Ambience: 63 Nuggets From The Cramps’ Record Vault

This CD is part of an insane series of releases on Righteous Records, an imprint of Cherry Red dedicated to aching country, forgotten soul music and other strange exotica. This is one of 20 (so far) releases that archive 45 single found in the vast record collection of the Lux Interior and Posion Ivy. This particular one was not my first attempt at getting my toes wet in the category, having previously enjoyed other weird/obscure compilations like the Sin Alley series and anything Hazil Adkins. For the price this is a good compilation. 2 discs and 63 tracks for about $13, less if you catch it on one of Cherry Red’s sales. They’ve been remixed and cleaned up without stepping all over the originals. It’s good stuff, but I have 2 beefs. It’s almost entirely tracks I’ve never heard and I dig it, but it just isn’t as weird as I thought It would be, and very few of these tracks would “scare the neighbors” as advertised, even when they were current. My second beef is with the cover art. It has a very digital vibe for what should be a distinctly analog experience. Still I consider it a good purchase, enough so that I may look into other volumes.