(ThyBlackMan.com) We’re going to take a detour from our dives into rock and metal to take a look at a blues album that tends to get overlooked. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was one of the early Black pioneers of rock. Now, he didn’t go full on into early rock n roll and rockabilly like Chuck Berry and Little Richard but the live performance of his most iconic song would be key in forming the stagecraft of rock—particularly shock rock. Let’s dive into his debut album At Home With Screamin’ Jay Hawkins from 1958.
As always, we look at these older albums on how strong their A-side and B-sides are and the score is the average. Was Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ debut an underrated gem, a cult classic album, or simply overlooked?
At Home With Screamin’ Jay Hawkins A-Side Score: 7.25/10
The A-side to At Home With Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was the stronger of two, let’s just establish that. The major track that everyone’s heard before is “I Put A Spell On You.” It’s the performance to this song that really put Jay on the map. Add to that his stage wear which gives the image of a witch doctor mixed with a magician, a smoking skull, his powerful voice, and out there performance and this song was going to 
take off.
The other songs on this side are mix of decent enough and really good. Jay is working with a skilled orchestra which really catches the emotions of songs even when he goes into character. Some songs can sound a little similar such as “Hong Kong” with Screamin’ Jay’s gibberish mixed in with even more gibberish that is supposed to be Chinese, sounding a bit like “I Put A Spell On You” at parts.
“Hong Kong” and “I Love Paris” were the weaker tracks on this side to me with “I Put A Spell On You,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Temptation,” and the fast, upbeat love song “Orange Sky” being the strongest here. Overall, the A-side is pretty good. Not great but far from bad.
B-Side Score: 6.5/10
Often times, the B-side struggles but we’ve seen some B-sides that were great such as Black Death’s self-titled debut. This B-side falls in the “average” category. Not that far from mediocre but not that far from being pretty good. I chalk it up to the last three songs bringing down the energy of this side.
“Yellow Coat” and his rendition of “Ol’ Man River” were really good and kick off this side of the album. Then we get four tracks that never really jump over that mediocre hump. The singing isn’t bad at all, Screamin’ Jay had an amazing voice for opera, blues, rock, or soul. It’s just the songs themselves.
There are times when a singer can take a bad or mediocre song and make it better or take someone else’s songs and make them theirs just by their performance. These last four songs just didn’t do it for me. The one that came closest was “Give Me My Boots and Saddle.”
I’ve even tried rearranging the tracks so that the flow is better and I could take in the songs better. Most of them do nothing for me. This is one of those classic B-sides where the B-side is just weak.
Verdict: 6.8/10
At Home With Screamin’ Jay Hawkins falls just below being a good album. You might have an ear for it. I think there’s just too much going on with his straight up singing on some songs and mixing his singing ability with his character’s mannerisms on others.
It can break up the flow of the entire album but Screamin’ Jay was a wildman of music, his albums didn’t necessarily need a flow to them. When you consider that for a period of his career, Hawkins was considered a novelty act, the album works. If you’re into blues or just love finding lost albums, check this one out. Besides that, you could skip it and not miss much.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.
