Month: October 2023

Audio

Halloween I


TRACK #360:

Halloween I by The Splash Band

So, we’ve hit the 10 slot now on this disco run, but there’s a problem. Ya see, there just really aren’t any disco Halloween songs. There’s certainly songs you can listen to on Halloween. Hell, we just heard like 6 of em, but actual “Halloween” disco songs, for whatever reason, seem non-existent.

Now, there is Disco Halloween, which kinda tricks you into thinking it’s disco, but that’s just Italo-Disco and we know the story there. Besides we already got that one, it’s back at #291.

There was even a disco/funk band called Halloween. Exciting, I know. But alas, they never released a Halloween song, nor anything even mildly Halloween related, which seems like a big whiff, you ask me. Why even call yourselves Halloween? What’s the gag there? I couldn’t tell ya, I’m just a guy scratching his head.

Now, there is Number One Ensemble, better known around town as NOE, and they have a full-on Halloween song called Halloween. Various outlets will either refer to them as Italo-Disco or out-and-out Disco, and indeed they have some sorta Disco sounding tracks. Unfortunately, their song Halloween isn’t one of them. It’s a fine song that I like quite a bit and it’ll definitely get its day on the playlist, but that day is not today.

No. Tonight, we’re gonna go with the other track that you might see pop up in a search for Halloween Disco. And since we’re already talking about Meco, now seems like the perfect time to finally highlight The Splash Band, who kinda did for John Carpenter what Meco did for John Williams.

In the early 80’s, German electronic outfit The Splash Band released, almost exclusively, dance versions of John Carpenter themes. They did drop a Buck Rogers and Power of Love as well, but most were just the J-Carp hitters.

Now, they’re not exactly disco, despite some of the themes having that word attached to them, which certainly explains the search results. I’d say it’s closer to Italo-Disco, or more probably Space Disco. But honestly, this is electronic music through and through and it wouldn’t seem at all out of place snuck inside your typical modern Synthwave playlist. But it is somewhat dancy and definitely of the era, so we’re gonna go with it.

The Splash Band were the product of absolute workhorse Italo Producer, Ralf Hennings. This guy churned out a ridiculous amount of records for German label ZYX, the people who basically gave Italo-Disco its name. But we’ll get to that more in a little bit.

As you’ve probably already inferred, this is a cover of John’s classic Halloween Theme. But The Splash Band have 2 different versions of that theme; Halloween I and Halloween II. I didn’t know which one I wanted to include, so I listened to them back to back for like 3 straight hours. Each time one ended, I was convinced it was the one I wanted to include,…until the next one started. They’re both great!

Now, their Halloween II is definitely different, but I wouldn’t say it’s a straight cover of the Halloween II Theme. It’s funky though, and it’s got a quality that separates it from other versions of the theme. Le Matos, composers of both the Turbo Kid and Summer of ‘84 scores, also have a version of the Halloween II Theme that’s definitely worth checking out as well. Very Synthwave, very retro, but totally sidechained and modern sounding. That one sounds like a direct cover of the Halloween II. Splash Band? Not exactly.

As much as I like that Halloween II though, it ultimately felt just a tad sluggish when compared to the other, so we’re goin with Halloween I.

Dancing us out of our Dracula Block, here’s The Splash Band asking…you wanna go to the dance?

 

 

This isn’t exactly where I intended to end the additions this year, but we got a little sidetracked recording a new episode of Shindig Radio that I hope you’ll all be able to hear real soon!

Until then, I’d like to thank you all for joining us this season, letting Halloween Shindig fill your ears with festive sounds, and I wish you all a very Happy Halloween!

 

Audio

Werewolf (Loose In London)

TRACK #359:

 

Werewolf (Loose In London) by Meco

Now, I probably should have just wrapped this all up with another Drac-Track and gotten us straight to the 10 slot on nothing but Draculas. And I could have too, Lord knows I have enough. But I figured we’re all a little fanged-out.

So we’re gonna double down on Meco and pivot to a bit referential werewolf action.

Cause If you ever wanted to hear what it might sound like if you asked AI to give you 80’s KISS covering Queen’s nonexistent Almost Title Track from An American Werewolf in London, allow me to present Meco’s Werewolf (Loose in London.)

In 1967, Mike Nichol’s tapped Simon and Granfunkel to provide songs for his new film The Graduate, and proceeded to blow Hollywood’s collective mind. A #1 hit single, a #1 hit album and 3 Grammy awards later, that town had a whole new blueprint for cross-marketing. One that generated its own goddamn revenue stream to boot.

And it was cheaper too. At that time, anyway. It isn’t any longer, but in the late 60’s and 70’s it sure was. Need a soundtrack? Just populate your film with licensed music, get a popular band to cut ya an exclusive track or two, then take all the money you just saved and put it in the bank to wait for all the other money you’re gonna make.

In 1977 however, John William’s skirted this new trend and brought soundtracks back to the golden era with Star Wars. In the process, he created the best selling non-pop album of all time and a theme which itself hit #10 on the Billboard charts.

As we know, Meco then made his disco version, and that fucker shot to #1 and stayed there for 2 weeks.

The same year though, the Bee Gee ladened soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever dominated the charts with four #1 hits and selling over 16 million copies. It’s still one of the best selling albums, not just soundtracks, but albums of all time. It was even the first soundtrack to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. And that’s only happened twice since.

So by 1981, movie soundtracks we’re big business. They could helped promote a film just as much as TV and Radio spots or good word of mouth. The movie sold the soundtrack and the soundtrack sold the movie and everyone was riding that ouroboros all the way to the bank.

But John Landis’ new horror comedy An American Werewolf in London posed an interesting problem to the formula. Elmer Bernstein’s score for the film, though wonderfully atmospheric, only ran about 7 minutes long. The rest of the soundtrack was made of moon-tunes from the likes of Van Morrison, Creedence Clearwater Revival and 3 different versions of Blue Moon. All good stuff, to be sure.

However, trying to pass off that limited assortment as a real LP for public consumption seemed like like a hard sell, I guess.

So, Polygram got the ingenious idea to let international Disco soundtrack leech Domencio Monardo loose on an “inspired by” album.

What resulted was Impressions of An American Werewolf in London, a double entendre of an album that I’m not sure was intentional or not.

