Happy Halloween From Thurl Ravenscroft!

First, I need to get some housekeeping out of the way. Here is last year's Halloween post, with links to all of 2008's spooky stuff. This year, in addition to the stuff this week, I've posted 20 versions of "Season of the Witch" and ten more versions of "I Put A Spell On You." If the stuff I've put up this week is too goofy, and not horrific enough for you, why not try this post, with a cowboy ghost story? Or this post about crazed murderers? (Speaking of murder, there's no Stag post today, sorry. Stagger Lee Saturdays will return in one week.)

Now that that's out of the way, ladies and gentlemen, may I present a collection of spooky music from this blog's patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft.

Last year I posted several different recordings of Thurl (and other people) singing "Grim Grinning Ghosts," the theme song to The Haunted Mansion. All those from Thurl are included here, but if you want the other versions, you should go there and download the newly reupped zipfile.

This also has clips from a lot of the LPs Thurl recorded for Disneyland records, including excerpts from the Pirates of the Caribbean story record, the Jungle Cruise record, and the gem of this collection, the newly rereleased Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion (where the buy link sends you today -- in addition to Thurl, the record features a pre-Happy Days-but-post-Andy-Griffith Ron Howard). You'll also hear from Spike Jones and, naturally, The Mellomen. I even threw in a track from the soundtrack to The Hobbit.

I usually upload individual files along with the zips, but not today. I've actually taken a few minutes to sequence this out, so just get the whole thing, all right? It's only 30 MB, and about 30 minutes long. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Zipfile

Buy The Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion from Amazon

Guestpost: Jumpin' Gene Simmons - Haunted House

Howdy, all. Today's spooky guestpost is by my good friend, The Chromium Swan (his previous guestpost is here). He sez:

Every holiday is, at least in part, an excuse. An excuse to party, an excuse to travel home to friends or family, or even an excuse to listen to seasonal music. Halloween is my excuse to listen to today's featured song ... "Haunted House," by Jumpin' Gene Simmons (wiki AMG obit). This is not the KISS Gene Simmons with a general disdain for all things civil , but Jumpin' Gene Simmons, who once handed a guitar to an unknown Elvis, and recorded 21 songs with Sam Phillips after that same Mr. Presley gave him a referral. For a little history on his career and why "Haunted House" became the only thing we know him for, see here. But I'd rather talk about the song itself.

To the untrained ear, this is just a wacky song about crazy spirits and their shenanigans; however, I submit for your approval that it is not only a brilliant horror story, but also a snapshot of times gone by. The song starts out with a man, clearly alone, who has just moved into a new home, and simply wants to rest. Anyone who has ever moved can attest to how terrible this experience can be, and how important it is that the post-move period be ghost free. It is therefore fact that any horror movie would be at least 47% more horrifying if it started with the main characters moving (Stephen King capitalized on the only setup that was potentially more horrifying -- having the main character shop for a new car). The guy in the song (we'll call him Gene, b/c 'guy in the song' gets old fast, and I like pretending Gene wrote it) is a rough and tumble guy who, after admitting that moving's tough, immediately follows up by assuring us that he has the situation under control. Gene hears some ringing bells and rattling chains, and demonstrates some training in -- or inclination towards -- recognizing paranormal phenomenon. While a modern guy would have called his home inspector back out to check if the noises came from improperly tightened (but responsibly harvested) ceiling lumber, in 1964 men were men and Gene immediately recognizes the signs of a haunting. All this in the first verse!

Gene decides he's already moved in, and he's not leaving, so he goes about his business. The spirits don't take to this kindly, and next thing you know, he's having a conversation with some kind of creature who threatens him by tapping its feet. Gene breaks out the chorus here and tells the creature that he has been lawfully deeded the position of boss on this property, and that no "haint"* is going to change that, especially after he just finished moving.

The song loses a bit of realism at this point, as Gene starts cooking on his new stove; I have moved many times, and I've never been able to find all my kitchen stuff the same day. However, if you suspend disbelief, you hear about a typical 1964 post-move dinner diet... consisting of coffee, grease and a hunk of meat. When his cooking is interrupted by another spirit, he actually tries to warn it! He's such a tough, two fisted (yet courteous) guy that he warns the ghost it might burn itself! The ghost pays him back by eating his dinner and drinking up all his coffee... which is kind of a jerk move, and qualifies as a truly horrific end to a difficult day.

