Monday, October 01, 2012

Halloween Hits: Sounds Of Terror! - Pickwick Records (1974)

Front Cover
I have a copy of this 1974 Pickwick Records story album. And some of it is surprisingly shocking for what would be an ordinary kid's record. Even today, to say NOTHING of 1974.

Label Side One

Label SideTwo

Back Cover
The record starts off with a cheesy re-recording of "Monster Mash" (NOT the original hit. Hey, this is a Pickwick product. What did you expect?) But then it gets downright creepy on Side 2 with several stories, most involving torture of some kind. " Buried Alive", "Keel Hauled" "Burned At The Stake", etc. are super creepy for any little kid with the tortured screams and the effects are really twisted (especially the sizzling sound during "Burned At The Stake").

However the other recordings "Victims Of The Guillotine", "The Exorcism" "The Incredible Giant Crab" and "Curse Of The Zombies" sound hysterical with the fake accents and terrible script. But it should be noted that the writer of this album was soon to be famous screenwriter Frank Daniel, who had just emigrated to America and these sessions were produced by Wade Denning, a big band conductor who became a session producer at Pickwick and also made a few other classic Halloween kids albums, including his most famous, the much tamer Halloween with Kay Lande on Wonderland Records. 

  

                                                              "Buried Alive"


I wish there were more examples I could present, but I'm not sure of the copyright status of this album. So I just present what I can find on the web. I have already digitized this album fortunately if I get some good news.....
SIDE 1
1. THE MONSTER MASH
2. THE WEREWOLF ATTACKS
3. DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE
4. FRANKENSTEIN RETURNS
5. JACK THE RIPPER
6. KING KONG
7. COUNT DRACULA
8. THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN
9. THE MUMMY'S REVENGE



SIDE 2
1. BURIED ALIVE
2. BURNED AT THE STAKE
3. THE EXORCISM
4. THE INCREDIBLE GIANT CRAB
5. VICTIMS OF THE GUILLOTINE
6. CURSE OF THE ZOMBIES
7. KEEL HAULED
8. THE TORTURE CHAMBER
9. THE BLOB
10. THE NIGHTMARE OF LOST SOULS
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8 comments:

  1. TurlingtonTuesday, October 02, 2012

    I had this record as a kid and, yes, I always thought it was rather more "disturbing" than the other Halloween kiddie records, but in a good way. Well, actually, it was rather twisted.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Larry WaldbilligTuesday, October 02, 2012

    It was pretty twisted. Not your average kids record. Of course the Monster Mash cover was thrown in to sell the record to unsuspecting buyers who thought they were getting the original Bobby Pickett tune. The album probably wouldn't have sold without it, but it could have LIVED without it.

    There's a TON of old Halloween hits I'll be posting here this month.....

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kevin KarstensWednesday, November 20, 2013

    https://archive.org/details/SoundsofTerror

    ...You're welcome...;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Larry WaldbilligWednesday, December 04, 2013

    Thank you Karstens! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFriday, October 24, 2014

    The headless horseman's laughter always creeped me out back in the 70's! The audio alone leaves a LOT to the imagination!

    ReplyDelete
  6. DaveThursday, September 10, 2015

    I actually still have this album. The cover TERRIFIED me as a child. It still pops up in nightmares from time to time.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownThursday, October 06, 2016

    It would be cool to have this in surround sound. Especially the headless horseman track!

    ReplyDelete
  8. TimSunday, October 09, 2016

    It's a classic.

    ReplyDelete

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