Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Cramps - "Songs The Lord Taught Us - Alternate Mix, French Release" (Illegal Records, 1980)

We’re gonna bury you guys in Cramps rarities over the next days (OK, maybe months, it depends on our spare time…). The start waxed the day before with the Cramps mega rare single and since this blog have a Cramps PhD holder, Jean Philippe, we’re gonna share whatever we think our ‘vaults’ (actually JP’s, myself stayed to the official releases with a few exceptions) hide and deserves exposition. And boy this never heard by me either. I’m just the guy learned it a few hours before of you! And some hours before me, Jean Philippe just had bought it (are we a straightforward blog or what?!). So let’s begin: On the minor exceptions I was talking about some lines above, was the well known bootleg “Songs the Lord Might Have Taught Us”. If my tired memory serves me right, “Might Have Taught Us” was unofficially released by two at least different bootleggers. The one I own for sure has a 'polite' sound, at least for the Cramps standards. Audible of course, in a way clear, but weak. Hearing it for the first time made me think that our beloved monsters did no wrong with these recordings keeping them off many people’s ears, even if these ears belonged to their fans (I’m one so I believe I can talk from the fans point of view, right?). All the following listenings made my meditation even stronger. And I know a lot of people who faith that these recordings were in fact demos, maybe in their anxiety to defend their/our heroes. My impression after only one shot of this, is that these are the alternate mixes of the band's classic debut all Cramps fans looking for. Exactly what my buddy JP told me, he's the Cramps-torian and I’m not the one to contradict this. What’s for sure this record here's a totally unique item in the Cramps rapidly growing official/unofficial discography. For a better readout of this semi-official release (?), wise what my partner mailed me:
“More Cramps shit? You may have heard about the very rare (50 copies) promo version of "Songs the Lord Taught Us" LP, which contains alternate mixes and with “Drug Train” instead of “TV Set”. I don't have it (and probably never will, as it's a several thousands Euros piece of plastic), but it was bootlegged several years ago as "Songs the Lord Might Have Taught Us". I have the bootleg but I couldn't enjoy it as the sound is very, very thin. It doesn't sound bad, but it doesn't sound right (it's in mono and doesn't have balls). BUT, I found (just today!) the alternate mix of the rare promo on a French -official- pressing of “Songs The Lord Taught Us" LP. It's a very basic mix, with less echo on Lux’s vocals, and in most cases, drums have much more "presence". The version of “TV Set” (which is not on the promo LP nor on the bootleg) is not only a different mix, it's an alternate take, and a pretty good one. I loooooooove it. Here it is, without the bootleg shitty sound!" We believe you don't need more, right?




26 comments:

  1. Ripped & uploaded by JPStooges
    https://rapidshare.com/files/1560464261/Songs_The_Lord_Taught_Us__Alternate_Mix__FLAC_Pt.1.zip
    https://rapidshare.com/files/321292509/Songs_The_Lord_Taught_Us__Alternate_Mix__FLAC_Pt.2.zip

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  2. mucho grit..mucho stomp..mucho chi chi bro..

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  3. seems I am to late, link does not work anymore :(

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  4. It works fine mate! Check again.

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  5. now I got it! thank you! :)

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  6. Never enough Cramps, greatly appreciated!

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  7. Thanks man! This fuckin shit rocks like a motherfucker!!

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  8. Yeah Thanks! Like Anonymous just said, this fuckin' shit does rock like a motherfucker!!-drwatts

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  9. I'm getting "Download parameters invalid - please try again later." When I try to download this, quite frustrating, but amazing find, can't wait to hear it.
    Well done Guys

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  10. Hi all! Many thanks for stopping by here! Stay tuned, more to come hopefully... Hope also the Anonymous friend was able to download it. It works fine as many times i checked it! If you still have a problem, we 're mate.
    cheers!

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  11. Got it! Again thanks Guys, top work!

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  12. is there a way to convert these flac files to mp3?

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  13. Hi Howie, many thanks for stopping by here. There are many free converters to do the job here's one:
    http://download.cnet.com/Free-FLAC-to-MP3-Converter/3000-2140_4-11423601.html

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  14. Thanks for this post, great blog by the way, love the informed honest writing style.

    ps. Howie we must stop bumping into each other!!

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  15. it looks like i came to the party late as the links are coming up as Download not available
    cheers,
    lee

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  16. FA#<K!!
    'Missed This TOO!! Would have *LOVED* To hear It!! Shit!

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  17. Thanks again for this wonderful blog! Any chance to re-up this? Missed this too...

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  18. re-up? Rapidshare went bye-bye.

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  19. Re-up? Rapidshare went bye-bye.

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  20. I'd love to hear this - any up for reposting?

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  21. Please can someone re-up

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