Joe Hall & The Corvettes - Bongo Beatin` Beatnik (Beat From Badsville 1/Trash Classics (The Cramps)

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Brought up on the radio shows of the legendary rock ‘n’ roll DJs, the moondogging Alan Freed, Mad Daddy and, later, the ghostly Ghoulardi, it was hardly surprising that The Cramps’ Lux Interior and Poison Ivy began trawling the thrift stores for juvenile delinquent tunes, lip curling bad boy rock ‘n’ roll, strange exotica, bizarre novelty 45s, dysfunctional doo wop, psychedelic weirdness and instrumentals made by madmen. In America in the 1950s and 1960s there seemed to be small town versions of such vinyl madness everywhere that, by the 1970s were remaindered and to the majority of people unwanted. To the fledgling Cramps this was nothing short of heaven.

The duo filled their house with novelty memorabilia, schlock horror furniture and a record collection to die for. Lux eventually gravitated to his own Purple Knif Radio show and the Cramps delivered their versions of some of the stuff they’d found, from Ronnie Cook And The Gaylads’ ‘Goo Goo Muck’, to The Novas’ ‘The Crusher’, Lightnin’ Slim’s ‘It’s Mighty Crazy’ and a whole host of others originally hand tooled by The Phantom, Carl Perkins, The Groupies, Hasil Adkins and many more.

The duo name-checked many a 45 along the way and seeking them out and sampling their eccentricities is nothing short of mind blowing. Indeed, in many cases, you have to wonder at what the artists involved were thinking before they went into the studio. Cackling laughs, offbeat plotlines and maniacal lyrics, detuned guitars, coded gibberish and b-movie horror all wrapped up in under three minutes, these are songs from a golden era of DIY music when the rule book of contemporary MOR music was lost down the back of the sofa.

This 24-track collection positively effervesces with eccentricity. Side one offers half a dozen slabs of lip curling rock ‘n’ roll, from the madcap beginnings of ‘Bongo Beatin’ Beatnik’ through to the teenage rampage of Gene Maltais’ unhinged ‘Gang War’. Side two gives fashion tips, conveys strange love talk, songs where words are meaningless and novelty driving stories, while side three brings guitars from Hades, honking saxophones and rhythmic dance routines for the hard of standing. Finally, we have sounds to make you shriek on side four, with scorpions, witches and nightmares all on offer plus probably one of the oddest 45s ever in ‘The Cave’.

Every track pirouettes dangerously and at times hap hazardly around the expected. These are songs for strange times by what can definitely be considered strange people. Gems and nuggets that sparkle even more bright in today’s manufactured music maelstrom.

Enjoy!

Dave Henderson, MOJO magazine, 2012


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