This bizarre mishmash of weird covers, reworkings and strange originals is the official soundtrack for the film. For real. It’s listed in the credits. This was it. This is the thing. And they weren’t exactly flying off the shelves either.

And why not? Isn’t that why people buy soundtracks? To listen to a bunch of weird shit that wasn’t in the movie mixed with bastardized versions of the stuff that was?

No. It’s not. And they didn’t.

For us fans though, some 40 years after the fact looking for referential jams for our Halloween playlist, Impressions is like a weird little dish of what-the-fuckery cooked to order.

Namely, the cut Werewolf (Loose in London), which is exactly the kind of song you’d wish had actually been in the film, if only it didn’t sound like the kind of song that shouldn’t be in a film like this at all.

But it’s here for us now, in all it’s officially sanctioned and referential glory.

I’ll leave you with this quote from John Landis himself, which like Meco’s Moondancer, appears right on the back of the sleeve.

“Here I would like to brag about how unique this is, however I’m afraid Meco has done this same thing rather spectacularly before with the scores of STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, SUPERMAN, STAR TREK, THE BLACK HOLE, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK….”

Oh, I’d say this is just a little bit different than that, John.

And pretty fuckin’ unique.

 

 

Audio

Dracula Mini-Playlist

 

Well, it was only a matter of time before all these Drac-Tracks started to stack and needed a coffin to call their own.

So, for all The Count’s solo outings (and for all those still yet to come) here’s a mini-playlist for all ya’ll Fang-atics to enjoy!

Sink your teeth into the (admittedly, mostly disco, and mostly already blocked out) goodness that is Dracula on wax, without any of those annoying songs about Freddy Krueger or Trick or Tricking to harsh the buzz.

 

 

Audio

Monster Disco Ball!

Not since the Shock! Theater revival of the late 50’s and early 60’s had so many non-acts decided it was a groovy idea to start singing about Frankenstein and Dracula. Especially Dracula, yeesh.

And why? Is there something I’m not understanding about Monster Music? Did this shit sell? Were they making a killing tapping into this market? Who knows. Someone was making something beyond these folks just making these records, or else no one would been having them make ’em, right?

But it’s not like this is Christmas music, where you’re almost guaranteed a boot-load of sales, and for years to come, so long as your record isn’t a complete pile of shit. No, this is Monster music. You’re already dealing with a pretty lean fan base to begin with and without that wholesome, doesn’t-it-just-make-ya-feel-good-by-the-fire vibe, what’s the angle? Your Grandma ain’t listening to fuckin Disco Blood, ya know? Well, I mean, unless she is, and that’s awesome. Doubt that’s most of our Grandmas, though.

Was there a large market for this shit in the late 70’s that I’m just not understanding? Pretty much all of these pre-date Thriller as well, so I’m just confused. Why were so many artists leaning into this?

 

I  couldn’t tell ya, but boy am I glad they did. Above you will find the finest in Monster Disco The Shindig has to offer, including a couple of Monster Disco Ball exclusives! 

So blast a rail or 2 off a mirrored ball, throw on a Don Post Mask and Boogyman down!

Audio

Love Me Dracula

TRACK #358:

Love Me Dracula by Meco

Ah Meco. You know know Meco, right? He’s the guy you can thank (or blame) for The Star Wars Christmas Album Christmas in the Stars. I’ll be thanking him, thank you very much, but your mileage may vary.

Years before that Imperial entanglement though, he was known as the guy who made John Williams watch as a disco version of his Star Wars Theme hit #1 on the Billboard charts while his own version peaked at #10. He also almost stole John’s Grammy Award to boot, and for the same composition! The balls on this guy.

Well, he did it again, in the same fuckin year, with the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. John got his revenge that time though, with his original theme besting Meco’s disco version in the charts, and winning another Grammy, while Meco didn’t even see a nomination.

But, that didn’t stop Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania’s Domenico Monardo, though. No way. The following year he tried to rebottle boogie lightning yet again with a version of another Williams score. This time it was Superman, but it didn’t fare quite as well as the others, unfortunately.

Additionally, he took a disco stab at The Wizard of Oz, Shogun, Anything Goes, Jerry Goldsmith’s Star Trek, and even more John Williams with Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back. What can I say? The guy had an M.O.

In between all that disco apery though, Meco somehow found time to release a genuine original album in 1979’s Moondancer. The album’s cover was designed by Meco himself and the back has an introduction written by him as well, and it’s perhaps the best part:

“One night I dreamt that I was at a disco. What was so unusual about the dream was that the disco was on the Moon, and among the regular clientele were many Creatures of the Night.

I asked the intergalactic Council to teleport me there to see if such a place existed.

Sure enough, there it was; just as I imagined it would be! I couldn’t believe it.

Down in a huge gorge, stretching for miles was the disco:

MOONDANCER.

Dancing the endless night away were all the creatures I had dreamed of.

I asked Casablanca Records to allow me to record my impressions of that night.

My orchestra and I invite you to listen and enjoy:

MOONDANCER.”

Outstanding.

Because it’s Meco though, 2 of its 6 tracks are covers. However, because it’s also Meco, the man who never met a fad he didn’t wanna capitalize on, there’s a Disco Dracula number on there too. Fuck yeah there is.

And it’s a good one too. It wasn’t written by Monardo (as most of the album is not, unsurprisingly) but it’s a standup double of a Disco Dracula and (I think) the bright spot on an a fairly bland and generic disco album.

For me, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Rock Me Dracula by Mokka. Is this just another count on Meco’s lengthy larcenous indictment, or did Mokka try to out-Meco Meco?

Or hell, maybe great Disco Dracula minds think alike the whole world over. But, since they both dropped in ‘79, without any concrete dates, we may never know for sure.

What I can say though, is that this is where our Disco Dracula block will come to an end. For now, we will bid The Count farewell, but like all immortal creatures of the night, he will rise again soon enough, to strike fear into our ears once more.

Until then, Love Me Dracula!

 

Audio

Ooh Dracula

TRACK #357:

Ooh Dracula by Empire

So here’s a weird Disco Dracula with a confusing release history.

I originally came across this song as simply Dracula, sung by Linda Susan Bauer. I loved it and shoved it in the bullpen, as is custom.

Later, while digging around for other monster disco madness, I ran across the suggestion of the song Ooh Dracula, as performed by Hysteric. I listened to that, but it wasn’t really much of anything except a remix, yet it sounded a little different from Linda’s song.

