Boris Karloff "An Evening With Boris Karloff And His Friends" (Decca, DL74833, 1967)
A cool merging of monster talent here; Forrest J. Ackerman writes a script that Boris Karloff reads with Verne Langdon & Milt Larsen producing! This LP is a collection of synopses for the classic Universal films that Karloff figured in so largely, and mixed in with his narration are sound bites and musical cues from Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Son of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and The House of Frankenstein; all of which must’ve blown the collective minds of monster kids dwelling in the pre-video-on-demand days of 1967. Forrest J. Ackerman’s script (famously written in one sitting) does a nice job of stitching together all the parts, and while the whole thing only lasts about 24 minutes it manages to give an appropriately grand sense of status to the initial Universal horror cycle that was then still setting the tone for most monster entertainment.
Now hopefully I just didn’t go too overboard in designating the tracks on my rip — I swear I was just trying to remain true to the banding on my LP!
Link Removed
Man, Rocktober is going to be so rockin’ and toberin’ this year! Thanks for all the groovy, ghoulie stuff.
I’ve been waiting for this one! I used to do an overnighter radio show on CKCU in Ottawa, and this record was sort of our ‘theme’. I considered taking it with me from the vaults when I left, but I didn’t – and now I’ve got you to thank for our “reunion” after all these years!
Just got this one mysefl about 2 months ago. It’s a great addition to mine or anyones collection.
Much, much better with the tracks seperated like this.
Fantastic post as usual!!!
Dr. Terror
And another of my favorites makes the grade! I got this before I bought my first VCR — my first real exposure to the classic Universal voices (well, except for the ever-popular Frankenstein Mees The Wolfman, which showed up on TV a couple of times a year).
Thanks again (and again and again and again….)
Forry Ackerman wrote the words to the album while Verne Langdon played piano, if I recall right. Previously, Langdon had submitted a more comic script to Mr. Karloff which Boris didn’t care for, but he had told Langdon he’d do it if a new script could be produced right away. (Karloff wasn’t going to be in town long.) So Forry wrote this great narrative while Mr. Langdon played appropriate mood music.
A classic.
Max the drunken severed head
Hi Max, actually I was the original producer who conceived the Boris Karloff And His Friends album (Universal horror film voice tracks album concept), then my collaborator Milt Larsen suggested Boris for the host. Boris was interested, but didn’t like the script which Milt and I wrote and submitted, so I contacted Forry and he wrote the script. I played Forry’s piano to give him a little mood music to write by, but William Loose at Decca wrote and conducted the orchestra for the great album segue and background themes. Thanks for remembering the album – it’s a favorite of mine! – Verne Langdon
P.S. The Decca album is out of print but still under copyright, so if you see any unauthorized copies being sold, please ask the parties to contact Decca to find out where to send our royalties.
It’s great to see this old album put up and brings back great memories when i was a kid in the 70’s.
Another album i had back then was “Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires” narrated by Peter Cushing and would love to hear it again.
Will this one get up on the blog or does someone know anywhere else that it might be available for download
please reupload this please be a dear. and thanks and all the hard work too
I can’t download it. Can you PLEASE reupload it or whatever is needed? I have this LP and love it, but alas no turntable! Thanks!
Hello, anonymous. It’s been a couple months since your post…
http://davesworld56.blogspot.com/2007/05/boris-karloff-and-friends.html
This link will make ya happy!
Anyone going to re-upload this? All the links aren’t working. Thanks in advance!
Thanks so much for posting this. I was just mentioning to a friend of mine a couple of days ago about my efforts to find all the albums that appeared in the back of Famous Monsters. With “An Evening of Boris Karloff” being the Holy Grail of the search. This was the one that I always wanted as a kid, but never got and never heard it…..till last night. Thanks again.