Welcome to the Album Nerds podcast with your hosts Andy, Don, and Dude.
Welcome to the Album Nerds podcast.
Hi, Dude. I got Andy and Don with me. It's Halloween time and I hope I didn't scare the
guys away with that terrible Dracula. Y'all still here? How you doing?
It's kind of a central Dracula. I was like, oh.
Yeah.
Hello, Mr. Darkness.
Yes. I'm definitely the lover version of Dracula.
Of course.
I don't want to kill anyone. Just want to drink enough blood to get by and maybe find
some romance along the way.
Well, that's very sweet of you. What are you doing over there, Don?
Here's Donnie.
Not bad. Not bad.
Yeah, that's pretty good.
All right. So this is the Album Nerds podcast. We love albums, the album format and finding
excuses to talk about them. We've got a great show for you today. We're each picking an
album to discuss that has some kind of Halloween connotations to it. Some creepiness, some
spookiness. Don's going to ask us a deep question. Then we're going to have some shout outs to
some other albums and album related items that we're digging. And then we'll spin that
wheel of musical discovery to find out what we're going to talk about next time. But this
week it's all about Halloween.
That's what I'm talking about.
Halloween's musical landscape is as diverse and enchanting as the holiday itself. From
the mournful Celtic tunes of old to the jazz infused melodies of the early 20th century,
the rock and roll inspired hits of the 50s and 60s to the eerie synthesizer driven sound
tracks of horror films. The music of Halloween has evolved to capture the essence of the
spooky season. These tunes not only set the mood, but also play a crucial role in bringing
the spirit of Halloween to life. Today, each of us will present an album that feels like
Halloween.
Geez.
I should have done that in the crypt keeper voice or something.
It would have been funny for a couple of seconds.
Until my voice came out.
Then it would have gotten weird. Then your voice would have given out and it would have
gotten entertaining again.
Yeah. So this is a, it's tougher than it seems, right? When you're trying to find a whole
album that isn't the monster mash. And then there's only so many that exist. So digging
around trying to find some stuff that brings that creepy feeling.
It's also good.
Yes. It's also good. Cause there are plenty of records where it's scary stuff, but it's
not good. So yeah, well, how'd you guys do with what other stuff did you consider this
week?
I'll mention, it's probably become one of the more popular modern day Halloween records
that I do come back to this time of year. Rob Zombie's Hell Billy Deluxe from 1998.
I enjoyed that when it came out and still sounds pretty fun. He's really, he's a big
old, old horn movie buff and it shows on that, on that album. And I kind of love that.
I've never made it through the whole thing.
Really? It's like 45 minutes.
It's about 40 minutes too much.
Another big zombie fan.
I'll give it another try.
I just found out he worked on Pee Wee's Playhouse. He was like on the crew.
Oh, on the show?
Yes.
He didn't actually build the playhouse or-
He's a pretty diverse guy. The other one I'll mention too, I think I may have talked about
on the show many moons ago, it's from a experimental ambient group from the UK by the name of Coil.
They have a bunch of albums that are suitable for Halloween, but the one I always come back
to this time of year is Music to Play in the Dark, volume one is excellent.
They also have an record called Astral Disaster from the same year, 1999. That is also very creepy.
I do remember Music to Play in the Dark. I think we talked about that once.
Yes.
It was more disturbing somehow than creepy, but it didn't have any vocals, right? I mean-
Yeah, it's just instrumental and little recorded passages and it's strange. I love it.
It made me uneasy.
That's the idea.
How about you, Don?
Well, this time of year, I like to immerse myself in the darker side of the cure and
probably the best example of that is their album Pornography from 1982, which we covered
on episode 137. Sometimes they're labeled as a goth group and that album is definitely
dark and it deals with death and stuff, but it doesn't do the vampire crap and the- it's
all real stuff. It's not imaginary.
It's real people.
Yeah. It's even darker in that way. Then I just wanted to mention the original Halloween
song, the Monster Mash. I didn't realize there was an entire album of this stuff. It's Bobby
Boris Pickett and the Crypt Keepers and the album is called The Original Monster Mash
from 1962.
Crypt Kickers.
Oh, did I? Sorry. Yes.
But yeah, it's just like every song is some monster based version of like a 1950s or 60s
rock and roll tune. It's amusing and if you had a Halloween party, it would be kind of
cool to have on.
Yeah. Not a great-
Maybe.
It's just a dedicated listening experience though.
Oh, really?
Well, one of the albums that I considered is actually not too far from that same theme
is Bobby Boris Pickett and the Crypt Kickers. It was Iced Earth, their album horror show.
It's a concept album that brings classic horror figures like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman,
Damien, and it's kind of traditional heavy metal with some thrash elements, but each
song is about that monster. Intricate solos, dramatic vocals. It's haunting. It's fun,
but ultimately it wasn't very spooky. It was just very- it was great thrash music with
what the song happened to be about Frankenstein. You know what I mean?
But it was definitely an enjoyable listen. And then every time we talk about Halloween
and picking a record, I once again take a swing at Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare
from 1975. I can't do it, man. It's produced by Bob Ezrin. He did Kiss Destroyer and The
Elder. It's very theatrical, but it's very uneven. It shifts into pop and disco moments.
