The Cramps Albums Poll

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Not enough Cramps threads over here.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Songs the Lord Taught Us 9
Psychedelic Jungle 8
Stay Sick! 3
A Date With Elvis 2
Big Beat From Badsville 1
Look Mom, No Head! 0
Flamejob 0
Fiends of Dope Island 0


✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 21:50 (ten years ago)

would think the winner's a no-brainer, esp without Bad Music for Bad People or Gravest Hits in the mix

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 21:53 (ten years ago)

but yes the world needs more Cramps threads!

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 21:53 (ten years ago)

Yeah, was just gonna say Bad Music is a great collection. I've honestly played Stay Sick the most of these, which is probably a minority opinion.

Half as cool as Man Sized Action (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 21:55 (ten years ago)

I'd vote for Gravest Hits EP over any of these. They found their right sound from the start.

I think I'd rate these by order of release. some days I think I prefer psychedelic jungle better than the debut album.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 21:57 (ten years ago)

I probably would've included Gravest Hits, even though it's just an EP. Since those 7-inchess weren't super easy to find, it was pretty much the public's introduction to The Cramps.

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 21:58 (ten years ago)

can't say any of these are actually bad (although I haven't heard Fiends from Dope Island). Flamejob is a lot of fun

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 21:58 (ten years ago)

I swear I was about to include Gravest Hits but was afraid someone would call me out on it for not putting the other EPs as well (and yet noone in their sane mind would have voted any of the other EPs over the rest of the discography).

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:00 (ten years ago)

I tend to like their live albums the best ... but maybe they are mostly bootlegs? The Aukland "Lonesome Town" cover is a personal fave.

sarahell, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:01 (ten years ago)

which was the album they were touring when they played that asylum? were they at their peak around then? i know nothing about The Cramps except that asylum footage and 'let's get fucked up' both of which i enjoy immensely. really should check them out.

piscesx, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:02 (ten years ago)

Bad Music for Bad People is too incomplete to be definitive. I'd probably just pick it for "New Kind of Kick" which is a b-side to 'the crusher' and pretty difficult to comeby otherwise.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:03 (ten years ago)

which was the album they were touring when they played that asylum? were they at their peak around then?

that wasn't part of a tour, may have been even before the first album came out? While this is a band whose recorded output varied over time I can't honestly say they ever really "peaked", esp as a live act they always delivered.

re: Live albums - yeah RockinandreelininAucklandNewZealand is great, also much love for their "official" live album, "Smell of Female" ("You've Got gooooooooood taste! come on over here and sit on my... lap")

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:07 (ten years ago)

speaking of which, does anybody know if there's any vinyl reissues for the Bad Music comp or the debut album coming anytime soon? I've been searching for those two without luck.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:09 (ten years ago)

They used to be plentiful at online sellers and on ebay. I haven't really been buying records since the early 00s, though, so I bet there's a smaller supply these days.

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:11 (ten years ago)

I haven't seen any reissues altho who knows why. vinyl copies I have were used/originals.

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:13 (ten years ago)

Holy shit! Just about every original 1979 copy of Gravest Hits on ebay is in the $40+ range now. I bought it for probably $5.

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:14 (ten years ago)

that one I don't have on vinyl, but I do have Bad Music and Songs the Lord Taught Us, which were hardly expensive for quite a long time

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:15 (ten years ago)

lol

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cramps-Songs-Taught-Vinyl/dp/B001GRYHDM

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:16 (ten years ago)

yikes! I honestly don't care about original pressings I don't collect albums with the intention of selling them so if the reissue sounds good I couldn't care less.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:17 (ten years ago)

We need Cramps reissues!

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:18 (ten years ago)

Now I'm curious. Did the Cramps vinyl market balloon when Lux passed away?

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:22 (ten years ago)

Cramps vinyl was getting tough to find even before Lux's passing imo. I think fans just loved the records and never sold them.

I'd probably just pick it for "New Kind of Kick"

One of my all time favorite Cramps songs. "Life is short... filled with stuff..."

Half as cool as Man Sized Action (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:25 (ten years ago)

I feel like over the last decade all I see in Cramps vinyl bins are live reissues and random comps

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:32 (ten years ago)

and as noted those live reissues are mostly bootlegs

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 22:33 (ten years ago)

I'm so stoked for the Journey to the Centre of The Cramps book...

