Various Artists - Elvira Presents...

With October 31st just around the corner, and longtime horror hostess Elvira (or more specifically Cassandra Peterson, the actress who plays Elvira) in the news recently due to the revelations in her recently published autobiography Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark, I thought I might post a couple of her Halloween-related compilations.

The first Elvira music compilation came out in 1983, a couple of years after Peterson auditioned for and won the job of presenter for a revival of a popular Los Angeles-area weekend horror show featuring old scary movies called Fright Night. The program (renamed Elvira's Movie Macabre) featured her now-iconic character Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark, a saucy, sarcastic, 'Valley Girl'-type tricked out in heavily-applied horror-film makeup, a huge black beehive wig and a tight-fitting, low-cut black gown which displayed Peterson's ample chest.  Elvira not only introduced the decidedly Grade-B, -C and -Z films, she would often interrupt the flicks during the program to poke fun of their overall crappiness, in addition to making racy double entendres and jokes about her boobs. She quickly gained notoriety and popularity in the region, and parlayed that success to appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show and other programs (like CHiPs and The Fall Guy) which brought her nationwide fame.

Her first release, Elvira Presents Vinyl Macabre - Oldies But Ghoulies (Vol. 1), was a quickie collection of Halloween/horror-related rock and pop hits and standards by the likes of Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Sheb Wooley, slapped together by Rhino Records in the early years of that label's existence. As such, Peterson/Elvira had little to do with or on the album, other than record a couple of intros/outros and appear on the cover in all her glory. Despite its relative generic October music presentation, today this disc commands high prices, probably because the record was never rereleased on cassette or CD.

The follow-up to this initial release was Elvira Presents Haunted Hits, put out in 1988. Actually, in some ways, this album serves as sort-of rerelease of Vinyl Macabre, as it reprises a number of songs that were on the first compilation (like "Monster Mash", "Purple People Eater" and "Haunted House"), while adding a substantial number of other holiday-related tunes, some rather popular and renowned. In case you're interested, here's the lineup:

1. Monster Mash - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
2. Haunted House - Jumpin' Gene Simmons
3. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.
4. Out OF Limits - The Marketts
5. The Blob - The Five Blobs
6. The Creature From The Black Lagoon - Dave Edmunds
7. The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley
8. The Addams Family (Main Title) - Victor Mizzy
9. Twilight Zone - Neil Norman & His Cosmic Orchestra
10. Welcome To My Nightmare - Alice Cooper
11. End Of Side One - Elvira
12. Beginning Of Side Two - Elvira
13. Halloween Spooks - Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
14. Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
15. Little Demon - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
16. Horror Movie - The Skyhooks
17. I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
18. King Kong - Big T. Tyler
19. Attack OF The 50-Foot Woman - The Tubes
20. I Was A Teenage Werewolf - The Cramps
21. Voodoo Voodoo - LaVern Baker
22. The Creature (From Outer Space) - The Jayhawks
23. Full Moon - Elvira
24. Martian Hop - The Ran-Dells
25. Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes - Lee Lewis
26. Elvira's Outro - Elvira

Elvira was a little more involved on this album; in addition to her commentary, she's even provided a full song to sing, "Full Moon" - a lightweight, synth-poppy confection that doesn't hold up well next to the other classics included here. But all in all, in my opinion, this is probably the best of the compilations released under her name, due to the breadth, scope and volume of fun Halloween music offered here. It was a bestseller for the label when it was released, and remains a perennially popular disc.

But the success of the ...Haunted Hits album seemed to lead to some unfortunate decisions/choices for the next Elvira compilation, Elvira Presents Monster Hits, released six years later. It appears that someone (either Peterson herself or the producers) believed that the big selling point for the earlier set was the increase in Elvira's voice and presence. So for this new one, the decision was made to ratchet up the "Elvira factor" - more than one-third of this short (28 minute long) album is centered on her. This includes two original songs, "Monsta' Rap" and "Here Comes The Bride (The Bride Of Frankenstein)" - both generally bland, worthless songs that do little more than take up space that could have been better utilized by including more classic and well-known Halloween songs.  The track list for this brief release is as follows:

1. Introduction - Elvira
2. Monsta' Rap - Elvira
3. Little Demon - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
4. Feed My Frankenstein - Alice Cooper
5. Monster Mash - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett
6. Nightmare On My Street - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
7. The Addams Family - Joey Gaynor
8. Here Comes The Bride (The Bride Of Frankenstein) - Elvira
9. Outro - Elvira
   

Also note that this comp includes several repeats from Elvira's previous releases, making the existence of this one somewhat redundant.

In years to come, Rhino would release a couple more Halloween compilations under Elvira's name, all to gradually diminishing returns: Revenge Of The Monster Hits in 1995 and Elvira's Gravest Hits (an 'best of' (*eye roll*) album devoted almost solely to tunes crooned by her) in 2010, along with Heavy Metal Halloween in 2009. But these have done little to decrease the fame of Peterson's signature character; Elvira remains popular and active to this day.

Anyway, here for your spook-tacular pleasure are two discs to make your haunted holiday complete:

• Elvira Presents Haunted Hits, released in 1988; and
• Elvira Presents Monster Hits, released in 1994

Both were put out by Rhino Records.

Enjoy, and have a wonderful, safe and happy Halloween! And as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Various Artists - Elvira Presents Haunted Hits: Send Email
Various Artists - Elvira Presents Monster Hits: Send Email