And it showcases Cooper's dark storytelling, but the thread that's supposed to be that
this is the story of the series of nightmares a kid is having, I can't follow it, so I get
bored. I want to like it.
Yeah, some of those concepts, yeah, just get a little too full of themselves.
Yeah, unfortunately, a lot of the stuff just ends up coming off as corny. Whereas like
a metallic album actually is scary and it's not corny.
Right before they sold out. Right, Andy?
Right. Thank you for adding that in before I could.
All right, well, why don't we get into the spooky albums that we did pick?
You choo-choo-choose me?
All right, for my Halloween selection, we're talking about The Cramps and their 1980 album
Songs the Lord Taught Us.
Sounds like it's going to be delightful and help me learn about the Lord.
Yes, yes, and keep your muscles in good shape. The Cramps are a four-piece from New York
City. They're comprised primarily of a husband and wife duo. You guys write for their names,
Lux Interior on vocals and Poison Ivy Rorschach on guitar.
Those are like Western European names, yeah?
Yeah, exactly. I think they're French.
Ah.
All right, let's jump in here and play I Was a Teenage Werewolf.
Have you guys ever seen the film I Was a Teenage Werewolf from 1957?
Yes.
With Pau from Little House on the Prairie?
Yes, I think so. Michael Landon, is that his name?
Yeah, yeah. I saw it as a kid back when they used to play a lot of those old black and
white horror movies in October.
Yeah, well, that's one of them, and that's the song about it, apparently. So The Cramps
here, this is a pretty interesting record. I've come across this maybe 10 or 15 years
ago. Just love the sort of deranged sound they have. They're known for kind of founding
this genre of psychobilly is what it's called, which is kind of a combination of rockabilly
and punk rock. They came from California, moved over to New York City, got involved
with that New York City punk rock scene in the late 70s and early 80s, kind of CBGBs
and those groups who were playing there. Suicide, The Moans, Patti Smith, television, etc. Yeah,
and they were pretty popular back in the day in that scene. My clickbait headline for Songs
the Lord Taught Us is Be Sure to Stretch Before Surfing with These Psychobillies.
What's with the muscles and the stretching?
You got the cramps, man. These guys are not properly hydrated.
Well, eat a banana, right?
Well, yeah.
Are they swimming too soon after eating?
Oh yeah, I didn't want to make it too complicated, but that could be a contributing factor, yes.
I think what they do best is kind of add that darkness to that sort of surf rock sound.
Frontman Lux there has a real sort of unsettling delivery, I would say. He goes from kind of
like a lounge singer, almost like an Elvis impersonator vibe at times to like this sort
of like a punk rock scream, which I think is pretty effective when he does it like that.
There are those B-52s moments though too where he is like this and he's like, what's happening?
Yeah, right? The pace is all over the place. Sometimes it's very upbeat, sometimes it's
more slowed down and dark. But I would say the whole thing is kind of unhinged.
When we play Cut Here towards the end of the record, this is a cover by Johnny Brunette
and the Rock and Roll Trio, it's called Teardot.
What better way to demonstrate your psychobilly style than by covering a rockabilly classic.
So yeah, just kind of a standard bluesy rockabilly riff, but with that punk rock spirit, pretty
effective I think. And that's one of two covers on the album, I believe, the other being Fever.
Trick 9 as well.
Oh, that's right. Oh, okay. Never mind.
Yeah, I like the fever. It makes it not sexy, which is kind of cool. Instead it's like stalkery,
you give me fever and you know, like it feels like they're excited by this person, but maybe
the person isn't excited back. I kind of like that twist on it.
Well my headline for The Cramps, trash in the Cramps garage leaves sweet psychobilly
stench.
I don't know. I wanted to incorporate the word garage and sort of that it's like trashy music.
Yeah.
Right.
That smells, yeah.
Yeah, but in a good way, you know, so it is kind of a, it is a charming record for some
reason. I mean, I guess because it's different, right? Different from the other punk rock
that was out there.
Well, you know, surf rock and that whole surf guitar style was dead. That was so dated,
it was so early mid sixties and that had become so cliche and sort of taking it and this obsession
with it and then bringing that guitar sound into this punk era. It was very interesting
because it was like an ugly version of it, which was really cool. So that's the ultimate
way to be a punk is to take something that was something and then crumple it up and spin
on it, you know, which, and it sounds great.
Yeah.
It's a very historic city thing to me. Like it took the sound from the West coast and
just made it like ugly and gnarly and threw some trash on it.
Awesome. And it does, I mean, it approaches cornyness, you know, by having some of the
horror themes, but in a way it really works with punk rock because, you know, a lot of
things, you know, a lot of these horror monsters like werewolves, I think they're meant to
sort of symbolize sort of the wild spirit of a human being. And of course that's what
punk rock is, right? It's that sort of wild side of us.
Yeah, they're the monsters.
Yeah. So it kind of works. So the, you know, the album is produced by Alex Chilton from
the Box Tops. This album, it's very raw, the production. I contrasted it with, you know,
Nevermind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. Because I remember that album, despite it,
you know, having that punk edge, it was really cleanly produced. It was kind of polished
sound and you could hear all the instruments. This one is just even more chaotic and really
does kind of sound like you're listening to a band playing in their garage.
