Sounds of Terror! (Pickwick SPC-5104, 1974)
Wade Denning's name is all over some of my favorite spooky records from the late '60's/ early '70's (mostly in conjunction with Pickwick), and this is one of the best/ most extreme. It seems that Mr. Denning did a lot of audio work in a variety of guises, but it's easily his Halloween related stuff that's colored my life the most.
I can still distinctly remember the day that my mother bought me this record at the local JC Pennny's store thanks to the clerk's assurance that it "wasn't that scary" & "would be fine for a five year old" (this despite tracks with titles like "Be Buried Alive" & "The Victims of the Guillotine" proudly displayed on the cover). She was uncertain, but I REALLY wanted "The Monster Mash" (it turned out to be a semi-lame re-recording, but I wouldn't figure that out for a few years) so she eventually relented. Side one is a collection of some pretty standard monster vignettes entitled "Famous Monsters and Ghouls" (mostly stuff like Frankenstein's monster, the Mummy, etc) but side TWO focuses on "Man's Inhumanity to Man" and I honestly had nightmares for months (maybe years) thanks to this thing -- but I also couldn't stop listening to it, so it's not like I didn't have an active hand in the process, right?. A few years later, while setting up my own "Haunted House" with a friend in my backyard (we had several dummy corpses made out of sweatshirts & jeans stuffed with newspaper, a buncha gravestones cut out of wood, etc), I recorded loops of a number of these tracks & played them on portable tape players ("Nightmare of Lost Souls" & "Curse of the Zombies" were both outstanding in this regard) so it's safe to say that this LP continued to serve me very well over the years. And here it is for YOU.
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35 Comments:
Golly!
I had this one, too!
Because of it's Pickwick level cheapness, I found it creepier than others, and so didn't play it very often. I think it was the vampire drinking blood sound FX that did it for me.
I ended up sitting on it on my bed and cracked off a big chunk of it.
Fun stuff.
Thanks for sharing it!
2/03/2006 4:05 PM
Yeah, this record really was pretty intense for a little kid to hear. But then again kicking off with the lighthearted Monster Mash & then going into a graphic audio description of keelhauling is a fairly amazing turnaround no matter how old you are.
2/04/2006 8:21 AM
Upon listening to this again after many years:
I must've listened to this record more times than I remember, because each track brought back a flood of memories.
I remember wincing and skipping past the cover of Monster Mash because I thought it was such an affront to the original. I think the Vampire track affected me because of of it's kind of sexy overtones (girl moaning and sighing, vampire breathing hard0 which probably made for weird mixed messages for a young lad such as I.
But I'm pretty sure it was all the Man's Humanity to Man tracks that I found especially disturbing.
And I think the Exorcism track scared me alot, which was weird- given my complete lack of religious upbringing. Must've been that the movie the Exorcist was still considered so taboo, and considered by some to be 'real'.
Thanks so much for sharing these things!
2/04/2006 11:36 AM
I've wanted this LP for years in my collection, and the prices it is offerred for on ebay are a joke. One seller had it for $125.00. Gimme a break. Thanks for making this and all of your albums available for us to hear. I have many recordings from my own collection uploaded, and on a web page for anyone interested:
Dave's Listening Library Page
3/03/2006 10:38 PM
Dang, that record is going for $125? I have it in my collection along with some other ones, the kewlest being the Electric Lemon records. Will have to get those on the upload or have fun with them! :)
3/11/2006 9:49 PM
Hokey smoke! I used to have this one! Some of the tracks were terribly hokey, but some of them... well, man, I was absolutely undone. The Phantom of the Opera and the Frankenstein segments had me sniggering, but then I got the keelhauling episode, the premature burial and a few others... I'd be round-eyed and pale, and my grandmother (who flat didn't understand these things) would ask me why I kept listening to it if it scared me so...
4/27/2006 11:16 PM
Bless your dark heart for posting this album. (Well, all of your posts actually. I have downloaded alot from you in the past few days!)
I recall at about age 11, listening to this record at night while eating a hot dog. The sounds of the guillotine at that moment really made me sick.
Now THAT is a priceless memory!
5/30/2006 7:43 PM
My cousin and I had this record also when we were kids. I thought the "Werewolf" was disturbing because it sounded like he was attacking a baby. The Exorcism scared the hell out of me and so did the "Nightmare of Lost Souls." The previous gentleman said that this record was selling on E-bay for $125.00. I agree that this is a ridiculous price considering I bought mine at a flea market in New Orleans for $20.00.
7/14/2006 7:31 AM
Can anyone send me an MP3 of just the "Monster Mash" track of this record? I loooooove the Pickwick version so much that I am missing it already! If anyone can help me, please gimme a shout at either gamefan%0@hotmail.com or pollick529@yahoo.ca. Your help is gradually appreciated. Thanks!
