John Carpenter at the Shepherds Bush Empire, 16th October 2018

Thought I'd better put a few pictures up of last night's gig and my pre-Halloween treat to myself!

The gig ran for c75 minutes and the setlist is as follows. Absolute magic!

Escape From New York: Main Title

Assault on Precinct 13: Main Title

The Fog: Main Title Theme

Vortex (from Lost Themes)

Mystery (from Lost Themes)

They Live: Coming to L.A.

Starman: Starman Leaves

The Thing: Main Theme - Desolation

Distant Dream (from Lost Themes II)

Big Trouble in Little China: Pork Chop Express

Halloween 2018: The Shape Hunts

Halloween Theme: Main Title

In the Mouth of Madness: In the Mouth of Madness

Encore:

Body Bags

Vampires: Santiago

Prince of Darkness: Darkness Begins

Christine: Christine Attacks (Plymouth Fury)

Wednesday 17th October 2018

Goblin play Suspiria at The Union Chapel

Well, in terms of anticipation, the gig of the year so far. Hopefully, I won't get sued for using the band moniker 'Goblin'! To be honest I get confused with the amount of times the band Goblin have reformed and fallen out and due to legal reasons called themselves 'New Goblin', 'Goblin Keys', 'Goblin Four Of A Kind', 'Cherry Red' or 'Goblin Rebirth'...

Anyway, 'Claudio Simonetti's Goblin', a.k.a. 'Daemonia' was the band I had on my list of ten bands to see before I die. And although Simonetti is only one of the members of Goblin; film director Dario Argento has used him to score several subsequent films in a solo capacity after the initial dissolution of Goblin; so I guess he is still the member the majority of horror fans want to see play live.

I'd never been to Union Chapel in Islington before last night, and it was a great venue in terms of atmosphere and sound quality, although next time I might just bring a cushions as the church pews which provide the seating are somewhat hard!

An eclectic mix of people enjoyed Simonetti and his band perform the soundtrack to Dario Argento's film Suspiria live along to the screening of the film. I was about 5 rows back from the stage with two friends from Folkestone and a row behind the TV presenter and film aficionado Jonathon Ross. Bizarrely, across the aisle to my right was someone I know who lives less than half a mile from me, and who I never knew was a fan of Argento movies or Goblin's music... Actually after the gig I got to speak of him and I think the evening was a bit of an eye opener for him as he was visiting friends in London and not previously a fan of either!

And as for the concert / film, did it deliver? You bet it did!

Saturday 18th August 2018

Music For Robots & The Monster Squad

Well, it's still a few weeks away from the first halloween decorations appearing in the shops... but whilst browsing in one of my two local record shops I noticed by chance these vinyl reissues. I had tried finding a copy of The Monster Squad 7" single earlier in the year but to no avail.

The single contains Michael Sembello's Rock Until You Drop on the A-side and The Monster Squad Rap on the B-side of a rather spectacular piece of slime green vinyl.

However the illustrations on the back cover are fantastic and very reminiscent of the old horror mag adverts.

Also I chanced my arm with the reissue of 1961's Music For Robots. This 10" single has a spoken word A-side by Forrest J Ackerman about his love of all things 'robot', a brief history of the in media as well and mechanical examples from history and a short fictional glimpse into the future. The B-side here is a composition by Frank Coe of electronic sounds that perhaps robots might enjoy listening to!

Anyway, both are worth additions for the eclectic listener.

Thursday 3rd August 2017

Hallowe'en In A Suburb & Others

I recently ordered this 7" single from Cadabra Records and it arrived yesterday. Again Andrew Leman's recording is atmospheric and the packaging is of the same high standard that I was expecting after having purchased The Hound on l.p. The version I bought was the clear vinyl version, limited to 150 copies - I believe there was a previous black swirl pressing which must've sold out. My only gripe was that the tracklisting on Cadabra Record's website, and indeed on the record sleeve itself lists 7 poems (Hallowe'en In A Suburb, The Cats, The Garden, Festival, Astrophobos, Despair & The Messenger), yet Astrophobos is not on the record. However this is still a good purchase for H.P. Lovecraft fans. Pick it up before it sells out.