Yeah. It has a bit of a live show feel to it, I would say. It feels like unexpected
things could happen as you're listening to the record.
Yeah. And then the other interesting thing about it is that, I mean, I don't think there's
any bass guitar on the album.
Yeah. I was surprised by that too. They apparently didn't have a bass until like the mid 80s,
which is surprising.
I'll have to listen again. I guess I didn't notice that there was a bass. Makes sense
though now that I think about it.
There's two guitars, but they're mostly just a rhythm and a lead.
Yeah. But yeah, you know, I think overall it kind of works as a Halloween record. You
know, it has those themes and it's kind of wild and creepy and I think it works.
All right. Let's hear one of those creepy Halloween songs. This is Zombie Dance.
I hear the Fred Schneider there. Is that his name?
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely the B-52's vibe.
Yeah. More dancey. More upbeat.
So Zombie Dance was pretty much I picked because it has Zombie in the title and it ties in
with the Halloween thing. But I mean, to me what I was picturing was like, if you've seen
the show Happy Days, if there was some twisted horror version of that, this is what would
be being played at Al's diner, you know?
That sounds about right.
Yeah. So it's a playful take on that 50s and 60s sort of sock hop sound. But again, the
subject matter is goofy and there's this sort of ugliness about it too. Like that good kind
of ugliness that comes, like we were talking about earlier, that comes from some of the
New York City punk and post-punk bands. I love Poison Ivy's guitar work on that one.
It adds to a supernatural vibe. It's just such a, like it's like surf rock, but she's
slapping the strings at the same time. It's, I don't know. It's really interesting.
My clickbait headline to describe the album. Songs the Lord Taught Us, where Psycho Billy
and Surf Rock collide in a monster filled punk rebellion.
That surf rock stuff, dude. I mean, mixed with that, that rockabilly punk sound that they
invented a genre or sub genre basically with what they were doing. I mean, around the same
time there were bands like the Stray Cats taking that rockabilly Elvis-y kind of vibe
and trying to mix it with a punk rock aesthetic, but it was much more sanitized and cuter than
this. And this is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I've kind of avoided it over
the years cause it looked kind of gimmicky to me, but it totally is not when I actually
listened to it.
Yeah. I would associate them with like bands like the Misfits and stuff like that, but
are more shock and kind of branding and stuff, I guess. But they're really, really not so
much in that vein. And I feel like these songs do have some weight to them.
I agree. And again, it's definitely a fun listen for a Halloween party. A lot of these
songs would work.
Yeah. And it's a pretty quick listen overall. So yeah, if you have not heard Songs the Lord
Taught Us, I think it's a good selection for your Halloween activities.
Before we continue on this spooky journey, why don't we hear from our friends over at
the Polyphonic Press podcast.
Do you love music? Do you want to explore classic albums? If you answered yes, then
check out Polyphonic Press. I'm Jeremy and along with my cohost, John, we rely on the
patented random album generator to pick an album for us to review. At the top of each
show, we have no idea what album we're going to be listening to. That's what keeps it really
exciting. We dig real deep into these albums. So if this sounds interesting, come along
with us on this journey, because you never know what you might find. We release a new
episode every Tuesday morning. That's Polyphonic Press and we're available on every podcast
platform.
Check out the press there. It sounds pretty cool. My pick for a Halloween record is Duran
Duran's Dance Macabre released in October of 2023. This is an interesting one. Technically,
it's their 16th studio album by the band formed in Birmingham in 1978. The band currently
includes four members, singer Simon LeBond, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bass guitarist John
Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor. But this album also features guitar work from former
members Andy Taylor and Warren Cucarulo. The origins of this are they performed a Halloween
show in Las Vegas in 2022 and I guess they enjoyed that experience. So they decided to
make or record a soundtrack to the ultimate Halloween party.
Nice. Now you said they're from Birmingham. Now I have a British friend who last time
you talked about Duran Duran and said Birmingham. He took issue with your pronunciation.
How are you supposed to pronounce it?
I think it's something like Birmingham.
Birmingham. Birmingham. Yeah, that's probably.
I don't know. That might be worse.
It's not the same to me.
So the album features a mixture of new original material, covers and reworking of old songs.
But here's the title track, Dance Macabre.
Y'all can't see it, but it's a rare sighting of Don actually dancing and grooving there
on the camera. He can't help it. When Duran Duran's playing, he's got to move.
So Dance Macabre is a French term that translates to dance of death. So in art, it's often depicted
as a procession of dance featuring both living and dead people. Yeah. So that, you know,
that song, it kind of captures the spirit of the whole album, kind of dance oriented,
sort of those like ghostly synths, some weird kind of haunting harmonies, just like a creepy
party vibe.
These are all sounds that Duran Duran has had throughout their discography, but they
haven't been central to the songs. It's been more part of the vibe. So I like, I like hearing
that brought to the front. They're good at it. I don't think they, I just don't think
they knew they were.
And it turns out Simon Laban can rap.
