"Black Moses" by ISAAC HAYES – November 1971 US 2LP Set on Enterprise Records and February 1972 UK 2LP set on Stax Records – featuring backing bands The Isaac Hayes Movement and The Bar-Kays with Backing Vocals by Hot Buttered & Soul featuring Pat Lewis and Arrangements by Johnny Allen and Dale Warren (April 2009 UK Universal Music Group/Stax/Concord Music Group, Inc. Deluxe Edition Reissue With Repro Foldout Cross Card Sleeve – 2LPs onto 2CDs - Bob Fisher Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Ike's Rap..."

There was industry discussion in the October 1971 issue of Billboard Magazine as Stax/Enterprise prepped for the release of Isaac Hayes' second double-album "Black Moses" in the same year ("Shaft" had been issued in July 1971). Stax had locked down all promotion of his new November 1971 opus. This was because some DJ had reputedly been offered $300,000 for his Promo Copy with the aim of bootlegging it.

Why would someone offer an A&R employee such a huge amount of cash in 1971?  Because his previous effort "Shaft", as a Movie and 2LP Blaxploitation Soul Music Soundtrack, was massive – an absolute phenomenon and in a way that few had ever seen before. The handsome sex symbol lead actor Richard Roundtree, the bespectacled and impossibly cool musician Isaac Hayes with his beard and bling, the wah wah guitar theme he composed that just slaughtered all in its path worldwide - this bad mother was everywhere. Stax was even then claiming that such was the demand for Isaac’s fourth release, that nearly 40% of copies of "Shaft" in American circulation were bootlegs - gazillions of them.

Few now remember (or even know) that November 1971's "Black Moses" was going to be Isaac Hayes' fifth No. 1 US R&B LP in a row – a feat no one had ever achieved (he would nab another two R&B number one albums in 1974 with "Truck Turner" and the 1976 double "Live At The Sahara Tahoe"). Seven No. 1 R&B albums – wow!

Which brings us via a reissue circuitous route to this 2009 foldout love-in and Remaster for the slightly forgotten "Black Moses" splurge – and tis a wee bit sexy thing too if you ask me. Time to get down brothers and sisters with the man with the plan - Ike's Rap...

UK released 6 April 2009 (24 February 2009 in the USA) - "Black Moses" by ISAAC HAYES on Universal Music Group/Stax/Concord Music Group, Inc.  0888072312388 (Barcode 888072312388) is a Deluxe Edition offering the full 2LP Set Remastered onto 2CDs with repro foldout cross packaging (like the original vinyl double-album) and plays out as follows:

CD1 (50:06 minutes):

1. Never Can Say Goodbye [Side 1]

2. (They Long To Be) Close To You

3. Nothing Takes The Place Of You 

4. Man's Temptation

5. Part-Time Love [Side 4]

6. Medley: Ike's Rap IV/A Brand New Me

7. Going In Circles

CD2 (43:36 minutes):

1. Never Gonna Give You Up [Side 2]

2. Medley: Ike's Rap II/Help Me Love

3. Need To Belong To Someone

4. Good Love 6-9969

5. Ike's Rap III/Your Love Is So Doggone Good [Side 3]

6. For The Good Times

7. I'll Never Fall In Love Again

The studio double-album "Black Moses" was released 15 November 1971 in the USA on Enterprise ENS-5003 and February 1972 in the UK on Stax 2628 004. Produced by ISAAC HAYES and featuring THE BAR KAYS, THE ISAAC HAYES MOVEMENT and HOT BUTTERED & SOUL as backing bands – the double-album peaked at No. 1 on the US R&B charts (entered 18 December 1971), No. 10 on the Pop LP Charts (entered 11 December 1971) with a No. 38 placing on the UK LP charts in February 1972. CD1 contains Sides 1 and 4 while CD2 contains Sides 2 and 3, aping how the original American LPs were issued.

The first thing that hits you is the packaging – aping for the first time since its 1971 US release - the huge foldout cross with Isaac looking like a Bedouin preacher asking for rain in the desert. The story by Chester Higgins of Jet Magazine that was done in ye old Biblical style typeface across the inside of the cover is present and accounted for too, "...And so it came to pass that 28 years ago Isaac (Black Moses) Hayes was born in the town of Covington, Tenn., a snoozing little hamlet... " Yeah brother.

