The Cramps - Smell Of Female

Few live albums capture a band in their absolute element the way Smell Of Female captures The Cramps. Recorded at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City on February 25 and 26, 1983, the mini-LP documents Lux Interior, Poison Ivy, Kid Congo Powers, and Nick Knox at their most primal and electrifying, a band so completely and irreducibly themselves that no studio recording could ever fully contain them.

Six tracks. Thirty-plus minutes of psychobilly, rockabilly, and horror-drenched garage madness delivered with the conviction of a tent revival and the lewdness of a burlesque. "Faster Pussycat," "Call Of The Wighat," "I Ain't Nuthin' But A Gorehound," a scorching cover of Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction," "You Got Good Taste," and the magnificently titled "Thee Most Exalted Potentate Of Love" make up one of the most purely enjoyable live records in rock history, a document of a band who had invented their own genre and were performing it with total, unhinged commitment.

Back on red vinyl as per the original 1983 release and cut at 45rpm for maximum punch and fidelity, this limited pressing is essential for fans of the band and anyone who believes rock and roll should be dangerous, funny, and loud in equal measure.