Halloween Mix 2018

For the past several Octobers I've listened almost exclusively to a series of Halloween mixes that I downloaded from some retro site circa 2012. They were basically a collection of Halloween-related media from the late 60s through the early 80s. Still are, I guess - I think you can probably find them still over at retrospace, although that site hasn't been updated in awhile. 

This year I decided to put my own mix together. You can access the full playlist here with constant YouTube interruption (alas) or click on any of the annotated links below - some of them different versions than the one on my playlist; oh my! - until YouTube decides to kill the links. (Also alas). Pretty much the same deal as my James Bond Mix Tape post; please see there for all context re: cassettes and mixmaking policies and protocols.

And away we go!

SIDE ONE

1.1 The Vampira Show intro 

1.2 Skyhooks - "Horror Movie"

1.3 Night Gallery theme

1.4 Bing Crosby - "The Legend of the Headless Horseman."

I've never actually seen The Vampira Show. But not a bad way to get things started, eh? As for the others, I'd never heard of that Skyhooks tune until the aforementioned retrospace Halloween mix, but it's become a staple of my seasonal listening. The Night Gallery has nothing specifically to do with Halloween, but it's spooky. And, of course, "Headless Horseman" is a classic. "You can't reason with a head-less ma-aa-n."

Damn true. 

Can't remember where I got this or what it's from. Cool, though.

1.5 Ministry - "Everyday is Halloween"

1.6 Halloween (1978) radio ad

1.7 Rosemary's Baby theme

1.8. Carl Maria Von Weber - Der Freischütz, act 2, scene 4, "Die Wolfsschlucht"

1.9 The Haunted Strangler trailer

Believe it or not, I'd never heard that Ministry tune before. Unless it was in a movie or something and I forgot, which it probably was. But my wife loves it (and - apparently - so does my 7 month old son) so it's been in rotation round the homestead.

I love radio ads for movies. It is a genre with unique considerations. I was looking specifically for the radio spot for Visiting Hours (1982), which is from one of those retrospace mixes and I've grown accustomed to hearing during Halloween season (leading to finally actually viewing the film either last year or the year before; all the since-we-had-kids years blend into one when trying to figure out what I've seen). Couldn't find it, though, but while searching I found the Halloween one. Works for me. 

Now, as for Der Freischütz, the Wolf's Glen scene that opens Act 2 is great start to finish. But let me link to two specific spots: this one, roughly 8 minutes long but it's really the first 5 or 6 that would make the mix, and this one, from later in the scene. Those links open, respectively, to an avant-garde production of the opera (meaning you'll see some crazy shit on that stage; fair warning) and to a more traditional one. Both have subtitles, so you can read along for yourself. 

To set the scene, though: the first link is Kaspar going into the Wolf's Glen (a haunted forest) alone to summon the spirit of Samiel (i.e. Satan). Kaspar has made a deal with the devil years before, and his time on earth is almost over. He wants to buy more time by swapping in the unsullied spirit of his friend Max for his own. Satan shrugs - whomever works, but no more stalling. "Bei den Pforten der Hölle! Morgen, er oder du! / By the gates of Hell - in the morning, him or you."

The second link is later in the scene, after Kaspar has brought Max into the Wolf's Glen to give him the magic bullets for the contest ("Der Freischütz" = "The Free Shooter," and there's a hunting/ shooting competition that is the climax of the opera. The idea is that the bullets will hit any target, but the 7th bullet will take an innocent life - Max's wife's. Satan loves that kind of crap.) The music for this second sequence (both for sure, but all the swirling stuff in between the bullet-count) is goddamn extraordinary - please crank it.

Imagine an audience in 1822 seeing and hearing this for the first time. It's amazing they didn't lock Von Weber up, even if the opera ends with good triumphing over evil. No one in Europe had ever seen or heard anything like Der Freischütz before.

1.10 "Soul Dracula"

1.11 The Omen theme

1.12 The Devil's Rain (1975) radio ad

1.13 Franz Liszt - Totentanz

"Soul Dracula" and "Totentanz" are, all hyperbole aside, two of the greatest pieces of music ever written. 

The Omen has never been a favorite of mine. The opening scene is great, but they lose me after that. The only Omen I need is Pt. 3: The Final Conflict. Obviously, many disagree, and more power to them. The theme's awesome, though, and a seasonal fave.

"Corbis!! GOD-DAMN-YOU!!"

1.13 The Hour of the Time

1.14 The Vince Guaraldi Trio - It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

1.15 Jon and Al - "The Thing (The Musical)"

"Hour of the Time" clearly echoes the intro of Arch Oboler's Lights Out Old Time Radio show. Couldn't find a link just to the intro so that's to an entire episode but link provided only for the intro. (Not to say that "Cat Wife" ain't a fine story/ episode. When I was boxing up all my stuff to move back to Chicago in 2010, I listened to a good 7 or 8 hours of Lights Out, and  "Cat Wife" has stayed with me.)