Once unfolded, three flaps at the end of the cross house the two CDs and 12-page booklet. I have to say though that once out of its shrinkwrap – the thing is a bit of a beast to handle or get back into a shape that doesn't easily crumple. The 12-page colour booklet is a pleasingly in-depth affair with November 2008 liner notes from ROB BOWMAN, author of the acclaimed label tome "Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story Of Stax Records". There are three black and white photos of our hero in full-on pimpmobile dude attire complete with fur coats, glasses and bling - while the final more humble shot shows Ike at an organ in a record store surrounded by admiring brothers. The snap of Ike outside Soulsville USA studios is so damn cool – stripped trousers and all. A good read then and despite its unwieldy nature, I love that packaging.

The ROB FISHER 24-Bit Remaster was done at Pacific Multimedia and really lifts the splurge of cover versions – all that Dolby Systems production full and punchy as Hell. While "Shaft" was famous for its legendary Funky theme song, like its predecessor, "Black Moses" is surprising mellow throughout – a seducer really.

The musical landscape of this sprawling double album is a veritable river of f cover versions with five bits of new material amidst its sixteen tracks. Hayes does contemporary songwriters like the Bacharach and David classic "(They Long To Be) Close To You" made a monster number one Billboard smash by The Carpenters and the Kris Kristofferson love song "For The Good Times" from his 1970 debut album on Monument made a Country No. 1 single in 1970 by Ray Price - to older R&B and Soul heroes like Toussaint McCall and his 1967 Ronn Records hit "Nothing Takes The Place Of You", the Curtis Mayfield B-side gifted to Gene Chandler in 1963 on Vee Jay Records "Man's Temptation" and another from 1963, the Clay Hammond song "Part-Time Love" recorded by Little Johnnie Taylor.

Soul legends Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Jerry Butler had written "Never Give You Up (Never Gonna Give You Up)" for Shirley & The Shirelles on Bell Records in 1969 – here Ike calls it simply "Never Gonna Give You Up". He preambles his own "Ike's Rap II" into a two-song medley attaching it to the Luther Ingram, Johnny Baylor, Tommy Tate and Mickey Gregory song "Help Me Love". Ingram would eventually do his own version of "Help Me Love" on his fabulous album "If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want To Be Right" issued October 1972. It was in turn coupled with "Always" (as the A-side) from the same LP and released as a KoKo Records 45 in February 1973.

The covers keep coming. After his own "Ike's Rap III" – Hayes tagged on a Whispers song called "Your Love Is So Doggone Good" – a tune that was a current May 1971 hit while the Movement was recording "Black Moses". Hayes then dipped backwards to "Going In Circles" – a No. 15 Billboard Pop hit for The Friends Of Distinction in October 1969 on RCA Victor Records. And for the final song, he slinked into a deadringer to his style of Soul-ifying easy listening pop songs – the Bacharach and David smash "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" made immortal by Dionne Warwick in 1970.

It's a lurve-thing baby. I guess you could say that in June 2020, this relic of Soul Music's flashier history is a bedroom swinger that's past its woke sell-by-date. But I love it and the Audio on this has only made me want to rant and rave about the deep-voiced one.

Chester Higgins finishes his "Black Moses" liner notes on the original double-album by saying, "...Black Moses of the famous "Memphis Sound" is indeed a soulful prophet of the Chosen People, a willing servant of the Lord, and one helluva entertaining genius, to boot..." Well, on the renewed evidence presented here – you have to say that da Higster had a point...

"Shaft" (Music From The Soundtrack) by ISAAC HAYES – 23 July 1971 US 2LP Set on Enterprise Records and November 1971 UK 2LP set on Stax Records – featuring Backing Bands The Bar-Kays, The Isaac Hayes Movement, The Memphis Strings and Horns with Arrangements by Johnny Allen and J.J. Johnson and backing Singers Pat Lewis, Rose Williams and Telma Hopkins (3 November 2009 USA (25 January 2010 UK) Stax/Concord Music Group Deluxe Edition Reissue – 2LPs onto 1CD with One Bonus Track - Bob Fisher Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Damn Right!"

