Oh, it's that glorious time of year again! Halloween season!
Granted, for most of us horror enthusiasts, we celebrate creepy things all year long, but for the normal folk, it's usually just October. (And for the slightly more hard-core, some begin mid-September!)
I've already participated in some of my favorite October activities, such as Knott's Scary Farm, Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, and a self-imposed challenge to watch 31 horror anthologies, one per day, for the entire month. But as most of you already know, it's the music that keeps me going and I need to channel some of that passion into yet another mix!
I've made it an annual tradition to mass produce a mix CD with some sort of theme for my birthday in August and hand that out to whomever I see around that time. I deviated only once from this formula back in 2015 when I crafted my HALLOWEEN HITS CD mix (track listing here), and passed it out to friends at Beyondfest. At the beginning of this year, the wheels started turning, and the prospect of two mixes were percolating in my brain. The first was my "90's Hits," (read about that one here) because I had already decided 8 months in advance that my birthday party would be somehow 90's themed. (And it was!) And also, I thought I'd double dip this year and squeeze another playlist out for Halloween 2017!
Now, here's where it gets fun. Most of my previous CD mixes were able to be duplicated either on You Tube, or Spotify, or iTunes. But I really wanted to go a bit more obscure this year. I dug into my record collection for things that aren't all that commercially available. I made my own "edits" on some of these tracks, and pulled some weird stuff out (like a snippet of a character's band in one case)! I crafted this one a bit differently so that it was unique to the actual physical CD I handed out. But rest assured, I'll still share the track listing below, explain those quirky tweaks, and try my best to replicate a You Tube playlist for those I don't get to see often enough in real life.
Without further ado, here is the track listing to -
DEEP CUTS & SPOOKY SONGS: HALLOWEEN 2017
1. Escape From L.A. theme by John Carpenter & Shirley Walker (from ESCAPE FROM L.A.)
2. Fright Night by J. Geils Band (from FRIGHT NIGHT)
3. It Can't Rain All The Time by Hangman's Joke (Brandon Lee/Eric Draven's band in THE CROW)
4. Amityville Frenzy by Lalo Schirfin (from THE AMITYVILLE HORROR)
5. Theme from Friday The 13th 3D by Harry Manfredini (from FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III)
6. Angela's Theme by Frankie Vinci (from SLEEPAWAY CAMP)
7. The Twilight Zone opening by Marius Constant (from THE TWILIGHT ZONE)
8. The Ballad Of Harry Warden by Paul Zaza (from MY BLOODY VALENTINE)
9. His Eyes by Pseudo Echo (from FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING)
10. Magic (Part 2 Edit) by Mick Smiley (from GHOSTBUSTERS)
11. B.B. Chant "Where Are You Tonight?" by Charles Bernstein (from DEADLY FRIEND)
12. Shocker by The Dudes Of Wrath (from SHOCKER)
13. Partytime (Zombie Version) by 45 Grave (from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD)
14. The Addams Family by Vic Mizzy (from THE ADDAMS FAMILY)
15. Pet Sematary by Sean Keller (cover of The Ramones song from PET SEMATARY)
16. Rock Until You Drop by Bruce Boughton (from THE MONSTER SQUAD)
17. Confusion (Simulakrum Lab Remix) by Claudio Simonetti (from Dario Argento's OPERA)(
18. Ono-Sendai by Makeup and Vanity Set (from DEATH NOTE)
19. Maniac Cop Rap by Jay Chattaway (from MANIAC COP 2)
20. Are You Ready For Freddy? by The Fat Boys (from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER)
21. The Troxin Theme by Francis Haines (from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD)
22. Chariots of Pumpkins by John Carpenter & Alan Howarth (from HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH)
23. Thriller (Instrumental) by Michael Jackson (from THRILLER)
OK, let's take a look at the selections!
John Carpenter is a rock God nowadays. And so what better way to kick off a mix than with one of his tunes? For when he plays live, he usually opens with the "Escape From New York" main theme (my favorite of Carpenter's themes), but the version he plays with his live band is somewhat a hybrid of the tradition synth theme from the original, and the rockin' version from the sequel. I forgot just how much the L.A. theme rocks, and so here's a reminder. His collaboration with the late, great Shirley Walker.