Thursday 26th May 2016

H.P.Lovecraft - The Hound & The Music Of Erich Zann on vinyl

This l.p. turned up in the post this week. A limited edition audio book on vinyl of Andrew Leman's reading of 2 H.P. Lovecraft short stories. The art on the gatefold sleeve is exquisite as is the slightly translucent purple vinyl of the disc. Also included is a booklet with notes by S.T. Joshi, a respected H.P. Lovecraft scholar. Each side clocks in at about 19 minutes and the sound quality is excellent. I think only a few hundred copies were produced so snap this one up before it goes.

Sunday 24th April 2015

Record Store Day 2016 - Nosferatu & Suspiria

Today is National Record Store Day and independent record shops have been selling limited edition records from 500 different artists from all genres as vinyl sales continue to grow.

So a 4am start was needed to guarantee a space near the front of the queue outside Gatefield Sounds in Whitstable which had a solitary copy of a purple vinyl 7" single of Goblin's Suspiria.

Slightly less scarce was a silver vinyl 7" of the soundtrack to the 1922 film Nosferatu which I bought from the same shop in Whitstable... but I was still able to find copies in both of Folkestone's record shops (Vintage & Vinyl and Hot Salvation) later on in the morning.

I also managed to pick up the BBC lp of 'Doctor Who - Genesis Of The Daleks', the 1975 story that in the age before videos and DVDs was released as an audio soundtrack with linking narration by Tom Baker. This is available on 'TARDIS' blue vinyl. Also I managed to pick up a double lp on yellow vinyl of the 1960s Peter Cushing Dr Who films 'Doctor Who & The Daleks' and 'Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150AD'.

Saturday 16th April 2016

Google's Clara Rockmore tribute

Google's homepage on 9th March featured an excellent animated doodle to commemorate what would've been Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday (if she hadn't've died in 1998. So if you missed the tribute to this virtuosa theremin player, here it is again.

Thursday 10th March 2016 

David Bowie RIP

Well I'm a huge Bowie fan, and even I had to raise a smile at this sad time when the official Bowie website put a compilation of images from this week's magazines covering Mr. Bowie's passing which featured amongst them the controversial French Charlie Hebdo magazine.

And for those who don't understand the cartoon...

Friday 15th January 2016

Elvira 7" Single

I have no idea how I missed this one last year, but there are a few copies of this 7" single still for sale, and they are worth snapping up. I didn't manage to get an orange vinyl copy but did get a purple vinyl copy. The A-side is 'Two Big Pumpkins' (check out the video on YouTube) and the B-side is '13 Days of Halloween' - a parody of the 12 Days of Christmas. Both songs are co-written by Fred Schneider of the B-52's. A must for all Elvira fans and a collectable for the future.

Saturday 24th October 2015

National Record Store Day

Well, it seems I've been a bit preoccupied over the last couple of months and have been neglecting to update this blog. So apologies to any Constant Readers!

 

Anyway... yesterday I got up at ridiculous o'clock in the morning to drive over to Whitstable to queue in the rain for a couple of hours before the nearest local independant record shop to where I live opened. I was only really after a limited edition Bowie 7" Picture Disc, but chatting to the person in front of me, found out that there was a limited edition 10" slime coloured vinyl of Ray Parker Junior's 'Ghostbusters' - it being the record's 30th anniversary. So it was a bit of a no brainer really and i bought a copy.

 

It features the single version, an indtrumental version, a dub version and the extended mix. So if you are interested try to track down a copy...

 

 

 

After buying 4 records (Bowie, Ray Parker Jnr, Grace Jones & The Flaming Lips) I enjoyed a cooked breakfast in the Tudor Tea Rooms at 8.30am, at the table Peter Cushing used to sit at. So all in all a worthwhile trip.

