Return of Halloween Nuggets
Haunted Underground Classics
RockBeat Records
Like the 18-foot skeleton at Home Depot or the Spirit Halloween that haunts the long-deserted ToysRUs, RockBeat Records is determined to become an annual mainstay of Halloween tradition. They continue to dust off and resurrect well-deserved tracks that will maintain the Halloween spirit for those of us for whom the party never stops.
This third annual RockBeat offering further cements the series pedigree as being as historically noteworthy as Elektra’s Nuggets compilation series, from where this one most likely gets half its name.
Return of Halloween Nuggets casts a wide and varied net over a variety of subgenres of spooky 1960s hits. Some of the usual suspects are there, including off-brand attempts at a “Monster Mash,” and more Howlin’ Wolf devotees than you can shake your voodoo stick at.
There’s plenty of witch doctors, jungle drums, jungle exotica, psychotic rockabilly and swing, manic surf guitar, and creatures from outer space. There’s even some soulful Motown feels with The Devotions’ “Devil’s Gotten Into My Baby.” But they are all original, and they all absolutely rock. This is an eclectic mix of funky favorites, but the golden thread that runs through all of them is an authentic and earnest attempt by a bunch of krazy kooks who may have not known any better than to try to just make you laugh, scream, howl, and dance.
Per the previous two volumes, Return of the Halloween Nuggets bridges its two severed halves and maintains the mood with authentic and classic sounds of horror cinema, notably the voice of Vincent Price and the trailer for The House on Haunted Hill.
I miss Crypt Records’ Back from the Grave series, but the real secret sauce in Halloween Nuggets’ cauldron of sound is Randy Perry’s mastering of these tracks. He’s really managed to leverage the lightning of modern tech to bring this Frankenstein’s monster to life. You practically feel like you’re in the room with the screams.
Return of Halloween Nuggets is another slickly packaged, well-themed, mixed, and arranged selection of tracks that seem to have been lost between the floorboards of history, only to grow roots and push their way into your party.
