With Halloween less than a week away, we thought we'd take a look at a new compilation which was recently released from Cherry Red's Righteous Records imprint: the 2-CD Trick or Treat: Music To Scare Your Neighbours - Vintage 45s from Lux and Ivy's Haunted Basement.

The Lux and Ivy in the title are the husband and wife mainstays of the punk/rockabilly group The Cramps, who debuted in the 1970s and were active until Lux's death in 2009. Aside from being punk innovators, the pair also championed older music on their own radio shows and from their vast record collection. Righteous Records has compiled several collections over the past few years taking their inspiration from items contained in Lux and Ivy's collection and this one certainly fits, as The Cramps heavily featured horror in their own music.

Trick or Treat features 50 songs over its two CDs. Most are from between 1956-1962, but a couple of tracks stretch back to the 1930s. The selection tends to the more obscure, novelty and underground, while covering many Halloween bases. On the set you'll find songs about ghosts, voodoo, witches, and monsters popularized in Universal films like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy and The Wolfman, among other topics. And some of the artists and songs are more recognizable. Among those are TV-personality John Zacherle ("The Cool Ghoul") with "Igor," Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You," The Coasters performing "The Shadow Knows," Bo Diddley's "Bo Meets The Monster," The Three Suns with "The Creep" and even Rod McKuen (performing as Dor with Bob McFadden on "The Mummy"). The set concludes with Bacharach and David's all-time novelty classic "The Blob", performed by the studio group The Five Blobs from the 1958 film The Blob.

The set contains a full-color 8-page booklet with a four-page essay by MOJO's Dave Henderson. The art direction is by Lewis Henderson and it has been mastered by Alan Wilson. There is no discographical information in the booklet and the songs have been compiled from the public domain pursuant to current U.K. copyright laws.

If you would like to get into the Halloween mood with these fun songs from the late 1950s and early 1960s, we've got the full tracklisting and preorder links below. (And be on the lookout for a similar set coming in mid-November from Righteous devoted to Christmas music: the 1-CD Merry Luxmas - It's Christmas In Crampsville!).

Various Artists, Trick or Treat: Music To Scare Your Neighbours - Vintage 45s from Lux and Ivy's Haunted Basement (Cherry Red/Righteous Records, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Round Robin - I'm The Wolfman
2. Lee Ross - The Mummy's Bracelet
3. Elroy Dietzel and The Rhythm Bandits - Rock-n-Bones
4. Don Sargent and The Buddies - Voodoo Kiss
5. Archie Bleyer - The Rockin' Ghost
6. Bill Buchanan - Beware
7. Eddie Thomas - Frankenstein Rock
8. Gene La Marr and His Blue Flames - The Crazy Little House on the Hill
9. Herb Kliebe & Bailey's Nervous Kats - Devils Run
10. Hugh Barrett and The Victors - Fungus Among Us
11. Bobby Please - The Monster
12. Buster Doss and His Arkansas Playboys - Graveyard Boogie
13. Jim Burgett - The Living Dead
14. Morgus And The Three Ghouls - Morgus The Magnificent
15. The Blue Echoes - It's Witchcraft
16. The Kac-Ties - Mr. Were-Wolf
17. Tony's Monstrosities - Igor's Party
18. Bob and Jerry - Ghost Satellite
19. Cyril Diaz & His Orchestra - Voodoo
20. Ken Nordine - Stollin' Spooks
21. Gary "Spider" Webb - The Cave (Part 1)
22. Carlos Casal Jr. - Don't Meet Mr. Frankenstein
23. Kay Martin - Swamp Girl
24. Nervous Norvus - The Fang
25. Tarantula Ghoul & Her Gravediggers - Graveyard Rock - King Kong
26. John Zacherle - Igor

CD 2

1. Kip Tyler - She's My With
2. Archie King with Al Lombardy Orchestra - He's A Vampire
3. Skip Manning - Devil's Blues (Satan's Not Square..)
4. Red Callender Sextet - Voodoo
5. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You
6. Jerry & Mel - Cannibal Stew
7. Babs Gonzales - Lullaby Of The Doomed
8. Leroy Bowman And The Arrows - Graveyard
9. Scottie Stuart - Nightmare
10. Bob McFadden and Dor - The Mummy
11. Rene Hall Orchestra - Night Fright
12. The Coasters - The Shadow Knows
13. Bob Luman - The Creep
14. Big Daddy - Daniel Webster & The Devil
15. The Castle Kings - You Can Get Him Frankenstein
16. The Deep River Boys - Swingin' At the Séance
17. The Intereiors - Voodoo Doll
18. The Electro-Tones - Ghost Train
19. Bo Diddley - Bo Meets The Monster
20. The Duponts - Screamin' Ball (At Dracula Hall)
21. The Tomko's - The Spook
22. The Five Jones Boys - Mr. Ghost Goes To Town
23. Three Suns - The Creep
24. The Five Blobs - The Blob