Hi everyone, we’re getting ever closer to Halloween. And to enhance your pleasure of the season, here is a list of streamable Halloween music courtesy of Freegal!
Halloween Garage Blues by Various Artists:
I stumbled across this neat album collection while doing research for a Suggested Listening post. And it is cool! It features a neat mix of blues, garage band and traditional rock n’ roll songs. If you like the music of MC5, the Troggs and the blues in general, you should like this collection.
Artists and songs in the collection include: Don’t Let the Devil Ride by Leo Bud Welch, Bad Luck Shadow by Shuggie Otis, She Cast a Spell on Me by Eric Gales & Geno and Hoodoo Man by Junior Wells.
Fright Night: Classic Halloween Music:
I’d describe this Reader’s Digest album as a collection of popular music based on classical songs. These are the types of songs you used to hear in the classic horror films of the 1940s.
Songs and orchestras include: Phantom of the Opera (Theme) by Skitch Henderson & The New York Pops, Tubular Bells (Main Theme to “The Exorcist) by The Lavendar Hill Orchestra, A Night On Bald Mountain (Featured in “Fantasia”) by New Symphony Orchestra of London & Sir Adrian Boult, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (excerpt) by Mario Kosik & Solvak Phillharmonic Orchestra and Funeral March of a Marionette (“Alfred Hitchcock Presents” Theme) by Eric Hammerstain & London Promenade Orchestra
History Halloween: The Best Classic Songs:
This collection features “classic” Halloween songs of the 1930s and 1940s with a few from the fifties thrown in for good measure. The songs are performed by popular vocalist, jazz and blues artists. So classic pop Halloween hits of the fifties, sixties, or seventies like Bobby Boris Pickett’s Monster Mash will not be found here. Having said that, this is a fun, swinging collection of cheerful music with just the slightest of spooky tinges.
Songs in the set include: The Halloween Song by Bing Crosby and Boris Karloff, Nightmare by Artie Shaw, The House is Haunted by Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra, Skeletons in the Closet by Louis Armstrong, The Little Man Who Wasn’t There by Glen Miller, Haunted House by Ray Noble & His All Stars and I Put A Spell on You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
Scary Horror Radio Shows:
This collection features 8 hours and 27 minutes of classic radio shows featuring Vincent Price and other classic Hollywood era radio stars.
The sound is a bit scratchy; however, if you close your eyes and listen you can imagine you’re sitting in your grandparent’s living room on an autumn evening in the 1940s and being entertained by these scary stories!
And did I mention the ads? The original ads are included and they add to the listening experience!
The collection features episodes of the following radio shows: The Price of Fear, The Creaking Door, The Sealed Book, Beyond Tomorrow, Creeps By Night, The Black Mass. Nightfall, Dimension X, Lights Out and Sleep No More.
A Dark, Eerie, Spooky Classical Music Odyssey by Various Artists
A great collection of classical music heard in many horror films over the years!
Songs on the album include: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Nicholas Danby, Atmospheres by New York Philharmonic & Leonard Bernstein, 21 Hungarian Dances by Philadelphia Orchestra & Eugene Ormandy, Psycho: A Suite for Strings by Los Angeles Philharmonic, Night on Bald Mountain by Philadelphia Orchestra & Eugene Ormandy, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta by Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Fritz Reiner and The Noon Witch by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra & Claudio Abbado.
Halloween Spooky Strings by The Graveyard Orchestra:
This album features classical strings playing at warp speed and interspersed with the sound of ghouls, ghosts and other monsters – it would be a great album to put on while hosting trick or treaters at your house on Halloween.
And what playlist of great Halloween music would be complete without the 1962 classic Monster Mash by Bobby Boris Pickett!
Bobby doesn’t have any albums in the Freegal Music Catalog but that classic song is available on the following LP:
Monster Mash by Bobby Boris Pickett & The Crypt Kicker 5 from the Various Artists album Top 100 Hits – 1962, Vol. 2
In addition to Monster Mash, this album offers a great musical snapshot of songs from 1952 including: He’s a Rebel by The Crystals, Let’s Dance by Chris Montez, Soldier Boy by The Shirelles, Sealed with a Kiss by Brian Hyland, The Stripper by David Rose & His Orchestra and Duke of Earl by Gene Chandler.
Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 