What was it a remix of then?

Well, apparently the song Ooh Dracula by the German Disco group Empire.

So, I double checked around on Linda Susan Bauer and found out she was one of the singers for Empire, and that her version was itself a reworking of that version. Ok then.

Problem is, the band Empire isn’t really a band at all. They’re basically just this other band called Methusalem. Wait, what?

Ok, so bear with me with on this, cause the information is a little spotty. From what I can garner, Methusalem was a project of a producer named Jack White. Not that guy with the white pants, but this guy.

See, he was German. He also used to be a professional soccer player. But more importantly, he produced David Hasselhoff’s albums, including his Berlin Wall-leveling hit, Looking for Freedom.

More famously (I would assume), he was the man responsible for producing Laura Branigan, including her very actual hits Self Control, How Am I Suppose to Live Without You? and her insanely popular version of Umberto Tozzi’s Gloria. In fact, he also produced her hit The Lucky One, which appears in 1986’s Killer Party, is sitting in the bullpen and waiting it’s debut on The Shindig.

I think even more importantly though, Jack White is the man that produced the soundtrack to the 1984 Sci-Fi Musical Pia Zadora vehicle Voyage of the Rock Aliens. Choice.

However, before all of that success, Jack had been releasing disco singles to limited acclaim in the late 70’s. Methusalem’s lone album, Journey Into the Unknown, was released in 1980, also to limited acclaim.

So, Jack just continued producing disco singles, including one with Linda Susan Bauer entitled Shot Down under the moniker Empire.

When that single performed well, Jack figured he’d try and give Methusalm a new set of legs. So in 1981, he took Journey Into the Unknown, added Shot Down and another a new song he’d also produced with Linda entitled Ooh Dracula and released it as Empire’s lone LP, The First Album. Incidentally, that was also their last album as neither Empire nor Methusalem released anything after.

Some later, bootleggy repressings of Journey Into the Unknown feature the additional 2 songs, but from what I can tell, those are mostly erroneous. Even some places online will attribute this song to Methusalem, which is just as well I suppose. But as far as I can tell, nothing official by the Methusalem moniker was ever released containing Ooh Dracula. This appears to be “Empire” song, whatever that really means.

Linda herself released the song as just Dracula in 1982, and that’s the one I was familiar with. It’s not terribly different, from what I can tell. Maybe a little less synthy. Hard to say, really. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was the same track.

So what is Empire then? Well, basically Shot Down and Ooh Dracula, that’s what Empire is, featuring vocals by Linda Susan Bauer.

Methusalem is the rest of that album, with vocals from English singer Vicky Brown.

Now that that’s cleared up, what with this song?

Well, it’s your typical sort of Dracula tale. A woman is obsessed with that god forsaken creature of the night, and despite what everyone (including common goddamn sense) tells her, she’s determined to become a slave to that thing.

Oh well.

Better her than me, I suppose. Seems like it’s hard to resist that guy. Thankfully, we’ve never crossed paths. However, I do feel confident that my years of listening to Dracula songs has given me the tools necessary to fully protect myself from his evil ways.

Oh fuck yooh, Dracula! I dont’ care what you say!

 

 

Audio

Sweet Sexy Dracula

TRACK #356:

Sweet Sexy Dracula by Café Au Lait

Disco was pretty big in Japan. While American Rock ‘N Roll grabbed Japanese pop culture for the late 60’s and early 70’s, by 1974, that island was dancing to a new beat.

As such, lots of Disco artists enjoyed great success overseas. Some even went so far as to release records exclusively in Japan. Ice (aka Captain Dax) is a good example of a band directing their attention almost entirely to the Japanese market. And it seems such was the case with our next Disco Dracula enablers, the curiously French named, Café Au Lait.

Café Au Lait is a coffee drink. I know this now because if you try and search for this band, the results are pretty much exclusively this drink. It’s kinda like a latte I guess, only it’s made with regular coffee instead of espresso. Great. I feel more sophisticated already.

Now, what the fuck a French coffee beverage has to do with Disco, Dracula or Japan is anyone’s guess. But let’s talk less about coffee and more about those other 3 things for a moment.

Hot Blood’s 1975 gateway drug Soul Dracula, was a pretty big hit in Japan. I mean, it was a pretty big hit here too, and practically spawned what’s shaping up to be an entire sub-genre of music, but in Japan, they were clamoring for it a bit more insatiably.

So much so it seems that, according to wild and unconfirmed sources on the crazy ass internet, Japan (the entire country, I guess) asked Mr. Alain Goraguer to produce his Soul Dracula sound-alike Sexy Dracula. Ok, that seems plausible, weird commenter on discogs, sure. We’ll just go with that.

Was it a hit. I dunno. Maybe?

Not to be outdone, Café Au Lait sought to court a case of Japanese disco fever 3 years later with Sweet Sexy Dracula.

Now, it can be tricky digging up info on these old, sometimes one-off, bands from over 40 years ago. And that difficultly gets compounded if you name your group after a fuckin’ coffee drink.

They don’t sound French to me. Could be Canadian, I suppose. Hell, could be French, but I’m not hearing it. Least not from the lead singer.

So, who were Café Au Lait? Where were they from? Surely they’re not Japanese, but this record was released there. They actually produced a whole LP titled Midnight Bazaar. That’s more than you can say for a lot of these Disco Dracula folk. Sweet Sexy Dracula is the lead-off batter on that album too and you’re goddamn right it is.

I search and type, and dig through YouTube comments and discog notes. Search again with different keywords but mostly I just find people selling the record or featuring it on write-ups or mixes of Disco Dracula songs with no more information than “Hey, here’s another one.” Maybe I’m just bad at looking. Maybe I can’t read Japanese. Maybe the information just isn’t out there.

I did find this fascinating article recently from Diabolique Magazine in 2018. It details a bunch of the big Dracula Disco hitters, in addition to the films of 1979, all as a framework for Disco Demolition Night.

That was the night of the infamous anti-disco promotional shitshow cooked up by Shock Jock Steve Dahl in Chicago. They held it at Comisky Park after a White Sox double-header in July of 1979. The plan was that everyone who came to the stadium that night would bring a disco record with them and then Steve would blow up the whole lot after the games. And he did! Then shit got a little out of hand over at the ballpark. It always comes back to baseball around here, it seems.

