HALLOWEEN CD PICKS
Music, Records
Posted on Oct 17 2009 by Greg
If you're shopping for just the right music or stories for Halloween creepiness, allow me to recommend:
CHILLING THRILLING SOUNDS OF
THE HAUNTED HOUSE
This 1963 LP is the granddaddy of all creepy sound effects records, much imitated but never equaled.
Laura Olsher (
Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol) narrates the first set of stories in sound, followed by the sounds themselves, compiled over decades of Disney Studios and Hollywood history by legendary
Jimmy MacDonald. It's on iTunes.
When some of us were kids in the 60's and 70's, this is all we had. But it's still entertaining, and very interesting as pop curio as well as a who's-who of Hollywood voice actors and singers:
Thurl Ravenscroft, Peter Renaday, Eleanor Audley, Robie Lester and yes, a teenaged
Ron Howard. It's a little corny but it was produced before the attraction opened so it includes omitted details like the raven and the fabled
Hatbox Ghost (he's on the front cover). The CD also includes an abridged soundtrack so you also get the voices of
Paul Frees, Bill Lee, Loulie Jean Norman and many others, since the album recreates some elements. PLUS, the CD cover includes the storybook in Liliputian form AND you can access the original
Collin Campbell art from the disc (did you know that the crystal ball now floats because of inspiration from this art?). Well worth having and bargain priced.
THE HAUNTED MANSION
ATTRACTION SOUNDTRACK
Producer/Historian
Randy Thornton once again outdid himself by revising and expanding the soundtracks to both the
Walt Disney World and
Disneyland attractions and adding in the new features, plus "Ghost Host"
Paul Frees' voice sessions, organ music by Gaylord Carter, new music box music and a magnificent full suite from Phantom Manor by
Joel McNeely. This album was created to be sold in Disney Parks and was also being sold at the D23 Expo as part of a box set with a vinyl version of the story album.
COUNT CHOCULA'S HAUNTED HOUSE OF SOUNDS
I found this at Target a few weeks back and cannot find it online. It's kind of fun, tongue-in-cheek stuff with the Count, Frankenberry and Boo Berry in a "theater of the mind" comedy.
You can play this one through the living room window and creep out the trick-or-treaters -- it's hours of chilling music from the unique ABC gothic soap, composed by
Bob Cobert, who also wrote the "Password" TV theme!
FIRST-EVER "BEST OF" ALBUMS FROM THE GOLDEN RECORDS VAULTS
Blog, Music
Posted on Jul 04 2009 by Greg
This Tuesday,
Shout! Factory releases some real treasures from the long-out-of-print Golden Records catalog, some never heard in the last 60 years...
Remember Little Golden Records? Yellow 78's with a distinctive sound. Also on 45's and LPs but rarely on CD and totally out of print for years.
Be on the lookout for
Volume One and
Volume Two "best of" albums called
YOUR GOLDEN CHILDHOOD featuring
Shari Lewis,
Mighty Mouse (
Andy Kaufman's version),
Popeye,
Roy Rogers,
Dale Evans,
Jimmy Durante, baseball's
Mel Allen,
Cliff "Jiminy Cricket" Edwards & more. 28 songs in all, many for the 1st time in 50 years.
Just a few of the precious gems aglow on the two volumes:
• The fantastic
Jimmy Carroll version of "Carousel Waltz" never before on CD and a version unlike any other.
• A totally different version of "Give a Little Whistle" recorded for Golden by Cliff Edwards.
• Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing the song later made famous by
Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm on
The Flintstones.• A moving rendition of "Hi Lili, Hi-Lo" by Shari Lewis.
• The definitive "Popeye the Sailor Man" that
Robin Williams duplicated note-for-note in the movie.
•
Rosemary Clooney's sister
Betty singing "Fuzzy Wuzzy."
• Mel Allen "calling the game" when Casey went to the bat.
•
Art Carney, at the height of "Honeymooners" success, singing
Frank Loesser's "The Ugly Duckling."
•
The Rita Williams Singers' London stereo version of "On Top of Spaghetti" conducted by
Vic Flick -- who was the guitarist on the immortal
James Bond Theme. (Rita, for you Brits, sang on a lot of those Woolworth's pop knock-offs of the 50s and 60s.)
I have to add a
mea culpa caveat to those of you who are more expert than me in some of the facts in the notes; that may by
Roy Halee and not
Tom Morrison singing for Mighty Mouse as listed, I'm not sure if those are the ball players in the chorus of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and yes, that IS
Paul Tripp singing the "Tubby The Tuba" song. Because of time constraints, some little nits are present, but please if you will focus on the magnificent big picture of so many mini-masterpieces.
Audio riches to be sure.
Disney's ONE LITTLE INDIAN soundtrack album released
Music
Posted on Apr 16 2009 by Greg
Remember this Disney movie with James Garner and Vera Miles that was released with Lady and the Tramp in the '70s? The soundtrack album was released as a limited edition by Intrada.
2009 -- THE YEAR OF PETULA!
Music
Posted on Jan 12 2009 by Greg
The heavenly
Petula Clark graces several notable new DVD and CD releases this year. I found the best prices for her
Portrait of Petula 1969 TV special DVD and the new
Open Your Heart: A Collection of Love Songs CD (with 11 unreleased tracks)
here on Deep Discount (with free shipping). We have
Collectors' Choice Music to thank for these two releases, though, whose recent catalog proclaims, "Petula Clark ROCKS!"
Plus, the lavish 1969 musical adaptation of
Goodbye Mr. Chips starring
Peter O'Toole and Ms. Clark finally makes it DVD bow on Jan. 27.
Deep Discount and
amazon both have good prices. The soundtrack album was released some time ago on a
mammoth CD package (music & lyrics by
Leslie Bricusse, conducted by
John Williams, both Oscar nominated for this score).
Goodbye Mr. Chips fell at the tail end of the 1960s parade of large-scale, lengthy musicals that would hopefully would be hits like
Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Oliver! and
My Fair Lady.
Chips was not a big smash but was a wondrous showcase for the pairing of Clark & O'Toole, both of whom were acclaimed for their performances. (One review remarked that, in the film, Ms. Clark looked like a young
Mary Martin.)
THE ARCHIES RECORD THEIR FIRST ALBUM IN ALMOST 40 YEARS!
Music
Posted on Dec 12 2008 by Greg
Ron Dante, the original singing voice behind
the number one song of 1969, "Sugar, Sugar," and all of the other Archies megahits, performs on multiple tracks as if the last four decades never happened -- with
Danielle van Zyl and
Kelly-Lynn singing for Betty and Veronica (the great Toni Wine, who sang for them on many of the original records, is touring with Tony Orlando and she'll most likely be at Epcot this May when Tony returns).
In addition to all-time holiday pop hits like "Jingle Bell Rock" and the Springsteen-style "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," this new CD features two new songs: "Archie's Christmas Party" and "Christmas in Riverdale." And sitting in for Jughead on drums for this album is none other than
Keith Thibodeaux, who played Little Ricky on
I Love Lucy!
This album is available on the official
Archie Comics site and at
Ron Dante's website (he has other great CDs available as well). By the way, Ron's a Disney fan too, and has been spotted at Disneyana conventions.
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