 

Sunday 20th April 2014

The Best of Halloween CD

I wasn't even aware this was in the shops over Halloween - a new (as in released in 2013) compilation of 50 Halloween themed tracks from the 1950s & 60s. Features some of the obvious classics such as Bobby Boris Pickett, Sheb Wooley, John Zacherle, Screamin' Jay Hawkins & Screaming Lord Sutch, but check the second photo for the full tracklisting as there were some tracks on here that even i hadn't heard of or got copies of.

 

Sainsburys supermarket in the UK had this double CD in their discount CD section and it cost me the grand sum of £3. Unfortunately the Folkestone store only had one copy, otherwise I'd've picked up more for presents. So check your local store before they all go.

Wednesday 6th November 2013

Peter Cushing on Vinyl

Well not a complete list... as he did recordings of audio plays... but I finally managed to get a copy of the 1991 7" single called 'No White Peaks.'

I remember this being played on Radio 1 when it came out at the end of the lunchtime news as an oddity feature - legendary horror actor does rap! It's not exactly rap, but a recording of an anti-war poem written by Peter Kayne right at the end of the 1960s over which an early 1990s dance track has been added with some backing vocals.

I found a friend with a record player and listened to it this week and it wasn't as bad as I remembered. It obviously sounds of its time (i.e. late 80s / early 90s pop) but I've heard much worse. It failed to chart, but there were plenty of other acts out at the time that successfully produced similar fare (e.g. Soul II Soul) so I don't let its lack of chart success affect your judgement!

Whilst trying to track this item down, I did pick up a CD single a couple of years ago with the poem recited without the dance music backing track. This was for a while available in Whitstable's museum and raised money for a charity. But this recording I found to be somewhat of a disappointment after having heard the record. Instead of it being just the spoken word which for me would have been preferable, the CD features fairly immemorable instrumentalisation underneath with the end of the track segueing into a version of a hymn more reminiscent of the American Civil War than the Vietnam era that inspired the poem. The vocal track used of Peter Cushing's voice too is not of great quality and whereas the dance track covers up such limitations, on the CD it's more noticeable. So despite both being very worthy attempts at charity fundraising, I think I'll stick with my 7" single for listening pleasure.

Sunday 17th March 2013

Philip Glass Dracula World Premiere

I decided to have a bit of a spring clean as I am running out of storage space, so I have plenty of images scanned and ready for uploading on the site during the year!

I did put the front of this flyer on here back in August 2010 with some more text, so please read that post. However now I've scanned in the reverse of the flyer too for any interested parties, as it does seem to be a popular post.

Tuesday 5th March 2013

Poe For Moderns

I was wandering round Spitalfields Market in London yesterday killing some time before a load of work got emailed to me, and the market was taken over mainly by stall selling vinyl & CDs.

Whilst trawling through boxes of CD promos in search of a bargain, I found the following. I had no idea what it was, but for £2 it was worth a punt.

Upon returning home I did a bit of research and found it to be a 1960 lp recently reissued with lots of Halloween themed bonus tracks. Result!

The full tracklisting is below, as is the review...

Song Title & Artist
  1. The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
  2. Annabel Lee - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
  3. The Gold Bug - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
  4. A Descent Into the Maelström - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
  5. The Bells - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
  6. The Fall of the House of Usher - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
  7. The Pit and the Pendulum -Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
  8. Ulalume - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
  9. The Black Cat - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
10. The Raven - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
11. Quoth the Raven - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
12. The Tell-Tale Heart - Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra
13. Bo Meets the Monster - Bo Diddley
14. At the House of Frankenstein - Big Bob Kornegay
15. Don't Meet Mr Frankenstein - Carlos Casal Jr
16. Dinner With Dracula - John Zacherle
17. Witchcraft - The Spiders
18. The Rockin' Ghost - Archie Bleyer
19. The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor - Joe South
20. The Shriek of Agony - Bob McFadden & Dor
21. The Shadow Knows - The Coasters
22. Zombi - The Monotones
23. Do the Zombie - The Symbols
24. Igor's Party - Tony and The Monstrosities
25. The Creep - Bob Luman And The Shadows
26. Graveyard - Leroy Bowman & The Arrows
27. Frog in the Fog - The Zircons
28. Hoo Doo - Al Reed And The Blue Notes
29. Rockin' In the Graveyard - Jackie Morningstar
30. The Fang - Nervous Norvous