But this article appears to be the only thing of its kind really. And perhaps rightfully so. But it doesn’t touch upon any of the little guys; the Hotlines, the Bob Babylones or sadly, the Café Au Laits.

Am I crazy? Am I the only one who cares? Am I the lone person hearing these tunes thinking – man, I’d like to know just a little bit more about the people that made this weird song, so I can write more than “Hey Dracula and cocaine were a crazy duo in the 70’s, huh?”

Feeling at my wits end I actually consulted the harbinger of human civilization’s ruin du jour, ChatGPT.

After wrestling for hours with that goofball, who can’t even seem to return the results of a basic Google search, I did get a bit of information.

Who knows how solid that it is though, as I have yet to get that dipshit to provide me a link that actually takes me where it says it’s suppose to.

Seriously, anyone who’s afraid ChatGPT might be the end of humanity, go have a fuckin’ conversation with that nimrod about a 40 year old Dracula Disco song. Your fears will be instantly quelled, particularly when it repeats back the information you just feed it as though it dug it up on its own. Oh Café Au Lait seem to be fairly obscure Disco band that only released 1 record called Midnight Bazaar, huh? No shit, buddy, I just fuckin’ told you that.

So alas, that’s what I’m left with. That and some speculation. Maybe no one actually cares. Maybe no one wants to read about me caring that no one seems to care. Maybe nobody wants to read at all, particularly dumb things written by dumb me on this dumb blog devoted to dumb shit. Who knows?

Maybe all they want (if they even want this at all) is to just hear the damn song and move on. And maybe that all ya’ll want too, so here it comes.

 

Audio

Episode 21: It’s In The Movie: What the Fuck? Edition


It’s October and if you’re listening to the Halloween Shindig playlist and you hear a song that sounds like it doesn’t belong, that’s probably because…

IT’S IN THE MOVIE!

Special guest and YouTube creator Josh Spiegel – writer, director and star of the new film The Last Amityville Movie – joins Graham C. Schofield and Mikey Rotella as they wade through some out-of-place inclusive tracks from the likes of Trick or Treats (1982), Night Train to Terror (1985), Berserker (1987), Paganini Horror (1989) and more!

It might not sound like it belongs on a Halloween playlist, but it does, cause it’s not only in the movie, but it’s definitely in the movie on…

IT’S IN THE MOVIE: WHAT THE FUCK? EDITION

 

Audio

Sexy Dracula

TRACK #355:

Sexy Dracula by Monsieur Goraguer

Now, I know when I started this Dracula block, I forgot to mention that it was basically gonna be another Disco Dracula Block. Sorry about that.

If you’re all like “Seriously? There’s more of these fuckin’ Disco Dracula songs? How is that even possible?” I feel it’s only courteous to inform you that this batch doesn’t even cover them all.

So, you’ll definitely be hearing more, eventually. But this will probably be the only other “block” of them, as after this batch, there aren’t as many I really like.

First and foremost, there’s Sweet Exorcist’s Disco Vampire. There’s a few different versions, but even the best of them can’t stop that tune from being just a little bit irritating.

Sweet Exorcist was one of many aliases used by our old friends The Lafayette Afro Band, whom you may remember as Captain Dax of Dr. Beezar Soul Frankenstein fame. They used a lot of names over the years like Krispie and Company, Bionic Unlimited and Ice.

As Ice they actually released a grip of Playlist prospects like Disco Frankenstein, Igor’s Reggae and Creature from the Freak Lagoon. Unfortunately, I don’t particularly like those much more than Disco Vampire.

Then there’s Possession’s Black Dracula. That one kinda grooves. You might catch this one of the playlist eventually.

Of course there’s also the other 2 tracks I mentioned from Dracula Blows His Cool. I may still include one of those yet, I dunno.

Pan Demonium cut a tune in 1979 called Dracula’s Dream, which definitely looked to jump on Disco Dracula train. That song’s fine and all, but it wasn’t really exciting enough for this block. Later on in the playlist? Possibly.

Maya’s Mister Dracula is definitely worth a spin and likely to join this playlist within the next few years I’m sure, while Bobby Babylone’s Viva Dracula definitely will be and narrowly escaped not being featured this year.

There’s also Disco Vampirella, Vampire State Blvd., Super Blood Sucker, there’s even The Rah Band, with their cut Vampire Vamp. Now, I like that one a lot, but it’s only an instrumental and doesn’t directly reference Dracula or have much ambience.

Tonight’s Disco Dracula tune, however, has that in spades. It too is mostly an instrumental, like Soul Dracula or Disco Blood. But also like those songs, it’s got Dracula vibe to spare.

From Monsieur Goraguer, comes Sexy Dracula, a sort of Disco Blood with a French tickler twist complete with the requisite moaning and sucking sounds you’ve come to expect from this kind of thing.

Monsieur Goraguer was a barely-alias used by pianist Alain Goraguer, who was an incredibly prolific composer and arranger in France. Though having scored music for dozens of features and TV shows, he’s perhaps most famous for his work with the French legend, Serge Gainsbourg.

Now, why this classically trained and renowned Jazz musician would cut something like Sexy Dracula is anyone’s guess. The pull of Disco Dracula was just too great, I reckon.

We’re all glad he did though, cause he uncorked a doozy here, as maybe only someone of his skill could.

Here’s Sexy Dracula.

 

Audio

Haha! I Need Your Blood (Disco Dracula)

TRACK #354:

Haha! I Need Your Blood (Disco Dracula) by Solcyst

If you would have told me 10 years ago that some of my favorite songs on this playlIst would turn out to be disco jams, I’m not sure I would have believed you.

But here we are, and it’s definitely true. Struck By Boogie Lightning, Fly By Night, Dr. Frankenstein’s Disco Party are all recent additions I enjoy more than I probably should.

There’s something about the combination of this era’s empty, danceable sound and monster bullshit that at once seem so completely at odds yet uniquely suited for each other.

Like Monster Raps, it’s bizarre that these song even exists, but man, am I sure glad that they do. They make for great playlist inclusions.

If you don’t happen to agree, I apologize, as the rest of our Dracula block is unquestionably disco, because there’s just an inordinate amount of these fuckin’ things, and I can’t seem to stop finding them.

