The Cramps: Flamejob (Rhino Reserve series, 180g, indie exclusive) [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

Matthew Lutthans cut the lacquers for this 180g Rhino Reserve pressing at The Mastering Lab, and Fidelity Record Pressing in Oxnard, California pressed it, so every twang and growl comes through the way Lux and Ivy intended. It's an indie store exclusive, and it carries "Ultra Twist!", which climbed to No. 45 on Billboard's alternative chart.

This edition

• Rhino Reserve series reissue
• 180g vinyl
• Lacquers cut by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab
• Pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, Oxnard, California
• Indie store exclusive

About the album

By 1994 Lux Interior and Poison Ivy had spent the best part of two decades proving that rock 'n' roll's wildest corners (rockabilly, surf, garage trash and B-movie horror) belonged in the same room, and Flamejob, their sixth studio album, finds the formula in fine, greasy health. The pair produced it themselves at Earle Mankey's Psychedelic Shack in Thousand Oaks, California, with Mankey engineering and new drummer Harry Drumdini behind the kit; Creation Records put it out that October, and Lux even shot the cover photograph.

The songs do what Cramps songs do best. "Mean Machine" kicks the door in, "Sado County Auto Show" and "Naked Girl Falling Down the Stairs" supply the lurid titles, Lux gives "How Come You Do Me?" a proper rockabilly workout, and Bobby Troup's "Route 66" closes the record sounding like a road you'd rather not break down on. Fifteen songs, two sides, and not one of them suitable for a dinner party, which we'd argue is rather the point.

The songs are simple, stupid, direct and as raw as a scraped knee.
Trouser Press

Also at Kops: The Cramps: Songs the Lord Taught Us · The Cramps: Psychedelic Jungle · more psychobilly · Punk & Metal

Tracklist

Listen

Out October 30, 2026 on Rhino (cat# RES124592), a reissue of the 1994 album.