10/20/13

Rhino's HALLOWEEN - The Obligatory Sequel: DR. DEMENTO vs ELVIRA [1994-1995]

Another Sunday, another triple feature of Halloween discs from Rhino.  In 1994, Rhino doubled down and released two Halloween-themed discs: Dr. Demento's Scary Tunes & Spooky Melodies (above) and Elvira Presents Monster Hits.


Legendary radio host Dr. Demento, whose name is synonymous with novelty records, issued Dementia Royale (above right), his first collection for Rhino, back in 1980 but the very first album to bear his name was the 1975 Warner Bros. release Dr. Demento's Delights (above left).  After teaming again with Rhino to release the six volume Dr. Demento Presents The Greatest Novelty Hits Of All Time in 1985, another brief fallow period followed before Rhino began a Demento reissue campaign in 1988 that saw all of the label's previous Dr. releases marched out again, capped off with The Greatest Novelty CD Of All Time (below left).  


The Greatest Christmas Novelty CD Of All Time (above right) came out in 1989 and 1991 saw a double disc Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection.  Then Dr. Demento's Scary Tales & Spooky Melodies was released. Two of the nine songs on this budget-priced collection had already appeared on Rhino's Halloween offerings but the other seven were new to the creepy canon including Warren Zevon's howl-a-long "Werewolves Of London" and the funky fresh "Haunted House Of Rock" from Jalil, Ecstasy and Grandmaster Dee who are commonly known as Whodini.



After six years since her last Rhino release, 1994's Elvira Presents Monster Hits was a vehicle for yet two new Elvira songs and five other songs, all but one of which had shown up on other Halloween discs from Rhino. The song making its debut in the haunted oeuvre?  Alice Cooper's "Feed My Frankenstein".


In 1995, Team Rhino/Elvira wasted no time issuing yet another collection featuring two more Elvira originals book-ending five other songs.  Elvira Presents Revenge Of The Monster Hits would mark her last namesake album for the label, though a few of her previously released original songs would show up on later label compilations.  This disc is notable for adding the following three songs to the haunted Halloween hit parade:


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