Uncovering Frankie Stein and His Ghouls

Frankie Stein and His Ghouls
The Complete Ghoul-ection: Monster Melodies and Monster Sounds and Dance Music
Real Gone Music

The allure of mystery in rock and roll has been a part of the mystique for several bands throughout time. The urban legend of Ghost before we found out that Papa Emeritus was, in fact, Tobias Forge. Kiss before the unmasking or the Archies before we found out that Don Kirshner and Andy Kim, along with a group of prestigious American pop artists for the time, were involved. Even Nessie received an unmasking of its own although we still want to believe The Loch Ness Monster is still out there.

Once the curtain is opened and the trick is unveiled, the mystery is diffused. However, what has uncannily remained a mystery after 50 years (even through the Information Age) is Frankie Stein and His Ghouls. Who is Frankie, and who are the Ghouls? The cat was never out of the bag and to this day, these hip sounds and monster melodies remain a mystery.

Out of the grave of ‘60s rock and roll, Real Gone Music has dug up the rights of these elusive releases, originally released on Power Records (the subsidiary of the children’s record specialty label, Peter Pan Records), and delightfully re-issued them all together on a two-CD collection or individually in different LP formats (horror green or splattered effects).

The albums are a rock and roll delight with ‘60s dance grooves exemplified like the Hully Gully or Frug, for example, intermingled with creepy and sometimes orgasmically terrifying moans and screams. I can almost hear the screams echoing down the halls of WFMU or some radio station that would churn out this eclectic Halloween schlock.

Frankie Stein and the Ghouls released five albums from the early-to-mid-’60s: Introducing Frankie Stein and His Ghouls, Shock! Terror! Fear!, Ghoul Music, Monster Melodies, and Monster Sounds and Dance Music.

Speculation has it that the twang legend Eddy Duane performed on the album, which would be an interesting theory given that he was an influence to The Beatles, and then with Monster Melodies, the album pulls in elements of early Beatles songs. It’s a nice timestamp. Other additional musician theories are members of The Blues Project, which these albums would predate the band by a year or so, and Sun Ra. Within some elements of the songs, you get a little Mothers of Invention-style weirdness, but adding Sun Ra to the mix is the most speculative. However, the connecting point between all of these musicians at the time was New York. That thread makes these theories very plausible. Who’s to say, and at this point, I hope we never know. The only person outside of the theory is Munich, Germany saxophonist Max Greger. With over 150 jazz and pop albums with his name credited to, this is the most convincing rumor of them all.

What is reality is that we really don’t know and for the sake of urban legend, I hope we never know because what stands as a testament are five groovy rock and roll classics built from a low budget label and enjoyed immensely by those who grew up on Halloween schlock rock or fans of the antiquities of vintage ghoulish behavior.
These are albums that could have easily influenced anyone from the creators of Scooby Doo to The Cramps.