Music from Dark Shadows: 22 Savory Soundbytes for Die-Hard Fans

During my junior high school years in the late 1960s, Dark Shadows provided an agreeable after-school and summer-vacation diversion, albeit, even at the time, it seemed pretty cheesy fare. Then again, in a pre-cable era when many American viewers still had only two or three major networks (and scarcely more channels) to choose from, there really wasn't much else worth watching in that time slot anyway.

By the time I was well into my senior year of high school, Dark Shadows was on the last legs of its successful five-year run, and I had lost all interest in following its increasingly crazy story lines. But I still appreciated Robert Cobert's consistently engaging music, and after graduation, I bought the popular Philips soundtrack album (vinyl LP) that more recently has been reissued as an 18-track CD, likewise on the Varese Sarabande label. (I'm referring to the separately available CD The Original Music From Dark Shadows.)

Although the aforementioned CD is, arguably, the first recording you should consider if you're a bona fide fan of the original TV series, this 30th Anniversary Collection CD is probably more accessible to a wider range of listeners. In fact, even if you couldn't care less about the several original "gothic" tracks here, many other numbers are surprisingly lighthearted and cheery (as I'll explain below via my "track-list comments"). For my own part, I value both albums nearly equally, but, if pressed, I'd give the nod to this 22-track edition, which simply has more music to offer and encompasses seemingly the gamut of moods, arrangements and styles.