The Cramps, perfection

i just listened to Songs the Lord Taught Us twice in a row form beg. to end last night. it was fucking fantastic.

my favourite is still the masterpiece Psychedelic Jungle, songs the lord close 2nd.

yeah that psych. jungle/gravest hits dual cd is essential.... besides the aforementioned albums and Bad Music is there anything else I need???

There's also that Born Bad series which has a lot of the same songs as Songs The Cramps Taught Us.

Off The Bone is my fave cos it has Human Fly on it, amongst many other super-awesome songs. We played Human Fly at my wedding!

Off The Bone is (I think) the British version of Bad Music For Bad People but has more songs on it?

"smell of female"!
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Purple Knif Show = CLASSIC

there are like a million of the purple knif/songs taught/lux and ivy's favorites, aren't there? the latter in particular are real goldmines - guitar gospel like charlie jackson, sweet rockabilly, lots of link wray, ric cartey, weird novelty doo wop and stuff.

You need the song "Surfing Dead" from the "Return of the Living Dead" soundtrack, which is a blast (I think it might also be on the CD version of "Smell of Female."

Agreed - one of the best live shows I've ever seen. I saw Lux and Ivy walking down the sidewalk in Glendale once and my heart started beating really fast.

"(I think it might also be on the CD version of "Smell of Female."

it is, and that cd is a must

indeed its is. "surfing dead" is astonishing, and there's also the kill! kill! faster pussycat cover.

IT is.

back to Psych Jungle:
it's their darkest album, and the closest their sound got to the Gun Club/Birthday Party era (which came later!).
also, Voodoo Idol is the best Crapms songs ever.

underrated: A Date With Elvis

not for Priscilla

All of the supposedly bad ones are underrated! Even the Epitaph one has some great tracks.

my underrated fave. is Stay Sick!

"All of the supposedly bad ones are underrated!"

Absolutely OTM. "Look Mom, No Head!" is great. "Miniskirt Blues" with Iggy!

one of the best bands ever but yeah required listening is the first batch - Psych Jungle/Songs the Lord Taught Us/Bad Music For Bad People/Smell of Female.

Even Flamejob is great ("Naked girl FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS")

also whichever one has "What's Inside a Girl?" on it

there were a bunch of live vinyl albums making the rounds a few years ago, some of which are very entertaining. I think the one I stuck with was ROCKINANDREELININAUCKLANDNEWZEALAND

That would be A Date With Elvis, yeah. Also contains Chicken ("Buh Buh Buckee!")

I heard sean yseult from white zombie was going on tour with them this fall... wonder if that's still happening?

I guess it happened 2 years ago lol cramps update yr website

did anyone hear that comp a couple of years ago, how to make a monster? it had a lot of really great scrappy covers on there, like a tav-falco-ish sweet woman blues. it's not my very favourite cramps stuff, but i like the songs that sound halfway to bobby vee - green door, lonesome town &c.

I still have never seen, but am dying to, the concert DVD of them playing live at that mental institution. Anyone seen this?

Yeah, it's diverting but not something you have to die, or kill, to see. It's under half an hour so might be in bits on Youtube maybe?

the mental institution thing is like 15 minutes long and the footage is incredibly shitty (lolz early 80s video quality) but it has its moments. audio quality is terrible - really the only fun thing about it is watching the inmates get into it.

well the cramps themselves are also fun I guess but you can't really hear/see what they're doing

I mean, LONESOME TOWN.
The perfect cover of a perfect song.

Yeah I got it off Slsk years ago and can attest to ^

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"audio quality is terrible - really the only fun thing about it is watching the inmates get into it"

this, and how band members are perfectly at ease, i.e. brian gregory grinning happily all the time.

it's all on Youtube & video.google.com & stuff.

Saw them a couple of years ago and they're now embarrassingly old. Imagine your granddad in a bikini: that's Lux on stage now.

how dare people age, who do they think they are.

cramps were always grotesque

lolz early 80s video quality

more like late 70s! it's smeary b&w but totally worth seeing at least once. also very easy to find.

lux is very old... 62 now?

the napa footage on youtube looks like somebody filmed their TV while watching the video

friend of mine says last time they toured Sweden, grown men were weeping with horror

buy the napa DVD

http://www.amazon.com/Cramps-Live-State-Mental-Hospital/dp/B00018D5RQ

watch this one online instead

there is something magnificent, about the cramps

I've never seen the Cramps live. I should be smacked. Hard. Idiot!!!!

What in the fuck?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAaT4btz-GA

Human Fly by The Cramps, revisited by a classical group. 12 violins, 1 solo violin, 4 Cellos, 1 piano and 1 soprano.

Wow. Will have to check that out later.

Oh yeah, the RIP thread was a different one

tell me things about The Cramps (RIP Lux Interior)

*wonders what's going on with Poison Ivy* :-(

She ruled at least as much as Lux did, IMHO.

downloaded a crappy rip of the Purple Knif Show and this is still the best shit ever

OTM. (There's no better rip btw, I've only ever found shitty sounding copies - that's almost part of its charm)

http://scaryideas.com/content/26375/

:-(

Hanni El Khatib is fuckin horrible btw

they should just have used the original. no doubt some ad exec felt it needed to sound "modern".

Maybe they didn't get permission or a cover was cheaper?

that's possible. there's a great human fly cover by sonovac they could have used.

such an amazing band

they really deserve a career-spanning box set

True - but I'd like to see a feature-length documentary even more. There's amazing local news clips from Memphis TV in that Big Star doc, must be tons more great stuff out there.

that panther burns footage is the shit

shitty quality version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUwbo_7pCnA

I wish Ivy would play guitar again - totally underrated.

Yeah - would be nice to know how she's doing these days.

was just looking at the Cramps section of my local store, I could swear that all of the LP versions of their regular studio albums were counterfeit pressings. Really hope Ivy does some kind of comprehensive reissue campaign, and yes a box set would be v nice.

I can't blame Ivy for effectively retiring but seems like curating their legacy would be right up her alley. of course, there are probably legal/label problems up the wazoo, who knows who owns what

"just try and imagine how little I care"

"nobody stops a take of the fuckin Cramps in the fuckin studio!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDpNNwJLcQQ

amazing

There seems to be many of these types of compilations, anyone hear this? What's recommended?

http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-beat-from-badsville-vol-1-trash-classics-from-lux-ivys-vinyl-mountain-mw0002410502

That looks like a fun set. I downloaded these years ago:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/02/lux-and-ivys-favorites-mp3s.html

but should upgrade to higher quality sets like this one when I get the chance.

Ned pointed out on twitter that some of those have been cleaned up and the series expanded by the original compiler. Available here:

http://kogarsjunglejuice.blogspot.com/

who in the hell needs that cleaned up? it'd be better to have an unmastered underwater shortwave wax cylinder molten 96kbps cassette version

exactly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VDtPU2lJJE&feature=youtu.be

O_O

Jesus they were great.

thanks!

Voodoo Idol 21:40! Love!

glad i saw them live..

yeah their Halloween shows were a treat

is this for real?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIsNGXEAL0v/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIsNGXEAL0v/

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/a_fan_made_the_cramps_a_fake_star_on_the_hollywood_walk_of_fame