Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow's Eve - BaS 001

Okay, I'm a lazy ass. I started this blog over a year ago and this is really my first post. I figured Halloween was as good a time as any to submit my first compilation. A great theme which I had never tackled. I know what you're thinking: "Does the world really need another music blog?" The answer to that is unequivocally, no. So here's the deal, I'm going to post about one of these a month. I'll probably send out an email to give some of you the heads up (or maybe you can subscribe to this thing, I'm not sure). Feel free to share it with your friends, but hopefully this will stay under the radar. Just in case, here is the legal disclaimer (which I'm borrowing from one of my favorite music blogs, PowerPop Overdose ):

"Any links to anything on this blog are here either because it's something I own, ripped myself and uploaded or I found the links on the web. I do not host anything here in any manner. If you would like any of the links removed, drop me a line and I'll take care of it, ASAP."

Back to the blog. This was harder than I thought it would be. I tried to strike a balance between songs that sounded like Halloween but still had some sort of lyrical connection. It's interesting how most of the really creepy Halloween songs are really long. I shied away from those, adhering to my nearly die-hard, compilation rule of "no songs over five minutes". Anyway, I think I'm finally happy with my first Halloween comp:

Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow’s Eve

01. “I Walked With a Zombie” by REM (3:10) - No Halloween comp would be complete without a Roky Erickson song. This one has two!
02. “Hey, Hey We’re the Gories” by the Gories (2:08) - These guys should have been bigger.
03. “Bad Things” by Jace Everett (2:44) - I confess, I LOVE the new HBO series True Blood, and I had never heard this song until I saw the opening credits the first time-- sue me.
04. “Ghost Rider” by Suicide (2:33) - This might be the creepiest song on the comp.
05. “Evil Eye” by Ash (3:30) - This one doesn't sound creepy at all, but it's a nice slice of Power Pop with some good Halloween imagery.
06. “Wicked Annabella” by the Kinks (2:42) - Perhaps the darkest song in the Ray Davies canon.
07. “I’ve Been Riding with the Ghost” by Songs: Ohia (3:21) - From the first album I ever bought by Jason Molina-- he's actually got several titles that would fit future Halloween comps.
08. “Halloween” by Siouxsie & the Banshees (3:42) - I considered several "Halloween" songs for this comp, and Siouxsie's is by far the best (apologies to the Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth and Mudhoney).
09. “If You Have Ghosts” by Roky Erickson (3:08) - Here's the second Roky track.
10. “Demons Are Real” by Guided by Voices (0:49) - Robert Pollard was born on October 31st, so it would be criminal not to include GBV-- oh and, Happy B-day, Bob!
11. “Skeleton” by Elf Power (2:09) - Top five song for me of the current decade.
12. “Halloween Girl” by Blue Ash (2:49) - A Halloween love song? As the current GOP VP candidate would say: "You Betcha!"
13. “Walking on My Grave” by Dead Moon (3:03) - Plenty of songs to choose from these Pacific Northwest garage rockers.
14. “Hayride to Hell” by the Hoodoo Gurus (3:17) - One of my favorite Aussie bands.
15. “Ghost Town” by the Specials (3:41) - Horns never sounded so ominous in pop music.
16. “Where Evil Grows” by Gore Gore Girls (2:49) - A cover, written by the same guy that wrote "Seasons in the Sun" (Terry Jacks). I've never heard the original, but I love this version.
17. “Vampires & Failures” by Grandpaboy (3:32) - I personally think the current decade has been much kinder to Paul Westerberg than the nineties.
18. “She’s My Witch” by Kip Tyler (2:19) - This song smokes and it's from the 1958!
19. “Attack of the Ghost Rider” by the Raveonettes (2:33) - From their very Jesus & Mary Chain-ish debut.
20. “Skeleton Man” by Frank Black & the Catholics (3:11) - Another 80s icon that has had a very good run this decade.
21. “You Must Be a Witch” by the Lollipop Shoppe (2:50) - The band name suggests bubblegum pop, but it's straight up American Garage Rawk.
22. “Skulls” by the Misfits (2:01) - I could only pick one.
23. “Do the Vampire” by Superdrag (3:40) - Home state heroes, from their underappreciated sophmore effort.
24. “Where the Wolf Bane Blooms” by the Nomads (2:16) - Very spooky little tune from an eighties garage rock revival band.
25. “Graveyard” by Chad VanGaalen (3:52) - I've been sort of obsessed with Chad VanGaalen over the last few weeks since I got a copy of his new record-- this one is from Skelliconnection.
26. “Demons” by Yo La Tengo (2:19) - YLT have put together quite a body of work, and much of it has an eerie feel to it. This is an early example.
27. “Dance with the Ghoulman” by the Fleshtones (2:24) - Long live the Fleshtones! They kind of ripoff the Chocolate Watchband's "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love In)."

Here's a link if you'd like to download it:

Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow's Eve

Oh, and as will always be the case, this thing will fit nicely on an 80 minute CDR, and my format of choice is usually m4a. I welcome any comments and would certainly love to hear what your favorite Halloween songs are.

Cheers.