When 'Monster Mash' hit the airwaves in August 1962, it made an immediate impression, peaking at number one on the Billboard Top 100. The novelty song's release signaled the direction of practically all popular Halloween music for the next few decades and remains a staple over 60 years later. Produced by frequent surf music producer Gary Paxton (Dick Dale's Checkered Flag, The Road Runners' The New Mustang,  G.S.P. Records' Beach Party  album, Ragamuffins' 'Fun We Had', Surf Bunnies' 'Summertime Is Surfin Time'), the song did not have much to do with surfing, but is included here for its ties to the later spiritual successor on Capitol Records; Monster Dance Party, which also had major involvement from Paxton.

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I'd guess that it's more than possible that many of the same song charts were used at the later Capitol session, as many tunes on the Dance Party Lp hold huge similarities to the Garpax release. A quick listen will confirm that 'Rabian - The Feindgae Idol' and 'Werewold Watusi' employ the same basic groove, 'Transylvania Twist' shares the same instrumentation, melody, and structure as 'Home in the Castle East', and 'Robbin' Graves' is essentially as thinly veiled rewrite of 'Graveyard Shift'.

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Although little more than a footnote in the annals of surf music, The Original Monster Mash is still a worthwhile record to seek out for anyone who enjoys the kooky, Halloween-tinted music of the early sixties. As an album, however, the later Monster Dance Party outing is a far more cohesive work.