The Cramps - Flamejob
Year: 1994
Type: CD
Label: The Medicine Label
Catalog #: 9 24592-2
Track Listing
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01 - Mean Machine 3:57
02 - Ultra Twist 3:48
03 - Let's Get F*cked Up 3:55
04 - Nest Of The Cuckoo Bird 3:26
05 - I'm Customized 3:04
06 - Sado County Auto Show 2:59
07 - Naked Girl Falling Down The Stairs 2:44
08 - How Come You Do Me 2:17
09 - Inside Out And Upside Down (With You) 2:27
10 - Trapped Love 2:00
11 - Swing The Big Eyed Rabbit 3:39
12 - Strange Love 2:49
13 - Blues, Blues, Blues 2:23
14 - Sinners 2:06
15 - Route 66 (Get Your Kicks On) 3:17
Notes & Personnel Info
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*The Cramps:
Lux Interior (vocals)
Poison Ivy (guitar)
Slim Chance (bass)
Harry Drumdini (drums)
*Recorded at Earle's Psychedelic Shack, Thousands Oaks, California.
*America's--nay, the world's--greatest exponents of trashcan psycho-rockabilly return to business as usual here, albeit with a big new instrumental sound courtesy of Beach Boys engineer Earle Mankey. This doesn't translate into slickness, however; Lux Interior's over the top faux-Elvis vocals and Poison Ivy's mangled guitar stylings are merely reproduced with more in-your-face clarity.
*Songwise, FLAMEJOB is double entendre heaven ("You kissed my hand my love began to expand"), except when the band opts for directness ("Let's Get Fucked Up," a Cramps manifesto of sorts). Elsewhere, they appropriate the guitar riff from "Shakin' All Over" in "I'm Customized," and conclude with a sepulchral rendition of "Route 66" that splits the difference of the Rolling Stones' and Depche Mode's versions. Great stuff.
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AMG Review by Steve Huey
Something of a return to form, Flamejob features the band's most committed, energetic performances in quite some time, with wild, crazed vocals from Lux Interior and sizzling guitar work from Poison Ivy enlivening some of the band's most entertainingly stupid and crude offerings, including "Let's Get Fucked Up" and "Inside Out and Upside Down (With You)." The failed stylistic experiments of some then-recent work are gone, replaced by simple, straight-ahead vintage Cramps psychobilly. Also featured is a cover of "Route 66."
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High Water Mark
Here we find Lux and Ivy (and hired guns) at their best. Here is the album to pop on at the party, and a good one to play when driving 100 mph late at night. The production and performances are superb.
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Square 1 for all the squares...
This album is a perfect introduction to just what it is that makes the Cramps such a special slice of pure, unadulterated rock and roll. The thing is, the Cramps have been around since the mid-70's and have never let up being the hardest-working band around, never relenting and never slowing down for a second. This album only proves that they set the pace and everyone else is out of breath trying to catch up. This is a 1994 album and outdoes the whole bratpack of rockabilly and garage rock newcomers 20 years their juniors. Lux and Ivy have got it down on this album, an album that never lets up for a second; even when it dips into the slower numbers, it's still got you firmly by the throat, it's just shaking you a little bit softer.
There are so many good songs on here that the mind reels. Stuff that could easily make for a decades worth of underground classics and minor-league hits all get crammed together here. From "Let's Get F'd Up" (a personal favorite and an anthem for all time) to "Naked Girl Falling Down the Stairs" to "Strange Love" to their knee-trembling cover of "Route 66." This surely ain't the best that the Cramps have to offer, but, if anything, it's a clearly marked billboard announcing they never left and they surely aren't going away anytime soon.
Get it, redeem your faith in rock and roll.
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