There was industry discussion in the October 1971 issue of Billboard Magazine as Stax/Enterprise prepped for the release of Isaac Hayes' second double-album "Black Moses" in the same year ("Shaft" had been issued in July 1971) – that they had locked down all promotion of his new opus. This was because some DJ had reputedly been offered $300,000 for his Promo Copy with the aim of bootlegging it.

Why would someone offer an A&R employee such a huge amount of cash in 1971?  Because his previous effort "Shaft" as a Movie, as a 2LP Blaxploitation Soul Music Soundtrack was MASSIVE – an absolute phenomenon and in a way that few had ever seen before. The handsome sex symbol lead actor Richard Roundtree, the bespectacled and impossibly cool musician Isaac Hayes with his beard and bling, the wah wah guitar theme he composed that just slaughtered all in its path worldwide - this bad mother was everywhere. Stax was even then claiming that such was the demand for Isaac’s fourth release, that nearly 40% of copies of "Shaft" in American circulation were bootlegs - gazillions of them.

Few now remember (or even know) that December 1971's "Black Moses" was going to be Isaac Hayes' fifth No. 1 US R&B LP in a row – a feat no one had ever achieved (he would achieve another 2 R&B number ones in 1974 with "Truck Turner" and the 1976 live double "Live At The Sahara Tahoe"). Seven No. 1 R&B albums – wow! But it's "Shaft" that has a special place in fan's hearts - which brings us to this (problematic for some) CD Remaster (issued November 2009 in the USA and January 2010 in The UK and Europe).

I'm going to argue that until 2021 (next year) when a '50th Anniversary Edition' must surely be looming – this 2009/2010 incarnation is about the best way so far to get the double on digital. There have been bitter diatribes about the BOB FISHER sound on this 2009 Concord Music Group Remaster but apart from some lack of punch on the Bass, I'm struggling to hear why anyone is complaining. I love what I'm hearing. The drums are clear and those brass and string parts are mellow and punchy - the organ fills too. The 2009 Mix of the famous title song is a tad superfluous as a supposed bonus - especially when we don't get the way more desirable and important single edits of "Shaft", "Cafe Regio's" or "Do You Thing" - two of which would easily have squeezed on here. Still, time to deal with what we do have. Let's get damn right...

UK released 25 January 2010 (3 November 2009 in the USA) - "Shaft: Deluxe Edition" by ISAAC HAYES on Universal/Stax/Concord Music Group 0888072317512 (Barcode 888072317512) is a Deluxe Edition offering the full 'Music From The Soundtrack' 2LP set Remastered onto 1 CD with One Bonus Track. It plays out as follows (74:33 minutes):

1. Theme From Shaft (Vocal) [Side 1]

2. Bumpy's Lament

3. Walk From Regio's

4. Ellie's Love Theme

5. Shaft's Cab Ride

7. Café Regio's [Side 2]

8. Early Sunday Morning

9. Be Yourself

10. A Friend's Place

11. Soulsville (Vocal) [Side 3]

12. No Name Bar

13. Bumpy's Blues

14. Do Your Thing [Side 4]

15. The End Theme

Tracks 1 to 15 are the double-album "Shaft" - released 23 July 1971 in the USA on Enterprise ENS-2-5002 and November 1971 in the UK on Stax 2659 007. Produced by ISAAC HAYES and featuring THE BAR KAYS and THE MOVEMENT as the backing band – the Music From The Soundtrack 2LP set peaked at No. 1 in both countries.

BONUS TRACK:

16. Theme From Shaft (2009 Mix, 4:45 minutes)

The 20-page booklet is a pleasingly in-depth affair with August 2009 liner notes from ASHLEY KHAN, author of "A Love Supreme: The Story Of John Coltrane's Signature Album". There are photos of rare picture sleeves, Isaac with his Grandmother at the 1972 Academy Awards, him and actor Richard Roundtree looking like the men of the moment, Isaac with backing band The Bar-Kays, members of his own band The Movement and more photos from the Stax archives along with the usual recordings/reissue credits. 

