Sounds of Darkness

Sounds To Make You Shiver! Bloodcurdling! Terror! Horror! (1974)
Sound Effects

After struggling through the not-even-mediocre music of Frankie Stein, I needed to rebound in a big way … something to restore my faith in the Halloween recordings of old. And it seemed like a good time to hit the sound-effects genre again. It’s hard to imagine a more appropriate album than “Sounds to Make You Shiver” by Pickwick records.

The first side of the album is a 15-minute definition of what a haunted-house track should sound like. Plenty of wind effects, some mysterious music, screams, chains rattling, moaning … it’s all here, along with a “welcome” and “goodbye” message from whoever is leading you through this imaginary haunted house. Side two just separates many of the sound effects you heard on side one into different tracks … cats, dogs, moans, thunder, banging shutters, etc. (The witch laugh can be heard on the Reverend Horton Heat’s “Halloween Dance”. And I think I’ve heard that creaky door in more than place, too.) I haven’t figured out why nobody ever used real cats for the cat sounds. The “hooting owl” is clearly human too. At least the growling dog is believable.

Despite those flaws, this is a classic.

Hate to keep picking on Halloweiner, so here's a share from Monster Shindig.