2 LPS on 1 CD: PSYCHEDELIC JUNGLE (1981)/GRAVEST HITS [EP] (1979).

Digitally remastered by Mike Reese (A&M Studios, Hollywood, California).

PSYCHEDLIC JUNGLE:

The Cramps: Lux Interior (vocals); Ivy Rorschach, Congo Powers (guitar); Nick Knox (drums).

Producer: The Cramps.

Engineer: Paul McKenna.

Recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood, California in January 1981.

GRAVEST HITS [EP]:

The Cramps: Lux Interior (vocals); Poison Ivy (Ivy Rorschach), Bryan Gregory (guitar); Nick Knox (drums).

Producer: Alex Chilton

Engineer: John Hampton.

Recorded at Ardent Studios, Memphis, Tennessee in October 1977.

Combining what is arguably the band's finest full-length album with their debut collection of covers, Psychedelic Jungle/Gravest Hits offers up a substantial dose of the Cramps' punk-strained mix of rockabilly music and '50s horror flick aesthetics. Lux Interior's ghoulishly manic vocals, Poison Ivy's treble-heavy guitar distortion, and Knick Knox's tribal beat are all ideally showcased on such Cramps classics as "Goo Goo Muck," "Primitive," "Green Door," and "The Crusher." While these are all fine covers, originals such as "Caveman," "Can't Find My Mind," and "Beautiful Garden" demonstrate the Cramps could take their rockabilly roots to fetchingly Gothic extremes. Adding to the riches from Psychedelic Jungle, the five-song EP, Gravest Hits, features inimitable versions of the Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird," Roy Orbison's early rockabilly side "Domino," and the Ricky Nelson hit "Lonesome Town." With quality roundups hard to come by, Cramps fans would do well to pick this two-fer of the band's prime early material. ~ Stephen Cook

Originally released in, respectively, 1979 and 1981, these two albums now joined on a convenient single CD function as a textbook of the Cramps' deliberate trash esthetic, a combination of rockabilly primitivism (no bass guitar) with thematic and musical elements B-movies, surf records, and the general detritus of pop culture. A couple of covers in particular illuminate the band's roots, including a haunted reading of Jim Lowe's paranoid country classic "Green Door"; a raging version of "The Way I Walk," which probably would have frightened its auteurs Johnny and Dorsey Burnette; and a "Surfing Bird" whose dementia level exceeds the original. Essential stuff, obviously.