7/20/2006 8:29 PM
Oops. I messed up the hotmail address. It's gamefan50@hotmail.com. Thanks again!
7/20/2006 8:30 PM
HALLO
Habe Sounds of Terror! (Pickwick SPC-5104, 1974) bei Ebay!
http://search.ebay.de/_W0QQsassZ2rotetiger
Gruss Ralf
Ebay-Name 2rotetiger
8/24/2006 4:45 PM
I'll Always Have Your Beauty for my Own!
9/06/2006 11:09 AM
I got my mom to buy me this record which i found in the cheap bin at Roses Dept. store when i was seven years old. I loved it then and i was actually looking for it because i wanted to play it at a Halloween Party i am throwing on Sat. the 28th I wasn;t having any luck until i came across your posting so i just wanted to thank you for taking the time and effort to make this available for download. My friends will be so surprised when i whip this little gem out them at the party...lol!
10/18/2006 12:13 PM
Wow, this is so surprising to see. For so many years I wondered what the heck was on this album. I remember way way back, I must have passed by this album 20 or 30 times, it was always prominently displayed on the record racks (remember seeing those big vinyl albums, folks?). That cool cover illustration was always staring at me! But at some point I think I decided that chasing after it didn't make sense, since it was probably just full of songs. After all, you could hear "The Monster Mash" by just turning on the radio. (I remember in the early 70's, "The Monster Mash," Pickett's original version, could be heard on the radio YEAR ROUND, not just in October! It was a popular song.) Anyway, now I see that this isn't quite a song album--it's some kind of weird mixture of things. Scarifying things! So surprising to see. Despite some of the inflated prices, it's comforting to think a person can look this album up on Ebay and grab it, when those questions and mysteries become just too nagging.
10/20/2006 9:42 PM
Oh yeah! I remember my friend Laura coming over to my house w/ this record. After we listened to Monster Mash, the sounds came on and we were both huddled under the coffee table in the living room! I begged my mom to buy it for me, but then when I saw the Famous Ghost Stories record by Wade Denning, I changed my mind and got that one instead. But as an adult, my thoughts turned to my friend Laura and hiding under the table, and I bought the album for myself.
How I miss the days of Woolworth, Ben Cooper costumes, and these great spooky records! Thanks Jason!
10/24/2006 10:39 AM
Unbelievable! You are AWESOME! I tried telling my girlfriend about this album and now she'll have the chance to hear it for herself. I had been hoping that it was still in my record box that I dug out while moving recently, but no such luck. And $125 is just a bit too much for me right now. THANK YOU for providing this! The bits I remember the most from my childhood were 'Jack the Ripper' and 'Buried Alive'.
10/24/2006 2:46 PM
I can see I'm arriving late to the party on this one, but man am I grateful to hear it again! I too used to listen to this record incessantly as a kid, though I don't remember seeing the LP cover at all (fortunately the same pic is on the label, helping me recognize it). No, we kept ours squeezed in a black Buddah Records paper sleeve alongside "Spider-Man: From Beyond The Grave" which you were good enough to share previously!
Thank you very much!
www.newtexture.com
10/25/2006 3:55 PM
HIDDEN MESSAGE: I loved this record too as a kid, and listened to "The Nightmare of Lost Souls" over and over and always sampled it for my Halloween background sound effects on my tape recorded. BUT HERE IS SOMETHING REALLY WEIRD ABOUT THIS ALBUM that no one else has commented on. I was listening to it a couple years ago for Halloween (yes i still have all my old vinyl spooky records from childhood) and at the very end of the "Buried Alive" segment, there is a HIDDEN MESSAGE similar to "I buried Paul" on the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album. Listen very closely as Buried Alive is ending and you hear a tiny voice in the background say these words: "wood shed"
11/02/2006 8:43 PM
i bought it today on ebay...$10!!!!! amazing hahaha.there are others right now... with similar price
8/05/2007 7:03 PM
It was fun. I got one on ebay too
8/08/2007 11:54 AM
Oh man, great memories. I still have this on vinyl somewhere, but I'm sure it's worn smooth by now. Great stuff, thanks!
9/28/2007 7:20 AM
I hid it under my bed. Then I hid it under my parent's bed. Then I put it on top of the refrigerator until my mom finally sold it at a garage sale.
That buried alive segment scared the hell out of me! And my dad used to torment me constantly, always making the sound of those chains from buried alive.
I can't believe you have this.