Oh, I wouldn't go that far. We should have had him on the hip hop episode, right?
He didn't do that. And I'm here to say.
He was just about to.
My name is Simon and I'm here to say.
So you know, while the song and the album itself kind of embraces Halloween themes,
it's with like a sense of humor, you know, so it's not truly scary or again, just sort
of a fun, goofy Halloween party. My clickbait headline for Dance Macabre is Duran Duran
take horrifying idea and make it work. So, you know, if somebody said, hey, Duran Duran's
got a new album coming out. I'd be like, yeah. And they're like, well, it's, you know, it's
Halloween themed. Okay. And then, you know, lots of cover songs. I'm like, yuck, you know,
because I'm just not a huge fan of cover albums in general. And then I just hate it when artists
rerecord their old songs. It's just, it's not for me usually.
Sometimes they get better at it though, man. You know, you play a song for years and years
and you rearrange it and it, you know, it can happen. Work. It doesn't often, but it
can.
Yeah. And somehow, you know, this, this album works and I don't know if it's just because
it doesn't take itself too seriously. You know, it kind of is what it is. It's, it's
fun. Yeah, it's, I actually enjoy it. So, and actually this month, so of this year,
they've actually released a deluxe edition, which includes a new instrumental track that
marks the beginning of the record called Mask of the Pink Death. They do it, they add
a cover of ELO's Evil Woman. And then a reworking of this song, New Moon on Monday, now titled
New Moon, Dark Fade.
Yeah. Don once again is all animated. I picture a 12 year old version with a brush singing
into a mirror right now. I like that version better than the original cause it's, it's
less dated. The keyboards on the original are so, they're so early eighties. And I've
always liked that song, but I really liked the, this sort of darker version of it. It
just works really well. I was actually, when I first heard it, I was like, no way. Is it,
did I, they really redid a song that I like better? So.
You can also hear the words more like the lyrics of the verses. I still don't know what
the song's about, but at least I know what the words are.
Yeah. It's about a new moon on Monday. I think it's start, you know, starting over, starting
fresh. That's kind of my, my take on it. But you know, it also is good for the Halloween
vibes where you think of the moon and dark sky and all that stuff. So it works really
well on this record. It was a good choice. My clickbait headline to describe Dance Macabre.
Masterfully blended old and new with catchy covers for genuine return to form that sounds
classically Duran and a little spooky. I think this sounds more like them than a lot of their
more recent records. They have moments on them that I enjoy, but this just sounds like
they're having fun. It's not in reaction to sounds that are happening now. It's just,
let's do a project and have fun and you can hear it. And I really enjoy that. I miss that
in bands when bands become, when they're around a long time and it becomes a machine to a
certain extent. I think sometimes the fun isn't as palpable and it is here. Yeah. Sometimes
they're guilty of trying too hard, you know, trying too hard to get the hit or trying too
hard to capture a certain sound or something. And this one just seems like it came out naturally.
Simon sounds great too. If you told me that this was the original version of the song,
I would believe you cause he just sounds really good. They do sound amazingly fresh. I would
say I couldn't really distinguish between the eighties material and the stuff like 40 years
later, which is kind of amazing. All right. Well, as I said, you know, this album features
several covers and here's one, Spellbound. What's the name of the song again? I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. I'm not in a new mood on Monday or something.
Fun kind of like synthy version of the Susan and the Banshees song from back in that same era.
I enjoyed that cover. There's quite a few covers on the record. You got like Pain of Black, Psycho
Killer, Evil Woman. Yeah. Don't forget Billie Eilish. What? Billie Eilish, Berry a Friend.
Oh, wow. My clickbait headline for dance macabre is Duran Duran are still dancing,
but the macabre is starting to smell. I don't know. I mean, I did enjoy this album. To me,
it feels very much like a live concert feel. Like I think maybe this is if I was at that show in
Las Vegas a couple of years ago, maybe it was kind of in this vibe. I enjoy it. I mean, it's super
dancey. It kind of feels like you're at a club at times, especially with the dark vibe on many of
these tracks. I think that works, but I think largely if you're a fan of the band, I think you
probably would enjoy this. But it's more of a outsider looking in. I feel like this was kind
of hit or miss generally. I did enjoy a few of the tracks, especially the, I guess is it the single
Black Moonlight there towards the beginning of the record? Really fun dancey track, good baseline.
CB. Features Nile Rodgers on guitar. AC. Oh, nice. Should have guessed. But yeah,
the middle third, I guess I kind of whatever, but the ending with the covers and stuff is pretty fun.
The opening of the record has this really cool instrumental, the mask of the pink death,
which is like just a Halloween vibe that get going really strong there. I kind of wish I had more
elements of that sprinkled throughout, a little bit more of that creepiness, a little less of the
fun dancey-ness, I guess, but it's Duran Duran. So I guess you want that.
RG. Yeah. I think also not just Duran Duran fans, but people who maybe grew up in the 80s
and appreciate that sound might enjoy this record for Halloween as well.
Just because it does capture some fun and does have some of those nice comfy 80s throwback vibes
as well here and there. So.
AC. Yeah. And they still really sound like themselves, which is amazing. I don't know,
what kind of health rig they're in. RG. They kind of deal with the devil they made.