BlackIronPrison, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 23:05 (ten years ago)

wait what

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 23:06 (ten years ago)

i have A Date with Elvis on vinyl -- based on the sticker it was "import only" at the time, and I got it in the mid-90s

sarahell, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 23:09 (ten years ago)

Feels like Smell of Female should be included here. Even though it was recorded live it was all new songs. Back when I was a kid it was only this and Off The Bone that you could even find in record shops.

everything, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 00:14 (ten years ago)

Bad Music for Bad People and Smell of Female should definitely have been included. Of the available options, I'm going with Psychedelic Jungle, 'cause "Rockin' Bones" and "Voodoo Idol" are amazing, and "Caveman" cracks me up. ("Look, man/Make tool/Caveman no fool")

I had the version of Off the Bone with the 3D cover in high school.

the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 00:58 (ten years ago)

likewise, "smell of female" and "off the bone" were the only ones i ever saw in record shops here for many years. "off the bone" still turns up a lot second hand but i guess people held onto their copies of "smell of female" as i very rarely see copies of it (it was a huge record in the uk and i'm pretty sure it charted).

stirmonster, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 01:38 (ten years ago)

Never bought anything after A Date with Elvis. Songs the Lord Taught Us by far, Gravest Hits next. I did like the two after that, or at least at the time. My "New Kind of Kick" 12-inch is autographed by Lux, Ivy, Kid Congo, and whoever else was in the band at the time.

clemenza, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 01:43 (ten years ago)

How to Make (Create?) A Monster was a legit mopping up of early material too. May even have some Miriam Linna era stuff on.

I mainly stick with 1st 2 studio, SoF & Off The Bone plus whatever live bootlegs i have on my computer. May have lost a load in a crash though.
I like the idea of Songs The Cramps taught us but don't think I have the cds. Think they were one of the first bands to get fans compiling sets like that. Though I do have a cd of the originals of Rolling Stones blues/r'n'b stuff which is at least early 90s.

Stevolende, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 07:28 (ten years ago)

The first such comp predates that Stones one though - "Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage Disease" on the Big Beat label in 1989 has one side of vintage material that influenced the Cramps (The Crusher, Surfin' Bird etc) and another side of bands influenced by the Cramps. Also a friend of mine had a bootleg cassette of such material including an interview with Lux on BBC Radio 1 in the mid-80s sometime playing a selection of the type of songs that ended up on those comps. Don't remember what was actually on it except for Please Pass the Biscuits - probably Andre Williams' version.

everything, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 07:55 (ten years ago)

I wouldn't think of Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage disease as being that similar. I think the originals that were unearthed for the first side weren't that obscure and most of them might have already been in a discerning music fans collection, probably things being spun at any remotely psychobilly targeted disco anyway plus it had a side of contemporary artists.

I would think that the attraction of most of the lps like Songs the Cramps and possibly the Stones things included was pretty obscure stuff that was unearthed.

Stevolende, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 10:03 (ten years ago)

Born Bad compilation series is basically Songs The Cramps Taught Us under a different name but from 1986:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Born-Bad-Volume-One/release/1416404

Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 10:07 (ten years ago)

Funny that, I think I was picturing the born Bad sleeves when I said Songs The Cramps.
Can't see a release date for the Songs The Cramps since they appear to be boots.

Stevolende, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 10:30 (ten years ago)

Voted Psychedelic Jungle

Possibly Fingers (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 11:28 (ten years ago)

Gravest Hits ep then....trying to decide

curmudgeon, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 13:35 (ten years ago)

Born Bad compilation series is basically Songs The Cramps Taught Us under a different name but from 1986:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Born-Bad-Volume-One/release/1416404

― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), miércoles 22 de julio de 2015 11:07 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That is too much of a coincidence! Did the Cramps had anything to do with this?

✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 13:36 (ten years ago)

i don't think the cramps had anything to do with the comps. the closest they came to comping the songs that influenced them was this (great) recording of lux's (crazed) radio show.

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Radio-Cramps-The-Purple-Knif-Show/release/1426574

stirmonster, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 13:52 (ten years ago)

I'm sure I've posted this link before, but these mp3 files are godhead:

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

Half as cool as Man Sized Action (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 14:27 (ten years ago)

I wouldn't think of Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage disease as being that similar. I think the originals that were unearthed for the first side weren't that obscure and most of them might have already been in a discerning music fans collection, probably things being spun at any remotely psychobilly targeted disco anyway plus it had a side of contemporary artists.

I would think that the attraction of most of the lps like Songs the Cramps and possibly the Stones things included was pretty obscure stuff that was unearthed.