Leading the charge is a song I absolutely love. Legit. I love this song. It’s been in the bullpen for years now and over those years I randomly toss it on cause I haven’t heard it in a while and I miss it.

I’m not sure if I can even fully articulate why either. Is it the key? Is it the melody? Is it that short Rhodes solo? Those mean-ass Minimoog hits? I couldn’t rightly say. I guess I just like the way it sounds. I suppose that’s the reason anyone likes any song, really.

Unlike the last couple tunes though, which lean a bit more funk and soul, this one’s a true-blue Disco Dracula tune, at least in name anyway. There isn’t any explicit mention of him, but you do get the double-shot Disco Dracula hallmark of a vaguely Dracula-sounding voice mumbling bullshit while a woman basically orgasms into a microphone. Nice.

From the short lived band, Solcyst comes 1980’s Haha!…I Need Your Blood (Disco Dracula.)

Now strangely, this track was released in Germany. But the band only has one other single, featuring 2 songs, and that one was released in France. So is Solcyst German? Are they French? Italian? None of the above?

They’re singing in English, but it’s a bit strained. This was just around when Italo-Disco was starting to emerge, which was rife with tracks coming out of Germany sung in English by people from neither place, so who knows. This definitely isn’t Italo, though it’s Disco features a nice amount of electronic instrumentation, which is always appreciated.

We may never know with some of these artists, as real information doesn’t seem to exist. So, let’s just be thankful then that the song exists and be satisfied in that.

Our version here on the playlist is pulled directly from the 45, which sits proudly in the Halloween Hole. The single is split between side A and B, featuring Parts 1 and 2, respectively. We’ve combined them both for your epic Disco Dracula pleasure.

I will note that there is a nice rip of this on YouTube that also combines parts 1 and 2. For whatever reason though, that version cuts ’em together a bit early and completely forgoes the 3rd chorus. Not sure why it does that, but ours does not. Perhaps the other one is a bit less repetitive, and the impact of that climatic crescendo isn’t lessened by having already heard it. That version flows a little better too, not gonna lie. Maybe that’s why they did it. I’ll never know, unfortunately, because you can’t send people on YouTube messages and you can’t comment on that particular video, cause for some reason, the Disco Dracula sex song with the lady audibly climaxing is on YouTube Kids. Search me.

I think this is the way the song was meant to transition though, assuming it was meant to be combined at all. Besides, any excuse to make this one last a little longer is alright in my book. And it made some sense to me to let that version exist over there and have a different option over here, rather than just having the same version exist in 2 places.

We’ve bookended this one with samples from 2 contemporaneous Dracula adaptations. The first, 1977’s lengthy and faithful multi-part BBC production Dracula, and the other from Frank Langella’s classic 1979 turn in John Badham’s verison.

Hey, is it weird that 2 years after directing Saturday Night Fever, John Badham directed that Dracula and released it in 1979, the year you couldn’t get away from Disco Dracula? I dunno, but I think we were robbed of a classic John Badham crossover disco horror hit. Oh, well.

Kicking off the Disco portion of our Dracula Block, here’s Solcyst with Haha! I Need Your Blood (Disco Dracula.)

 

 

Audio

Count Called Dracula

TRACK #353:

Count Called Dracula by The Showman

Looks like we got another Shindig Exclusive coming at ya, cause with all the Dracula Disco out there,  we still somehow managed to dig one up that didn’t seem to be available anywhere else.

Finding this one wasn’t too big of a trick, but finally getting to drop a needle on it was definitely a treat. How this song isn’t in more places is beyond me, cause it grooves.

The song is titled Count Called Dracula, which is in the chorus, but it also features the line “Just a dude named Dracula” which is immeasurably cooler. Now, why they didn’t go ahead and call the song Just a Dude Named Dracula is beyond me, but I’ll take this track whatever it’s name might be, cause it’s a jam.

The funked out disco beat, the silly voices, the dated (even for 1978) Mae West joke. It’s all pretty great.

The Showman is actually a guy by the name of Alexander Simmons, who wrote and produced this one. He doesn’t seem to perform on the track however, which is a bit strange.

Here he is Dracin’ the fuck out with 2 ladies of the night, presumably Catalina Sevilla and Linda Kaye Hal, who both provide vocals on the tune.

Smooth.

Unfortunately, Alexander didn’t seem to produce anything else. The album lists a ton of players, but only Ray Chew seems to have much of anything under his belt. For the rest of the crew, a Count Called Dracula appears to be it.

But if I had a chance to produce and release one song, and only one song in my lifetime, I would be so lucky as to drop a banger like Count Called Dracula. Ya’ll should be proud, cause in deference to the songs lyrics, it is pretty spectacular.

 

Audio

Dracula’s Boogie

TRACK #352:

Dracula’s Boogie by Top Shelf

Here’s another Drac-Track about the good count getting down. Or at least a dance that’s named after him, at any rate. Ya know, like The Lurch, or The Freddy. Either way, boogieing and Dracula are involved and that’s what we’re here for.

This one comes from Top Shelf, a Funk/Soul/maybe Disco (I guess) group from possibly New York. Discogs lists all three and the record company Sound Trek Records is a NY based outfit, so it’s inferences all around.

Sound Trek Records doesn’t seem to have released much outside of these singles and LP from Top Shelf. Though the label did aslo release a pair for singles from successful soul singer Laura Greene. Laura even had a role in Robert Downey’s classic satire Putney Swope as Mrs. Swope. Nice!

Laura Greene, however, has nothing else to do with Top Shelf (that I can tell), outside of this minor intersection.

Needless to say, I couldn’t seem to find much in the way of information on these guys. Night People seems to be their only real album.

The funny thing is, Night People was released in 1980, however the single for Dracula’s Boogie (with the excellent b-side Goin’ Thru the Motions) was released in 1979. So, this song was certainly recorded and released in the 70’s, despite the release of the albums. I guess I’ll chalk it up to a 70’s, cause hey, that seems like a more appropriate place for it to be anyhow.

So, grab a cape and cut a rug with Dracula’s Boogie!

 

Audio

Dracula Pt. I

TRACK #351:

Dracula Pt. 1 by The Jimmy Castor Bunch

I dunno what the cocaine was cut with in the 1970’s, but people were goin fuckin’ nuts for Dracula. The amount of Soul, Funk, Disco and Rock tunes from that era, dedicated specifically to the old leech, is staggering.