From there, hard to resist the catchy pop theme for FRIGHT NIGHT from the J. Geils Band as track 2. But here's where it gets fun. When I purchased the vinyl version of Graeme Revell's score for THE CROW, in between 2 cues is a 45 second clip of the Hangman's Joke song "It Can't Rain All The Time." That's right, Eric Draven's band within the movie! (And Brandon Lee's voice.) You can hear it for a very brief scene when Sarah remembers the lyric from Eric's trademark song and is spinning the record. When I heard this bit, I knew it'd inevitably have to be on a future mix. And here it is!
So, what was with the disco themes for horror movies in the late 70's/early 80's? Here's a twofer for you, the disco theme from AMITYVILLE HORROR "Amityville Frenzy" and the Harry Manfredini disco track for FRIDAY THE 13TH 3D!
While we're at Camp Crystal Lake, why not check in on Camp Arawak with Frankie Vinci's SLEEPAWAY CAMP theme "Angela's Theme." I know it's Halloween season so it's difficult to transition right to Valentine's Day, hence why I put THE TWILIGHT ZONE theme here! It gives me an excuse to teleport to the glorious "Ballad of Harry Warden!" From there, it's back to Camp Crystal Lake and one of my main inspirations behind this mix, which initially I completely forgot to include until my final test! And that's Pseudo Echo's "His Eyes," which is the groovy rock track that Violet is doing the robot to before her untimely demise in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING.
And immediately, we go into the second half of "Magic" by Mick Smiley from GHOSTBUSTERS. The second half? Yes, I made this edit, because as I described it on an episode of "Damn Fine Cuts From The Crypt," this track is both the best and worst song simultaneously. It starts as a cheesy pop ballad, and then for no rhyme or reason becomes this amazing, catchy tune mid-way through. I decided to snip the first half and only offer the mesmerizing bit for this mix.
Let's keep it weird, shall we? And there's nothing weirder, and yet as awesome, as the closing credits song from DEADLY FRIEND dedicated to that lovable yellow robot B.B.! And in honor of Wes Craven, why not follow that up with the metal theme from SHOCKER! While we're in the rock mood, I can't help but think of the "Partytime" punk anthem by 45 Grave from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD!
And for fun, THE ADDAMS FAMILY opening is up next. This leads us to one of the more special tracks on the compilation, my buddy Sean Keller's incredible country-esque version of The Ramones PET SEMATARY! When I think Halloween, I also think THE MONSTER SQUAD, so we can't forget about "Rock Until You Drop!"
Let's get modern for a few minutes here with some pulse-pounding synthwave starting with Simulakrum Lab's incredible reworking of Claudio Simonetti's theme to Dario Argento's OPERA. And from there, the next logical track is from Adam Wingard's recent Netflix original movie DEATH NOTE, "Ono-Sendai" by Makeup and Vanity Set.
Probably one of the most questionable selections on this mix comes from MANIAC COP 2 and that would be the end credits "Maniac Cop Rap." But hey, one bad tune has to be balanced out by a great one, so from there, The Fat Boys and Freddy Krueger team up to ask if we're "ready for Freddy?"
My last Halloween mix didn't really feature any score material, and so I wanted to sprinkle it through out this new mix, as I already did at the top of it. So, the end had to feature some equally cool tracks, and I went with the opening credit theme from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, followed by John Carpenter & Alan Howarth's main "Chariots of Pumpkins" piece from HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH. To me, while the HALLOWEEN theme may be the more recognizable of Carpenter's discography, HALLOWEEN III is just top notch and my preferred composition.
Ever since that epic STRANGER THINGS 2 trailer dropped during Comic-Con this summer, I've been head over heels in love with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" again. It did, after all, act as a full fledged gateway for me into the horror world at a time when I was my most impressionable. The Making-Of special was my first time seeing a master like Rick Baker at work, and so it'll always hold a special place in my heart! I remembered as a kid having a 12" single of it which featured the album version on Side A, along with a fully instrumental version on Side B. I tracked down a copy of it in the last few weeks and realized that since I closed my 2015 Halloween mix with the single version of "Thriller," I'd have to close this one off with the instrumental one so that you can appreciate the musicianship to the song itself!
I tried my best to recreate this mix below with a You Tube Playlist, so for the curious, you can give it a listen below! For those I cross paths with this month, I shall hand you a CD copy!
Enjoy! And HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
*Header Photo: Alamy
