INSIDE LOOK: A Halloween relic worth revisiting… — UPDATED 10/2/20: Halloween’s a-comin’! Trick-or-treating is a really bad idea this year but there are other ways to get into the spooky spirit. Like this album! I first posted this in 2017 but it’s as fitting today as it was then. Dig it! — Dan — Man, I love Halloween. I always have. The candy, the costumes, the crunchy leaves underfoot. The whole bit. The last few years, to really get myself into the mood of the season — as if it were necessary — I’ve dusted off Disney’s Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, an album of sound effects and oddball stories that my sister Paula had when we were pretty young. (I was 6 and Paula was 11.) I say “dusted off” in the metaphorical sense because while Paula’s version was a vinyl LP with an orange cover, my current copy was downloaded from iTunes. So there I go, walking in Manhattan twilight, while my earbuds fill with odd moans and shrieks and barks and screeches. You should try it some time. Anyway, I love listening to this thing. The first side features snippets of narration by Laura Olsher setting the scene, usually told in the second person: “You are a bold and courageous person — afraid of nothing…” or “Once, as a child, you were frightened by a huge, snarling dog…” Her words then give way to the track’s thematic sound effects: a long-burning fuse that leads to an explosion and horrid scream; a cat that loses its mind, becoming a feral creature on the attack; even a cruise liner that finds itself smashing into shore. Olsher’s clearly having the time of her life, hamming it up with a voice that’s filled with delicious, devious portent. And the sound effects themselves, conjured from the Disney vaults, are at once alarming and hilarious. (The second side features similar effects but without narration.) The first track — The Haunted House — is the longest at 2:59 and acts almost like an overture, featuring many of the sound effects that will be heard elsewhere on the album. It’s a really winning, atmospheric mix and lays the foundation for the rest of the record: Most of the tracks clock in at under 2 minutes and are fairly straightforward. But two of them...