If ever the timing of an album made no sense whatsoever… thirty-odd years from the heyday of Universal’s horror cycle, and nearly ten years after the US teenage monster craze, this little beauty gets released. 

The album is largely comprised of dialogue from the classic Universal horror films of the 1930s/early 1940s with exemplary musical accompaniment and a truly delightful narration from Mr Karloff. The “samples” used include extracts from Karloff’s own “Frankenstein”, “Mummy” and “Bride Of Frankenstein”, Chaney Jr’s “Wolf Man” (including Maria Ouspenskaya’s moving monologue) and, best of all, choice excerpts from “Dracula” starring the incomparable Bela Lugosi. 

All this is wrapped in a suitably creepy sleeve with an essay from Forrest J Ackerman, horror collector extraordinaire, on the back.

Apparently this album (which I obtained in Scotland for under a fiver in nearly mint condition) is now worth serious money. That is utterly irrelevent. The classic movie moments contained within are priceless, as is Karloff’s narration — any listener, horror fan or not, will fall under the spell of his dulcet tones.

Don’t put voices-in-the-dark into a search engine. You won’t be able to download this entire album for free. I didn’t tell you.