THE CRAMPS - GRAVEST HITS @ 45

 

Celebrating 45 years on the shelf this month is the debut EP from The Cramps, Gravest Hits, which was released in July of 1979. The 12" EP compiles both of their prior 1978 released 7" singles, Human Fly b/w Domino, & Surfin' Bird b/w The Way I Walk, and adds a fifth track, Lonesome Town. All of the included recordings were produced by former Big Star front man, Alex Chilton and were all recorded in 1977 at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN. Collectively, these recordings constitute some of the earliest examples of the rockabilly revival, which would later be characterized as "Psychobilly" due to its grafting of sleazy horror and science fiction B-movie themes with this foundational genre of American 1950s era rock 'n' roll.

Lux Interior (born Erick Lee Purkhiser) and Poison Ivy (born Kristy Marlana Wallace) met in Sacramento, California, in 1972. In light of their common artistic interests and shared devotion to record collecting, they decided to form the Cramps. Lux took his stage name from a car ad, and Ivy claimed to have received hers in a dream (she was first Poison Ivy Rorschach, taking her last name from that of the inventor of the Rorschach test). In 1973, they moved to Akron, Ohio, and then to New York in 1975, soon entering into CBGB's early punk scene with other emerging acts like Suicide, the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Mink DeVille. The lineup in 1976 was Poison Ivy Rorschach, Lux Interior, Bryan Gregory (guitar), and his sister Pam "Balam" (drums), later replaced by Nick Knox (formerly with the Electric Eels) in 1977 by the time they started recording their first singles.

I remember when I first spotted this on the shelves of my local record shop, which was in a small strip mall next to the Burger King I worked at in 1979, when I was 16 years old. I glanced at that cover for weeks, every time I popped into the shop before or after work, and always felt vaguely uneasy about it, though also intrigued, until I finally plucked up the nerve to give it a shot. I was into "new" music at that time, "punk" and "new wave", but these folk didn't seem to fit into either of those slots. There was something "out of time" about them that didn't quite align with the other trends of the day. I wasn't even sure when the record was actually recorded. It looked like it could have been something from another decade. And the band were SO gnarly looking, especially Bryan Gregory, who looked like he was 60 years old, with his gaunt menacing glare and that shock of grey hair hanging down the side of his sunken, ghoulish face.

When I finally brought it home, Human Fly sounded so fucked up that I wasn't even sure what speed to play the record at. After I got that sorted, I immediately became enthralled by the odd spookiness of it all. The fact they had no bass guitar, but instead used duelling twang vs fuzz guitars, with only Knox's kick drum anchoring the bottom end, gave their sound a distinctive edge. What was even more surprising to me was the day I came home from school to find my mother had been listening to it! She was once a teenage bobby soxer in the '50s, so their rockabilly vibe caught her ear. It was quite a surprise to me when she actually dug one of my freaky records!

Years later, I got a chance to see them live, twice in the 1990s, which immediately reaffirmed why I've always loved the band, ever since this amazing record found its way into my collection.

THE CRAMPS - PSYCHEDELIC JUNGLE @ 40

 

Marking 40 years on the shelves this month is the sophomore album from The Cramps, Psychedelic Jungle, originally released in May of 1981.

The Cramps made their name on the New York punk scene starting in 1976, playing clubs like CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City along with the likes of the Ramones, Suicide, Blondie & Talking Heads. Their first full length LP, however, had their producer, Alex Chilton, co-founder of the band Big Star, hauling them off to Memphis to record in the legendary Sun Studios. As a result, their first album sizzled with the raw heat of zombified 1950’s rockabilly. It was them staking out their claim to the “psycho-billy” variant of that genetic strain, characterized by their obsession with midnight horror movies and fringe sub-cultures. It set them well apart from their contemporaries with only Suicide tangentially drawing from a similar hiccuping spastic greaser shudder.

By 1981, however, they had gone through some changes. In 1980, ghoulish fuzz guitarist, Brian Gregory, suddenly quit the band and they relocated from NYC to LA. I’m not sure if those two things are related, but it may very well have been that Brian simply didn’t want to make that move. Whatever the case, they ended up with Kid Congo Powers filling in the 2nd guitar slot behind Poison Ivy’s lead, while Nick Knox remained on the skins and Lux held fast to the front-man position. For their second album, the group decided to handle the production duties themselves and this move set them onto the task of upping their game and taking their sound in a slightly different direction.

For Psychedelic Jungle, the group opted to leave the 1950s behind and shift into the LSD fueled 1960s, though certainly not in order to embrace any “summer of love” pleasantries. Their trip on this production was strictly BAD - like “don’t take the brown acid” level freakout shit. These songs shimmered with the distorted nightmares of going way-out on the wrong side of town. The album was a fairly even mix between original compositions and forgotten garage & psyche rock gems unearthed with the aid of Lux & Ivy’s encyclopedic knowledge of obscure classics. They knew all the dirtiest little corners of rock ’n’ roll’s gutters and pulled out some of the nastiest boogers of songs they could pick. Their original works were equally unnerving and unsettling, though eating off the sidewalk suddenly took on a kind of “forbidden fruit” appeal. I’m just saying, I wouldn’t do it, but I thought about it… just a little.

The album re-positioned the band with a big step forward which was tragically tripped-up thanks to some nasty legal battles which meant they weren’t able to build on their momentum. Thanks to these binding constraints, they could not set foot into a studio to record a follow up LP until 5 years later with their Date With Elvis album. They were only able to tide fans over with the 1983 live album, Smell of Female, and a compilation of previously released songs, Bad Music for Bad People, in 1984. Though these troubles would prove challenging, the group continued to tour and perform throughout this time and they were eventually able to get back into their groove and resume their career, full steam, until the tragic death of Lux Interior in 2009.

I had the great fortune of seeing them play live twice in Vancouver. The first was on April 12, 1990 at the Commodore Ballroom and then again on October 24th, 1997 at Graceland. Both shows were amazing and rank as some of the most memorable live gigs I ever attended. As far as their studio recordings, Psychedelic Jungle ranks as the peak for me when it comes to The Cramps. It was the album that took the most chances and pushed their sound to its outer limits. Their shift into the more surreal side of their sound had the most appeal for me and it proved to be a huge influence on future projects of my own. Listening to it now, it still occupies its own space and time and shows no signs of age or being dated behind any trend. It creates its own universe where it can reside indefinitely.