Album Review:

Released at the height of the mid-century monster film craze, Dracula's Deuce is an odd cross-section between campy 60s ghoul culture and surf/hot rod music. While these two societal fads intersected a few times during the sixties (i.e.: Monster Surfin' Time by the Deadly Ones, Jan and Dean's 'Surfin' Hearse,' US Film's The Beach Girls and the Monster, and the Munster's Lp to name a few) the Ghoul's album is an inevitable transfusion of one into the other. Combining the very best parts of surf music and the comic farcity of 20th-century horror films, Dracula's Deuce has become a highly sought-after collectible since it's release.

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The title track begins with a rocking spoken-word number aided by a chorus of girls as Dick Burns' gives his best Boris Karloff impersonation. 'Dracula's Theme' is a fantastic moody surf instrumental that features some great work by the Wrecking Crew musicians. 'Little Old Lady from Transylvania' pokes fun at the 1964 Jan and Dean hit. 'Weird Wolf' manages to rise slightly above 'album filler' while a humorous Beach Boys parody 'Be True to Your Ghoul' coughs up a few subtle chuckles here and there. 'Shake, Rattle and Rot' bears little resemblance to the Bill Hayley hit but is a great little tune in its own right. 'Monsterbilly Heaven' is another spoken-word track that really goes nowhere. 'Blood and Butter' is a simple reworking of 'Wheel Stands', which appeared earlier on the Super Stocks' first album. By the time 'The Graveyard Shift' creeps around, the vocal numbers begin to get less and less listenable, though 'Voodoo Juice' offers another enjoyably eerie instrumental track. 'Bella Be Good' is an obvious parody of Chuck Berry's 'Johnny Be Goode' and is better left off dead. A third instrumental, 'Coffin Nails,' closes out the album.

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The Ghouls' Dracula's Deuce may lack the quirky charm of the Munster's TV show or even the Deadly Ones' release, but that hasn't hindered monster fans from seeking out this obscure release. For the rest of us, we might as well let it decompose in the graveyard.....