The Crazy World of Arthur Brown is a psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

 album by Arthur Brown

Arthur Brown (musician)

Arthur Brown is an English rock and roll musician best known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, George Clinton, Kiss, King Diamond, and Bruce Dickinson, among others, and for his number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and...

 and his band The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown is a psychedelic rock album by Arthur Brown and his band The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, released in 1968. Considered a classic of the late-1960s psychedelic scene and a significant influence on progressive rock, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown includes covers of...

, released in 1968. Considered a classic of the late-1960s psychedelic scene and a significant influence on progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown includes covers

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of songs written by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Jalacy Hawkins , best known as Screamin' Jay Hawkins was an American musician, singer, and actor...

 and James Brown. Brown was also referred to as "The God of Hellfire" in reference to the opening shouted line of the 1968 hit single "Fire

Fire (Arthur Brown song)

"Fire" is a 1968 song by Arthur Brown, Vincent Crane, Mike Finesilver and Peter Ker. Performed by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, it was released as a single and on the band's debut album, also called The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. The single made #1 in the UK and Canada. In October, it made #2...

".

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown peaked at #7 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. The hit single "Fire" reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 (October 1968) and #1 in the UK in August 1968, and #19 in Australia in October 1968.

Track listing

1. "Prelude/Nightmare" (Arthur Brown
   Arthur Brown (musician)
   Arthur Brown is an English rock and roll musician best known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, George Clinton, Kiss, King Diamond, and Bruce Dickinson, among others, and for his number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and...
   
   ) – 3:28
2. "Fanfare/Fire Poem" (Brown, Vincent Crane
   Vincent Crane
   Vincent Crane was a self-taught pianist, who studied theory and composition at Trinity College of Music, and graduated in 1964...
   
   ) – 1:51
3. "Fire
   Fire (Arthur Brown song)
   "Fire" is a 1968 song by Arthur Brown, Vincent Crane, Mike Finesilver and Peter Ker. Performed by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, it was released as a single and on the band's debut album, also called The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. The single made #1 in the UK and Canada. In October, it made #2...
   
   " (Brown, Crane, Mike Finesilver, Peter Ker) – 2:54
4. "Come and Buy" (Brown, Crane) – 5:40
5. "Time" (Brown) / "Confusion" (Crane) – 5:11
6. "I Put a Spell on You
   I Put a Spell on You
   "I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song written by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, whose recording was selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was also ranked #320 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.Although Hawkins'...
   
   " (Screamin' Jay Hawkins
   Screamin' Jay Hawkins
   Jalacy Hawkins , best known as Screamin' Jay Hawkins was an American musician, singer, and actor...
   
   ) – 3:41
7. "Spontaneous Apple Creation" (Brown, Crane) – 2:54
8. "Rest Cure" (Brown, Crane) – 2:44
9. "I've Got Money" (James Brown) – 3:09
10. "Child of My Kingdom" (Brown, Crane) – 7:01

In 1991, the album was reissued on CD, with the addition of the original Side 1 (the first five songs) in monaural.

1991 reissue track listing

1. "Prelude/Nightmare" (Brown) (mono) – 3:49
2. "Fanfare/Fire Poem" (Brown, Crane) (mono) – 2:02
3. "Fire" (Brown, Crane, Finesilver, Ker) (mono) – 3:01
4. "Come and Buy" (Brown, Crane) (mono) – 5:06
5. "Time" (Brown) / "Confusion" (Crane) (mono) – 4:57
6. "Prelude/Nightmare" (Brown) – 3:28
7. "Fanfare/Fire Poem" (Brown, Crane) – 1:51
8. "Fire" (Brown, Crane, Finesilver, Ker) – 2:54
9. "Come and Buy" (Brown, Crane) – 5:40
10. "Time" (Brown) / "Confusion" (Crane) – 5:11
11. "I Put a Spell on You" (Hawkins) – 3:41
12. "Spontaneous Apple Creation" (Brown, Crane) – 2:54
13. "Rest Cure" (Brown, Crane) – 2:44
14. "I've Got Money" (James Brown) – 3:09
15. "Child of My Kingdom" (Brown, Crane) – 7:01

Personnel

• Arthur Brown
  Arthur Brown (musician)
  Arthur Brown is an English rock and roll musician best known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, George Clinton, Kiss, King Diamond, and Bruce Dickinson, among others, and for his number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and...
  
   – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Pete Townshend
  Pete Townshend
  Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
  
   – associate producer
• Vincent Crane
  Vincent Crane
  Vincent Crane was a self-taught pianist, who studied theory and composition at Trinity College of Music, and graduated in 1964...
  
   – arranger, keyboards
• Kit Lambert
  Kit Lambert
  Christopher "Kit" Sebastian Lambert was a record producer and the manager for The Who.-Early life:Kit Lambert was the son of noted composer, Constant Lambert...
  
   – producer
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  
• Sean Nicholas – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
   (was later known as Nicholas Greenwood)
• Drachen Theaker – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
   (album)
• David King – cover design
• David Montgomery – photography
  Photography
  Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
  
  
• Ed Strait – compilation producer