The Cramps – Live From Napa State Mental
Hospital
Picture: C- Sound: C Extras: C+ Main Program: C
It lasts
about twenty minutes and looks like it was shot on reel-to-reel videotape, The
Cramps took the still-rare event of a name music act playing in a prison, and
played at a mental hospital. That is was
a state hospital, which is even more serious, but it turns into one of the
ultimate acts of music concert subversion and put the band on the map. So goes The
Cramps – Live From Napa State Mental Hospital, now on DVD.
This came
out of the authentic punk era, which came out in part if Vietnam.
The point of such a concert is to challenge what is crazy, what is
mental illness, especially in a society that likes to use it as a weapon
against people who may be considered subversive by the powers that be. It is an ultimate, true act of punk and here
it is. Too bad it was so short.
The full
frame image is transferred well, but is also so old that it could be a
candidate for a television hall of fame, if this was actually ever broadcast at
the time. Maybe the VTR hall of fame,
whenever one is formed. That makes it
all the more amusing that it has been remixed for Dolby Digital 5.1 stereo
sound, which boosts what is there, but can only be average at best for its age and
extreme monophonic origins.
This came
from the upstart Punk company Target Video and a half-hours worth of similar
footage of other great bands of the time is included in the extras section,
meaning the mo0re-than-you-would-think-fans who likely have old VHS and Beta
tapes of this stuff can finally upgrade.
- Nicholas Sheffo
