A Merry Monster Christmas

Back in my high school days, a friend of mine stood in front of the history class to read a paper he wrote entitled "JFK Blown Away - What More Do I Have To Say?" - an obvious swipe from Billy Joel.

His argument was since November 22, 1963, the cultural and moral status of the United States has declined and will continue to decline.

I was too busy trying to make points with the cheerleader sitting next to me to pay attention until he brought up how TV shortly after the assassination went down hill - citing "The Munsters", "The Addams Family", and "Bewitched" - all dealing with monsters, witchcraft, and the occult.

That was the only point I agreed with. There was a definite fascination with horror in the 1960s... which leads us to this album.

Released in 1964, this album was the brainchild of Len Maxwell, a talented writer and voice actor. Maxwell was best known as the voice of Karate and the Chief of Police on the old "Batfink" cartoon show in the 1960s. He was most recently heard as the voice of Nick Diamond on MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch".

Maxwell and his album co-writer Mickey Rose worked on throwing in every monster joke, cliche, and pun you could think of for the album sketches. The songs are cute to a point and once in a while, you find yourself laughing out loud. It's definitely something I won't play at Christmas time repeatedly, but once in a great while, I'll pull this CD out and take a listen.

This is another album that many people remember having and playing at Christmas time when they were kids. I've yet to see a copy on eBay sell for less than $100.

Thankfully, this album didn't cost me that much. This was posted by Trowfaz, a member of the FaLaLaLaLa.com community last year. Thank you Trow!

On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...


Capt