Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2008 Track 7 - The Monster, a Blood Banshee To Be Exact!!

Before I begin talking about today's tune I want to thank Jason at Scar Stuff for providing an important component to what you're about to hear. If you look over to the left, you'll see an add that has been stuck in my subconcious for nearly 30 years. You see, this ad from a company by the name of Gayle House, encouraging you to "Invite your friends over for a haunting," appeared in countless comic books in my youth and every time I cracked open an issue of whatever I was reading back then, I always took the liberty of fully absorbing this spirited 4 color sales pitch. With copy like, "this record creates a real atmosphere of terror with sounds that can almost be seen!" you could definitely understand why a boy of my age would have been intrigued. But I don't know if it was the exorbitant $1.00 (plus $.25 postage and handling!) asking price or the fear that I would be the "next victim" of the evil demons contained on this 7 inch slab of vinyl which kept me from ever ordering it.

Last October when I saw that Jason had uploaded this record I couldn't believe my eyes! The instant I layed eyes on that seemingly forgotten ad the memories of its well written copy came flooding back just like I had just read it yesterday! And what was even more astounding was the fact that I was mere moments away from gratifying my 30 year curiosity of what was actually contained on the record and I didn't have to spend the $1.25 to do so!

To quote Jason, "...as you'll soon be able to discover, not only are the sounds on the Gayle House single unique, the record has a freakishly lame and astoundingly perfect charm all its own. It even manages to scrupulously follow the rules of the mighty Rip-Off Halloween Record genre (those being: a totally half-assed "story telling" side, and a banded "sound effects" side using most of the same audio library just without the narration), while still happily amplifying both their cheapest AND most exploitive qualities!"

He went on to write, "Threadbare plot! Terrible narrator! One sound effect repeated ad nauseam! Children in peril!), but believe me, as far as I'm concerned it was more than worth the 30+ year wait." I couldn't agree more.

So here it is almost in its entirety... the Gayle House Horror Record riding on a dub tune from 1978 by the group W.J.W And Roots Trunk & Branches called "The Monster" and it's taken off the LP called The Weak Will Be Strong on the Splendour Heights label. I haven't been able to find any substantial information about the group itself but, after doing some research I found a name that is AKA'd with them and that name is Joe White.

Joe White started off his musical career in the 1960's as a member of the vocal group The Leaders, alongside such big names as Ken Boothe and Roy Shirley, that surprisingly never took off. He went on to release occassional solo records throughout the ska, rocksteady and reggae eras for Studio One and Sonia Pottinger's High Note label before deciding to give up singing in favor of playing the melodica. He recorded a solo album for producer Harry J in 1975 entitled Jah Jah Dub and released on the Roosevelt label.

So here it is, track seven... I like to call it W.J.W. And Roots Trunk & Branches Meet The Blood Banshee In A Gayle House 7" Haunting Fashion! Enjoy!

Track 7