Big Beat from Badsville

The Cramps could always be relied upon to deliver an impressive degree of rock & roll lunacy, even as their work became less consistent in the '90s, and 1997's Big Beat from Badsville was a genuine improvement on 1991's Look Mom No Head! (probably the group's weakest album) and 1994's Flame Job, dominated by plenty of red-hot guitar work from Poison Ivy Rorschach, delivering a gloriously twisted evocation of a dozen rockabilly guitarists run through a wall of reverb. After close to two decades, the Cramps were as obsessed as ever with sex, drugs, sex, rock & roll, and sex, and they still sounded pleased to be reveling in their own inventive deviance, while the lascivious hiccuping howl of Lux Interior's vocals was, as always, a unique vocal presence. Even on their weaker albums, the Cramps were truly the gold standard of psychobilly, and Big Beat from Badsville is still filled with more fire, sweat, and sheer rock & roll snazz than nearly anything created by the dozens of acts that emerged in their wake. Ultimately, Big Beat from Badsville is a lesser work from a truly great band, which means it manages to satisfy even if it doesn't always live up to the Cramps' most iconic work. ~ Mark Deming