Nightmarish Melodies

A truly odd collection, Nightmarish Melodies collects not death metal, sound effects, or horror movie soundtrack compositions -- but ten songs by Tommy Roe, the Coasters, and Bill Haley and His Comets. Aside from Screaming Lord Sutch's "Jack the Ripper" and "Scream and Scream" -- which are two of the better songs included here -- there is very little about the album that suggests nightmares (although some people might think Roe's trippy bubblegum hit "Dizzy" comes close). Perhaps the scariest thing about the collection is the preponderance of re-recorded and inferior live versions on it; Haley's "Shake Rattle and Roll" and "The Wobble" appear as lackluster concert performances, and the Coasters' "Yakety Yak" just isn't as much fun on this re-recorded take. Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson's "I'm the Midnight Creeper," and the Shadows of Knight's "Gloria" are two of the few worthy tracks on this compilation, which is so muddled that it inadvertently lives up to the "nightmarish" portion of its title.