Halloween Special 2012 & Converge Review
Jim and Greg comb their record collections for the best tracks about Monsters for this year's Sound Opinions Halloween Special.
Halloween Monster Songs
Every Halloween Jim and Greg like to celebrate with music. And this year they focused on monsters. From vampires to werewolves to Jim's favorite, zombies, here are a selection of tunes for your next monster bash.
Greg
- The Cramps, "Human Fly"
- TV on the Radio, "Wolf Like Me"
- OutKast, "Dracula’s Wedding"
- Donovan, "Season of the Witch"
Jim
- Concrete Blonde, "Bloodletting"
- New York Dolls, "Frankenstein"
- The Five Blobs, "Beware of the Blob"
- Blue Oyster Cult, "Godzilla"
As always, on Sound Opinions everyone is a critic. So we also hear from some Halloween loving listeners.
- Mary Lou from Los Angeles, "Zombie" by The Fallouts
- Jason from Chicago, "The Shankill Butcher" by The Decemberists
- Leah from Chicago, "Teenage Ghouls Out for Blood" by American Werewolves
- Dave from Saint Charles, IL, "Dead Man’s Party" by Oingo Boingo
All We Love We Leave Behind Converge
How could we not end the Halloween special with a band from Salem, Massachusetts? Metal group Converge has a new album out called All We Love We Leave Behind, and it continues their successful two-decade run. Converge is often referred to as "smart metal," but Jim thinks "ambitious metal" is more apt. This especially applies to the drummer's range of almost jazzy
rhythms. Greg says few bands combine aggression with virtuosity better than Converge. The soundscapes are dreamlike and the guitar bursts mind-boggling. All We Love We Leave Behind gets two Buy It ratings.
Featured Songs
- Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers, "Monster Mash," The Original Monster Mash, Garpax, 1962
- New York Dolls, "Frankenstein," New York Dolls, Mercury, 1973
- The Cramps, "Human Fly," Gravest Hits EP, Illegal, 1979
- The Five Blobs, "The Blob," single, Columbia, 1958
- The Fall-Outs, "Zombie," Sleep, Super Electro Sound Recordings, 1994
- The Decemberists, "Shankill Butchers," The Crane Wife, Capitol/Rough Trade, 2006
- Warren Zevon, "Werewolves of London," Excitable Boy, Asylum, 1978
- Roky Erickson and the Aliens, "I Walked With a Zombie," Roky Erickson and the Aliens, CBS, 1980
- TV on the Radio, "Wolf Like Me," Return to Cookie Mountain, Interscope, 2006
- Concrete Blonde, "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)," Bloodletting, I.R.S., 1990
- OutKast, "Dracula's Wedding," Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, LaFace, 2003
- American Werewolves, "Teenage Ghouls Out for Blood," We Won't Stay Dead, Superhero Records, 2005
- Oingo Boingo, "Dead Man's Party," Dead Man's Party, MCA, 1995
- Blue Oyster Cult, "Godzilla," Spectres, Columbia, 1977
- Donovan, "Season of the Witch," Sunshine Superman, Epic, 1966
- Converge, "Vicious Muse," All the Love We Leave Behind, Epitaph, 2012
- Converge, "Empty on the Inside," All the Love We Leave Behind, Epitaph, 2012
- Converge, "Coral Blue," All the Love We Leave Behind, Epitaph, 2012
- Vitalic, "The March of Skabah," Rave Age, self released, 2012
- The Beatles, "Any Time at All," A Hard Day's Night, Parlophone, 1964
- Elvis Presley, "Burning Love," Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2, RCA Camden, 1972
- Passion Pit, "Sleepyhead," (Live on Sound Opinions), Manners, Frenchkiss, 2009
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