Jul 23, 2014

RhoDeo 1429 Aetix

Hello, US intelligence officials accused Moscow of "creating the conditions" that resulted in the death of 298 people aboard the Malaysian Airlines jet shot down last week over a part of Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists. We're all so short on memory who created the conditions for the downfall of the legaly elected Ukranian president ? Yes it was the US and those nincompoop EU politicians promising plenty of money to those nasty neo nazis and other rightwing trash to create chaos and chase out the president, and now all this political powerplay has resulted in the death of innocents. Let's not forget there's a war going on there many more die, all for the bloodlust of the US demons that consider themselves beyond good and evil. Yes so blaming Russia is a sick joke, alas many in the west can't see through this propaganda.

Today at Aetix a conjuring a fiendish witches' brew of primal rockabilly, grease-stained '60s garage rock, vintage monster movies, perverse and glistening sex, and the detritus and effluvia of 50 years of American pop culture, the Cramps are a truly American creation much in the manner of the Cadillac, the White Castle hamburger, the Fender Stratocaster, and Jayne Mansfield. Often imitated, but never with the same psychic resonance as the original, the Cramps celebrate all that is dirty and gaudy with a perverse joy that draws in listeners with its fleshy decadence, not unlike an enchanted gingerbread house on the Las Vegas strip. The entire psychobilly scene would be unthinkable without them, and their prescient celebration of the echoey menace of first-generation rock & roll had a primal (if little acknowledged) influence on the rockabilly revival and the later roots rock movement.....N'joy !

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

The Cramps celebrate all that is dirty and gaudy with a perverse joy that draws in listeners with its fleshy decadence, primal rockabilly, grease-stained '60s garage rock, vintage monster movies, perverse and glistening sex. They have influenced countless subsequent bands in the garage, punk and rockabilly revival subgenres, and helped create the psychobilly genre, a term coined by The Cramps, although Lux Interior maintained that the term did not describe their own style.

Lux Interior (Erick Lee Purkhiser) and Poison Ivy (hitchiking Kristy Marlana Wallace) met in Sacramento, California in 1972. Shared common artistic interests and devotion to record collecting, had them pair up and decide to form The Cramps. Lux took his stage name from a car ad, and Ivy claimed to have received hers in a dream (initially Poison Ivy Rorschach). In 1973, they moved to Akron, Ohio, and then to New York in 1975, soon entering into CBGB's early punk scene. The lineup in 1976 was Poison Ivy Rorschach, Lux Interior, Bryan Gregory (guitar), and his sister Pam "Ballam" Gregory (drums). In a short period of time, the Cramps changed drummers twice, something that would follow the bands path..the rhythm section (bass,drums) changed ever so often 7 times each in fact over their 33 years as a band.

In June 1978 they gave a landmark free concert for patients at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa, recorded on a Sony Portapak video camera by the San Francisco collective Target Video and later released as Live at Napa State Mental Hospital. They released the two singles again on their 1979 Gravest Hits EP, before Chilton brought them back that year to Memphis to record their first full length album, Songs The Lord Taught Us.

The Cramps relocated to Los Angeles in 1980 and hired guitarist Kid Congo Powers of The Gun Club. While recording their second LP, Psychedelic Jungle, the band and Miles Copeland began to dispute royalties and creative rights. The ensuing court case prevented them from releasing anything until 1983, when they recorded Smell of Female live at New York's Peppermint Lounge; Kid Congo Powers subsequently departed. Their first European tour, after having veen cancelled twice, was a success.

With the release of 1986's A Date With Elvis, the Cramps permanently added a bass guitar to the mix, but had trouble finding a suitable player, so Ivy temporarily filled in as the band's bassist. Fur joined them on the world tour to promote the album. Their popularity in the UK was at its peak (many sell out dates throughout the UK) . It was not until late 86 that the Cramps found a suitable permanent bass player: Candy del Mar, who made her recorded debut on the raw live album "RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandxxx", which was followed by the studio album Stay Sick in 1990.

The Cramps hit the top 40 singles chart in the UK for the first and only time with "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns"; Ivy posed as such both on the cover of the single and in the promotional video for the song. The Cramps went on to record more albums and singles through the 1990s Look Mom, No Head! (91), Flame Job (94), Big Beat From Badsville (97) for various labels.

In honor of the excess of The Cramps, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has on display a shattered bass drum head that Lux's head went through during a live show. On January 10, 2001, Bryan Gregory died at of complications following a heart attack. He was 47. In 2002, The Cramps released their final studio album, "Fiends of Dope Island" on their own label, Vengeance Records. Two years later followed by a compilation, How to Make a Monster.

