Amazing Quotation from Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Screamin' Jay Hawkins

So, I just downloaded Creedence Clearwater Revival's greatest hits, which led me to wonder who wrote the song "I Put a Spell on You," which they covered in 1968. I always think of it is a Nina Simone song, so I wondered if she had written it or not. The wikipedia page for the song itself has this mindblowing quote from the composer, Screamin' Jay Hawkins: "Hawkins had originally intended to record 'I Put a Spell on You' as a refined love song, a blues ballad. He reported, however, that the producer 'brought in ribs and chicken and got everybody drunk, and we came out with this weird version.^[4] I don't even remember making the record. Before, I was just a normal blues singer. I was just Jay Hawkins. It all sort of just fell in place. I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death.'" A-mazing. Keep on destroying, 'em, Jay. YOU MUST WATCH THIS AMAZING VIDEO:

Back to Album a Day

Snoop reps the Burgh

Oops. I totally slacked on an album a day, but with a good reason. Sports and sports talk have fueled the last week, from the Penguins struggling against the Islanders and yanking Marc-Andre Fleury, to all the second round NBA playoff games splitting 1-1, to my softball-softball-kickball 3 days in a row this week. I've been watching sports at home, at friends' houses, at Lot 17 around the corner, listening to sports talk on the radio, and hardly playing any music at all.

So today I threw on an old classic, Tha Doggfather, by Snoop Doog, his second studio album, released in 1996, and representing some deep gangsta funk. Oh, hah, I forgot he did Vapors on this album, a la covering La Di Da Di (Lodi Dodi) on his first album! Sick. 

In pro sports some modern players know all the old school guys, all the stats, all the history of the game they play, and they revere the legends. Snoop is this kind of modern rapper. He totally respects the canon and you gotta respect that.

Ok, two thirds of the way through this album, FYI, it's goooood. This is one of the bounciest albums ever. I mean, I tend to associate this album exclusively with "Snoop's Upside Ya Head," which I always thought sounded corny and overly mainstream -- good in the generic Snoop style, but not elite. Calvin does show a little bit of range, though, and the pure g-funk synthesizer melodies sound ... I don't know ... more evolved than those early 90's melodies.

Listening to this album has inspired a Gangsta Funk Mix. It will steady bounce at about 92 BPM and feature Snoop, Warren G, Tha Dogg Pound, etc.

More Full Albums

I have to admit, I do have a hard time listening all the way through a whole album sometimes. I just get too itchy to switch it up. But that doesn't seem too strange to me. I imagine most people feel that way. You just have to find those elite, all-time classic albums that just deliver hits all the way through from start to finish. Well, I'll say this, it doesn't have to deliver all hits. It can have some average songs, as long as it doesn't go through any completely unlistenable stretches.

ZZ Ward
(Lauren's suggestion, weak)

But it can't just mire in mediocrity either. Listening to three mediocre songs on an album represents 10 minutes of my life that I could have spent listening to silence instead of mediocre music, ya know? I just said "mediocre" three times. Meaty ochre. Serengeti's Standing Still, which I mentioned the other day, falls into this category...

Right now I have on ZZ Ward, 11 Roses (Mixtape), kind of a poppy neo-soul chill collection of songs. I chose it because it only runs about 22 minutes, haha. Very soulful, a little bit funky, kind of bluesy in places. I like it. I especially like Cinnamon Stix (Feat. Nathan Santos).

Ethiopiques

Recently I listened all the way through the 1 hour and 9 minute album Ethiopiques Live At Tff Rudolstadt. I saw this reccommendation on Facebook from Holly, so, good lookin' out on that one! I would call it international, folk, jazz, etc. Very good stuff!

Up next... Cymande, The Soul of Rasta, more international jazz/funk/reggae soul fusion. Check that link to read peoples' reviews on Amazon. One listener says, "its the Meters meets Carlos Santana, with a little bit of P-Funk thrown in on top."