When it comes to recording the written word, Halloween (and of course The Grinch at Christmas) belonged to actor Boris Karloff. Eban Schletter who recently did a CD of spooky music, Witching Hour, has teamed up with actor and narrator Vernon Wells to recreate the 60’s pulp fiction stories of Michael Avallone. As a noted composer/musician, Eban successfully combines the spooky music and sound effects, reminiscent of old time Vincent Price/Bela Lugosi movies. Karloff originally recorded two albums of 13 songs released in 1963, and a paperback book by the same name became a reprinted classic. It was one of my favorite paperbacks when I was a kid, and I still have it, complete with a spooky looking Karloff head floating on the cover!
Wells is a veteran Australian actor, best known for his roles in Mad Max 2 and Commando, while also venturing into Sci-Fi territory. The uniqueness is that the music and sound effects are scored like a soundtrack, where the original technology lent itself to adding it in after the fact.
The release takes a different direction from the total sound effect CD’s put out around Halloween. This would be an ideal disc to play on a portable CD player around a campfire. There’s something eerie about a spooky story being told, hence a lot of the 60’s films being narrated throughout the movie. Be the first one in your group to discover and play this one! Note: Check out Eban’s other material on Oglio Records site.
By RME
[Rating: 3/5]
