Customer Reviews

Portrait of a Maniac

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As a long time collector of Jay's music I found this to be a very interesting CD. If you are looking for more hit oriented cuts this wont do it, but if you want to hear Jay's take on various musical styles this will do the trick. The song Portait Of A Man is brilliant stuff and there are real gems here even if they aren't the usual tunes one expects from Screaming Jay. This has become one of my favorite CDs.

Mid-price Australian Import. Compilation of Hawkins late 70's studio material with studio musicians and studio back-up singers. The lows far outnumber the highs, although there's a couple of good "typical" Hawkins numbers, with screams, snorts and snuffles. Bad disco, lukewarm blues, mostly forgettable numbers. Two good versions of "I Put A Spell On You", one a 4/4 Go-go rocker, the other an over-the-top screamer, but both are remakes, not the original 1958 top 40 hit. An amusing cover of the Blues Brothers number "I Don't Know", a so bad it's good cover of "Itty Bitty Pretty One", a very ominous cover of "Portrait Of A Man", even an attempt at gospel on "What's Going To Happen On The 8th Day?" Not very representative of Screamin' Jay. Thank the saints he had a resurgance in his career, and put out several good LPs with Warner/Bizzare--it's sad when a legendary artist like this ends their career with the kind of 2nd rate product found on this CD.

NOT RECCOMENDED.