AC. Seriously. It's working. Keep it up. RG. Yeah. So some other tracks that they redo
from their catalog, Nightboat, which appeared on the first album, kind of slowed down. I prefer
the original version, but I mean, this version works. They go deep. They do Secret October 31st,
which is a reworking of Secret October, which was a B-side to Union of the Snake. That one's
pretty interesting. RG. Here comes the Duran Duran fan.
AC. Maybe the strangest one is they take Lonely in Your Nightmare from Rio and they go right into
Super Freak by Rick James. RG. That was an interesting choice.
AC. That shows up every time. It's like, what? What just happened?
AC. So that's now called Super Lonely Freak. Anyway, so it's not a classic Duran Duran,
Duran album, but I think it does provide a nice soundtrack for a Halloween party. So it's Duran
Duran Dance Macabre. RG. Excuse me. I'd like to ask you a few questions.
AC. Now it's time for a deep question by Don.
AC. Oh, are you coughing or was that an evil laugh?
RG. That's supposed to be an evil laugh. Come on. Kick a muhahaha.
AC. That's better. RG. That's good.
AC. Okay. So tell us about a Halloween costume from your past that stands out in your memory.
RG. Andy dresses up for Halloween every year, so he doesn't have to go too far back.
AC. Yeah. I do kind of love dressing up for Halloween. I thought a lot of characters,
one that I remember from my childhood that I mentioned, but I thought was kind of cool.
Growing up, you know, we made all of our costumes like from whatever was around the house. And one
year I wanted to be a dump truck. So my dad made me a little... RG. Wait, back up. Boop, boop, boop.
AC. Yeah. RG. You wanted to be a dump truck. I think we need to explore this to give some reasons.
AC. Well, you know, like a young kid, I was in the construction vehicles, you know,
dump trucks and backhoes and diggers, et cetera. Anyway, so I was a dump truck and the cool thing
was that when I go up to the house and ask for, you know, trick or treat, I would have to turn
around and pull a little string and my butt would lift up and they could put the candy in directly
into my caboose sort of. So that was cool. I liked that. Yeah.
RG. That's a good way to protect your candy stash from any siblings if it's butt candy,
they aren't going to want to steal them from you. AC. Yeah, that's true. Much safer than a pillowcase.
But yeah, I mean, I've had some good costumes in my adult life as well. I've been Cherry Garcia,
but probably my favorite one is the dude, dude. That was a big Lebowski a couple of times.
RG. I like your style.
AC. Yeah, he did the Lebowski. Now, if you wanted to do it right,
shave your head, get some cool glasses, grow a couple of feet and then you could be me.
RG. Yeah, at least a couple of feet. Yeah. Did you have any good costumes, man?
AC. Not really. I mean, I only did Halloween till I was like 12, but one of my favorites was
a Superman costume. This is when you'd get these plastic, it was like a, you'd buy it,
but it was basically a garbage bag with. RG. It's like printed on it, right?
AC. Yeah, printed on it. And then just this mask, it was a plastic mask just on the front, right?
For the trick or treating, it was fine, right? I liked being Superman, but what I would do at
home with the mask is I would put on like my church suit and then put the mask, the Superman mask on,
put my glasses on over it and be Clark Kent. Yeah. So I mean, I wore that for like two or three years
till I popped holes in it. But one of the best Halloween things that ever happened, I was probably
wearing that costume and my mom was taking us trick or treating. And we got to this house,
I had like spooky music and lights and stuff on their porch. And there was like this dummy
sitting in a rocking chair, looked kind of like a creepy clown or something. So we're getting our
candy and stuff. My mom's fascinated with this thing. She's poking it and then she poked its eye
and the guy jumped up, screams at her and she went shrieking away from that house.
So I was trying to scare the kids, but I guess I'll make an exception if you're poking my eye.
The guy got his eye poked. She put her finger in his eye.
It's a good test. What about you, Don?
Well, according to like my old family photo albums, I think my first Halloween costumes,
I think two years in a row, I was the jolly green giant.
Really?
Wow. Corporate, corporate.
Yeah.
And my mom.
You're vegetables kids.
People are trying to give you Del Monte vegetables in your bag.
Like, no, no, green giant.
And then, you know, I was still quite young, but maybe today it would be a controversial choice,
but I was a black ghost.
Instead of a white sheet, it was a black sheet. For some reason I wanted to be a black ghost.
I don't think it had any real racial implications.
Yeah, it started being more, you know, it'd be creepy.
Probably very hard to see you at night out there in the trick or treating.
Did you have to wear like reflectors or something?
I used to go trick or treating with my sister. So I was next to her.
I think she was uncle Sam that year.
These choices, like I think really as people grow up and they seek any kind of therapy in their
lives, that's one of the things that the psychotherapist should ask. Like what costumes did
you choose as a child? Cause I think that could, that could really open some doors to figuring out
who a person is.
There's a lot about you. I mean, down in the black sheet, I mean, that's pretty on the nose.
Yep. He was already into the, the gothic stuff.
The gothic stuff, yeah.
Yeah. Gothic ghost maybe would be a good choice.
