The Cramps - All Tore Up (1979)

Lux Interior (born Erick Lee Purkhiser) and Poison Ivy (born Kristy Marlana Wallace) met in Sacramento, California in 1972, and with their common artistic interests and shared devotion to record collecting, they decided to form a band, calling themselves The Cramps. Lux took his stage name from a car ad, and Ivy claimed to have received hers in a dream (she was first Poison Ivy Rorschach), and in 1973 they moved to Akron, Ohio, before moving on to New York in 1975, and joining the early punk scene at CBGB's, alongside other emerging acts like Suicide, Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Mink DeVille. The lineup in 1976 was Poison Ivy Rorschach, Lux Interior, Bryan Gregory (guitar), and his sister Pam 'Balam' Gregory (drums), although over a short period they changed drummers twice, with Miriam Linna replacing Pam Balam, before herself giving up the drum-stool to Nick Knox in 1977. In the late 1970's, the band briefly shared a rehearsal space with the Fleshtones, and performed regularly in New York clubs such as CBGB's and Max's Kansas City, releasing two independent singles produced by Alex Chilton at Ardent Studios in Memphis in 1977, before signing to Miles Copeland III's young I.R.S. Records label. In June 1978, they gave a landmark free concert for patients at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa, which was filmed and later released on video as 'Live At Napa State Mental Hospital'. Before The Cramps descended on Memphis with Alex Chilton to record their debut album 'Songs The Lord Taught Us', they produced five sets of demos, all of which have been bootlegged, with the best of them generally regarded as being the Ohio Demos from 1979, with Lux Interior’s stuttering vocals and dense reverb encapsulating the band’s chaotic rockabilly sound to perfection. No-one seems entirely sure whether they were even recorded in Ohio in 1979, but one clue was an interview with the singer in August 1978, in which he says the band are about to head to Akron to 'record some tracks in my little brother’s basement studio'. That environment appeared to suit the band down to the ground, and many prefer the urgent authenticity of the bootleg to Chilton’s finished album. So here is that bootleg album, and you can make up your own mind about which versions show the band at their best. 

Track listing

01 Twist And Shout
02 All Tore Up
03 Mystery Plane
04 T.V. Set
05 Rockin' Bones
06 What's Behind The Mask
07 Uranium Rock
08 Under The Wires
09 Teenage Werewolf
10 Sunglasses After Dark
11 Jungle Hop
12 Mad Daddy