The Cramps - "Smell of Female" Vinyl, 12", 45 rpm, Reissue, 1983 (Big Beat Records)

Is it even possible to dislike The Cramps?  Another definition of 'perfection' is The Cramps.  To call them psycho-billy or rockabilly or even rock n' roll seems to limit their greatness.  "Smell of Female" is a live recording that took place at The Peppermint Lounge, February 25 & 26 1983.  There are many reasons to buy and enjoy this mini-album, but what makes it essential is their version of the Russ Mayer theme song to "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill."  One of the great unknown songs that I don't think ever was properly released is a DNA piece of work for The Cramps.  

Which brings to mind another aspect of their greatness.  Poison Ivy and Lux Interior are tastemakers as well as brilliant curators of everything 1950s culture and beyond.  They are never corny, and I imagine what it must be like to spend an hour in their home in Glendale, California.  A live-in museum, but the fact is, that they are cultural historians of great importance.   The death of Lux is one of the significant losses in the 21st century.  Nevertheless, with the brilliance of the late Nick Knox on drums, and at this point of time of the recording, Congo Powers on the second guitar - they transcend an aural sound that is also visual, and you can feel it in your sexual being.   For me, the two guitars and no bass is the prime Cramps.   

The Cramps - "Songs The Lord Taught Us " Vinyl, LP, Album, 2016/1980 (Drastic Plastic Records)

The first full-length Cramps album.  Originally released in 1980.  Alex Chilton is the producer.  If I was at these recordings in the studio, I would sit by the exit just in case something weird breaks out.  More likely nothing odd happened during the recording of "Songs The Lord Taught Us" but sound wise it sounds like mayhem and within its vinyl grooves there are these people trapped within those grooves and they're trying to break free.  In other words, this is very much an intense listening experience.   It is also the perfect rock n' roll album.

The genius aspect of the early version of The Cramps is that they didn't have a bass player, neither an electric or stand-up bass.   It's two electric guitars, a voice, and drums without cymbals.  On paper, it sounds primitive, and that is an often descriptive term for their sound, but for me, that is like saying Harry Partch's music is primitive.  It's actually so simple that it's complex within the wave of sounds between the two guitarists with the addition of the big beat of the drums. 

Alex Chilton doesn't smooth out the sound but allows it to go crazy within the studio landscape.  It's Sun Records, but leave out the sanity button on the mixing/recording table.  It's both a tribute to the Sun sound and also acknowledging that it is using that 'sound' as the foundation to go onward.  The beauty of The Cramps is not their originality (which they have plenty of those ingredients) but also the fact that they are curators of a sound that they know well, and what they convey to the listener is the real deal. 

Chilton is the perfect producer for The Cramps.   The band knows a fellow traveler by instinct and it's interesting that afterward they never used an outside producer for future recordings.  In that sense, The Cramps became an isolated group that kept their world within its reach, and never comprise its sound or image to another corporation or another artist - unless it's a tribute to their sensibility of rock n' roll history.    In the nutshell, the perfect band making the perfect album, with the perfect producer of that time.  The Cramps with the help and assistance of Alex Chilton.   Perfection in practice. 

The Cramps - Gravest Hits (Drastic Plastic Records) Vinyl 12", 45 RPM Red Vinyl

The Cramps are perfect.   Perfect as a concept, and perfect sound.  This five-song E.P. is a fabulous introduction to one of the great American bands.  So American, I often think they came from France or another foreign country.  I write that because it seems to me that they came from the outside to comment on their culture.  Which are a world of horror and obscure rockabilly recordings.  The Cramps are very much about curating and collecting as well as making music.  At the time of this album's original release, 1979, I only knew "Surfin' Bird."  Although the other songs are now well-known, for instance, Jack Scott's "The Way I Walk" and Ricky Nelson's "Lonesome Town." At that time I wasn't familiar with the 1950s rock world.  Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" of course, but his Sun Records version of "Domino," no.  So this particular E.P. not only introduced me to this band but also a whole music culture that I wasn't aware of.  I suspect that many of their fans and listeners were in the same boat as me.  Ignorant! 

Alex Chilton's crazed production that was both a tribute to the original recordings, as well as a new sound - at least for me, was a huge 'oh wow.'    The genius real life couple of Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, plus the additional guitar (no bass!) of the goth-like Bryan Gregory, with the minimal drumming by Nick Knox, was a force that hit me in the stomach hard - but in a somewhat healthy way.  As I mentioned, total perfection.