Halloween beatnik jazz and sordid spooky songs. Just in time for Halloween, Fingertips offer up yet another forgotten masterpiece with a scary 30 track collection that brings together the complete classic vinyl rarity 'Poe For Moderns' by Buddy Morrow and his Orchestra, along with the best of the late '50s and early '60s music inspired by the burgeoning horror movie genre. Buddy Morrow And His Orchestra took the opportunity to roll out a whole album's worth of haunted melodies using the stories of Edgar Allan Poe as their inspiration under the suitably beat title 'Poe For Moderns', in which they also tried to appeal to the beat generation as well as horror fans. 'Poe for Moderns' mixes spoken word and spooky jazz fronted by a cooler-than-thou beatnik-styled English lecturer intoning the tales alongside creeped out harmonies from The Skip-Jacks. Alongside this horror genre classic are 18 classic exploitation 45s mainly culled from the classic horror year of 1958 when The Blob and I Married A Monster From Outer Space were staples at the drive-in. With classic performances by TV horror show hosts John Zacherle and Bob McFadden, tales of purple people eaters from both Joe South and the legendary Bo Diddley and a good smattering of Frankenstein and Dracula novelty hits, it's wall-to-wall gore with a fine sense of humour. The collection is an eerie kaleidoscope of doo wop weirdness, rollicking rockabilly with much maniacal laughter, plus oddball visions from the likes of Nervous Norvous and downright strange stories from a host of vintage crooners. Remastered from the original sound sources, the packaging includes copious sleevenotes by MOJO magazine's Dave Henderson.

Saturday 3rd November 2012

The Fog CD Soundtrack

At last the soundtrack to John Carpenter's great film has been re-released after years of being unavailable. Not only does it have the remastered soundtrack that was released in 2000, but now there's an extra disc with the original 1980 score cues. Silva Screen is the company that's put out the CD.

Monday 15th October 2012

The supermarkets are stocked...

Well, I happened to need to do some food shopping in Tesco today so I thought I'd check out their seasonal aisle while I was in and they get a thumbs up from me. A lot better than their miserable effort last year. Admittedly there's lots of make up, costumes, masks, sweets and party stuff for kids. But beacuse of the 'Scared Shrekless' DVD this year the've made more of an effort and have in-store marketing based around this theme.

On the cake aisles various brands have decide to market their existing cakes or biscuits with Halloween packaging (a couple of examples are seen below).

However Tesco may have nailed it this year with a selection of £5 CDs. Now if you collect Halloween music you will know what to expect from most cheap CDs i.e all your favourite Halloween tunes played and sung badly by someone who doesn't get a credit on the sleeve! However on these CDs are many rare tracks from the 50s (obviously the copyright's expired on them). And even the Scary Movie Theme CD mostly recorded by the City of Prague Orchestra has some interesting choices. Just be careful that two of the CDs are practically the same. The Halloween Hits CD is the same as The Ultimate Halloween CD with the exception that you get a second disc of sound effects with the second disc... so get that one if you are interested.

Monday 3rd October 2011

Philip Glass' Dracula world premiere

Another gem from the archives! The flyer for the world premiere at the Royal Festival Hall back in 1999. (I do have the full programme too.) I attended with my then girlfriend and we just happened, by chance, to be sitting behind my ex-manager and his wife, and neither of us had any idea the other would be at the concert. The Universal Studios film was shown with the new score perfomed live by Philip Glass on piano and the Kronos (string) Quartet. Ironically when the soundtrack was released, it was just of the Kronos Quartet playing the score. Subsequently there has been a release of Michael Riesman playing the score on solo piano, but no combination of the two!

Sunday 29th August 2010