9/29/2007 9:21 PM
You have an awesome collection! I remember buying these records through a book/album order form my school used to give out every few months. I am trying to find one song I don't think you have. I thought it was on "sounds of terror" record but I guess I am wrong. It was a Halloween song that spelled out Halloween H-A-DOULBE L-O-DOUBLE U-DOUBLE E-N SPELLS HALOWEEN. If anyone knows which album this song is from please let me know.
10/21/2007 7:33 AM
devilsfan1986 --> the song you are looking for is off the Wade Dennning/ Kay Lande album "Halloween: Games, Songs and Stories". You can find it right here.
10/21/2007 7:46 AM
for those of you who cant find on EBAY for a cheap price. I looked recently and they have copies for cheap. But think of this: This was the 70's, and things like this album & "Sounds to make you shiver" gave kids nightmares. With a track like "BURIED ALIVE", what does one expect? I remember this (long story) and I own the record. Halloween Sound Effects recordings of NOW are more convincing. They make them now in a way that it is a great effect, but wont scare kids and give them nightmares. My mom said things like "...great to put ideas into kids heads..." and they dont make sound effects like this anymore these days!!! LOOK ON EBAY THEY HAVE COPIES OF Sounds of Terror! http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=Sounds+of+Terror%21&_sacat=0&_fromfsb=&_trksid=m270.l1313&_odkw=Sounds+of+Terror%21&_osacat=0 VINYL COPIES CHEAP!!!
10/28/2008 7:40 PM
THIS ALBUM WAS RELEASED IN 1974. YES THERE IS ANOTHER ONLINE SOURCE WITH A LINK TO ALL THE TRACKS/SOUNDS ON THE ALBUM (this is for the one looking for THIS version of "Monster Mash" which is so 'cheezy') Probably the reason why "Monster Mash" is on here is because, according to what I read on Wikipedia and a Dr. Demento booklet, this song was a hit in 1962, and then a hit again in 1973, peeking at #10 on BILLBOARD. Albums like this and "Sounds to make you shiver" were done in the 1970's, and these albums were designed to give kids nightmares. Think about it : BURIED ALIVE. Put ideas into kids heads... think about it.
10/30/2008 4:16 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwsXbt5HooE
PEOPLE STILL SELL THIS ALBUM ON EBAY CHEAP and I do/did have a source for the MP3,s which are all ready downloaded but I think the source blog has been long since removed...but still..
11/15/2008 5:25 PM
I found out a way to save the stuff to a hard drive, but I found another BLOG that had this and others for downloading, but it has since been taken down. "Sorry, the blog at davesworld56.blogspot.com has been removed. Mostly ghostly music sharing blaaaaaggg" it was "Mostly Ghostly Music Blaaahhhggg" but has since been taken down "Blog has been removed
Sorry, the blog at davesworld56.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.
Did you expect to see your blog here? See: 'I can't find my blog on the Web, where is it?'"
http://www.davesworld56.blogspot.com/
that is where I did find this and others MP3. Also look on EBAY people sell this album and not for so expensive. I do have the pickwick monster mash on my ipod, courtsey of this...
11/15/2008 5:31 PM
working link (for now, anyway): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9ISTS1J9
11/26/2009 9:56 PM
Never had this one, but after reading about it, I had to hear it. Here's a link for it since you took yours down for some reason: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9ISTS1J9
2/21/2010 6:33 PM
This was my favorite horror record as a kid! I bought it at Woolworth in the early 1970's. Many years later in the 1990's, I was working in a shop in Hollywood, CA. by the name of Wacko. My boss, Linda used to bring in her records to play while we worked our shift in the store. I flipped through a few of them when I spotted this one. I laughed because I recognized it from childhood. I picked it up, flipped it around and almost passed out when I realized that this was the EXACT COPY I HAD AS A KID! I knew this because I had drawn pictures of Linda Blair as the possessed Regan/Demon on the back in the red parts of the illustration of the vampire's cape. Bizarre!
3/27/2011 12:55 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRlvVFo-t0
10/05/2012 11:38 PM
https://archive.org/details/SoundsofTerror
...You're welcome...;)
11/20/2013 9:09 PM
I recently re-listened to my original vinyl record Sounds of Terror! as an adult on a decent stereo. At the very end of the "buried alive" segment, there is a hidden message (similar to the Beatles' "I buried Paul"). Listen very closely, and you will hear the word "woodshed". Trippy!
3/28/2014 12:10 PM
I recently re-listened to this vinyl album as an adult on a decent stereo. If you listen very closely to the end of the "buried alive" segment, there is a 'subliminal' message (similar to the Beatles' "I buried Paul"). If you listen very closely you will hear the word "woodshed". Trippy!
3/28/2014 12:12 PM
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