What happens next? Does he leave the house? Does he do the Monster Mash? Or does he go all Ray Parker Jr. on them? I've listened 100+ times and I'm still not sure how it really ends ... listen and see for yourself.

* A haint is apparently a southern colloquialism for a ghost or spirit ... use of jargon like this further proves our hero Gene is an expert in the paranormal.

Jumpin' Gene Simmons - Haunted House
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Vincent Price - A Chilling Challenge

So this post requires a little backstory. Last year for Halloween, I hosted a party wherein we watched House on Haunted Hill, the original one with Vincent Price, and I recreated the original in-theater gimmick of "Emergo."

I was watching the movie a few days earlier in preparation, and two things struck me. First, the movie is a little like Scooby-Doo -- the "real" monsters never appear, and it's basically just an atmospheric crime thriller (or dark comedy, if you take the same attitude Price clearly did). And that's a lot of fun.

The other thing that struck me is that the characters are locked in a haunted house, one with "no windows, and no doors," leaving them the "chilling challenge" of finding a way out. As a budding Disneyphile, I thought, hang on, Vincent Price played host during the first years of Phantom Manor over at Disneyland Paris -- I wonder if he says those lines from the Ghost Host's spiel? Lo and behold, he does. So I quickly edited this together as an audio introduction to the film. Now, curious friends, you too can hear this.

Once you've listened to this, be sure to click here to see the original film in all its dark, hilarious, scary glory. And, be sure to come back Saturday evening, for more from the original Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.

Vincent Price - Phantom Manor Excerpts
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The Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band - Monster Mash LIVE!

Here we go, kids, a special Halloween treat. This is an audio rip from the first episode of legendary British children's show Do Not Adjust Your Set. The show helped cement the TV careers of 2/3 of Monty Python, not to mention today's musical contributors, The Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band (official wiki AMG).

The Bonzos included Vivian Stanshall (right) on guitar and lead vocals (he was known to do a killer Elvis impression, featured during the band's performance in Magical Mystery Tour) and Neil Innes on piano and vocals. The Frankenstein Monster in the middle of the picture is Sam Spoons, who plays a nice solo on the spoons in this song.

I have several other performances by the Bonzos of this song, but I'm fond of Viv's spoken interlude in this, and the chaos the song descends into at the end. More spooky stuff to come -- stay tuned!

The Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band - Monster Mash
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Monster Mansion Ridethrough

So remember my longish post on Monster Mansion? It's the only dark ride at Six Flags Over Georgia, the one which until this year was called "Monster Plantation." If you don't recall it, the best thing to do is click through up there and read it.

Anyway, the park FINALLY released an official soundtrack CD, which is something I hadn't even bothered to hope for -- Six Flags doesn't do things like that, and in fact my tentative research indicates that the Georgia park hasn't put out an album since the early 70's.

I hadn't planned to post this ridethrough on the blog -- I bought the CD specifically to get the ridethrough, and I'd like other people to buy the CD too (incidentally, only available in the park, so if you don't buy it by November 1 you can't get it till next March -- I have one extra, so comment if you must have a copy). I'd planned to post the new area music, produced by these guys, but though it's great fun, the track is 15 minutes long, and I don't have the time or energy to edit it down tonight.

So, ridethrough it is. As I mentioned in the earlier post, nothing substitutes for actually being in the room with the singing robots and seeing/hearing/feeling all the 4D effects. So go, this weekend (I'll be there Sunday morning, the last operating day of the year) if you can, and if not, the next time you're in Atlanta.

Monster Mansion Ridethrough
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Multiple Mondays: Season of the Witch Volume Two

Here's a second helping of Donovan's atmospheric classic (click here to see Volume One).

In chronological order, here are ten versions. As always, I recommend the zip, but you can cherry pick. (I have many more versions, but they are mostly either terrible, or jambands, which -- sorry! -- tend to run together to me. If you wanna hear more, comment down below.)

