Customer Reviews

Dr. Demento Presents: Spooky Tunes & Scary Melodies

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a low budget Halloween album from Dr. Demento and Rhino Records. Since it's so short, I might as well discuss each track. "Werewolves of London" is a great song that most people are probably already familiar with. "A Nightmare on My Street" is an okay rap song featuring Will Smith vs. Freddy Krueger. "The Haunted House of Rock" is another okay rap song. Why feature two rap songs in a row? Don't ask me. "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman" is a decent New Wave song. "Castin' My Spell" is great 1950s style rock and roll. "Halloween Spooks" is great vocal jazz. "Bo Meets the Monster" features Bo Diddley vs. the Purple People Eater. "My Son, The Vampire" is a pretty good song from an obscure movie. "Nature Trail To Hell" is an absolutely fantastic song that is done like an ad for a terrible 3-D horror movie. If you can find a cheap copy of this, it is worth picking up for your Halloween party.

I produced The Dr. Demento Show for 9 years, and therefore know what I'm talking about when I say that the songs on this CD were ABSOLUTE NECESSITIES for any Halloween Party or other gathering of ghouls. "Nightmare on My Street" features the always-charasmatic Fresh Prince, a.k.a. Will Smith; Allen Sherman, the former associate producer of TV's "Tonight Show" contributes "My Son The Vampire"; "Weird Al," a former mailroom boy at our radio network, kicks in with his hard-rockin' "Nature Trail to Hell"; Lambert, Hendricks and Ross give a jazz vocal styling of the highest order to "Halloween Spooks," making this CD a real handful of fun...in fact, the only thing I can think to add would be "Monster Mash," by Bobby Boris Pickett, and "It's Halloween," by The Shaggs....which is why I gave it a 4-star review rather than a fiver.

I've occasionally put together my own homemade Halloween party tapes-and believe me I have 'borrowed' a few tunes from this particular collection. Since I own this on tape, I must say that on Side 1 the only songs I'm not crazy about are A Nightmare On My Street as well as The Haunted House Of Rock. Except for those 2 songs, the rest of this collection is top-notch stuff. Great fun for any Halloween party. I also recommend these Halloween albums: Ghastly Grooves(Sony Special Products); Billboard Presents Family Scarytime Classics(Rhino) plus Halloween Hits(Rhino). Very enjoyable. TRICK OR TREAT!

"My Son the Vampire" is the funniest vampire-related song of all-time. It is not as good as "Monster Mash," but that's an imitation of Boris Karloff and he was Frankenstein not Dracula, so there. Some of the other songs are decent, but they are not about vampires. Actually, I would expect a bit more from a Dr. Demento collection. He must have already done the other biggies on another album.

Well not all the songs are lousy, but the amount IS. Dr Demento has played tons and tons of great Halloween songs on his radio show over the years, and this is the best they can come up with? What about songs like Spooky Skeleton Dance. The song by Louis Armstrong where he says "Don't go in dare, dat house is hanted" Jumpin Gene Simmons' (not the KISS guy) Haunted House. Halloween by Elvira. What Ever Happened To Eddie by Butch Patrick. John Zacherley's Dinner With Drac or a few of his many others or Bobby Pickett's stuff including Monster Rap. songs like that and so many more. So many new novelty artists owe their career to Dr Demento and so many old artists and their record labels owe their resurgence to him. So far Halloween Hootenanny and These Ghoulish Things are the best Halloween Cds I've found, but their not good enough. I'm still looking for that one biggest and best collection worthy of 5 stars. And this certainly isn't it.

This compilation would be great for the under 12 crowd, but not for an adult party. However, "Werewolves of London" is a must for any Halloween gathering, and the Bo Diddley track is a nice little blues tune. All of the other tracks are outdated.

This is another great collection for Halloween, the perfect companion to Billboard's Family Scarytime Classics-also on Rhino. Great party music!