Yeah.
There you go. Sure. It was also later, I think in middle school, I was a California raisin.
Anyway, well, uh, what Halloween costumes do you remember? Let us know. Hit us up on the socials,
Instagram and Facebook, or leave a comment on our website, albumnerds.com.
So I struggled with this one a little bit. I was really close on that iced earth album, but
I was like, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.
I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.
I was really close on that iced earth album, but I ended up going with a typo negative
and their 1993 album, bloody kisses.
Typo negative was an American gothic doom metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York in 1989 by
Peter Steele. He was bass and lead vocals, Kenny Hickey on guitar and co-lead vocals, Josh Silver
on keyboards and backing vocals and Sal Abroscato on drums and percussion. And John Kelly later
replaced them. The music was heavily centered on themes of romance, depression and death,
which led to their nickname, the drab for, which is the fat for.
That's good.
Pete Steele passed away in 2010 at the age of 48. So bloody kisses, their third studio album.
It's a breakthrough for them. It's satirical lyrics and blend of gothic metal doom and dark
humor paved the way for the sound. And it's the first album from Roadrunner Records to be
certified gold and later platinum. Nice.
Yeah, I know. Roadrunner has been coming up a lot lately. Why don't we check out a little
bit of black number one, Little Miss Scarrol. It's like a mascara place or what is it?
Miss Scarrol instead of Miss Clairol, which was a thing in the 70s and 80s.
Is that like a makeup brand?
It's like a hair color thing because she dyes her hair black. Black number one is the hair dye.
All right. Let's listen.
Probably the best known track from the album,
sarcastic ode to goth culture, specifically addressing a girlfriend who dyed her hair black
to match her goth aesthetic. It's a perfect example of the band's doom pop style,
catchy chorus, dark sludgy guitars, and then the signature vocal style of Pete Steele
and those Dracula rolled Rs and those hard hit K's when he's milk wide neck.
Very Dracula-y.
Yeah. She is up on that microphone, man. I love it.
Yeah. So there's a lot of tongue in cheek references to Halloween,
Nosferatu, Lily Munster. Adam's family theme appears briefly in the song. So yeah,
what I didn't understand at the time was that they were having fun with this
and poking fun at themselves and the darkness that they were representing.
And I kind of dismissed it as, well, not grunge, so I wasn't interested.
I did see them open for Pantera in like early 95 and I kind of started to change my mind
because they were really good. They sounded really good live. So.
Wow.
Well, Pete Steele didn't want to go on the road because he liked being
working for the Parks Department in New York and picking up garbage. He enjoyed it. Apparently.
The six foot eight dude with hair down to his ass looks like Dracula and he's picking up garbage.
Can you imagine like throwing your rappers down? Just because of your look.
Why don't you pick that up?
But I guess they got their motley crew offered them an opening spot on their tour and that's what
helped break them. So my clickbait headline to describe the album,
Type O Negative is Bloody Kisses, the album that made goth metal sexy and scary. It did
make it sort of sensual more so than I think some others. It was more about the scare and less about
and that gothic romance thing, you know, that whole because those old Dracula movies always
had him as being kind of a ladies man. I think that's that that's reflected here on many of the
songs, but also at the base of it, Pete Steele was self-conscious and a lot of this bravado was
a way of making fun of himself, which has been interesting getting to understand that as I've
dug into this. Why don't we hear a little bit of the title track, Bloody Kisses.
The almost 11 minute long title cut there.
Yeah, they stretch them out, don't they?
There's a couple on this album that they do get a little comfortable in, I would say.
The My Clickbait headline for Bloody Kisses is Type O Negative brings the weird,
but left me wondering if their kisses are bloody or if they're just messy with the ketchup.
I enjoy this record. I find it very interesting. There's a lot going on. I mean, it's a long record
and some of the tracks are a little uneven, but it's interesting. I give them credit for
trying some new stuff. Where I get caught up on is some tracks are clearly a joke.
There's a song called The White People or We Hate Everyone. I really enjoyed those two songs. I
thought they were pretty good, but they've definitely taken some shots at the goth
audience and what goes into that. But then there's tracks that seem very serious and dark to sound
their own. I wasn't really sure. Are we supposed to be taking all this seriously or are things
like that title cut there seems very gravely serious to me? I guess I was just confused
if I was misunderstanding some of the lyrics. I think the intention was just creating good songs.
I think because of the sound of the album, you can kind of ignore that it's tongue in cheek and
being funny if you so choose and sink into the darkness, or you can use those more moments of
levity to pull yourself out of the darkness of those other songs. So I get what you're saying.
It can be a little confusing if you're really paying attention to the lyrics.
Yeah. Well, besides those big messages, I think it does feel like an exciting album. I appreciate
it as kind of like that goth rock style and yeah, Steel's voice is awesome. I really thought it was
two or three vocalists in the band. I didn't realize it was all one guy.
Well, there are moments where you can tell that it's Kenny Hickey.
Okay.
But yeah, the majority is Pete Steel. All right. So why don't we move on to a song that I definitely,
you could take one way or the other. Let's listen to a little bit of Christian Woman.
