For those unaware, and to give it it’s full title, Lux And Ivy Say Flip Your Top – Sinners And Penguins Doing The San Francisco Twist is an eclectic 2CD collection of unhinged tunes, containing 50 madcap tracks from the basement of The Cramps’ Lux And Ivy’s mixed up minds!

Including timeless party anthems, exploitation dance crazes, novelty pop, tragic ballads and rambunctious levity, they all originate from an era where seemingly nothing was taboo on record: The bomb, incarceration, gear shifting hot rods, murder and more!

CD 1:
1 – The Egyptians – Flipping Their Top
2 – Mel Dorsey – Annie Miss Fanny
3 – Paul Curry – Route 66
4 – The Flock-Rocker – The Chinese Rock ‘n’ Roll
5 – The Charms – Ling, Ting, Tong
6 – Pat Hare – I’m Gonna Murder My Baby (Cheatin’ And Lyin’ Blues)
7 – Eugene Fox – The Sinner’s Dream
8 – Tony Castle – Kiss Me Goodnight
9 – Vince Everett – Don’t Go
10 – Chris Cerf And The Harvard Lampoon Tabernacle Choir – Fallout Filly
11 – Gerry Granahan with the Hutch Davie Orchestra – Too Big For Her Bikini
12 – Junior Wells – Lovey Dovey Lovey One
13 – Rosco Gordon – Cheese And Crackers
14 – The Zanies – Frustration
15 – Angela Martin – Two Pairs Of Shoes
16 – Stan Freberg – Heartbreak Hotel
17 – Ral Donner And The Starfires – Girl Of My Best Friend
18 – Billy Woods with Kim Fowley – The Story of Susie
19 – The Uptones – No More
20 – Tony Castle – The Fool
21 – The Sheppards – Tragic
22 – Gary Middleton – Don’t Be Shy
23 – Glenn Willings – You Tarzan, Me Jane
24 – The Rays – Zimba Lulu
25 – Artie Wilson – Tarzan

With obscure maestros including Pat Hare, Eugene Fox, Frankie Ervin, Mel Dorsey and Vince Everett alongside iconic legends like Junior Wells, Bobby Charles, Champion Jack Dupree, Rosco Gordon and Warren Smith, this rampantly divine first disc opens with the vibrant swing of The Egyptians’ Flipping Their Top and the urgency of Annie Miss Fanny from Mel Dorsey and backs those up with Paul Curry’s fervent guitar work on Route 66, the finger-picking guitar work of The Flock-Rocker’s The Chinese Rock ‘n’ Roll, the Motown-esque Ling, Ting, Tong (The Charms), and then comes the downright and gritty I’m Gonna Murder My Baby (Cheatin’ And Lyin’ Blues) (Pat Hare).

Up next is the spoken-gospel Gospel blues of Eugene Fox’s brilliant The Sinner’s Dream and the beautiful hipsway of Tony Castle’s Kiss Me Goodnight and they are in turn followed by fervent, Presley-esque hip shake of Don’t Go (Vince Everett), the percussion-imbibed wonderment of Chris Cerf And The Harvard Lampoon Tabernacle Choir’s Fallout Filly, the flashback magnificence of Gerry Granahan with the Hutch Davie Orchestra’s Too Big For Her Bikini, and then comes Junior Wells’ upbeat Lovey Dovey Lovey One, the throaty swing of Rosco Gordon’s Cheese And Crackers and the most wonderful, Austin Powers-esque Frustration (The Zanies).

This first disc continues on the lush vocals of Angela Martin on Two Pairs Of Shoes and steamy, albeit fun Heartbreak Hotel from Stan Freberg and that is backed by the rambunctious ode within Girl Of My Best Friend (Ral Donner And The Starfires), the aching storytelling of The Story of Susie (Billy Woods with Kim Fowley), the smooth No More (The Uptones), Tony Castle’s gentle The Fool, the reverberating flashback gem to an easier time Tragic (The Sheppards), the disc rounding out on the Presley-esque Don’t Be Shy from Gary Middleton, Glenn Willings’ atmospherically zany You Tarzan, Me Jane, coming to a close on the front and center Zimba Lulu (The Rays) and, finally, Artie Wilson brings us some early-styled surf rock with Tarzan!

