New York's garage-rocking Fuzztones do their wild Crampabilly thing on LEAVE YOUR MIND AT HOME, seven numbers recorded live. The sound approaches bootleg quality, but that hardly matters - the shreiks and demented guitar solos here don't exactly call out for laser-level fidelity. Raveup enthusiasm is all that counts, and that's exactly what this record delivers. - Ira Robbins, THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE MUSIC (1984)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------This set of covers gets into the barn furlongs ahead o'the pack primarily because guitarist Elan Portnoy's gotta right conceptual grasp on the fact that lotsa good SIX-OH clap's JUST THIS SIDE O' METAL in construction. Consequently, he sets his amp t' "stun," points his ugly hair at ya & cuts friggin' loose. 'N even when he holds back a bit (as on The Chob's "We're Pretty Quick") the rest of the band keeps things movin' fast 'n strong enough that yr attention flaggeth not. - Byron Coley FORCED EXPOSURE (1984)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Putting this record on the turntable is like walking into the Twilight Zone. It looks like blues, it sounds like blues, but it's.... different. The Fuzztones are best known as a hot garage/neopsychedelic band, but here they are backing Jay with blues from the netherworld. Hawkins screams, hollers, whoops, moans, groans, and even sings his way through exciting performances of "Alligator Wine," "I Put A Spell On You," "It's That Time Again," and "Constipation Blues." As an added bonus, the audience at New York's Irving Plaza provides cheering noises. - Todd Kristel OPTION MAGAZINE (1984)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------If you're a Screamin' Jay Hawkins fan, you'll like this EP, and you'll probably like it even if you're not. Screamin' Jay is backed by The Fuzztones and it works out just fine. His gruff, grating vocals stand up to the pounding keyboards of Deb O' Nair on "Alligator Wine," "It's That Time Again,and the classic "I Put A Spell On You." The final song, "Constipation Blues," is Jay at his rudest, crudest, and best, as he grunts, groans, and snorts his way through, while a harmonica wails in the background. - Jenny White TASTY WORLD MAGAZINE (1984)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Hooking up veteran soul singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins, a guy who has been singing since the fifties, with New York garage band heroes The Fuzztones is not as strange a combination as at first it seems. This recording finds Jay in good voice and raunchy good humor, and as he puts it, the young band really seems to give him a kick. He somehow manages to slip a reference to AIDS in "Alligator Wine" and "Constipation Blues" is almost painful too listen to, with Hawkins doing his best impression of an outhouse. Yet the classic, "I Put A Spell On You," never sounded better than in this raunchy revisionist setting. Screamin' Jay sounds like he's having a blast. Everyone should have so much fun after doing their thing for so long. - Hank Berdowitz THE ISLAND EAR (1984)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Screamin' Jay Hawkins, the man who can scream, bellow and holler longest and loudest, with nary a polyp or wheeze to show for it, has recruited G-meisters The Fuzztones to assist him. 21 heart-stopping minutes on this beautifully illustrated low-cost disc. Buy this or you'll have no one but yourself to blame if Screamin' Jay "Blows the moonlight clean through your bald head." - Henry Beck EAST VILLAGE EYE (1984)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------...the epitaph of Screamin' Jay and The Fuzztones historic union at New York's Irving Plaza. The backing throws a whole new light into the 'Tones musical capabilities, the keyboards in particular. No chance of descending into cabaret horror rock with a foundation like these guys kick up. In fact, it'd be nice if some of this marsh gas were to turn up in the band's own efforts... - Lindsay Hutton SOUNDS (UK) (1984)