Zipfile

Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger (1967) 1 2
Vanilla Fudge (1968) 1 2
Terry Reid (1968) 1 2
Pesky Gee! (1969) 1 2
Suck (1970) 1 2
Coupla Prog (1970) 1 2
Richard Thompson (2003) 1 2
David Gans and Bob Weir (live 2004) 1 2
The Strangelings (2007) 1 2
Blue Matter (2007) 1 2

Silly Sundays - Rose and the Arrangement - The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati

It's less than a week to Halloween, so hang on to those hats and glasses -- we're going to hear some spooky, kooky, ooky things between now and then.

Here's my favorite song ever about horror films. With a title reminiscent of "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago," and a group of accomplished musicians and singers, Rose and the Arrangement (Dr. Demento loves them) serve up a delicious platter of horrendous rhymes and a catchy earwig of a tune. This was on the first Dr. Demento compilation I ever got, and it's a great novelty tune. Its greatness is largely due to a refusal to take anything seriously, even its own jokes. (I love that the singer has to apologize for one particularly bad pun, and that the background singers criticize the finale of the song.)

The title was borrowed for an otherwise unrelated micro-budget film in 1996, and I don't normally link to these things, but this fan video for the song made me laugh a lot.

Come back tomorrow -- more spoooooky recordings are on the way!

Rose and the Arrangement - The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Johnny Moeller

Johnny Moeller (archived official wiki AMG) grew up in Texas listening to his father's blues collection, along with the standard rock and pop. He's best known these days as guitarist for The Fabulous Thunderbirds, but here's a version from a few years before he joined that band.

This is a strolling blues cover of Lloyd Price's version of the song, and is credited to Logan/Price on the CD. While Moeller is the artist of record, both the vocals and rockin piano duties were performed admirably here by Moeller's friend Shawn Pittman (official myspace).

Johnny Moeller - Stagger Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Merle Travis

Merle Travis (fansite wiki AMG) was a highly influential country guitar picker, born in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky (which "Paradise" would later be stripmined for coal) in 1917. He befriended Tennessee Ernie Ford, and even wrote "Sixteen Tons," which would become Ernie's biggest hit.

This is a loose, laidback version, recorded only two years before Travis' death. His voice is appropriately aged, warm and crackling. He improvises a few lyrics, such as Billy's unimpressive claim to have "one little chilluns." You'll note that this is a rare version of Stag where the gambling is over cards, rather than dice. It's also nice that in this version Billy has a gun too -- seems a little more honorable when Stag shoots him dead.

But all that pales in comparison to the real treasure here: the guitar picking. This is one man, on one guitar, but it sounds like at least two of each. I'm a supremely uncoordinated person (which is one reason I have no instrumental talent), but just think -- Travis is singing, and playing a melody line on the guitar, and a rhythm line on the guitar, all at the same time. I'm pretty sure that if I tried any two of those three things, my head would explode. Merle Travis does all three without breaking a sweat, at the age of 64 -- if I have half this much energy at that age, I'll be grateful.

Merle Travis - Stack O'Lee
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Multiple Mondays: Season of the Witch

It's October, so here's another ten spooky recordings for ya. Donovan Leitch (official myspace wiki AMG) wrote and recorded "Season of the Witch" in 1966. It's a perfect, almost obligatory garage jam -- only two chords, with incredible atmosphere and a perfect skeleton to hang your own improvisations and musical ideas on. (I spent some time at archive.org this week, and downloaded 21 live versions from 21 different artists, which should give you an idea of the popularity among jam bands.)

The covers of this song started right away -- here we have The Little Boy Blues' take from 1967, and Sam Gopal's magnificently fuzzy, amped-up version from 1968 (via). The Dedikation (via) were a New Zealand group, and their 1969 cover has the tastiest organ licks this side of Al Kooper. Speaking of Mr. Kooper, we're also hearing his version with Steven Stills and Mike Bloomfield, from their 1968 Super Session album (featuring Donovan's drummer "Fast" Eddie Hoh).

G. Love and Special Sauce want to play you a representative jamband version, Lou Rawls adds his distinctive jazzy soul touch to the song, and Jenny DeVivo turns the song into a techie dance groove, complete with obscure audio samples.

