VA - Songs The Cramps Taught Us Volume 1-3 (2006)

For many of us with a penchant for raw 50s and 60s garage and rock n roll, the Cramps were our doorway to a whole new world of sleazy guitar music. It didn't matter that they hadn't actually written most of the songs, to paraphrase the band themselves "they had good taste". They'd tracked down these amazing old records, reworked some of them, merged others and stamped them boldly as their own.

Many different comps have appeared over the years that have gathered the original source of the Cramps trash genius. Most have been bootlegs or of dubious legal standing, mostly on vinyl (the Born Bad series being the best) and only the odd one or two have appeared on CD. This brilliant series spread over three CDs is the latest and gathers much of what's previously appeared but adds a few more gems too.

Imagine the songs of the Cramps, dripping sleaze and spoof horror and then strip back some of the campness and modern production techniques and you'll get an idea of the raw sound of most of the material on these CDs. Rumbling basslines and gruff vocals, seemingly recorded in an old septic tank, are the order of the day. It's wonderful stuff with the added bonus of the superb documentation, though with the legitimacy of it all being questionable you may have to look beyond Amazon and Play.com to get hold of them. Rough Trade and Piccadilly are as always good bets.