In the bullpen right now I have another 16 Dracula songs from the 1970’s, of which 6 are from 1979 alone. And there’s already 7 of those on the playlist! So, I had to be a little picky here or we’d be stuck listening to Dracula songs until track #400.

We’ll stake out a healthy block here though, cause I gotta clear out some of these long suffering prospects.

And to kick off our Dracula block in style, we got Jimmy Castor, aka The Everything Man, and his funked out ode to the Prince of Darkness.

In 1975, right on the heels of (or perhaps even before) Soul Dracula, Jimmy and his Bunch dropped Dracula Pt. 1. Don’t worry about Pt. 2 though, it’s just an instrumental version.

Jimmy takes on the persona of Drac and slips in and out of character on this laid back cut that pays tribute to what a smooth motherfucker that count was.

According to the BBC (who are clearly the authorities on such matters) Jimmy Castor is one of the most sampled musicians of all time. And Jimmy’s been sampled quite a bit, no doubt. Specifically, bits of his 1972 songs Troglodyte and It’s Just Begun have popped up on tracks from the likes of N.W.A., Kool Moe D, Ice T, Arianna Grande, JJ Fad and Redman!

But one of the most sampled musicians of all time? I dunno about all that.

So, I consulted an actual authority, ya know, not just some tosser over at the British Broadcasting Company, to find out if that claim held any water.

According to whosampled.com, Jimmy isn’t even cracking the top 100 most sampled artists of all time. At 320 samples, Jimmy is a full 183 samples away from the 100th most sampled musician, legendary composer Ennio Morricone.

So, one of the most sampled? Not exactly, but definitely more than most.

And what of Dracula Pt. 1? Well, unfortunately no one seems to have sampled any parts of this tune. Which is a shame, cause this thing grooves. If the hip-hop constituency doesn’t wanna show this Jimmy Castor track any love, it’s ok. That’s what Halloween Shindig is here for.

So let’s let Dracula introduce himself now, cause we’re gonna be spending a little time with the old Count.

 

 

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Dracula: King of the Monster References

Is there a single character – literary or otherwise, dead or undead, monster or not – more referenced than Count Dracula?

Since 1897, that unholy creature has captured mortal minds the world over. Some 200 films feature appearances from The Count. Over 150 of those films contain his name. Almost 100 different actors have played the fiend in just as many years. Those are some pretty big league numbers, any way you slice it.

And the songs? Where do we even start?

According to discogs, there’s 666 master releases with the word “Dracula.” Are you serious with that number? Is that bonkers or what? I will say, some of those look like doubles though. It’s hard to completely bypass dupes in the discog search. But still, a peculiar number to pop up, to say the least.

A search over at Lyrics.com pulls over 2,300 hits for songs containing the word “Dracula.” A similar search over at The Music Lyrics Database has a more alarming statistic at some 236,000 mentions. That number is a little wild though. Has me wondering if they’re just counting instances of the word in each song, cause that shit is ridiculous.

Point is, this guy’s fuckin’ name can’t keep out of anyone’s fuckin’ mouth.

So, given that this is the year of the Referential Monster Jam, we thought we’d pay tribute to the most referenced of all time, the King of the Monsters himself, Count Dracula.

I have a jugular vein’s worth of Dracula songs still waiting in the bullpen. We’ll clear out a few here, but you have yet to hear the last of Dracula on this playlist, I can assure you of that.

So, let’s all grab a cape and sink our teeth into a big ole pint of Drac-Tracks.

Audio

The Mysterioso Pizzicato Mini-Playlist

 

Perhaps the most famous “Halloween” lick known to man, The Mysterioso Pizzicato, or The Villian’s Theme, has been used, reused and abused since it’s earliest known printing in 1914.

Originally it was conceived as a piece of incidental music published in The Remick Folio of Moving Picture Music. Time was, movie theaters had catalogs of sheet music known as photoplay music that was specifically for pianists or orchestras to accompany the silent pictures of the day.

Many films came to the theaters with cue sheets that indicated when music was needed and what type of music might be appropriate for those moments. If no specific piece was called out by name, or if the theater didn’t have it on hand, the catalogs would serve as a guide. Was someone sneaking? Perhaps a generic Mysterioso would do.

Now, how exactly this particular Mysterioso came to be most associated with Halloween is anyone’s guess, but you’ve heard this thing a bunch of times on The Shindig, cause people making novelty monster and Halloween songs can’t seem to get enough of it.

Collected here, for no other reason than I think it’s kinda interesting to have them together in one place, are all the appearances of Mysterioso Pizzicato (or variations thereof) from the playlist.

The Mysterioso Pizzicato can be sneaky though! If you hear it creeping around in a song I haven’t added here yet, let me know!

Enjoy Villians!

 

Audio

The Halloween Song

TRACK #350:

The Halloween Song by The Four Downs

Look, I know this album cover over here ain’t exactly selling the sizzle or the steak, but the 2006 CD Bomp in the Night is actually a pretty solid Halloween compilation.

It’s a 30-track packed offering of, mostly old (but trusty) Halloween staples. Bert Convy, Danny Hutton, Jack and Jim, Lee Ross and Mann Drake all appear on this comp. It even features a rare cover of Spooky Movies by Ron Barrett. Nice!

Now, this sort of thing is completely irrelevant these days, given that most of the songs here are readily available, if not on music streaming services, then most certainly YouTube. And that affords you all the ability to take or leave as many of these songs as you’d like in the building of your own personal Halloween playlist.

Most of them.

There are a few rare and unique tracks here that might cause a guy like me, in a year like 2020, to actually seek out this album, including the song I fully purchased this album to hear, The Mysterial’s Halloween (It’s Your Big Scene).

This tune is only available either here, or (I think anyway) on their 2008 release Theatre of the Seasons under the title Halloween (The Story of Linus). I assume this is the same song, but I ain’t in no rush to confirm that shit, because I don’t really like this song. It’s definitely not making the playlist, either way. Such is life. So it goes. Thanks for playing.

It’s a throwbacky Doo-Wop snoozer about Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin, which might sound great, but it doesn’t actually sound great, so here it ain’t.

I will make it available on DigTV however, so that any potential diggers out there can spare themselves any serious scouring or dollars and decide for themselves if they want to hear it a 2nd time.

Ok, then why the fuck are we even talking about this damn CD then?

