THE CRAMPS - NEW(ISH) VINYL PART 2

RARE TRACKS Demo, Rehearsals, B-Sides, Soundtracks continued

In the previous post there were a few little errors so let’s clear things up and set the record (ahem) straight, shall we?

I mentioned to the back cover pic which, in which I referred to “Candy Fur”. The bassist circa 1986 was actually Fur Dixon, not “Candy Fur”. I kind of got mixed up with Candy Del Mar who followed Fur. As I said, there was no recorded output during brief Fur’s tenure, live or otherwise, but there is some great footage of her with the band on youtube;

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdoed3V7OB4‎

The live songs were actually previously released on the relatively hard to find CD release of “Smell of Female” which does feature Kid Congo, more or less. (He is credited on the release, but the band found some of his guitar parts unusable). It’s a shame they weren’t on the original vinyl release. They’re two of the wildest cuts on “Rare tracks” and Kid’s fuzz guitar goes off!

For your edification and amusement, here is the tracklist, and I’ve provided some extra info on the songs which doesn’t come with the records.

A1		Blue Moon Baby  (B-Side to “Can your pussy do the dog?” 7” & 12” 1985)
A2		Georgia Lee Brown (B-Side to “Can your pussy do the dog?” 12” 1985)
A3		Give Me A Woman (B Side to “What’s inside a girl” 12”  1990)
A4		Get Off The Road (B Side to “What’s inside a girl” 7” & 12” 1990)
A5		Confessions Of A Psycho Cat  (B-Side to “Ultra Twist” 7”& 12” 1994)
A6		No Club Lone Wolf Cat  (B-Side to “Ultra Twist” 12” 1994)
B1		I Walked All Night (B-Side to “Like a Bad Girl should” 12” 1997)
B2		Peter Gunn (Bonus track on “Big Beat from Badsville” CD rerelease 2001)
B3		Wilder Wilder Faster Faster (B-Side to “Eyeball in my Martini” 7” & 12” 1991)
B4		Twist And Shout – (From “Songs The Lord taught us sessions”, and featured  on  the CD rerelease)
B5		Her Love Rubbed Off B-Side to (Bikini Girls with machine guns” 12” 1990)
B6		Beat Out My Love (B-Side to “Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon” 12” 1990)
B7		Jelly Roll Rock (From “Blues Fix” EP 1992)
C1		Jailhouse Rock (B-Side to “Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon” 7” & 12” 1990)
C2		Jackyard Back Off (B-Side to “Bikini Girls with machine guns” 7” & 12” 1990)
C3		Beautiful Gardens (Live 1983, from “Smell of Female” sessions CD rerelease)
C4		She Said (Live 1983, from “Smell of Female” sessions CD rerelease)
C5		Surfin Dead (From “Smell of Female” CD rerelease, and Return of the Living Dead soundtrack)
C6		Rumble Blue (‘81 Rehearsal)
D1		Lonesome Town (‘81 Rehearsal)
D2		Journey To The Centre Of A Girl (‘88 Rehearsal)
D3		Sweet Woman Blues (‘81 Rehearsal)
D4		Call Of The Wighat (‘82 A&M Studio)
D5		Jackyard Back Off (‘88 Rehearsal) The Cramps are/were/have been one of the most bootlegged bands out there. This one at least has been done with some love and care, and hopefully as a homage to the band.

NEW(ISH) CRAMPS COMPILATION

THE CRAMPS

RARE TRACKS Demo, Rehearsals, B-Sides, Soundtracks

 

I’ve always had a soft spot for The Cramps. They’re one of the (few) bands that I heard when I was first discovering non-commercial music way back when, that have retained an appeal for me. I’m still buying their records all these years later, and they feature on the playlist fairly regularly........... Perhaps I should grow up. Ha Ha.

This double LP collection was released in about 2012, but I only came across one in a record shop recently. I saw it in the rack, looked, went hmmmm.... and put it back. I kept glancing back to check no one else picked it up, then went “just go and get the fuckin’ thing”.

While I own most of the earlier vinyl stuff (up to 1990’S “Stay Sick”), I’m no tragic when it comes to The Cramps. This compilation is geared to the later period of the band, which I’m relatively unfamiliar with, but it’s a great romp,  and there’s something for every Cramps fan.