CD 2:
1 – The Willows (Cherokee And Band) – Don’t Pull, Don’t Push, Don’t Shove
2 – Aston Martin And The Moon Discs – Fallout
3 – Bobby Charles – Take It Easy Greasy
4 – Frankie Ervin – Wilhemina
5 – Ritchie Hart – Choo Choo Train
6 – Mel Dorsey And The Heart Beats – Little Lil
7 – Champion Jack Dupree – Evil Woman
8 – Augie Rios – Augie Stay Home
9 – Chris Cerf – The Penguin
10 – Myron Lee – Aw C’mon Baby
11 – Warren Smith – Cave In
12 – Loy Clingman – (Those Old) Uranium Blues
13 – The Cover Girls – Gone But Not Forgotten
14 – Moonlighters – Broken Heart
15 – Ernest Tucker – Cowboy Hop
16 – Al & Nettie – San Francisco Twist
17 – Dean & Jean – Turn It Off
18 – Harold Jackson And The Jackson Brothers – The Freedom Riders
19 – John Paul Jones – Kalani Honey
20 – Slim Marbles – The Switch
21 – Sonny Knight With The Jack Collier Orchestra – Jail Bird
22 – Big Bob Dougherty – Bang Bang
23 – Warren Smith – Miss Froggie
24 – Frank De Rosa And His D Men – Irish Rock
25 – Tommy Beiner, Wendy & School Girls – The Top 40

Remastered with sleeve notes by MOJO magazine’s Dave Henderson, the second disc opens on the Motown-esque vibrancy of The Willows (Cherokee And Band) and their excellent Don’t Pull, Don’t Push, Don’t Shove and Aston Martin And The Moon Discs’ joyous Fallout, before heading into the dancefloor fervency of Take It Easy Greasy (Bobby Charles), then comes the boisterous horn section behind Frankie Ervin’s Wilhemina, the atmospherically-charged Choo Choo Train (Ritchie Hart), the hip shaking, horn-imbibed beauty Little Lil (Mel Dorsey And The Heart Beats – Little Lil, and then we get the slow-poke blues of Champion Jack Dupree’s Evil Woman.

Next up is the Augie Rios’ jangling Augie Stay Home and the rockabilly of Chris Cerf’s The Penguin and they are in turn followed by the speed-tastic musicianship of Myron Lee’s sax-enhanced Aw C’mon Baby, the free flowing, fiddle-tastic Cave In (Warren Smith), the gentle sway of Loy Clingman’s (Those Old) Uranium Blues, the power girl group The Cover Girls with Gone But Not Forgotten, then comes the cowboy western rockabilly sound of the Moonlighters with Broken Heart and the excellent tune Cowboy hop (by the very underrated artist/songwriter, Ernest Tucker).

Along next is Al & Nettie’s effective San Francisco Twist and the teen rocker Turn It Off (Dean & Jean), and they are backed by the early civil rights rocker Harold Jackson And The Jackson Brothers with the speedy The Freedom Riders, the surf instrumental Kalani Honey (John Paul Jones), the Phoenix rockabilly from Slim Marbles on The Switch, the mid-tempo hipsway of Sonny Knight With The Jack Collier Orchestra’s Jail Bird, the disc rounding out on the atmospherically-charged Bang Bang (Big Bob Dougherty), then we are given Warren Smith’s trademark double stops on Miss Froggie, the 2CD set closing on the quietly frantic, sax-veined rush of Irish Rock (Frank De Rosa And His D Men), and finally the foot-tapping gem The Top 40 from Tommy Beiner and Wendy & School Girls.

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