For your listening pleasure today and in honor of the Halloween holiday, we have a Misfits album that has been shelved for over 30 years - 12 Hits From Hell.
From wikipedia:
In August 1980 the Misfits recorded twelve songs at Master Sound Productions studios with the intention of releasing a full-length album. With the exception of "London Dungeon," all songs were recorded in one take. The band's lineup at this time included singerguitarist Bobby Steele, bassist Jerry Only, and drummer Arthur Googy. During the sessions Only was grooming his younger brother Doyle to join the band, and Doyle recorded his own guitar tracks and overdubs separately in addition to Steele's. The tracks were mixed in September, but in October Steele was ejected from the band in favor of Doyle and the planned album was scrapped. Glenn Danzig,
Five of the songs were released in 1981, with "London Dungeon", "Horror Hotel", and "Ghouls Night Out" being released as 3 Hits from Hell while the "Halloween" single included both "Halloween" and "Halloween II". The band used the remainder of the recordings as demos for their 1982 album Walk Among Us.
During the intervening years several of the tracks from the August 1980 sessions were released in various mixes on compilation albums: "Where Eagles Dare" and "Halloween" appeared on Legacy of Brutality (1985), "Night of the Living Dead", "Vampira", "Skulls" and "Astro Zombies" appeared on Misfits (1986), and "Horror Hotel", "Halloween", and "Halloween II" appeared on Collection II (1995). The Misfits box set (1996) contained the most complete collection of songs from these sessions, collecting the complete Legacy of Brutality, Misfits, and Collection II albums as well as a disc of unreleased studio recordings including the original mixes of "I Turned into a Martian", "Skulls", "Night of the Living Dead", "Astro Zombies", "Where Eagles Dare", "Violent World", and "Halloween II" from the 1980 sessions.
In 2001 Caroline Records announced that they would be releasing the complete 1980 sessions on October 31 under the title 12 Hits from Hell, including an alternate take of "London Dungeon", and sent promotional copies of the album to the band members. However, production was called off after Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only expressed concerns with the album's layout, packaging, liner notes, mixing, and mastering. All distribution copies of the album were destroyed, and only the promotional copies remain. Some copies did reach critics, however.
My friend Tim got one of those promotional copies and passed it along to me. Since then, 12 Hits From Hell has become my go to Misfits album. The recording quality tops everything else out there and performances are just as good.
12 Hits From Hell
Master Sound Productions - Franklin Square, NY 8/5/1980 - 9/5/1980.Lineup: Glenn Danzig, Jerry Only, Bobby Steele, Arthur Googy. Additional Guitar: Doyle & Robbie Alter.
Skulls
Astro Zombies
FULL DOWNLOAD: The Misfits - 12 Hits From Hell
As an extra treat, check out the 1980 Glenn Danzig solo release single of "Who Killed Marilyn" backed with "Spook City." Both are versions different from and not included on The Misfits Box Set. And bundled with this is something called The Misfits Bible. It's basically a visual archive of everything Danzig sent out to members of the original Fiend Club including hand written letters, photos, and newsletters. For the true nerds out there.
DOWNLOAD: Glenn Danzig - "Who Killed Marilyn" & The Misfits Bible
For the record, Lobo Jones does not recognize any post-Danzig incarnations of The Misfits.
Happy Halloween, fiends.
PHOTO CREDIT: The header image is from Glen E. Friedman's book Fuck You Too.
No comments:
Post a Comment