Throughout the year I try to set aside seasonal songs for a range of holidays and I have to say the quality and quantity of Halloween fare has been steadily improving. Here’s a spate of fright night singles and a top rank compilation album dedicated to chilling, thrilling and haunting your playlist. Candy not included.

Justin Kerecz says he’s living in “Devil Town.” The song kicks off with a mournful tone, almost Springsteen-esque. But things pick up halfway through, adding drama and depth. Toronto’s The Suffragettes rewrite a classic classical-music instrumental as “Satan’s Holiday,” leaning heavily on surf guitar. And they don’t spare the tremelo. It’s corpse cool for sure. Bloodshot Bill takes us back to a 1950s rockabilly monster rock with “Meet the Count.” Goofy but offset with deadly hip lead guitar work. Victoria’s The Origin strike some lighter pop notes on their winsome track “So You Think You Can Necromance.” I love the wordplay! A dip into Crater Creek’s Horror Anthology could expose you to some chilling screamcore. But the two songs featured here are anything but. “Caveman” is 25 seconds of blistering narrative development while “See Through” adds a Beach Boys beach-party campfire feel to a lovelorn ghost’s failure to connect with his human target. And it can’t be Halloween without an appearance from those reliable holiday pop punksters Vista Blue. “I Didn’t Get Invited to the Halloween Party” works on so many levels. It draws from neo-1950s disaster song motifs, elevating and intensifying the elements with a 1990s punky panache. These guys never get old (hm? Are they zombies?).

The major event this Halloween music season comes from Big Stir Records in the form of a compilation album entitled Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies. The record contain 41 tracks, divided between 21 songs by different acts associated with the Big Stir stable of artists and 20 short spoken word/sound affects ‘link’ tracks that give the package a semblance of a thematic show. The album is an obvious homage to the 1964 Disneyland Records release Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, right down the spoken word/sound effects components and a cover clearly inspired by Paul Wenzel’s distinctive artwork from the original. But it is the music that makes this release so special. Let’s face it, thematic holiday albums can often feel like forced, slapdash affairs. Not this one. The 21 original tunes here are quality power pop, holiday or not. Opening musical cut “Ghoul You Want” from Librarians With Hickeys sets the bar high with its subtle, smooth Zombies elan. This is the hit single, surely. Not that the other 19 songs aren’t worthy of maximum Halloween-radio rotation. Really, this is such a solid collection of songs, though more than I can cover in detail here. Instead I’ll just single out three more tracks that really caught my ear. First up I’d draw attention to Splitsville’s “I Was a Teenage Frankenstein.” Plenty of power in the pop here, melding melody-rich vocals with striking rhythm guitars. Then The Gold Needles crank up some hypnotic lead guitar lines on  “Ghost in the Airwaves.” I love hearing the reverby guitars ring. Last on, The Incurables give us a throwback to that 1950s meets seventies garage rock on “Halloween Bride.” The album’s short spoken-word segments performed by The Pepper’s Ghost Players could have descended into cringey cheese but instead evoke the fun over-the-top melodrama of 1960s monster movies. Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies is a fabulous collection, lovingly crafted, expertly executed, and nicely priced. It’s a must-have double-album addition to your vinyl, CD, or digital music crypt.

I do the love the cheese of early 1960s fright night music/entertainment and, as you can see here, that tradition remains alive and well. Click on the links above to stock up on Halloween tunes while letting I. Jeziak and the Surfers guide you musically to the exits with their All Hallows’ Eve instrumental “Mummy Walk.”

Photo courtesy Kristina Alexanderson Flikr collection.