The cover of this curious 1963 Mercury record brings back fond memories of cheap comic books, paperbacks, and horror mags from Warren Publishing and others. Many a youngster must have hunkered down to play these corny tales over and over and I can't help but join 'em. I never acquired Volume One of Tales of the Frightened, so I've been milking the material on this one for years.It's terrific (I almost typed terrorific! - sorry, Forry! - {gratuitous Forrest J. Ackerman reference} ), though, so I don't mind.
Today I bring you two more cuts from this somewhat creepy lp, one track was presented previously at this post, and I'll dole out some more in the future (the distant, spooky future). The definite highlight of this record is the (sadly uncredited) use of sounds and music of Tom Dissevelt and Dick Raaijmakers, Dutch electronics experimenters and electro-noise pioneers (not to slight my other faves like Raymond Scott!) throughout the project (I wonder if Mercury Records had a tie-up with Phillips Records or how exactly this went down - if anyone can identify the pieces used as 'scoring' for this record from existing Raaijmakers/Dissevelt compositions I'm sure some of us would be glad to know more details. (This just in at press time - more info about the music HERE)
The other folks involved, such as producer Lyle Kenyon Engel and writer Michael Avallone are interesting as well, and I've placed the front and back cover art here. Perhaps it's the string of endless and violent thunderstorms that brought me to pull this out this week, in any case, crank up the thunder and lightening and some sturm und drang and turn down the lights and listen (if you dare) to a bit of Boris-pal.
The Vampire Sleeps and Never Kick a Black Cat
Ooohhh..superb!
Posted by: Holly | June 25, 2011 at 06:50 PM
absolutely love it - i want the whole lp. btw on the Dick & Tom front, check this:
http://www.bastamusic.com/productDetails.aspx?IDProduct=190&ArtistName=Tom+Dissevelt%2C+Kid+Baltan%2C+Henk+Badings+and+Dick+Raaijmakers
linked as my url is a little mix i think you'll enjoy
Posted by: Power Sherlock | June 27, 2011 at 12:20 PM
That cover art looks like Kelly Freas to me.
Posted by: Richard Brandt | June 27, 2011 at 02:39 PM
Good call on the cover art (uncredited)- I'd say he would have been one of the people to call in 1963 to get a likeness of Boris!
Posted by: Mindwrecker | June 28, 2011 at 10:25 AM
Nice write-up. I don't think the cover is Freas, though the style is similar. I feel like at one time I knew the artist's name, but now it escapes me.
Last year I produced a remake of the Tales of the Frightened album. The same collection of stories, but read by Vernon Wells and the music composed by Eban Schletter. A great artist named Thea Saks did a nice tribute to the original cover art, as well.
Our version has eight stories, interspersed with eight instrumental pieces by Eban. I thought you might be interested.
http://www.amazon.com/Schletter-Presents-Michael-Avallones-Frightened/dp/B0049B2Y14/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309380862&sr=1-1
Posted by: David Avallone | June 29, 2011 at 04:59 PM
Really? A remake! Fancy that! And with Eban Schletter - that's the fella who did all of that fine work on the Mr. Show program, right-? I love him! Thanks for the tip, David. I'm guessing you're a relation of Michael Avallone, since the name's not that common?
Posted by: Mindwrecker | June 30, 2011 at 10:05 AM
Yes... Michael was my dad. Eban is a genius. This album probably features more theremin work than he did for the Mr. Show guys...
Posted by: David Avallone | July 08, 2011 at 12:50 AM
Howdy David - I wanted to let you know that I've prepared a follow-up to this post wherein I mention your project specifically. That post will appear on: Saturday, July 23rd, at 6pm EST, and it'll be the rest of the old volume two album with Boris. Thanks again for letting us all know about this!
Posted by: Mindwrecker | July 09, 2011 at 10:34 AM
Oh, Ilove this music sooo much! It is my favourite genre! Michael is genius for sure!
Posted by: custom essays | September 23, 2011 at 01:46 AM
This looks absolutely perfect. All these tinny details are made with lot of background knowledge. I like it a lot.
Posted by: lichen planopilaris | August 08, 2012 at 01:51 AM