So Christian Woman depicts a woman struggle between religious devotion and sexual desire,
supposedly inspired by a woman, you know, Steel was romantically involved with, you know,
she supposedly wanted him to dress up as a priest during sex.
Sure. Happens to everyone, right?
Yeah. So the song actually has three distinct parts. They're actually identified. So the first
part is Body of Christ or Corpus Christi. And then second part is To Love God, which I think
is that kind of acoustically part that's really pretty. And then all of a sudden it's Jesus Christ
looks like me. Jesus Christ. Yeah, it's weird.
Yeah. That's like a medley. It's a Booyah bass.
It is a Booyah bass. Yeah.
Let me bring that back. In total, it's about nine minutes long,
the song. But I think because it is split up into three parts, it kind of works. I think my favorite
part about this song in particular is just those atmospheric keyboards that really make it dramatic.
Reminds me of the Sisters of Mercy. Yeah.
Actually, this track in general sounds like a Sisters of Mercy track.
Yeah. Well, it all sounds like, you know,
Gothic Cathedral stuff, which I think is why those touches are in there. But yeah,
Pete Steele is just an interesting character. I mean, I briefly met him at an in-store signing
thing at a record store back in the 90s. He was huge. And then he would call the record store I
worked at because he was trying to date my manager, Gina, because he had met her at that same thing.
So I've always felt this kind of familiarity with him because he just seemed like a normal dude when
I met him. And then listening to this music is so the character is at the forefront, you know.
Yeah. What if he was calling from the payphone at the state park?
Maybe. So my clickbait headline for Bloody Kisses is Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses is
a positive experience. The blood type.
Nice. There you go.
So yeah, I enjoy this record a lot. I mean, it's a bit long overall and it's messy. You know,
I wonder if it would have benefited from like a tighter treatment, maybe more focus. But you know,
it's kind of hard to say, you know, like with the Beatles' White album, it'd been better if they
cut out some of that stuff. It's kind of part of the identity of this album.
Yeah. I think that the way it is is probably the right way because if those songs weren't so
expansive, you wouldn't have the same impression of this band. And the impression of this band
and this album is that this is this flight of fancy, this dark trip through romance and life and
self identity and all that stuff. So I, you know, I actually let myself sink into those moments
instead of fighting. You kind of have to like give yourself over to this record to some degree.
Yeah. Just like you give yourself over to Dracula when he hypnotizes you with his eyes.
Exactly. Just open your neck up for him. There you go.
Yeah. So it's, I think like Andy, I sometimes struggle whether to take it seriously or not,
but I guess that's part of its charm, sort of the ambiguity of it.
Yeah. You know, a fun little tidbit of information I came across was,
again, leaning into this fun aspect of the band. The album features additional vocal performances
from close friends of the band, including Mina Caputo, Joey Zambella, and Alan Robert
of Life of Agony, a band that was also on their label. And they were credited as the Erasmus High
School Boys Special Ed in the album liner notes. And there was also some singers credited as the
Benton Hoist Lesbian Choir. So I don't know what that was about exactly, but they just had this
sense of humor amid this darkness that they were representing. Yeah. You could go too dark, right?
If you want full goth. Yeah. Never go full goth.
Right. Right. Yeah. Well said.
And of course, Summer Breeze, the cover of the Seals and Croft song is on this record. And they
do a really good job of creeping that up. I guess originally they rewrote the lyrics and called it
Summer Girl. You can find it on the web if you want to hear it, but the Seals and Crofts shot it
down because they thought that the lyrics were too gross. So go find that if you're interested.
Yeah. Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses blends this brooding atmosphere, dark humor, eerie sound,
and evokes this feeling of walking through a haunted cemetery at night sometimes. So it's a
perfect addition to our Halloween playlist. So go check it out if you haven't heard it before.
Can you dig it? Can you dig it? Can you dig it?
Well, I guess this week we were kind of what? Digging in the cemetery or digging graves?
Digging graves. There we go. Yeah. Find some good stuff.
Did you dig anything else? I got a few things here in my
trick or treat bag. Okay, good. You went where I thought you were going to go.
Not your dump truck. Or your plastic pumpkin. All the above. First one I mention here is from
singer-songwriter of Portishead fame. I guess it's technically her first solo album.
It's called Lives Outgrown that came out earlier this year. Let's play Floating Out of Moments.
Definitely some floating going on there in that sound. I like it.
It's a very ethereal record. Not dark, I wouldn't say. Maybe not a good Halloween choice,
but if you want a little uplift after the Halloween.
Maybe on All Saints Day. Yeah, there you go.
The next step. The other one I want to mention here is
something that intrigued me. It's a more recent development in music where artists will release
an album and then release it again, like an edited version of it a couple of months later.
Charlie XTC who put out an album earlier this year called Brat. It's been very well received
by the critics, very popular with the kids. She released a totally new version of it called Brat
and it's completely different, but also still Brat just about a week ago. It's got a whole
bunch of new tracks, some reworking of old tracks. We're going to play a cut here.
I think this has Billie Eilish on it. It's called Guess.
Yikes. Goodness.
Pretty close up.