The contrast between it and the intro to Great Pumpkin works well to end the side, I think, and that Linus and Lucy tune is (a) welcome anywhere, and (b) another thing I look forward to hearing this time of year. Truthfully, any time of year. Ditto for that "Thing" tune - so many great lines. My favorite may be "You can check on your ancient computer / it's astonishing how fast that I spread / You can pick up an axe and go crazy / but I can grow legs from my head."

  

SIDE TWO

"Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"Erik Estrada."

"Erik Estrada who?"

"Erik Estrada from CHIPs."

(appropriate pause before:)

2.1 Friday the 13th: the Series (theme)

2.2 Demon - "Full Moon"

2.3 Excerpt from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

2.4 Leatherwolf - "Bad Moon Rising"

The knock-knock joke is from the recently-released Mandy with Nicolas Cage. That excerpt up there from TTCM would really only use the first ten or twenty seconds of that clip. Actually, were this an actual mix, I'd not use it at all but use Boat Chips's "Mulder, the Wrath of Leatherface" in its stead, which blends the beginning of that bit (from "Sally, I hear something - stop!" through the chainsaws and the screaming) with the ethereal intro to Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes and an altered-at-will version of the X-Files theme. But, since I don't have a link to that one, I include the TTCM clip as a placeholder.

All of it is meant as an intro to "Bad Moon Rising," which I actually might replace with the original CCR version. The contrast works better. The junior high kid in my head who occasionally calls the shots is really insistent on the Leatherwolf version, though, so it'd be a dilemma.

2.5 John Carpenter - "The Shape Lurks"

2.6 The Brotherhood of Satan birthday party scene

2.7 Arnold Schönberg - "Rotte Messe," Pierrot Lunaire 

2.8 Cochran's Speech from Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Had I made this tape in the 90s, would I have run the music from that Brotherhood of Satan scene through the 4 track and try to record Cochran's speech over it for this part? It's possible.

That Schönberg piece is pretty wild. Great atmosphere for a mix tape such as this.

Seriously - Brotherhood of Satan is so underrated.

2.9 Demon - "One Helluva Night"

2.10 That H-A-double-L-O-double-U-double-E-that-spells-HALLOWEEN song.

2.11 Fred Schneider - "I'm Gonna Haunt You"

2.12 Theme from The Fog

I might not use the entirety of that Fog theme - space permitting, though, sure why not. Such atmosphere there. That H-A-double-L... song takes its melody and structure from Saint-Saens wonderful Danse Macabre, which I almost included, as it's also a seasonal favorite, but I figure hey, save the space. I've got a lot of stops to make, and we've only got 45 minutes per side to play with.

"I'm Gonna Haunt You" is perfectly self-explanatory. As is "One Helluva Night," but there's a story, there, which I've told elsewhere, but here goes again. My brother had a Halloween party one year (I want to say 1983 or 1984) and I was told to stay upstairs and out of everyone's way. Which I did, but I came downstairs at one point to go to the kitchen/ peek in. Everyone was gone (I think out in the backyard for something or other) and this song was cranking on the stereo. I remember standing there in the doorway with this cranked, completely by myself in the house, with the chorus blaring over and over again.

2.13 Rubenstein - The Demon tune

2.14 "This Is Not a Dream" from Prince of Darkness (1987)

2.15 Five Man Electrical Band - "Werewolf"

The Demon tune in that playlist I made is not this one. I don't know if this link works, but the one I have in mind is the Introduction/ Chorus to Act 1, Scene 3, and the Old Servant's little bit right after. I had trouble finding it on YouTube. This one works great if cranked very loud. It could be something like "Masquerade Waltz" is more appropriate. If so, swap it in. (Hell, drop the 45 minute per side conceit and just add both.)

Prince of Darkness has come up a few times lately, which made me think to include that wonderfully spooky bit from the very end of the movie/ very beginning of the expanded soundtrack. (Interesting they did it that way.) And "Werewolf" is another holdover form the retrospace mix(es).

Ain't no party like a Rothschild party because a Rothschild party don't stop.

2.16 Berlioz - Witches' Mass, Symphonie Fantastique

2.17 John Carpenter - "Better Check the Kids"

2.18 Redbone - "Witch Queen of New Orleans"

2.19 The Beatles - "Good Night" (Anthology version)

Although Berlioz's entire Symphonie Fantastique is wonderful, as is the whole 5th movement (The Witches' Sabbath) from which this bit is taken, I'd probably just use a small portion of it. I like the idea of weaving in the "Dies Irae" theme once on each side. 

Before the Beatles (and there's no Halloween connection there, I just like it as the credits/ exit music) there's that Redbone track. Personally I'll take it over the band's other big hit ("Come and Get Your Love") which isn't a dis to the latter, just "Witch Queen" is so damn slick.

~

Happy Halloween, friends!