― Stevolende, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 10:03 (6 hours ago) Permalink

Can't lay my hands on my copy of this right now but I'm sure the sleevenotes specifically place it in the context of the Cramps. Yeah, side 2 is totally ignorable but the tracks on side 1 were rare at the time, with the possible exception of Surfin' Bird (it was released in 1984 btw, not 1989 as I wrongly typed upthread) at least in the UK.

everything, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 16:57 (ten years ago)

Songs the Cramps Taught Us was one of the first things I downloaded when I started down that road in 2003. The one song that dwarfed everything else for me was "Shombalor" by Sheriff & the Ravels (there's also a YouTube clip of the Cramps doing it, but their cover doesn't come close to the original).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIoDjffjp2w

clemenza, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 17:08 (ten years ago)

The answer is
Psych jungle

nostormo, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 19:15 (ten years ago)

Yes Psych Jungle was my first and will always be my favorite. I do like the Ohio Demos a lot tho.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 19:23 (ten years ago)

Psych Jungle is my favorite right now. It has the worst album cover of all their records though.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 20:05 (ten years ago)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51hMoh1BGDL.jpg

No way that is awesome.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 21:05 (ten years ago)

Like halfway between 80's goth and the 60's Batman TV show.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 21:06 (ten years ago)

http://www.edinburghgigarchive.com/userimages/crampsastoria80ticket.jpg

first scottish cramps gig, 1980.

stirmonster, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 21:24 (ten years ago)

Oh i love those fonts

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 21:35 (ten years ago)

wow nice find stirry

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 21:40 (ten years ago)

Just to be pedantic, the Cramps played at the Glasgow Apollo on May 31 1979 and the Edinburgh Odeon the following day, supporting The Police.

everything, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 22:50 (ten years ago)

Guy I know posted this on fb recently: I remember in 1979, turning the corner from Gordon St. and walking up Renfield St. and being confronted by all four Cramps walking together in full stage gear, like a mad version of The Monkees "walkin' down the street". You know all that stuff about 'looking like they had been beamed in from another planet'? Well, they did! Fantastic Rock 'n' Roll Animals. What do you say, when you bump into The Cramps? You say, 'Waaaaaah!'

everything, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 22:53 (ten years ago)

ah, ok. as an arch pedant myself i appreciate that info. i guess this was their first headlining tour. it was actually a school friend of mine's dad who put that edinburgh gig on. my friend would bring in signed posters the next day of all the bands his dad put on and give me them. as i had never heard of the cramps at that time i stupidly threw them out as i was more excited by the jags ones he gave me, as i had seen them on top of the pops.

stirmonster, Thursday, 23 July 2015 00:17 (ten years ago)

Legend has it that Lux fell off stage onto Clare Grogan but that seems too good to be true.

everything, Thursday, 23 July 2015 00:51 (ten years ago)

Reminds me of that Birthday Party video where you see Nick Cave kick somebody in the head and the head belongs to the future singer of the Inca Babies.
She should be so lucky.

Stevolende, Thursday, 23 July 2015 07:45 (ten years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Friday, 31 July 2015 00:01 (ten years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Saturday, 1 August 2015 00:01 (ten years ago)

eight months pass...

So there's like a bazillion Cramps-inspired compilations. Here's a new one:

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/61-classics-from-the-cramps-crazy-collection-deeper-into-the-world-of-incredibly-strange-music/

Which one(s) are the best?

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 29 April 2016 16:01 (nine years ago)

That's pretty unusual, in that it goes into easy listening and Ken Nordine and such. For comps that stick to wild rock 'n' roll, the early volumes of the Sin Alley series are my favs.

juggulo for the complete klvtz (bendy), Friday, 29 April 2016 19:46 (nine years ago)

I don't own physical compilations, but will totally rep for these:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/04/lux_and_ivys_fa.html

Double Nickels on the Pecunidigm (Dan Peterson), Friday, 29 April 2016 20:06 (nine years ago)

three years pass...

need new poll with smell of female and gravest hits
maybe I will do this sometime

clouds (peanutbuttereverysingleday), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 00:10 (six years ago)

Gravest Hits is one of the greatest records ever made so no-brainer for me.

Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 00:29 (six years ago)

I think I was up for a Cramps artist poll. No idea when though.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 00:50 (six years ago)

My go-to Cramps is the "File Under Sacred Music" singles comp, which has all my favorite stuff.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 7 January 2020 01:45 (six years ago)


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