The bulk of the two record set features B-sides of  various singles and EP’s from 1985 -1994. The first record (Yellow Vinyl) is all B-sides from this period, with the exception of “Twist and Shout” from the “Songs The Lord Taught Us Sessions” Highlights of the B-sides are mid period cuts ”Blue Moon Baby” the flipside of “Can Your Pussy Do The Dog” and "Jackyard Backoff", the flipside from 1990’s “Bikini Girls with Machine Guns” (I remembered that one from a LONG time ago when I bought that 7” for a friend and wished I’d got one for myself). Interestingly, their take on “Peter Gunn” and “Jailhouse Rock” steer right away from the traditional (in The Cramps inimitable style) and veer on ridiculous, but you know they wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 

Record Two (Black Vinyl) comprises only two  B –Sides, the rest is made up of  miscellaneous recordings. As I said, there’s something to please everyone. Although it doesn’t indicate it on the cover, there are some live cuts here. “Beautiful Gardens” is pleasingly and appropriately wild, as is “She said”, which is worth it for Lux’s monologue alone.  “Surfin’ Dead” is the soundtrack song (From Return of the Living Dead), which isn’t one of their more memorable songs. “Rumble Blue” is an ’81 rehearsal, and I assume it features the original (Bryan Gregory) line-up. The other rehearsal cuts -  “Lonesome Town”,” Journey to the Centre of a Girl”, and “Jackyard Backoff” (here for the second time) are unfortunately a bit tame for my liking, as is the studio cut of “Call of the Wighat”from ‘82 .                   

Package wise this is pretty damn good, particularly for a bootleg.  Containing 24 songs in all, it comes in a huge fold out poster cover with heaps of pics. For the die-hard fan there may yield nothing new picture wise, but it’s still pretty impressive, and showcase all eras of the Cramps in their various incarnations. In some ways misleading perhaps, the front cover features the Kid Congo era Line up, but I can’t be sure if he actually features on any of the songs here (my guess is the live songs though). The impressive back cover pic featuring short lived bassist Candy  Fur had no recorded output (studio or live).  One of the vinyls is coloured, the other one is plain black, and there are varying combinations available. The sound quality is pretty good, particularly the B-Sides, but the rehearsal and live stuff are perfectly passable for what they are as well.   The only real quibble I have is that there’s minimal info on the songs - most have no info- like what was the A-side of the song, what was the line up, when was it recorded etc. That info, accompanied by pics of the singles would have really topped off this collection.

All up, a great bookend to any Cramps collection. If your’e a hard-core Cramps collector, it’s worth getting, there may be something you don’t have, or just for the package alone, same if your’e more of a casual Cramps fan – it’ll keep you entertained. If your’e looking for an introduction (?) to The Cramps perhaps get one of the first Couple of LP’s and check’ em out.

RIP LUX

PUNK- ROCK’N’FRICKENROLL VINYL ONLY chrismccousin@gmail.com

 

NEGATIVE APPROACH7"

NEGATIVE APPROACH

SELF TITLED 7”

Touch And Go Records

Just goes to show how err, out of aah, touch one can be. I had kind of forgotten about American label Touch and Go, and was unsure how active they still were. Although this was reissued in 2010, I’ve only just found one now. Needless to say, I didn’t get one first time around, or last time around. Original first and second pressings sell now for ridiculous prices on ebay.

Legendary,classic, and influential detroit hardcore from ’82. Great stuff, Fast and short. This 10 song EP features the often-covered “Ready to Fight” – Can’t quite recall exactly who has covered it, but there has been quite a few bands (which followed in the wake of Negative Approach).

This reissue is (apparently) remastered. Not that I’d know, or can tell. It’s still a little rough around the edges, but that’s the appeal of it. The cover has also been revamped, the original “Linda Blair” styled photo has been replaced with a B&W line drawing as shown, that gives an updated feel as well. Also includes an (reproduction of the original) insert which is good value and kinda always makes a little hardcore 7” package complete.

This was a little on the expensive side, but worth it, and there are still a few around .............   

PUNK- ROCK’N’FRICKENROLL VINYL ONLY chrismccousin@gmail.com