Finally, we're going to hear two of my ten favorite covers of all time. Luna's take on this song has one of the five best openings of any pop song ever (someday I'll write a post with the entire list) -- this is one of the peppiest records ever, and my favorite version of this song.

Then, my final mention of Dr. John (previously 1 2 3) for a while: his dirty, funky, greasy voodoo take on the song is not only the best thing about Blues Brothers 2000, it's quite possibly the best thing any human being did in the entirety of 1998.

I have about 30 more versions of this song, almost all of them good, so if I get any requests I'd be more than happy to put up a second volume of this song. As usual, I recommend the zipfile, but you can cherrypick if you feel like it.

Zip file

Donovan 1 2
The Little Boy Blues 1 2
Sam Gopal 1 2
The Dedikation 1 2
Steven Stills, Mike Bloomfield, and Al Kooper 1 2
G. Love and Special Sauce 1 2
Lou Rawls 1 2
Jenny DeVivo 1 2
Luna 1 2
Dr. John and The Blues Brothers Band 1 2

Stagger Lee Saturdays - Taj Mahal and the Hula Blues Band

Taj Mahal first recorded a version of Stag in 1969, and here's his take 31 years later. This is a lovely island version, with ukuleles and a full, Hawaiian-tinged band.

This is, if I'm not mistaken, the first version of the song I've posted which posits that Stag's hat is, in fact, magical. I read in Cecil Brown's masterful book Stagolee Shot Billy that quite a few versions indicate that Stag traded his soul to the devil for a magical hat which would give him good luck gambling, but at the time I couldn't think of any version in particular which did so. Here's one of them.

It's weird, kind of, to hear the New Orleans version of Stag ("...every step you take, you're stepping in Delyons' blood...") with this type of backing music, but this is great fun. I recently had to pass up on an opportunity to see Taj and Bonnie Raitt live (due to lack of funds and concert companion), and while it's unlikely he did a version of Stag at that show, I still mourn the lost opportunity.

Taj Mahal and the Hula Blues Band - Stagger Lee
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Multiple Mondays: I Put A Spell On You: The Threequel

Hi, folks. Sorry about the lack of Stagger Lee over the weekend -- I had a family daytrip to go on, and forgot to prepare a post ahead of time. Why? Well, I was working on this:

It's October, and people all over the world will be listening to "I'll Put A Spell On You" in a few weeks. Last year, I put up a total of 19 versions of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' classic voodoo howl. I just reupped the zip, and you can find Volumes One and Two here. Now, here are ten more versions of the song.

As Volume Two was mostly concerned with late-60's garage versions of the song, Volume Three is predominantly bluesy, and at some points even really mellow. (I particularly recommend Robben Ford's lovely, quiet instrumental version.)

My original, disastrous attempt to put together a collection involved weeding out all the artists we'd heard from already in the previous collections, and I found that a lot of the other versions I have... aren't fantastic. (I'm looking at you, Diamanda Galas!) So we're hearing a remix of the Sonique version we heard in Volume One, and the Woodstock recording from Creedence, whose version I put up in Volume Two. We've also got a live version from Gov't Mule, and a menacing 1980 rerecording from Screamin' Jay himself, with one K. Richards on guitar (via How Marvellous -- thanks!).

Mr. Richards' friend Bill Wyman is here too, as Beverley Skeete takes the Simone-ish vocal duties for his Rhythm Kings. You'll also hear from Tab Benoit, Jimmy Barnes, Leslie West, and The Black Elevators (with a version which I think frequent commenter CD emailed me last year).

I have about seven more versions of the song, but as I mentioned some aren't great, so you'll have to wait till next October for another collection. I've zipped them all up, and I'd recommend that, but you can cherry pick too if you like.

Zip file

Screamin' Jay Hawkins feat. K. Richards 1 2
Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings 1 2
Robben Ford 1 2
Tab Benoit 1 2
Leslie West 1 2
Jimmy Barnes 1 2
The Black Elevators 1 2
CCR live at Woodstock 1 2
Sonique (Full Vocal Remix) 2
Gov't Mule (live Chattanooga TN) 1 2