''A Date with Elvis'' is the third full-length studio album by the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

the Cramps The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2006. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. ...

, released in the UK on Big Beat Records in 1986. The title was appropriated from '' A Date with Elvis'' (1959), the eighth album by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

. The album was recorded in fall 1985 and engineered by Steve McMillan and Mark Ettel at

Ocean Way Studios Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

in Hollywood,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The album was first released in the US in 1990 by

Enigma Records Enigma Records (also known as Enigma Entertainment Corporation) was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. History Enigma Records launched as a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/d ...

, with the bonus tracks "Blue Moon Baby", "Georgia Lee Brown", "Give Me a Woman", and "Get Off the Road". The Cramps reissued the album (with bonus tracks) on their own Vengeance Records in 2001. The original album was reissued in the UK by Big Beat in 2013 on orange vinyl, and subsequently reissued again by Vengeance Records in the US, UK and Canada in 2014. It was the Cramps' most commercially successful album release, charting internationally and reaching the top 40 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. The album was dedicated to

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

, whose version of the song "

Lonesome Town "Lonesome Town" is a song written by Baker Knight. A version sung by Ricky Nelson became a hit single in the United States, reaching #7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #15 on the R&B chart in 1958. The song was featured on his 1959 album, '' ...

" (covered by the Cramps on their first EP ''

Gravest Hits ''Gravest Hits'' is the first 12" EP by the American rock band the Cramps, compiling both sides of their first two 1978 Vengeance singles, "Surfin' Bird" and "Human Fly", with an added fifth track, a cover version of " Lonesome Town". It was re ...

'' and later included on compilation album '' ...Off the Bone'') was a US hit single in 1958. It is also significant in that it is the only Cramps album to feature vocals by guitarist Poison Ivy, on "Kizmiaz" (as well as on the B-side "Get Off the Road" included on the 1990 reissue).

Critical reception

Robert Palmer, in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', praised the album and called it the band's best. He wrote: "After a decade together, the Cramps have learned to focus and intensify their inventive revisions of rock-and-roll tradition and their playfully anarchic spirit." ''The A to X of Alternative Music'' called it the band's "most effective distillation of psychedelia, punk and rock'n'roll."

Track listing

Personnel

The Cramps

* Lux Interior – vocals * Poison Ivy Rorschach – guitars, bass guitar, vocals on "Kizmiaz" and "Get Off the Road" *

Nick Knox Nick Knox (born Nicholas George Stephanoff; March 26, 1953 – June 14, 2018) was an American drummer for the psychobilly band The Cramps. He replaced Miriam Linna in 1977 and left in 1991. Knox was with The Cramps during the peak of their world ...

– drums,

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

with: * McMartin Preschool Choir (includes

Fur Dixon Fur Dixon is an American singer, songwriter, bassist, guitarist and rock 'n' roll musician. She co-founded the Hollywood Hillbillys with guitarist and then-husband Gary Dickson in the mid-1980s and was the first bass player in any lineup of The ...

) – vocals on "People Ain't No Good"

Technical

* Mark Ettel, Steve Macmillan –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

* Joe Schiff, Tony Chiappa – assistant engineers * Eddy Schreyer – mastering * The Cramps – cover layout, photography *

Phil Smee Philip Lloyd-Smee is an English music journalist, designer and record collector, most widely known for designing music album covers and his Bam-Caruso music label, best known for the Rubble series of albums. Much of Smee's design work was done f ...

– cover illustration (lettering)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Date With Elvis 1986 albums The Cramps albums