Best of Bizarre Sessions: 1990-1994

Screamin' Jay Hawkins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 11, 2000)
• Original Release Date: July 11, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Manifesto Records
• ASIN: B00004U054
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,117 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Swamp Gas

2. Voodoo Priestess

3. Brujo

4. I Am The Cool

5. Ice Cream Man

6. Fourteen Wives

7. Heart Attack And Vine

8. Somethin' Funny Goin' On

9. Ignant And Shit

10. Shut Your Mouth When You Sneeze

11. You Make Me Sick

12. Just For You

13. Give It A Break

14. Stone Crazy

15. Make You MIne

16. I Want Your Body

17. Upsettin' Me

18. Ol' Man River

Editorial Reviews

Voodoo jive. Ghoul rock. Blues. R&B. Screamin' Jay Hawkins was a visionary. An influence. Outrageous. A true original. He invented shock rock so that the likes of Alice Cooper, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson and The Cramps could follow. Arriving o

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Resurrection of Screamin' Jay Hawkins, March 14, 2004

By 

Glenn Nippert "musicologist" (Alpharetta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best of Bizarre Sessions: 1990-1994 (Audio CD)

These 18 tracks are taken from the best of Screamin' Jay's four years on the Bizarre label. He was in his 60's when he recorded these songs, but you would never know it. His vocal presence is as strong as ever and his voice reaches right through the speakers and into your brain. The best known cut here is a cover of Tom Waits' "Heart Attack and Vine" which became a hit in England after being used in a jeans commercial. He also does Waits' "Ice Cream Man", a nice bluesy strut. His famous way with standards is on display here with Kerns and Hammerstein's "Ol' Man River", partially sung seriously in his beutiful operatic baritone and then all hell breaks loose and he turns into a cannibal having a nervous breakdown. He has a pretty good band here with a good Creedence-like swamp groove on a lot of the songs like "Voodoo Priestess", "Swamp Gas", "I am the Cool" and "Brujo". And it just wouldn't be a proper Screamin' Jay collection without his trademark sick humor on songs like "Ignant and Shit", "Shut your Mouth When You Sneeze" and "You Make Me Sick", all written by Jay himself, of course. These recordings constituted a comeback of sorts for Jay, coming on the heels of numerous movie appearances such as "Dance With the Devil", "A Rage in Harlem", "Two Moon Junction" and most famously "Mystery Train". Hopefully, somehow Screamin' Jay will reach a larger audience posthumously than he did in life. Given his ghoulish image it would be appropriate for him to haunt us eternally from the grave.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Smokin' J, July 12, 2000

By 

yoon (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of Bizarre Sessions: 1990-1994 (Audio CD)

Compiled from 3 really cool cds (with some "bonus" tracks), this baby is a "period" best of. And if you love your J as much as I do... then dont miss out on this essential collection. It's blues, it's rock... it's in heavy rotation on my cd player. Kickin' out from the crypt, Screamin' J Hawkins is alive and well on this album!