Well, I mention it because it’s also the only place I’ve ever seen where you can hear tonight’s track, outside of finding it’s original 45 anyway. And it’s The Halloween Song by The Four Downs.

Of course, I found that 45 before I found this CD, but I enjoy having the 45, and it certainly didn’t cost much, so either way.

However, that 45 contained some sort of scratch or imperfection that made it so I couldn’t actually rip a clean copy from the vinyl, even after hours of cleaning, brushing, replaying and trying again.

So, in went the CD. But, ah-ha! This CD apparently contained its own imperfection, as it would only rip to track 25 before promptly ejecting the fuckin’ thing over and over and over. What is this, some sick joke? It played fine in my car, so what gives?

I ended up having to drag my DVD player out to the Halloween Hole and hook it up to my inputs and manually record the output of the CD to get this digital copy. Holy shit.

But after all of that, I can confidentially state that this tune was actually saved from Halloween obscurity by Bomp in the Night. Big ups.

And now my frustration is the world’s gain as in addition to this song now being featured on the playlist, I will post it on YouTube for Halloween hungry hermits the world over. No longer need The Halloween Song by The Four Downs be hard to come across, scratched and digitally corrupted. Nay!

Because this is exactly the sort of thing we wanna have cap off our Referential Monster jam mega block. This mellow tune (which sounds suspiciously similar to Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da) is possibly the most Referential Halloween Monster Song this side of Vanilla Ice’s Born on Halloween.

V. Ice probably still holds the crown, based on sheer volume, but for the quality over quantity crowd, The Four Downs have got you covered. The record itself is even dedicated to George Romero and Billy Cardille. Nice!

The song details some martial strife that plagues a Pittsburgh couple (newlywed on Halloween, no less) after they festively ring in the occasion with a little Chiller Theatre marathon. After their night of Chilly Billy and chill, the husband starts acting a little peculiar.

Gorgo, Dr. X, Rodan, Willard, The Crawling Hand, Day of the Triffidsy? Even The Tingler gets a shout in their rapid-fire referential litany. Not necessarily deep cuts in ‘79, but it’s a refreshing and old school hit list in 2023.

What’s more? It’s yet another instance of The Mysterioso Pizzicato. What is it with that lick? People composing Halloween Songs love that shit.

And a plus 1 here to Baader-Meinhof, because ever since putting those 2 songs next to each other last year and talking about The Mysterioso Pizzicato, I have run across no less than 5 additional songs incorporating that tune. That’s almost as many as were on the playlist already! I’d call it synchronicity, but it’s really not at all important. Either way, you know a playlist is eminent.

For now, kick back with Dave Goodrich and Julie Holzen as they work through some monster inspired trouble in paradise with The Halloween Song.

 

Audio

Scary Scary Movies

TRACK #349:

Scary Scary Movies by Ossie D. and Stevie G.

Cause what would the Shindig be if we only offered up one referential tune called “Scary Movies” from a referential horror movie about Horror Movies themselves?

I guess technically this one is called Scary Scary Movies, but that’s close enough for me, especially since it’s a Referentially Inclusive Monster Rap to boot.

From our old Prom Night pal Paul Zaza comes this tune, the sweet song from 1991’s horrorthon gone wrong, Popcorn.

Now, if you’re a keen eared viewer, a giant fan of Popcorn or you just happen to own this soundtrack, you’ll note that there actually is a song featured in the movie called Scary Movies. It’s briefly played and in front of the theater too, right before the horrorthon starts.

To be fair, it’s pretty much the same song, only it’s not a fun rap, and you know how we roll on The Shindig.

We’re using the term “rap” here pretty loosely, as you’ll hear, cause this thing ain’t droppin bars. In fact, it’s kinda difficult to listen to, but that’s never stopped us before and it probably never will when a certain set a circumstance arrives.

And all of those boxes are being ticked by this one;

From a horror movie? Check
About horror movies? Check
Fits the current block like a glove? Check
A monster rap? Goddamn right
A sweet song? Oh yeah

So here is where you’ll find it, no matter how it may sound.

Now, IMDb claims the song was written by Paul Zaza (the film’s composer) Yvonne Murray (another performer on the soundtrack) and Alan Ormsby (the film’s writer and original director.) Curiously though, the soundtrack credits only Paul Zaza and no one else. However, the film itself credits Alan Ormsby as its sole writer, with Ossie D. and Stevie G. as the song’s performers. Ossie and Stevie were a duo of prolific Reggae artists from Jamaica. They may very well be the band playing out front of the theater as well. If they were, which I suspect, they are uncredited for their performance.

Now, if that seems a little weird it’s probably because Popcorn was shot almost entirely on location in Kingston, Jamaica, and I’m sure they scooped up some locals to lend some tunes.

If you’ve never seen Popcorn (which isn’t so crazy, as this early 90’s slasher has somewhat fallen through the cracks) I highly recommend giving it a go. Certainly do not judge it by this song alone. If you’re a genre fan, the film department’s William Castle inspired horrorthon of in-theatre gags like Fright Form Waivers, Aroma-Rama and the Shock Clock countdown, is a definite treat.

Then there’s all prop building, life-casting, mask masking and movie theatre hokery that brings the horrorthon to life. Add to that the absolutely incredible crowd that shows up to the theatre. It’s a bevy of Don Post and Distortions mask and homemade costumes. It’s a blast and makes for great Halloween viewing.

Genre staples Jill Scholen, Dee Wallace, and Kelly Jo Minter are joined by the likes of Mr. Hand, Crispin Glover’s dad, and One Crazy Summer’s Clay Stork (in an inspired turned as the face-swapping Toby) all conspire to make this early 90’s offering a fun time.

It wouldn’t make a bad double feature with last night’s Return to Horror High either. So, pick up that one, grab some popcorn and kick back this October with the very Halloweeny Popcorn and enjoy some scary scary movies.

You know the kind I mean!

 

Audio

Scary Movies

TRACK #348:

Scary Movies by Pleasant Company

We’ve been on a pretty solid referential run here so far in 2023. It’s been 13 tracks since we had an inclusive jam (that I’m aware of anyway) and to be fair, that last inclusive tune was a pretty classic referential monster song that just became inclusive less than a year ago.

Tonight’s tune, however, was born into that role. And 36 years ago to boot.

