The Cramps: Strangeness in Me

Beautiful, melancholy song by The Cramps. One of their best. From LOOK MOM NO HEAD, here's THE STRANGENESS IN ME. Dig.

THEE HEADCOATS: A TOWN NAMED SQUARESVILLE

A strangely poetic and very chilling track from Billy Childish's THEE HEADCOATS. One of their best songs. THEE HEADCOATS' music can be very dark at times...like a Film Noir version of THE CRAMPS. This song is no exception. Here it is..."A Town Named Squaresville." Haunting.

THE NOVAS: "THE CRUSHER"

One of my favorite, raunchy, 1960's garage punk wrestling songs of all time, if there is such a genre. The Cramps are famous for covering this song, but nothing can beat the intensity of the original, written and performed by The Novas from Dallas, Texas. Enjoy.

MEL ROBBINS: SAVE IT

Here's a lustful and smokin' piece of rockablilly by the little known but ingenious Mel Robbins. This is yet another song made famous by The Cramps. Here's the original "Save It" (1959) by Mel Robbins. Irresistible.

RONNIE DAWSON

Ronnie Dawson was an incredible outlaw, high octane, rockabilly/country singer who's first songs came out in the 1950's. The energy of his vocals and guitar playing is legendary. One of the songs he is probably most famous for is "Rockin' Bones" from the 1950's, covered by The Cramps. Of course Ronnie Dawson has recorded a wealth of material, and he made a big comeback in the 1990's, releasing several albums. The two I have are "Monkey Beat' (1994) and "Just Rockin' and Rollin"(2001). I highly recommend both. He passed away in 2003 from throat cancer.

I saw Ronnie Dawson live in the late 1990's. What a show. For a man his age, he was jumping around and running all over the place, delivering song after song with ease. His voice and guitar playing were as strong as ever. He never faltered. He was hanging out after the show selling some CD's, so I stopped and talked to him for a minute. He seemed like a nice guy, very down to earth. I bought "Monkey Beat" and he signed it for me.

As I said, Ronnie has a lot of material, so it is hard to recommend just one album. I would start with the two mentioned above. Also, try to find a compilation of his early songs.

Here's the classic "Rockin' Bones" from 1959. His voice is high pitched in his early releases, but mellows out in his later material.


Here's "Up Jumped the Devil" and "Crazy Shoes" from 1994's "Monkey Beat".

Up Jumped The Devil - Ronnie Dawson

Crazy Shoes - Ronnie Dawson

GREEN FUZZ

Ok. I posted about The Groupies' "Primitive" about a week ago, and here's another obscure 1960's garage punk song and band made famous by The Cramps. It's "Green Fuzz"(1969), by Randy Alvey and The Green Fuzz. A grungy, filthy sounding gem of stoned out 1960's punk. It's hard to believe, but I find the original much sleazier than The Cramps' version. Compare the two versions and let me know what you think. One of my favorite songs of all time.
Here's the original:

Green Fuz/Green Fuz - Track Artist

And here's The Cramps' version:

THEE HEADCOATS: "BEACHED EARLS"

Thee Headcoats are 1960's garage punk revivalist band hailing from Britain and led by Billy Childish. Their output is extremely prolific yet somewhat uneven. The best work I have heard so far of theirs is "Beached Earls" (1990). This is a brilliant piece of fiery, drug-induced sleaze, very grimy retro 1960's punk. While their music is primitive, Billy Childish's lyrics are not...they are very dark, violent, surreal, and poetic. Childish's vocals are sneering, melodic, and charged with sex and violence. This is how The Cramps would have probably sounded if they came out in the 1960's and went to art school. "Beached Earls" is an exhaustive release with thirty tracks. The only complaint I have about this one is that it could have been a little shorter. Fifteen or twenty tracks of Thee Headcoats is all you really need to hear in one sitting. Still, I highly recommend this one. It can be a bit hard to track down at the moment (currently out of print) but it is worth the hunt. This CD is also available as "Beach Bums Must Die", but it is missing the last ten tracks. It too is out of print, but friendlier on the wallet.

Here's the leering, snide, and vicious opening track "Youngblood"...

Youngblood - Thee Headcoats

and here's the brilliantly surreal and poetic "A Town Named Squaresville".

