Monsters, Ghouls, Goblins & Demons: The Essential Halloween Party Collection
AllMusic; Amazon; Discogs

This was first released in 1999. I don't know when I got it, but I'm listening to it again in October 2023 for this review. It includes a few of the same songs as Spooktacular Party Songs, which I reviewed before this album: tracks 4, 5, and 6 (and sort of 8).

1. "Welcome to My Nightmare", by Alice Cooper: This could be for any time of year, but I suppose it works particularly well during the Halloween season. It's not a song I would ever really think about except while listening to this album.

2. "Devil Inside", by INXS: This one works for Halloween, too, but I think of it much more as any "anytime" sort of song.

3. "Dead Man's Party", by Oingo Boingo: This probably works better for Halloween than any other time of year. It's cool, but it feels longer than it needs to be.

4. "Ghostbusters", by Ray Parker Jr.: Theme song from the movie Ghostbusters, and a Halloween staple.

5. "Monster Mash", by Bobby "Boris" Pickett: This is the Halloween song. It's practically impossible to have a Halloween playlist without this song. And why would you?

6. "The Addams Family Main Theme", by Vic Mizzy with His Orchestra and Chorus: from The Addams Family. Okay for any time of year, but it's Halloweeny enough. Actually, listening to it now, this is not the same track that's on the other album I mentioned. It's purely instrumental for some reason. I prefer the version with lyrics.

7. "It's Your Voo Doo Working", by Charles Sheffield: First of all, I have no idea why "voodoo" is two words here. And it's not a song I'm at all familiar with. But it works for Halloween.

8. "Haunted House", by Sam the Sham: This song is on the other album, but attributed to a different artist. I couldn't tell the difference. Maybe I should give the other one another listen to compare them. Edit: Okay, did that, and I can kind of tell the difference, but it's not a big difference, and I couldn't possibly say which version I like better.

9. "They're Coming to Take Me Away", by Napoleon XIV: This is the noveltiest song on the album, and one I've always quite liked. It works any time of year, but it's a good fit for Halloween.

10. "Weird Science", by Oingo Boingo: from the movie Weird Science. This is another song that works any time of year. Not something I would have thought of to put on a Halloween album, but it's not terribly out of place, I guess. It's certainly fun.

11. "Somebody's Watching Me", by Rockwell: Yet another song I don't really associate with Halloween, but again, not a bad fit. Yeah, probably better for this season than any other time.

12. "Season of the Witch", by Heretix: This is of course, a cover. The original and definitive version is by Donovan, though my favorite version is probably by Luna. But this isn't bad. Not sure why the album's producers would choose this particular version, except maybe it's less expensive to get the rights to.

13. "Twilight Zone", by Golden Earring: Surprisingly enough, this doesn't seem to have anything do with the TV series of the same name (though Wikipedia says it pays tribute to the show). I'm not sure whether or not I've heard this anywhere other than this album, but it's not as unfamiliar as I expected it to be. I don't know how Halloweeny it is, but I guess it's not completely out of place.

Well, I feel like I've done a worse job of saying things about each song than I did on my review of "Spooktacular Party Songs", and I didn't do a great job on that one, either. I'm also not sure if my rating of this album suffers just because I listened to the other one first. But I probably would have given it a slightly lower rating, anyway. But it's still a decent rating, "rather liked". Maybe this one feels overall a bit less Halloweeny to me than the other album, so that affects my rating, too.