The sound quality is good--very crisp recording of ambient halloween noise. It's fine for background music for the trick-or-treaters. But for any other use it's flawed. There's only a single, album-length track, so no putting this one on "shuffle" for your Halloween party. The sounds repeat, so after 20 minutes of this, you start getting deja vu. And there aren't even "themes" in the album--no plots, which some of the more elaborate halloween SFX albums have (this is the "torture chamber piece," this is "Alone by gaslight stalked by Jack the Ripper..."

I'm going to wait for an apology from Martha on this one.

19 of 22 found the following review helpful:

Spine tingling!  Sep 21, 2000
By Holly Liedtke
I had hoped this CD would contain the great sound clips I've heard on Martha's show during the Halloween projects, but I was not disappointed. The sound effects are elegant and eerie, not gory and stomach churning as so often is the case. My favorites are owls hooting accompanied by far off thunder, and an old clock chiming. There are plenty of cackles and chains. The combined effect is of walking through the scariest forest imaginable on the scariest night (Halloween, of course!). My only complaint is that it contains the same 5 minutes repeated over and over.

12 of 13 found the following review helpful:

Could've, Should've Been Much Better  Nov 02, 2001

This 40 minute CD is a single track with various witch cackles, laughs, owls, clock tickings and heartbeats. The sounds are original and not ripped from other sources, and they are good.
The sound mixing is also well done. But what you get is the same 5 minutes looped over and over and over again. If this CD makes you feel like you're walking in a dark forest alone, you must be
walking in circles. Make that *small circles*. Given the price of about ..., you'd expect a lot more.
Another problem with the CD is that some sections have thumping heartbeats for 30 seconds (not in ... sound sample). If you play this on a boombox it will sound awful. Don't buy this CD unless you plan to put it on a full home stereo with big woofers.
Since trick-or-treaters will only be passing by for a moment or
two, this CD is adequate for most home Halloween needs. But given
the stiff price and what else exists out there, it is not a good
value.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Big Let-Down  Sep 10, 2003

First, let me say that I'm a big fan of both Martha's halloween ideas and Rhino Records (the label that released this CD). I was Very eager to hear what both of these talents combined could come up with. Sadly, both Martha & Rhino (names I Trusted) let me down. My two main complaints? 1. It's just a 5 minute loop!
and 2. as another reviewer pointed out, this CD doesn't tell a story and take you from one scene to the next (because it's ONLY ONE SCENE- over & over). The reason I'm writing this review is in hopes that Martha with try again with a Vol.2. Martha, if you're out there: 60 minutes of many individual themes seemlessly segued (no looping!)

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

good all-around CD for Halloween  Apr 01, 2003

What I like about this CD is that the sounds are spooky, not scary. I have a young child with young friends and this is great for parties because it's very Halloween-ish without being frightening. I also play it out the window while the trick-or-treaters come and we hear a lot of the kids saying, "Cool!" when they hear it. It's spooky and yet doesn't freak anybody out.

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