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The Cramps' first 45 was just about as gonzo
as their second, and hoisted them as a mutant compliment to the Ramones &
Dictators' corner of the New York underground. "Surfin ' Bird" was
the band's five-minute mutilation of the Trashmen frat fave, commonly called
"the worst song of the 60's" by squares who didn't know any better.
Ivy and Brian Gregory create a dense aural cave for Lux Interior to wail and
cry in, and the Cramps again proudly exhume the corpses of their rock heroes -
bones, worms and all. The treatment given to Jack Scott's "The Way I
Walk" is more reverbed, rollicking and loose .... the rockabilly hustle of
the original is slowed down to a leering, sexed-up and fuzzed-out swagger. They
continued this winning streak for quite a few years, cashed in (relatively
speaking) on their own image around '85 or so, and were last spotted playing as
Camel cigarette sponsors at kool niteclubs nationwide.