The ROB FISHER Remaster was done at Pacific Multimedia and really lifts the material - shaking tambourine on the instrumental "Cafe Regio's" (an edit of this song was the B-side of the "Shaft" single in September 1971), the slinky Burt Bacharach sounding brass on "Early Sunday Morning" (high-hat taps clear too) and so much more. For sure the Bass feels a tad muffled down but I don't hate it as much as some seem too.  

For an album that's so associated with the chicka-chicka wah-wah guitar of its theme song, "Shaft" the double-album is surprising mellow throughout. The near two-minutes of the sexy instrumental "Bumpy's Lament" is followed by the Funky Brass and Percussion 2:24 minutes of the superb "Walk From Regio's" where you can literally see our hero walking the dude streets with a per in his step and a glide in his stride (oh stop it). There is gorgeous sound on the vibes smooch of "Ellie's Love Theme" - and those brass and strings melting on "Early Sunday Morning" as the high-hat taps time.

The brass pump-and-punch of "Be Yourself" sounds like a 1976 Disco anthem only five years before anyone knew the word (nice clarity on the Sax solo too). Back to yeah baby turn-out-the-lights smooch with "A Friend's Place" - the instrumentation being ever so slightly fragmented in the sound stage (one too up front, the other too far back) - but that's how I remember it was on the original vinyl. Now to one of my faves - the keyboard and vocal "Soulsville" talks about brothers getting high and strung out and finding out that they can get high but never touch the sky. The audio is gorgeous and makes you wish he sang more on the album (a bummer is that the three ladies who add so much to the backing vocals - Pat Lewis, Rose Williams and Telma Hopkins are not credited in the musicians list - a stupid oversight).

There is that big chunky piano that opens up the smooth "Bumpy's Blues" - lovely brass and drums - so clear now. And on it goes to the monster that is the 19:28 minutes of "Do Your Thing" - if the music makes you groove - love on baby. Fantastic to hear it sound this good. Rap On. The 2009 Mix of "Theme from Shaft" is given a drummer's count in before that distinctive wah-wah guitar smacks you. The problem here is that you can 'feel' the manipulation of mix - some of it too far back while the rest is too loud. Like I said, I can't help that NOT including the single edit of the mighty "Do Your Thing" was a mistake.

So this supposed Deluxe Edition of 1971's "Shaft" it's not perfect for sure, but I still think it sounds awesome in so many places, and doesn't come with an aircraft-carrier price tag. Until the next best folks, rap on... 

"Hot Buttered Soul" by ISAAC HAYES (August 2009 Universal/Stax 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue – Bob Fisher 24-Bit Digital Remaster) - A Review of his 1969 US Masterpiece by Mark Barry...

 

"...You Socked It To Me!"

Not 30, not 40 - but 50 years old! Can the full-on sexpot that is "Hot Buttered Soul" really be the big fifty in 2019 – God Gawd y’all!

In July 1969, I was a spotty Dublin kid approaching eleven years of age that September and quickly assimilating all the blast furnace music changes emanating from both the UK and USA. Rock, Pop, Psych, Prog, Blues-Rock, Folk-Rock - I chewed it all up. Kind of with it for the times or at least the older lads around me who did all the advising were.

So one of my earliest memories was seeing the LP sleeve for Isaac Hayes’ second platter in a Dublin record shop window (probably Spring 1970) - a big bald black head, sunglasses and gold chains. People gawked at it – old biddies suspected it was rude and salacious but not sure how and quickly went by in a sort of cloudy catholic huff. Me - I'd never seen anything so damn cool.

My school-pal's bigger brother told me about the 'mistic' grooves contained within (courtesy of Stax's blistering backing band, The Bar Kays) and advised me to ask the rock dude in the shop to maybe play a slice (the bugger wouldn't). But it stuck with me. That Summer as I recall, I was back at his place and there it was on the Garrard – a secondhand copy with that yellow label grooving through "Hyper-unpronounceable" and then flipping over to the huge string section in the second half of the near 19-minute "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". And I was hooked.

