Dracula's Deuce

Description

Do hearses and hot rods go hand in hand? Well, that's certainly the case in the fevered mind of the famous producer Gary Usher! Usher cut his teeth writing songs for the Beach Boys (he co-wrote "In My Room" with Brian Wilson) and producing a band you may have heard of called The Byrds. Between these famous stints, he indulged his love of surf and hot rod music with a series of studio albums such as The Hondells, Mr. Gasser and the Weirdos (featuring album covers by custom car painter Ed "Big Daddy" Roth), The Kickstands, and The Super Stocks. But the one album from Usher's work that everyone wanted to save from the vinyl crematorium is his hilariously spooky 1964 foray into horror rock, Dracula's Deuce. In the hands of Usher and his Capitol studio musicians (a.k.a. The Wrecking Crew) and longtime collaborators like singer Ritchie Burns, "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" became "The Little Old Lady from Transylvania," "Johnny B. Goode" became "Bela Be Good," and "Be True to Your School" became, you guessed it, "Be True to Your Ghoul." But for our money, the originals, composed by Usher, Richie Podolor, and Roger Christian among others, are the main attraction, including the spooky exotica of "Dracula's Theme" and the surreal "Monsterbilly Heaven."