The Cramps: Live at Napa State Mental Hospital

On June 13, 1978, psycho-billy punk rock band The Cramps performed a free concert before an apparently appreciative audience at the Napa State Mental Institute. The warning on the back of the box says: “this is rough punk rock footage! Includes some audio-visual distortion.” Translation: looks and sounds godawful (the burned-in obnoxious “Target Video 1984” copyright that runs throughout doesn't help). Led by Lux Interior (Erick Purkhiser), a lanky anemic-looking Elvis channeler, the Cramps--who would not really arrive on the punk scene until 1979--blaze through a mercifully short (20 minutes) six-song set that includes later hits (relatively speaking, of course) such as “Human Fly,” “The Way I Walk,” “Domino,” and “Love Me,” and if the two inmate groupies hanging on Lux during “Twist and Shout” are any indication, love him they do. During the final credits, we're told that what we've just witnessed is “strictly a documentory [sic].” DVD extras include an additional 32 minutes of Target-emblazed video of a handful of no-name acts like the “lengendary [sic] group” Throbbing Gristle. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)