(Righteous, 2020) Like the Songs The Cramps Taught Us compilations back in the day, this presents the crazy quilt of sonic shenanigans that inspired the psychobilly pioneers. Unlike those previous compilations, this is apparently not a bootleg, which makes the eclectic, amazing selections more impressive, since hoops had to be jumped through to get them. The biggest Cramps influence not included is Hasil Adkins, but there are definitly some Usual Suspect all stars, like Dale Hawkins, Bo Diddley, and Ed Kokie Byrnes, and two of the biggest anthems in the Cramps-inspired weirdo-verse are included: The Phantom's "Love Me" and Legendary Stardust Cowboy's "Paralyzed." But there's also gloriously obscuro tracks, some little heard revelations, and (especially thrilling for my neighborhood) the canonization of Oscar Brown. Jr. into this lunatic rock n roll realm with "But I Was Cool." A revelation to me as a young music fan was recognizing the twin pillars of record collecting genius were The Cramps and Dr. Demento, figures I loved in part because they were omnivorous vinyl adventurers, trying everything the found, hoping to find hidden strangeness. MOJO's Dave Henderson, who compiled this album, was similarly inspired when he saw the picture of Lux and Ivy's record lair in INCREDIBLY STRANGE MUSIC VOLUME 1 book. The results are, as Felix and his Fabulous Cats croon, savage, and not at all, like Sidney and the Chimps chant, Blah.
No comments:
Post a Comment