On February 4, 2009 at 4:40 AM PST, Lux Interior died at the Glendale Memorial Hospital after suffering an aortic dissection (rupture) which, contrary to initial reports about a pre-existing condition, was "sudden, shocking and unexpected, leaving his partner of 37 years (Poison Ivy) behind.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

After Psychedelic Jungle, the Cramps experienced personnel and record label difficulties; they would not release another studio album until this one, four years later. Gone here are the tinny sound quality and horror-flick-based lyrics of prior releases, replaced by clearer sonics and an often hilarious obsession with sex (examples of the latter can be found on "What's Inside a Girl?," "The Hot Pearl Snatch," "Cornfed Dames," "(Hot Pool of) Womanneed," "How Far Can Too Far Go?," and the uproarious single "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?"). There are numerous sly references in the verses to high and low cultural icons, including "Shake it one time for me" (a line from Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"), "I'll be dancing through the flames/Like a devil in disguise" (a nod to the Elvis Presley hit), and "Now there's more things in Tennessee/Than is dreamed of in your philosophy" (a paraphrase of a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet). Most of the songs here are in various rockabilly-derived styles featuring either garage rock fuzz or Duane Eddy twanging guitar from Poison Ivy. Vocalist Lux Interior is in excellent form here, exhibiting a fair bit of variety within his usual 1950s-derived approach. "Kizmiaz" is unique in the band's oeuvre, being a smarmy parody of 1960s hippie feel-good music; Ivy joins Interior on vocals here. Intonation is off in a few numbers (notably on "Kizmiaz," "The Hot Pearl Snatch," and "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?"), but this is not enough to detract from the overall excellence. This rollicking and energetic platter in particular is the equal of any in their canon, and an essential listen.



The Cramps - A Date With Elvis ( flac 269mb)

01 How Far Can Too Far Go? 4:10
02 The Hot Pearl Snatch 3:19
03 People Ain't No Good 3:46
04 What's Inside A Girl? 3:22
05 Can Your Pussy Do The Dog? 3:21
06 Kizmiaz 3:00
07 Cornfed Dames 5:27
08 Chicken 1:40
09 (Hot Pool Of) Womanneed 3:09
10 Aloha From Hell 2:35
11 It's Just That Song 2:34

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

This British compilation includes the entirety of the Cramps' first release, the Gravest Hits EP, along with selections that cover the years 1979-1983, a formative period in the band's long career. Ten of the tracks can also be found on the domestic compilation Bad Music for Bad People, which was released the following year. Although the bulk of the material consists of covers, you can hardly tell (barring an intimacy with any of the originals). Once the Cramps get hold of a song, they always make it their own -- even the more recognizable numbers like "Surfin' Bird," "Lonesome Town," and "Fever." All benefit from Lux Interior's vocal prowess. He's a proto-punk screamer like Screamin' Jay Hawkins or the Sonics' Gerry Roslie on the rockin' numbers, but can caress a ballad like mid-period Elvis when the need arises. None of the songs sound as if they could possibly have been written anytime after the '60s. Alex Chilton produced the first ten tracks, the Cramps the remaining seven. [The cover art for ...Off the Bone has varied over the years; the 1987 Illegal edition is rendered -- appropriately enough -- in 3-D.



The Cramps - Off The Bone  (flac 316mb)

01 Human Fly 2:16
02 The Way I Walk 2:40
03 Domino 3:08
04 Surfin' Bird 5:07
05 Lonesome Town 3:03
06 Garbageman 3:30
07 Fever 4:19
08 Drug Train 2:37
09 Love Me 2:02
10 I Can't Hardly Stand It 2:43
11 Goo Goo Muck 3:06
12 She Said 3:17
13 The Crusher 1:48
14 Save It 2:57
15 New Kind Of Kick 3:31
16 Uranium Rock 2:28
17 Good Taste (Live) 3:31

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

The Cramps waited four years after their top-notch A Date with Elvis before releasing their next studio album. The result is, unfortunately, one of the weakest platters in their canon. Most all the songs here follow the same rockabilly-based formula of previous releases; unfortunately, much of the group's usual fire is missing. Too many of the selections (such as "Daisys Up Your Butterfly," "Everything Goes," "All Women Are Bad," and a cover of "Muleskinner Blues") are cast in a moderate jogging tempo, and the instrumental playing shows minimal song-to-song contrast, lacking the manic craziness of their best work. Lux Interior's vocals are comparatively reserved (though there are some exceptions, such as the snarling cover of "Shortnin' Bread") and are often somewhat submerged in the sound mix. Lyrics, too, are a bit tame by Cramps standards, the major exception being "Mama Oo Pow Pow," which has gleefully tacky verses about spanking and discipline that rival their most tasteless. "God Damned Rock 'N' Roll" is, for all practical purposes, a middling parody of Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll." The biggest surprise is the atypically soaring vocal on the better-than-average song "Journey to the Center of a Girl."



The Cramps - Stay, Sick!  (flac 401mb)

01 Bop Pills 2:26
02 God Damn Rock 'N' Roll 2:38
03 Bikini Girls With Machine Guns 3:18
04 All Women Are Bad 3:08
05 The Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon 3:10
06 Shortnin' Bread 2:45
07 Daisys Up Your Butterfly 2:28
08 Everything Goes 3:46
09 Journey To The Center Of A Girl 4:49
10 Mama Oo Pow Pow 2:28
11 Saddle Up A Buzz Buzz 2:40
12 Muleskinner Blues 2:45
Bonus Tracks
13 Her Love Rubbed Off 2:58
14 Her Love Rubbed Off (Live) 5:04
15 Bikini Girls With Machine Guns (Live) 3:30
16 Beat Out My Love 2:15
17 Jailhouse Rock 2:28
18 Jackyard Backoff 3:18

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

3 comments:

JT said...

Hi Rho

How about a re-up of some Cramps? I'm in a Lux mood ....

JT

Noises From Apt 2A said...

Any chance of re-up of all The Cramps you've got?

jackiewilsonsaid said...

These have disappeared too, pls re-up for new Cramps fan. Thanks, jws