Customer Reviews

Best of Bizarre Sessions: 1990-1994

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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.

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!