Lux and Ivy's Favorites Favorites

Lux and Ivy's Favorites is a 17-volume, fan-compiled series of songs The Cramps mentioned in interviews, especially in the first Incredibly Strange Music book. Volume 17 will be the last for reasons laid out here. It was also unleashed without a track listing but I have all the titles now with the help of the interwebs, SoundHound, and one crazed Cramps fan (thank you!). You can download them all at Kogar's Jungle Juice blog linked above or at WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

Below are my favorites from Lux and Ivy's Favorites. Unsurprisingly, my selections tend more toward the novel than the feral. And I don't believe this is a distortion of The Cramps' ethos. The studio as instrument and the record as an unreproducible musical event unto itself are just as essential components of American recordings of the 1950s/early 1960s as rockabilly boners and crazed hillbillies. And there's plenty of the latter anyway.

I eliminated songs I already knew (e.g., The Crystals: "He's a Rebel") but there weren't too many of those. A "maybe" means a good-not-great track that can be forsaken if you were aiming to distill all this down to one disc (!). If I mention the lyrics, then I liked the lyrics but the music not so much. Enjoy!

 Vol. 1
Ronnie Dawson: "Action Packed"
Billy Ward and His Dominoes: "The Bells"
Bob McFadden: "The Mummy" - I first heard this on the second Incredibly Strange Music compilation but I couldn't leave it off here.
The Collins Kids: "Whistle Bait"
The Chips: "Rubber Biscuits"

Vol. 2
Blues Rockers: "Calling All Cows"
June Wilkinson and Mamie Van Doren: "Bikini with No Top on the Top"
Storey Sisters: "Bad Motorcycle"
Earl Hagen and The New Interns: "New Interns Watusi"

Vol. 3
Anton LaVey: "Satan Takes a Holiday" (maybe)
Pretty Things: "Come See Me"
The Leather Boy: "On The Go"
Roy Brown: “Butcher Pete Part 1 and Part 2” - I knew Part 1 from Rhino's unfailing Risqué Rhythm: Nasty 50's R&B but this was the first time I heard Part 2.
The Imps: "Uh Oh” (maybe)
The Ventures: "The Rat" (maybe)
Mohammed Rafi aka Ted Lyons And His Cubs: “Jaan Pehechaan Ho”
Porter Waggoner: "Rubber Room" (maybe)
Robert Mitchum: "Ballad of Thunder Road" (maybe)
Johnny Burnette Trio: “Honey Hush” (maybe...only the lyrics really)
Mickey & Sylvia: "No Good Lover" (maybe)

Vol. 4
Atlantics: "War of the Worlds"
The Electric Prunes: "Dr. Do Good"
The Five Jones Boys: "My Ghost Goes To Town"
Jackie & The Starlighters: ”Valerie" (maybe)
Musical Linn Twins: "Rockin Out the Blues"
Hugh Barrett and The Victors: "Fungus Among Us"
Portuguese Joe: "Teen Age Riot" (!)
Vernon Green and The Phantoms: "Sweet Breeze"

Vol. 5
Swamp Rats: "Louie Louie"
Homer Denison Jr.: "Chickie Run"
Bill Carter and the Rovin' Gamblers: "Baby Brother" - Incredible lyrics!!!
The Quotations: "Imagination"
Julie London: "Yummy Yummy Yummy"
The Lifeguards: "Everybody Out'ta The Pool" (maybe)
Betty McQuaid: "Tongue Tied"
Link Wray: "Genocide"
Vito & The Salutations:  "Unchained Melody"

Vol. 6
Pasquale & The Lunar-Tiks: "Moon Madness" (maybe)
Charlie Gracie: "Guitar Boogie" (maybe)
Moses Longpiece: "Slide Her Under The Door" - This is actually Johnny Lance: "The Big Tragedy."
The Cables: "Choo Choo" (maybe)
The Charades: "Flamingo"
Thee Midniters: "Jump, Jive and Harmonize"
Mad Magazine: "(She Got A) Nose Job"
Mad Magazine: "When My Pimples Turned To Dimples"

Vol. 7
Young Jessie (with The Flairs): "Lonesome Desert"
Joe Clay: "Did You Mean Jellybean?" (maybe)
T. Rex: "Rip Off" (maybe)
John and Jackie: "Little Girl"
Kay Martin: "Swamp Girl"

Vol. 8
Chaino: “The Pigmy Song (Tikky Tikky Boom Boom)” (maybe)
Stacy Bengal & His Six Outfielders: “I Come To Demolish Cleveland”
The Pleasant Valley Boys with Herschell Gordon Lewis: “Rebel Yell (The South’s Gonna Rise Again)” [Theme from Two Thousand Maniacs]

Vol. 9
Lonnie Johnson: "Tomorrow Night"
The Tempests: "Rockin' Rochester U.S.A." (maybe)

Vol. 10
Bob Lee: "Wanted For Questioning"
The Jet Streams: "Who Me?"
Sidney Jo Lewis: "Boppin' To Grandfather's Clock" (maybe)
Ganim's Asia Minors: "Daddy Lolo"
Johnny Parker: "TV Commercial"
Lee Ross: "The Mummy's Bracelet"
The Peels: "Juanita Banana"

Vol. 11
Jan Davis: "Watusi Zombie" (maybe)
Revels: "Dead Man's Stroll" (maybe)
Dickie Goodman: “The Touchables in Brooklyn”

Vol. 12 -
The Ravens: “A Simple Prayer”
Terry Corin and Her Boyfriends: “Sick! Sick! Sick!”
Dee Jays: “Blackeyed Woman” (maybe)
Andy Griffith: “Silhouettes”
Manny Corchado - Pow Wow aka The Mosquitos: “The Fly” (maybe)
Dick Hyman & Mary Mayo: “For All We Know” (maybe)

Vol. 13 -
Richard Delvy: “Green Slime Theme”
Royal Teens: “Leotards” (maybe)
Wanda Jackson: “Riot in Cell Block #9” (maybe)
Tony Burrello: “There's a New Sound”
Deek Watson & the Brown Dots: “At Our Fireplace”

Vol. 14 -
Dazzlers: “Knockout” (maybe)
Ronnie Allen: “Juvenile Delinquent” - good lyrics
The Four Plaid Throats: “The Message”
The Invasion: “The Invasion is Coming”
The Lancers: “Take Me To Your Leader”
Misty Bonner: “I Can't Sit Still”

Vol. 15 -
The Rio Rockers: “Mexicali Baby” (maybe)
Kip Tyler: “She's My Witch” (maybe)
Red Hewitt and the Buccaneerse: “D.J. Blues” - good lyrics
The Cats & the Fiddle: “Killin' Jive” - good lyrics
Florence Pepper: “China Rock”
Mickey Farrell and the Dynamics: “Wong Foo”
Ruth Wallis: “Ubangi”
Gene Maltaise: “Deep River Blues”
The Sparkles: “Do the Hip”
Clyde Stacy and The Nitecaps: “So Young” (maybe)
Harley Hatcher: “Born Mean” - hilarious lyrics

Vol. 16
101 Strings: “Flameout”
Leo Diamond's Orchestra: “Strange Enchantment”

Vol. 17
Lightin’ Slim: “Just Made Twenty-One”
Link Wary: “Commanche”
The Duals: “Travelin' Guitars”
Jayne Mansfield: “That Makes It!”
Ralph Nielsen & The Chancellors: “Scream”
Harmonica Frank Floyd: “Rock a Little Baby”
Harmonica Frank Floyd: “Swamp Root”