Interesting. You guys just come across this one of your artists that you follow where they'll
re-release something right after releasing it. Not right after so much. A lot of the things I
follow are older bands who re-release, they'll re-make whole albums or whatever. I think because
of streaming rights and copyright and stuff, I think they redo their songs so that the streaming
rights to it, you know. I think there was a Shin's record recently where they re-released this,
or they released it a second time and all of a sudden the quiet songs were loud and the
louder songs were quiet. So it was the same songs, but completely redone. Yeah.
Interesting. There's a Peter Gabriel record a couple of years ago that was released two
versions on the same day that I could barely tell the difference between them.
That's right. I forgot about that one. Yeah. There's something cool about the streaming
platform that allows for this kind of editing in real time sort of.
Yeah.
Haven't you been digging on, Don?
Well, there's a band from Rochester, New York formed in 1978 called the Chesterfield Kings.
And so they've got a brand new album coming out called We're Still All the Same. Yeah,
just kind of like a, I think they came out in the 70s and they were already retro at the time.
They were kind of doing like 60s garage music. So here's a track called What's the Value of Time?
Opening cut.
When it's gone, you can't make it.
They have a long history. They actually appear in an episode of the Sopranos performing at
the Adriana's Club. Awesome. Check that out. And then Dwight Yoakam is back in Better Than Ever.
His new album comes out November 15th called Brighter Days. It's his first album since 2016.
There's a single called Wide Open Heart.
She's got a wide open heart and open heart.
Oh, I thought it was going to be about having open heart surgery since he's a little older now.
I love seeing him in Sling Blade.
Oh yeah. Yeah. I forgot he did a little acting.
But there's another song that features Post Malone.
That guy is just everywhere.
I'm curious what that, I mean, I don't really want to know,
but I kind of want to know what that sounds like. He's doing More Country Lately, right?
Oh yeah.
Mr. Malone.
Dude.
So you guys made efforts to escape the Halloween and I just kept going.
Doberman.
Yeah. So in my travels through Halloween town, I ran into Unto Others, which we've talked about on
the show before. This band from Oregon, I believe, their new album just released in September is
called Never Neverland. So third.
Growth to Never Neverland.
And it showcases the band's growth as they blend this Gothic rock sound with heavy metal elements.
So why don't we check out a little bit of Butterfly.
Come my lady, come come my lady.
No, not that. Thank God.
Wow. Things I thought I'd never hear you say.
No offense to Shifty Shellshock. Rest in peace.
Wow. Impressive.
Yeah, definitely in that same vein.
I think we talked about these guys on that same episode that we did the Cure Pornography.
I think you're right. Yeah. I really like their sound.
I think they're carrying this on very well and they have continued through each album to add
some additional metal elements to kind of spice things up.
So you should definitely check that one out.
And then as always, I like to bring up something I have in my record collection.
I picked this up several years ago, but it's just a must have, I think, in any record collectors
shelves if you like heavy metal. So it's Iron Maiden, The Number of the Beast released in 1982.
It's kind of defined heavy metal as we know it with their intricate guitar work.
So why don't we check out a little bit of the title track, The Number of the Beast.
Man, when I was a little kid, I was pretty young, but this scared everybody's parents.
My friends had older teenage siblings.
Satanic panic going on, man.
Yeah. I was not allowed to listen to Iron Maiden.
Nice.
Or play Dungeons and Dragons.
Yeah. Probably shouldn't have been. Who knows how weird you'd be now.
So yeah, that's classic and it's good Halloween stuff with a little bit of your
devils and monsters and whatnot.
All right. Well, what are you digging? Let us know. Join us on the socials,
Facebook, Instagram, and threads. Also on our website, AlbumNerds.com.
It will be a discovery of extraordinary value.
Well, it's about that time on the show. I'm reminded of the great British writer and physician,
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle. The guy wrote Sherlock Holmes, I believe. He said,
where there is no imagination, there is no horror. With that in mind, let's bring out my friend and
yours, Wodbot, and see what we'll be discovering on next week's episode.
It's time to explore the roots of much of the popular music we know today. Next time,
you'll experience some of the best albums that the blues has to offer
as we take a deep dive into the genre's most influential records.
It's the Album Nerds podcast. Just three guys that love tunes. Next week, we'll treat you
to a little bit of blues. Yeah. I'm not a blues man. Next week. But it looks like we're going to
experience some true blues masters. Yeah. So that should be fine. A little change of pace.
Yeah. Totally different as we always do.
All right. Well, what's your favorite blues album? What else are you listening to? Leave a comment on
our website or email us at podcast at albumnerds.com. Also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and threads
at Album Nerds. And please subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite podcast app. And if you'd
like to support the show, you can do so via PayPal at albumnerds.com slash support. Thank you once
again for joining us here on the Album Nerds podcast. Have a spooky Halloween and then get
depressed and listen to the blues when it's all over. Coming down from that sugar rush.
Next listen everybody. Catch you next week. I was working in the lab late one night.
I don't know the rest. Remember the Monster Mac from McDonald's? I do. Three patties on that bad
boy. I remember eating those. The fall came out. I had two for lunch. Not to go to the ghost of
Harvard ever since. Ah, the children of the night never drink wine.