On this latest installment of the seemingly never-ending “NOW” series, they tackle the creepiest of all holidays, Halloween! Some of the choices here are obligatory, some are surprising and some are just absent.

When tackling Halloween, one has to decide if you’re going to gear the music towards kids or adults. This compilation seems to toe the line evenly between the two. Classics like Run-DMC’s “Ghostbusters” and the always excellent “Monster Mash” as well as the obligatory “This Is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas are here to entice the kiddies while some more surprising entries like the classic “Ghost Town” by the Specials and “Werewolves Of London” by Warren Zevon are here to enable the adults to have something to enjoy.

A couple of tracks feel out of place. The theme song from True Blood, a show no one will remember in 10 years is an interesting choice, as is “O Fortuna,” but I guess they’re trying to appeal to a different sort of audience. Personal favorites including “Werewolves Of London” and The Fresh Prince’s “Nightmare On My Street” make this a very enjoyable collection, even if it does include “Somebody’s Watching Me” and INXS’s “Devil Inside.”

Probably the only compilation to include not only Bobby “Boris” Pickett but also Donovan and Nina Simone’s version of “I Put A Spell On You,” this collection is great but not as great it could’ve been. Where’s anything by the Misfits? What about Rocky Horror or “Pet Sematary” by the Ramones? Rhino Records put out a compilation back in the ’90s entitled New Wave Halloween that includes all those as well as tracks by Sonic Youth, Ministry, Dead Kennedys and Mudhoney, but alas, that compilation has been out of print for years. So suffice to say, NOW! That’s What I Call Halloween will be the compilation that unites young and old alike in that never-ending quest for candy that has continued unabated for centuries.

Rating: B

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