The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
No, that is not a typo. Fifty-one years after he declared himself the God of Hellfire on his freak hit "Fire" (Track Records, 1968), Brown -- who turns 77 in June -- is an enduring trip of spirited, theatrical eccentricity. Walking on stage to a tape of menacing a cappella chorale ("We need your brain/For further examination"), the leader and his Crazy World were a determined explosion of psychedelic-carnival chic: face paint, rainbow-spectrum threads and druid-party headgear including, at one point, Brown's German army helmet topped with antler-like vegetation. But Brown -- actually back home as the Englishman spent 17 years in the late Seventies and Eighties living in Austin, painting houses -- was in remarkably strong vocal form too, extolling the powers of gypsy voodoo in a range that went from meaty, threatening baritone to controlled-hysteria falsetto, accenting the extremes with a surprisingly limber, mantis-like dancing. "Fire" was the inevitable conclusion, Brown giving good heat with authentic support from his band. But the highlight was Brown's reprise of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You," covered to inflammatory effect on the Crazy World's debut LP and sounding not a day over 1968. David Fricke, Rolling Stone Magazine

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*Photo by Danny Matson/Getty Images for SXSW