Three witch cats and a turkey reached a consensus last month: There isn't a ton of great Halloween music out there, but if you listen to enough sources for enough hours, you'll eventually hear some gems.
Halloween and Halloween-adjacent highlights heard this morning:
KNON (Dallas, TX)
- Ghost-Helene Cronin (A voice and an acoustic guitar are all that's needed to convey what being a ghost feels like.)
KORE (Entiat, WA)
- Hypnotized-Fleetwood Mac (This has always been one of my favorite eerie tunes. The opening drum pattern and spooky guitar intro set the stage perfectly for Bob Welch's vocals and lyrics about paranormal occurrences.)
WDNA (Miami, FL)
- Devil May Care-Bob Dorough (If you've only heard Dorough's "Schoolhouse Rock" standouts, such as "Three Is A Magic Number," "The Shot Heard 'Round The World," and "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here," check out his jazz vocal and piano playing chops on this rendition.)
- Midnight Creeper-Teddy Edwards (Self-assured saxophone and rhythm section playing in this strongly sustained groove.)
WDSE (Duluth, MN)
- Friendly Ghost-Eels (The optimism in the lyrics is definitely tempered, but it's more uplifting, at least, than the group's "Rotten World Blues.")
- Kiko And The Lavender Moon-Davina & The Vagabonds (This impressive cover of the Los Lobos tune stays true to the original version's Three-blind-mice-in-a-haunted-house vibe.)
WUOL (Louisville, KY)
- Aaron Copland: From Sorcery To Science: The Witch's Cauldron (Eos Orchestra/Jonathan Sheffer, conductor) (This semi-Leonard Bernstein-style melody could underscore footage of a bustling city street. The winds, strings, and brass convey turbulence effectively in this short movement.)
- John Williams: Devil's Dance (Gil Shaham, violin; Jonathan Feldman, piano) (A brisk Celtic-sounding melody with a sinister bent.)
