
VA - Lux and Ivy’s Good For Nothin’ Tunes: The Wild, Th [Righteous - 2019]Following on from last years Destination Crampsville, here’s another compilation of crude Rock & roll, gimmick led rockabilly, & devilishly delinquent 50’s anthems from the basement grates of Lux Interior & Poison Ivy of rockabilly/ garage punk/ Gothabilly band The Cramps. It’s another double CD affair offering up a selection of 50 tracks- many rare & decidedly quirky. Like Destination Crampsville, The Wild, The Weird and The Wang Dang Doodlin’ comes in a double jewel case - this time we get a brief write-up about the collection by Mojo’s Dave Henderson- through sadly there’s still no real release date or related info for any of the tracks.
The two discs are evenly split with twenty-five tracks per one- on the first disc we move from decidedly tinny & almost malevolent jaunting piano groove of David Hill’s take of Elvis "All Shook Up". Onto the decidedly choppy & crude rock ‘n’ roll meets oriental like chiming riff of Bobby Bare’s(really?!) "Vampira". Through to the seared horn slur & clunky boogie-woogie piano of Myron Lee’s "Homicide". To the decidedly & wonky creepy mock Elvis impersonation of Andy Anderson’s "Gimme Lock of Yo’ Hair". Ending off with the bizarre & unnerving mad doctor spoken word rant about the meaning of life & haunted house childhood with Brother "Theodore’s Bernice (Part 1)".
On the second disc we go from the ramshackled country & bluegrass rock ‘n’ stomp/ jig of Jimmie Dawsons “It Took And older Women”. Onto the messy & oddly jiving garage rock of Glenn And Christy “Wombat Twist”. Through to the manically skittering drums, jaunting organ & muddled male harmonies of Dave Gardere's "Mad Witch". Over to the stark churn & strutting acoustic rock ‘n’ roll of Charlie Feathers "Tongue Tied Jill". Finishing off with another spoken oddity- this time a two-minute self-help lesson on how to walk, with Milton Feher’s "Walking without effort".
On the whole, I’d say this is on par with Destination Crampsville- with the type of track, track quirkiness, and all round enjoyment. It’s good to see with The Wild, The Weird and The Wang Dang Doodlin’ that they’ve at least added some liner notes, which were sourly missed from the first comp- though I’d still like to have had more info on the tracks themselves.      Roger Batty
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