females.
Dj Spooky - ReBirth of a Remix excerpt
Here's spooky's own essay on the reasons behind the ressurection of this film...
Griffith's film has been a historical object of fascination for me for a long while - it's been one of the defining images of America in the 20th century. As we enter the 21st Century it sometimes helps to know like the philosopher Santayana said so long ago, that "those who do not understand the past are doomed to repeat it." "Birth of a Nation" focuses on how America needed to create a fiction of African American culture in tune with the fabrication of "whiteness" that undergirded American thought throughout most of the last several centuries: it floats out in the world of cinema as an enduring albeit totally racist - epic tale of an America that, in essence, never existed. The Ku Klux Klan still uses this film as a recruiting device and it's considered to be an American "cinema classic" despite the racist content. By remixing the film along the lines of dj culture, I hoped to create a counter-narrative, one where the story implodes on itself, one where new stories arise out the ashes of that explosion.
Anyhow...that sorta concludes part one of my Halloweirdo mix...
but stop by in a few daze and see if the pool hasn't been added to...
I have lots more scary tunes to add , i just don't have lots more time tonight to add 'em
1 comment:
This is awesome. I can't understand why you don't get involved with my Finetune Friday events. You would really make some awesome playlists.
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