The Cramps @ Whisky A Go Go 1980-05-09

 
LIMITED TIME / LAST TIME

https://pixeldrain.com/u/4gtA2X6c

The Cramps
The Whisky
West Hollywood, California
May 9, 1980
RG Master Cassette via JEMS
New Wave LA Series Vol. 22

Recording equipment: unknown microphone and unknown cassette deck

JEMS 2020 Transfer: RG Master Cassette > Nakamichi RX-505 (azimuth adjustment) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 6 > CD Wave > ffmpeg > FLAC

01 Human Fly
02 Domino (Roy Orbison cover)
03 Caveman
04 Goo Goo Muck
05 Oowee Baby
06 Zombie Dance
07 What’s Behind the Mask
08 Strychnine (The Sonics cover)
09 Garbageman
10 I Was a Teenage Werewolf
11 Sunglasses After Dark (Link Wray cover)
12 I'm Cramped
13 Mystery Plane
14 TV Set
15 Surfin' Bird (The Trashman cover)
16 The Way I Walk (Jack Scott cover)
17 Drug Train


JEMS is pleased to continue a series of historic recordings made by our longtime friend and diehard music collector RG. He was on the scene in LA as a teenager, began recording shows in 1977 and continued on well into the 2000s. Our series will focus on tapes he made between 1977 and 1987.

What sort of music was he into? Well, one simple way to put it is KROQ music, meaning the bands that LA’s “world famous” new wave radio station was playing were the bands he saw and recorded. First wave if you will, with forays into indie and punk(ish) artists. The early years are dominated by UK artists breaking in the US. Over time his work expands to US bands in the second wave. Some of the artists RG taped include:

Siouxsie & the Banshees (Vol. 4)
Madness (Vol. 8)
The Specials (Vol. 6)
OMD (Vol. 10)
The Damned
The Stranglers (Vol. 1)
Public Image Limited (Vol. 3)
John Cale (Vol. 9)
Magazine (Vol. 21)
The Buzzcocks (Vol. 7)
Orange Juice (Vol. 13)
U2
Wreckless Eric
The Cramps (Vol. 22)
Johnny Thunders (Vol. 18)
Talking Heads
Iggy Pop
XTC (Vol. 2)
The Jam
The Only Ones (Vol. 19)
The Undertones (Vol. 17)
Boomtown Rats (Vol. 5)
The Birthday Party (Vol. 15)
The Penetrators
The Bluebells (Vol. 12)
The Plimsouls (Vol. 11)
Athletico Spizz '80
Killing Joke (Vol. 14)
Jonathan Richman (Vol. 16)
The Records (Vol. 20)

Later on he caught The Smiths, R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, The Replacements and many more.

RG used good, not Millard-level recording gear, which means his tapes are mostly solid and listenable, with the occasional very good one and also sorta crappy one. What makes his tapes compelling is that RG was recording in a particularly vital window of time. In many instances these were the first or second times these acts played Los Angeles. Some never did proper US tours, only playing select dates in key markets like LA or NYC. Also, for many of these gigs, RG was the only taper. He grabbed a few local radio broadcasts along the way, too. 

Because these shows were almost exclusively at clubs like The Whisky and The Roxy, the sets are generally short, 45 to 60 minutes because that's what you did at The Whisky. On occasion, RG would copy his own masters to save tape and we have done our best to distinguish what’s a true master and what’s a first generation copy. If there’s a doubt, we will note it. Regardless, the series will offer the lowest generation copies available of his recordings, digitized directly for the first time from RG’s tapes which had been stored in boxes for the last 15+ years.

Volume 22 captures the rockabilly meets punk sound of The Cramps, led by husband and wife psychobilly pioneers Lux Interior and Poison Ivy. They open the show with their 1978, Alex Chilton-produced single "Human Fly," and proceed to showcase many of the covers found on their 1979 EP Gravest Hits, plus most of their 1980 debut album, Songs The Lord Taught Us.

The Cramps are better documented in terms of early live recordings than many of the bands in our series, but Los Angeles appearances in this era were still uncommon, making this, we hope, something special for Cramps collectors.

This Whisky show is of the better recordings in the New Wave series and RG seemed to get the Cramps sound just right. Samples provided.

We’re grateful to RG for letting JEMS dig through his tape boxes and pull out the assets for this series. He witnessed amazing LA music history. Tip of the hat as well to cpscps who volunteered to handle post-production on our series which is a huge help to us and makes it possible to get more music in your hands. Stay tuned for more New Wave in LA.

BK for JEMS