A Town Named Squaresville - Thee Headcoats

THE GROUPIES

The Groupies were an somewhat obscure 1960's garage rock band made famous by The Cramps' cover of their classic "Primitive". Their sound is unadulturated, drug addled, sleazy 1960's garage punk at it's finest. Their stuff is hard to come by. Here's the original "Primitive" for your enjoyment.

THE RED CRAYOLA: PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND"

The Red Crayola's "The Parable of Arable Land" is a free form, psychedelic, noise art masterpiece from 1967. Guitar, bass, and drums carry the music, but it is surrounded and enveloped in a cacophony of other noises and instruments played in a somewhat haphazard fashion. This album in a way is a do it yourself incursion into free jazz and psychedelia, with an underlying 1960's garage punk feel throughout. This album consists of several free from instrumental tracks, or "free form freak outs", with hooky, trippy, and sleazy 1960's garage punk classics embedded between the freak outs. The actual songs on this album and bring to mind early Cramps, especially with the vocals. A few of my favorite tracks are "Hurricane Fighter Plane" and "Pink Stainless Tail". Truly brilliant, or misguided noise where the musicians are too stoned out to even play their instruments properly...which one best describes The Red Crayola? I personally think they are brilliant, but listen to the two tracks below and decide for yourself.

Let me know what you think. "Parable of Arable Land" is an album that's not too expensive and fairly easy to find. Highly recommended.

THE CRAMPS: "A DATE WITH ELVIS"

I've been going back and re-listening to a lot of Cramps lately after the shocking news of Lux Interior's passing last week. I have all of their albums, but I've been going back and trying to figure out which one would be the best, pure and definitive Cramps album throughout their long, fruitful career. It's a tough choice because I am partial to their live material, such as "Smell of Female" and "Rockin & Reelin' in Auckland, New Zealand". There is just a certain energy there that cannot be translated and carried over into the studio. Their live material is raw and frenetic, and their studio material is highly polished and classy sounding.

After some deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that their studio album "A Date with Elvis"(1986) is their best all-around release. The guitar playing of Ivy Rorshach is excellent, twangy, fuzzed out and polished. She actually laid down the bass guitar tracks for this album as well. Lux interiors vocals are at their peak here. Maniacal yet subdued, bluesy, lusty, and full of life. "A Date With Elvis" was sort of a break away from their horror fixation of the past. The lyrics are sexually charged and full of double meanings in songs such as "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog" and "What's Inside a Girl?" Their fascination with 1950's and '60's B-culture and vintage off the wall rockabilly and obscure rock'n'roll from that time period is in full force here. This album truly sounds like it came from that time, very authentic and vintage sounding. My favorite part of the album is towards the end. The Cramps truly show off the knowledge of their roots by covering four classic country and blues tear-jerkers, long lost and distant musical mournings of a love gone awry. Their faithful renditions of "Give Me a Woman", "Georgia Lee Brown", "It's Just That Song", and "Blue Moon Baby" are enough to give you goose bumps. They brilliantly end the album with "Get Off the Road", a well-done cover of the sleazy theme song from Herschell Gordon Lewis's classic female biker film "She Devils on Wheels".

All in all, "A Date With Elvis", with the first part of the album being top notch original material with a classy sleaze, and the last five songs being well done, vintage cover tunes, is an excellent work . If you have never heard The Cramps before, start with this one. Some may prefer the rawness of their earlier material but to me "A Date With Elvis" is easily the best and most consistent album The Cramps have ever made.

Here's "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog" and the tear-jerker "It's Just That Song".

Can Your Pussy Do The Dog - The Cramps

Its Just That Song - The Cramps

Lux Interior Dead at 62

I was saddened to learn today (thanks KNY over at Luceriffic!) that Lux Interior, the lead singer and co-founder of The Cramps passed away yesterday February 4th at Glendale Memorial California in Glendale, California from a pre-existing heart condition. He was 62 years old. The Cramps have been a huge influence on my outlook on life. Their passion for B-movies, rockabilly, bizarre vintage rock and roll, horror, and a passionate lust for life has really served as an inspiration to me and helped form some of my musical and cinematic tastes over the years. Lux Interior will be sorely missed, but his music will live on forever. He is survived by his wife of 37 years and co-founder/guitarist of The Cramps Ivy Rorschach. Let us think of her and our give her our best hopes during this difficult time.
You can read the full story here.
Here's a couple of my favorite Cramps songs. Lux Interior, R.I.P.