Andrew Gold was a sort of Zelig figure in popular music during his career. If you fell in love with his music in any place, you’d probably be surprised to see him pop up somewhere else.
Gold was a talented singer-songwriter with his own string of excellent and underrated solo albums and a Top 10 hit “Lonely Boy,” but there was much more. He was also Linda Ronstadt’s arranger and a multi-instrumentalist on several of her albums and he toured with the Eagles and James Taylor. His song, “Thank You For Being a Friend” was re-recorded for use in the mega-hit TV series, The Golden Girls. He also performed the theme song to the 1990s TV hit, Mad About You.
In 1996, Gold saw what he felt was a deficit in the Halloween music world and released an album celebrating the spookiest of all holidays: Halloween Howls. At the time, the album didn’t take off just the way that Andrew had hoped, however the internet had other plans. Slowly, over time, a track from the album gained attention. A remix of the song “Spooky Scary Skeletons” became a bonafide, dance-hit smash and was impossible to miss on social media last year.
Sadly, Gold passed away in 2011. However, his widow, Leslie Kogan, continues to make sure his wide and varied catalog finds appreciative ears. She helped to unearth a strong live performance by Andrew from 1978 which was released in 2015 as The Late Show, and Kogan also delved through Gold’s archives to create last year’s compilation, Something New (both albums on Omnivore Recordings).
This year, it’s Gold’s Halloween Howls which sees its first vinyl release featuring new artwork by the extraordinarily talented Jess Rotter on Craft Recordings. It’s always welcome to hear new music from Andrew Gold, but standby because Kogan has more in store down the road. Sit tight while she and I discuss all this and much more in this week’s episode. Happy Halloween to all. Boo!
Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.
