The Ghouls Dracula's Deuce Review
By now, most any self-respecting Horror fiend has listened to just about every novelty tune about Halloween on the planet. Unfortunately, most all the playlists and the chatter always leave off The Ghouls. Maybe it’s because not a lot of them were around when the lone record “Dracula’s Deuce” was released in 1964. I wasn’t either, of course, but thanks to having older parents and kooky family members I was afforded the chance to listen to the Ghouls a lot growing up. Of course, the record that we had was beat to shit, so it snapped, crackled and popped incessantly, but it was good enough to keep me smiling. I never knew much about the band when I was a kid, I just knew I liked them, and they sounded like Beach Boys and Boris Pickett’s music. It was Surf Rock, packed with reverb and kooky lyrics!
The Ghouls was the brainchild of Gary Usher who was a studio musician, song writer and producer out in California. Usher famously worked with the Beach Boys on tunes like “In My Room” & “409”, he also worked with Frankie Avalon and Dick Dale as well as a few others in the 60’s. Technically though, Usher never played in any real bands, most were fictional, novelty studio projects with the most popular of them being The Ghouls.
If you’re a fan of Boris Pickett, Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys, The Ventures and bands of this ilk, The Ghouls will light you up! It’s a revved-up album packed with tons of Surf Rock with a ton of reverb and extravagant guitar playing. I can’t say the vocal work is the best, but on novelty records like this, it’s not really about the singing as much it is the music, the novelty bit and the fun that ensues when the needle is dropped. The title track “Dracula’s Deuce” has always been my favorite off the album, that was the tune that I loved the most when I was a kid. “He’ll race anyone for a Pint of juice”! The lyrics are fucking phenomenal, you just can’t beat it, yes, it’s kooky and silly, but for a kid, it was everything. And then there are the tunes like “Little old Lady from Transylvania” which no doubt was a rib at Jan & Dean’s “Little old lady from Pasadena”. Honestly, I liked this one better than Jan & Dean’s, still do. “Be Cool to your Ghoul” of course was a parody of the Beach Boys famed track “Be Cool to Your School”. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand The Ghouls track is the best version. This tune should’ve been added on a lot of the older comps that featured “Monster Mash” but it wasn’t, not sure why. “Monsterbilly Heaven” is another spectacular tune on this album that features a terrific storyline and the pay off at the end is awesome. There’s another parody track here too – “Bela Be Good” it’s fun, but not as much as the others I’ve mentioned.
This Ghouls album is a tough find nowadays, there was only one press back in 1964 from Capitol Records. As long as I’ve been collecting records, I’ve yet to find another copy and it’s never been pressed to CD. So, if you happen to see it at a show, flea mall or a record store and it’s not 300$ do yourself a favor and pick it up. If you dig Boris Pickett, Zacherle or the Beach Boys this is a dead ringer to add to your collection. I’d love for this to be reissued on CD and colored vinyl, alas all that’s left is digital, so check it out the next chance you get!