Search - The Cramps - Live at Napa State Mental Hospital on DVD

A lot of fun...

PSM/Bokor | United States | 05/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to say the quality of the audio and video is really pretty decent for a 1978 recording. I was pleasantly surprised. With that said, this DVD is a lot of fun. The Cramps just fit in with this unique environment, a psychiatric hospital. I agree with another reviewer; I spent many years working in a psychiatric hospital and wonder how this concert was ever permitted. Overlooking the fact that the Cramps were allowed to play at a psychiatric hospital, how was it ever allowed to be recorded then distributed?This DVD isn't for everyone. You must appreciate The Cramps and their humor. You must not be politically correct. I laugh with and at the patients in this DVD. The whole thing is just hard to believe. Never, in today's world, would this be allowed to happen.It's unique. It's funny. Drink some beer and enjoy the show."

Deserves 10,000 Stars

Kenneth M. Goodman | Cleveland, Ohio United States | 08/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If all DVDs are Mount Everest, this one's at the tippy top.
It works on so many levels. At one level it's a little
scary because you find yourself reacting to ths music just like the "inmates" and feel like you are one of them. On another level it's incredibly satisfying to see The Cramps performing this extremely good deed, really reaching these troubled souls. During chaotic moments, it's amazing how well The Cramps handle
the situation, not trying to put controls on the audience,
even when the lead singer has to struggle, several times,
to regain control of the microphone, he does it with incredible
grace & power; and even those uninvited vocals seem to
blend perfectly well with the overall ecstatic madness.
AND, after all this, The Cramps' performance itself is fantastic,
and the production values (given the nature of the event) are
surprisingly good. Extra added attraction: the video also features some other entertaining punk/performance art pieces, most
of which are extremely creative...but The Cramps' show is the
real story here...I'd have to list this as the best DVD I own."

Who thought of this?

S. Boone | Louisville, KY | 08/26/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Who in the world thought that The Cramps (I cut your head off and put it in my TV set) playing at a mental hospital would be a good idea? I dunno, I doubt anything like that would happen in this day & age, not that there's any bands like The Cramps around anymore. The footage of this is pretty rough, as the box says, and Lux Interior spends a lot of time wrestling the microphone away from would-be stars, but this gives you a good idea of what the original Cramps (with Bryan Gregory & Nick Knox) were like. I love the Cramps but unfortunately the footage of this event is over before you know it and all that's left to watch is some shameless self-promotion from Target Video, some of which is interesting to see (like Crime playing at San Quentin, another lapse in good sense from somebody), but a lot of which is which is just plain irritating like a long segment featuring (I think) Non, a one man show wherein this guy bangs on a lot of pieces of metal and rattles lots of "found" objects, at which point I'd had enough and turned it off. The Cramps are great but it's hard not to feel like you've just bought 20 minutes of music and 40 minutes of advertisements."

One for the Time Capsule

Jeffrey K. Keezel | Dinwiddie, VA United States | 05/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Let's be straight about what we've got here. This was a performance captured with one of the original portable video tape devices available to non-broadcast professionals. We're talking BEFORE camcorders - the mighty Sony Porta-Pac - a black and white camera and a 1/2 inch open reel videotape recorder.

So that's one hand-held camera for the visual and one solitary mic for the sound. The visual is very primitive by today's standards - the sound could be called bootleg quality. The band plays a quick set.

Why 5 stars? Because despite the technological limitations - this comes across very well. You can hear all the instruments and the vocals. You get a good view of the band members. And the performance itself is very good - they are playing very tightly.

Frankly, the antics of the "audience" don't strike me as any more absurd or outrageous than the typical punk club crowd of 1978.

If you like the Cramps - I think you'll enjoy this. If you were around in those days, this will definitely take you back...thekeez"