Name: I Put a Spell on You: The Essential Collection
Brand: Cleopatra
SKU: 31735042
Availability: OutOfStock

I Put a Spell on You

Rating

Album: I Put a Spell on You: The Essential Collection
#	Song Title	Time
1)	I Put a Spell on You
2)	Portrait of a Man
3)	Little Bitty Pretty One
4)	Don't Deceive Me
5)	Ashes
6)	It's Only Make Believe
7)	Please Don't Leave Me
8)	I Don't Know
9)	Guess Who
10)	What Good Is It?
11)	We Love
12)	Same Damn Thing

Album: I Put a Spell on You: The Essential Collection
#	Song Title	Time
1)	I Put a Spell on You
2)	Portrait of a Man
3)	Little Bitty Pretty One
4)	Don't Deceive Me
5)	Ashes
6)	It's Only Make Believe
7)	Please Don't Leave Me
8)	I Don't Know
9)	Guess Who
10)	What Good Is It?
11)	We Love
12)	Same Damn Thing

Performer Notes

Ex-boxer Screamin' Jay Hawkins' live show, full of on-stage coffins, skulls, and toilets, prefigured the extravagant concert productions of later artists like Alice Cooper and George Clinton, and Hawkins' full awareness of the visual aspect of rock music extended even to his lyrics, which were purposefully graphic and surreal. In essence, Hawkins was a one- or two-trick pony, but boy, those ponies could run. His masterpiece was "I Put a Spell on You," which he originally recorded for OKeh Records (supposedly while extremely drunk) in 1956, and while Hawkins' version was never even close to being a commercial hit, the song has been covered so many times (most notably by Nina Simone) that it has deservedly been certified as a rock and R&B classic. "Spell" is here, of course, on this so-so collection of '50s and '60s tracks, and it's clearly the high point, although Hawkins gives "Little Bitty Pretty One," Fats Domino's "Please Don't Leave Me," and Little Willie Mabon's "I Don't Know" nice workouts. This same set, with different cover art, has also been issued as Essential Recordings by Golden in 2000 and under the same title, I Put a Spell on You, by Charly in 1999. ~ Steve Leggett