At least, that’s how it appears anyway. The band Pleasant Company has only 1 release, so far as I can tell. It’s a 5 song eponymous LP with the inscription “Featured in New World Pictures – Return to Horror High” on the label.

So, I think it’s safe to say it appeared in the film before it appeared on this LP. Now, I couldn’t say whether is was written specifically for the film, but Scary Movies plays like just the right kinda comedically self referential thing for a film like Return to Horror. So much so in fact, I find it hard to imagine anything other than it being written for the film. But I could not say.

And the movie lucked out, cause Pleasant Company smashed out a banger for ‘em, that’s for sure. I love this tune, and its tone is perfectly suited for the picture. Return to Horror High knows exactly what it is, and it’s exactly the sort of thing that ends with Scary Movies by Pleasant Company.

All the tropes and cliches of horror are on display in this end credit Sweet Song. And what better way to send off a hyper referential, movie-within-a-movie meta-meditation like Return to Horror High.

It’s probably best known now for being an early film in the career of George Clooney, who takes his leave pretty quick despite his name being smeared across subsequent DVD releases.

So, I wouldn’t watch it specifically for him, Return of the Killer Tomatoes this is not. But it’s fun to see him, and Marcia Brady and Moe Greene, and that jerk from the diner who beats up Clark Kent in Superman 2, all playing it for laughs along side some good gore gags with a behind the scenes bent.

Those are all pluses to an already fun and self aware late 80’s slasher story that, when capped it all off with a song like Scary Movies, is a return worth making.

 

Audio

Scary Movies (Monica Kirby)

TRACK #347:

Scary Movies by Monica Kirby

So, all the guys wanted to take the gals to the movie house on a Friday night and see a monster picture. It’s the age old trope, right? And why not? It was dark, close quarters together, away from prying eyes of parents or teachers. And the movie was sure to scare her, right? Right into your arms anyway, was the hope, I’m sure.

And we’ve heard some here from the guys about the practice, but what of the ladies? Surely they went on record about this time honored ritual of patriarchal heteronormativity, right?

Indeed, but probably not in the way that last sentence might suggest. It was, after all, 1963.

No, this just kinda plays out like one of the girls from the previous songs is singing that story from her perspective. He takes her to the scary movie, she gets scared, they “cuddle” and she seems to enjoy that.

However, this one kicks you down a cool Dracula singing alongside her. He’s basically saying, “hey, if you don’t know about this move, here’s this move and let’s let her confirm that move works.” And she does. Not sure why we need this Dracula, but I appreciate his appearance, as always.

As for Monica Kirby, the girl in question, she didn’t release too many other singles. According to Secondhandsongs, she sang for Coral Records (the company that released her singles) in the early 60’s. By the mid 60’s she was in nightclubs in New York City, where (according to them anyway) she was recruited into the New Christy Minstrels in ‘67.

They were a folk ensemble famous for spring-boarding many famous singers to prominence, most notably Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes. Interestingly, Karen Black was a singer with the Minstrels for a spell. Yep, Karen Black. Like Trilogy of Terror and Burnt Offerings Karen Black. Weird.

What’s more weird is that I can’t really corroborate Monica’s membership. Some sites, like Secondhandsongs and AllMusic mention her, whereas the Wikipedia roster doesn’t feature her at all, nor is it included on her Discogs or Rateyourmusic resumes.

So who knows?

What we do know is, she loved those scary movies, and God bless her for that.

 

Audio

Spooky Movies

TRACK #346:

Spooky Movies by Lee “The Big Masher” Lilly

Curiously, 1962 saw the release of 2 songs called “Spooky Movies” where a guy discusses how his girlfriend is all into the horror pictures. That’s a little weird, no?

Since we don’t know exactly when Gary Paxton’s song came out, we can’t for sure say which one of these came first. But apparently, in 1962,  2 different somebodies thought it was a good enough idea to put a pen to paper on the matter.

In this case, it was a fella named Buddy Lee.

Steve Stone gets the credit for Gary Paxton/Roy Clark version.

Now, the Discogs “notes” tab would have you believe this record was reviewed in an issue of Billboard Magazine from October 20th of 1962. I was pumped to read that too, and was very eager to find that review and glean some first hand, 60 year-old hot-takes on this tune.

I was not previously aware, but apparently all the old Billboards were digitized years ago, so you can look ‘em up by date. Score! So, I scoured through that entire issue, and while it does make an appearance, buried as it is under the 3-star “Moderate Sales Potential” section on page 44, I’d hardly call it a review.

So, unfortunately, there was no information to be gained down that particularly avenue. However, I did manage to pick up a new tune thanks to this issue. Cause just off to the side, under the “Limited Sales Potential” column was Vladamir and The Grave Diggers, with their single Vladamir Twist/Drac Walk. Now, I can’t say for certain if either will get added to the official playlist, but they’re both sitting in the Bullpen right now getting the requisite consideration. It’s always fun going to look for information on one monster tune and walking away with the title of 2 others. That’s a double bonus.

But for now, let’s just listen to Lee Lilly, the man they called “The Big Masher.” Which, now that I’ve typed out, reminds me.  If you will, indulge me here for a moment please.

So, apparently Lee Lilly, was known around town as The Big Masher, which isn’t so weird, really. Lots of musicians had these kinda nicknames. It appears ole Lee got his name from a song he performed called The Big Masher. Only, this 45 is the only 45 Lee Lilly seems to have released. And it’s the one that features The Big Masher! It’s not even the A side, it’s on the flip? What?

This guy is goin so hard with this name that they emblazon it upon a record that no one has heard yet, featuring the very fuckin’ song he’s named for? Am I missing something here? That’s weird, right?

Like, the guy’s not even a real guy yet when the records getting pressed, and yet he’s got a nickname from a song that not only is not itself a hit yet (cause it hasn’t been release) but isn’t even the feature track?

Maybe he was called The Big Masher for some other reason, unrelated to the song. And perhaps the song itself is all about how he’s The Big Masher and all the big mashin he gets up, whatever wholesome thing I’m sure that’s suppose to be in 1962s

I couldn’t say, cause it didn’t listen to that song, cause that song doesn’t feature any monsters.

Or shit, maybe it does. I wouldn’t know, cause I was too busy gettin spooky.

Here’s The Big Masher himself, Mr. Lee Lilly, not mashing with some monster kind you, but with some Spooky Movies.