First off: I covered for What’s This Called? last week, which gave me three hours to work with. As I was a bit behind this summer from all my vacation travels, I decided to do three distinct shows in that three hour span. This was a bit insane (as I’m sure you can guess), and to make it even crazier, I showed up a couple hours early to bring you a couple of retrocasts, too. Yeah, it was a five hour radio event. Seriously.
Songs The Cramps Taught Us Part II
# Track * Artist * Album
01.) Train to Nowhere * The Champs * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Two
02.) Tight Skirt Tight Sweater * Versatones * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume One
03.) Bikini With No Top On Top * June Wilkinson and Mamie Van Doren * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Two
04.) Poon Tang * The Treniers * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume One
05.) Whistle Bait * The Collins Kids * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume One
06.) Palisades Park * Freddy Cannon * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eight
07.) 99 Chicks * Ron Haydock & The Boppers * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Five
08.) Baby Let Me Bang Your Box * The Bangers * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eleven
09.) The Lonely Surfer * Jack Nitzsche * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Three
10.) Where Yo Is * Fat Daddy Holmes * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
11.) Vip Vop * Marvin & Johnny * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Seven
12.) Baby Brother * Bill Carter * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Five
13.) Wanted For Questioning * Bob Lee * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
14.) Real Wild Child * Ivan * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
15.) (She Got A) Nose Job * Mike Russo, Jeanne Hayes & The Dellwoods * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Six
16.) Skull and Crossbones * Sparkle Moore * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume One
17.) Buzzsaw Twist * The Gee-Cees * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Three
18.) No Good Lover * Mickey & Sylvia * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Three
19.) All Women are Bad! * (The Trailer) * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Nine
20.) Teenage Riot * Portuguese Joe * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Four
21.) Nobody But Me * The Isley Brothers * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Five
22.) Do The Whip * Kitty and Sheeny Lanier * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eight
23.) Guitarville * Roland Janes * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Four
24.) If You Can’t Rock Me * The Strikes * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eight
While I normally like to let my music nerdery take the form of doing the legwork myself, when I first heard about the Lux & Ivy’s Favorites series, I decided that this was one case where I would let someone else do it for me. While I was already a fan of weird rock music from any era, my knowledge of late ’50’s and early ’60’s obscure rock oddities was sorely lacking until I read a handful of interviews with The Cramps, discussing things I’d never heard of. Fortunately, some other wonderful fan was just as intrigued, and set out to compile the music that is featured in today’s show.
As the story goes, Kogar the Swinging Ape (http://www.myspace.com/kogartheswingingape) put these comps together, from his own vast record collection, and through avid music fan friends. To be included in these comps, the song had to be something that either Lux or Ivy had mentioned being a fan of. Some tracks are complete versions of the songs that appeared on The Purple Knif Show release (a CD / LP version of a radio broadcast Lux Interior hosted in the mid ’80’s), and others show up on an official 3 CD release, cleverly titled Songs The Cramps Taught Us. In spite of repetitions, these compilations always stand very well on their own.
One of the coolest things about these comps is that they are not available in stores. Kogar has stated that he isn’t interested in making money, and just wants fans to have access to the music. Thus, these are only available via download, or through file sharing sites and software. Much of this music is very old by now, and there is a much smaller audience that is interested in obscure, oddball, non-mainstream rock music from way-back-when. These records didn’t sell very well originally, and it would be a foolish move to think releasing a series of comps like these would be a worth-while investment. It makes a lot of sense that Kogar would merely put them together, and plop them on the Inter-Web-A-Tron for fan appreciation. I know this fan has.
As for footnotes: I have to admit, there is precious little information about these artists online. I did three hours of research, just trying to find anything, and only came up with links for five. I did make sure to include which comp these songs were culled from, so they should be easy enough to find that way. But if you happen to have any information about the other groups I played, please let me know. It would be much appreciated.
For this batch of songs, I went for a sort of “exotic” sound. Much of the music has to do with Jungle themes, and in a few cases, the appeal of the orient. These aren’t exactly PC anymore, and to take the argument a little further, some people could even find some of this stuff offensive, or racist. (The song “Ah So!” comes to mind.) As I’ve stated before with similar content like this, I present the songs as documents of a time period that has long since passed. I’m not interested in this music because of the controversial nature, but because this is a really fascinating period in musical history that I am only just starting to learn more about. In many ways, this music was the punk rock of its time, and you can often get a bigger reaction if you push the boundaries as far as you can. That’s not a rationalization, but merely insight into the state of mind these artists had. I cringe a little when I hear those songs, too.
There is an almost inexhaustible well of music like this to dive into, so expect more shows like this in the future. There are so many more great songs to dig through, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Enjoy!
Songs The Cramps Taught Us Part I
# Track * Artist * Album
01.) RFD Rangoon * Forbidden Five * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume One
02.) Jungle * The Nitecats * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Six
03.) Tarzan * Bobby Williams * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eleven
04.) Safari * El-Capris * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
05.) The Legend Of Tarzan * The Grey Stokes * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Seven
06.) King Kong * Albert Elias * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
07.) Don’t Monkey With Tarzan * The Pygmies * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eleven
08.) Congo * Bo Diddley * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Three
09.) King of the Jungle * Wildmen * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
10.) Jungle Superman * Individuals * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eleven
11.) The Pigmy Song (Tikky Tikky Boom Boom) * Chaino * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eight
12.) Bwanina (Pretty Girl) * Tokens * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Seven
13.) El Monkey * Saxie Russel * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Eleven
14.) Go Go Gorilla * The Ideals * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Three
15.) Bi-Aza-Ku-Sasa * The Mogambos * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
16.) The Rat * The Ventures * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Three
17.) Daddy Lolo * Ganim’s Asia Minors * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
18.) Ching Ching Wong * Bernie Turner & The Armorettes * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
19.) Ah So! * The Highlights * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Ten
20.) Froggy Went A Courtin’ * Danny Dell & The Trends * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Three
21.) Ballad of Thunder Road * Robert Mitchum * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Three
22.) Mope-Itty Moope Stomp * Bosstones * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Two
23.) Surfer’s Mood * Stingrays * Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Four
Mid-Valley Mutations 