The Cramps - Gravest Hits

Few bands actually spawn entire genres of music but The Cramps did that and their sound spawned what is now referred to as psychobilly. They mixed punk rock, surf, rockabilly, and garage rock to create a sound unlike anything else at the time. On top of that, the band’s performances were a thing of legend with enigmatic frontman, Lux Interior, writhing around the stage while his wife, Poison Ivy, hypnotized the audience with her guitar work. They were quite a spectacle both visually and audibly. The Cramps put out two singles on their own label, Vengeance Records, before signing to IRS Records, who compiled them on a 12″ EP titled Gravest Hits. This just so happened to be the first Cramps record I bought and I fell in love with it.

This first release by the Cramps shows the group laying out many of the aspects of their curious style in rudimentary fashion. Raw, slashing guitar playing derived mostly from rockabilly and somewhat from psychedelic and 1960s garage pop (the group would have no bass player until the mid-'80s) and primitive drumming provide the platform for Lux Interior's eccentric singing, which is best described as a hyper-crazed, reverb-drenched, exhibitionist rockabilly style complete with groaning, shouting, growling, and hiccuping effects. The only song written by the band here is "Human Fly," a skulking mid-tempo fuzz-guitar number with monster movie lyrics; the line "I got 96 tears/And 96 eyes" is a sly reference to the ? and the Mysterians garage band hit. The other selections are covers of classic 1950s and 1960s songs; these include a bizarre version of the Ricky Nelson crooning hit "Lonesome Town" that peppers the musical texture with stray guitar interjections, and a rip-snorting version of the Trashmen song "Surfin' Bird" that ends with a long, noisy improvisation section of doubtful tonal focus. The cavernous sound quality here lends a certain bleak feel to the music, but distortions on the vocal in "Human Fly" and drums on "Lonesome Town" merely sound poor. This unpolished but effective release is worth hearing.

Ripped from a digital source (because all 12” singles should be totally fucked by now) to MP3 

The Cramps; Gravest Hits 12”

A1.  Human Fly

A2.  The Way I Walk

A3.  Domino

B1.  Surfin’ Bird

B2.  Lonesome Town

More from The Cramps can be found spooking it up here