Friday, October 25, 2013

BATTY INDUCTEE NUMBER 25

"NIGHT FALLS".  That's how this inductee begins.  And certainly that's the perfect way to start something Halloweenie!  I've had this record since I was a kid and it features the legendary 70's children's record artwork of the aforementioned George Peed on the cover.  You may recognize it.  For the 25th inductee into my Batty Halloween Hall of Fame is . . . 

GHOSTLY SOUNDS INTRO/NIGHT FALLS by GERSHON KINGSLEY & PETER WALDRON.

The album "GHOSTLY SOUNDS" featured one long story on each side of the LP:  the eponymous track on side one and "The Ghosts from Outer Space" on side two.  This track is the introduction to the first side of the record and has always been required Halloween listening to get me into the spirit of things.  The album starts with the spooky electronic noodling of Gershon Kingsley and then the authoritative voice of Peter Waldron begins to speak; immediately promising that this Halloween stuff is serious business, kids!  Now the funny thing is that Kingsley, I later learned during my infatuation with space-age bachelor pad lounge music, is rather famous in that genre as a pioneer in electronic music and the moog synthesizer in particular.  Kingsley famously partnered with Jean Jacques Perrey for the classic album "THE IN SOUND FROM WAY OUT" and also scored a major hit with the single "POPCORN" and the album "MUSIC TO MOOG BY".  How on earth Peter Pan Records managed to get Gershon Kingsley on their kiddie Halloween record is beyond me.  I have no idea who Peter Waldron was but his voice makes the perfect narrator to the spooky goings-on; and somehow the October season never really began for me until I heard him announce on this record "It's Halloween". 

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