We now know that over at Motown, Norman Whitfield and his like-minded musical cohorts were moving away from boy-gets-girl 3-minute love-ins and channelling something more serious, more socially conscious and dare we say - sexually expansive. They had The Temptations and The Four Tops opening up to spectacular effect – beginning that process – and the Rare Earth label beginning to take shape too. But with "Hot Buttered Soul" and its four uncompromising slabs of longevity, Isaac Hayes seemed to join up the loverman and psychedelic Soul dots for Stax Records faster than Marvin Gaye or Barry White or anyone else for that matter. And the man looked and sounded amazing too – yeah baby. Let's get to the hyperbolic details...

UK released August 2009 - "Hot Buttered Soul" by ISAAC HAYES on Universal/Stax 0888072314580 (Barcode 888072314580) is an 'Expanded Edition' 24-Bit CD Remaster with Two Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (56:39 minutes):

1. Walk On By [12:03 minutes] - Side 1

2. Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic [9:39 minutes]

3. One Woman [5:11 minutes] - Side 2

4. By The Time I Get To Phoenix [18:42 minutes]

Tracks 1 to 4 are his second studio album "Hot Buttered Soul" – released July 1969 in the USA on Enterprise Records ENS-1001 and January 1970 in the UK on Stax SXATS 1028. Produced by AL BELL, MARVELL THOMAS and ALLEN JONES - it peaked at No. 1 on the US R&B LP charts and No.8 on the US Pop LP charts

BONUS TRACKS:

5. Walk On By (Single Edit, 4:33 minutes)

6. By The Time I Get To Phoenix (Single Edit, 6:57 minutes)

Tracks 6 and 5 (note order) are the A&B-sides of a US 7" single released July 1969 on Enterprise ENA-9003 and October 1969 UK 45 on Stax Records STAX 133 with the sides reverse ("Walk On By" as the A)

The 12-page colour booklet sports typically informative and affectionate liner notes from long-time R&B and Soul writer BILL DAHL including archived interviews with one of the LP's principal producers Marvell Thomas (other contributors include Audio Engineers Terry Manning, Ed Wolfrum, Ralph and Russ Terrana). There's a few photos of the main man including a colour centre-spread shot of him receiving another Gold Disc from some label lady - her grin equalling his period sassy clothes (dig the duds baby). But the big news is a 24-bit Remaster by BOB FISHER at Pacific Multimedia and its sounds so good. The fuzz guitar solo on "Walk On By" – his voice to the fore – the string arrangements as they kick in – all are really good. For sure the age of the tapes and the speed at which the album was put down shows in some severe separating – but it’s a lively remaster – air around all of it – allowed to breathe. Let's get to the music...

The stories that surround this record are legend. Stax and Enterprise Records Producer Al Bell is on a plane to Jamaica and apparently sees an advert in an inflight mag about some sexy ‘hot buttered rum’ that awaits him when he lands. And the canny boy thinks – um – with a bit of word switch-er-roo – there’s an even sexier album title. Written by Jimmy Webb and of course made a huge hit by Glen Campbell over on Capitol Records, Hayes was more than enamoured with how Campbell arranged the song and had already begun to unravel it at live shows, practising and honing his spoken monologue before the groove kicked in. But in the studio as they recorded nineteen minutes of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" – Hayes pressing down one organ note and rapping the story intro – drummer Willie Hall had only a cymbal to tap (ding ding) and keep time. But nearly 10 minutes in and piano-player Marvell Thomas sees him catch his eye – something’s wrong. Hall the Drummer has cramp, so up pops Thomas, takes the stick and apparently without missing a beat, takes over while allowing Willie Hall to massage his hurting arm back to playing shape. Didn’t miss a beat and its on the tape!

The band was the re-made Bar Kays (after the fatal plane crash that killed most of them and Otis Redding) – with original member JAMES ALEXANDER on Bass, newcomers MICHAEL TOLES on Guitar and WILLIE HALL on Drums. Isaac of course sang and played organ/piano with co-producer MARVELL THOMAS also contributing piano. The three backing singers were Saxophonist CHARLIE CHALMERS, his soon to be wife SANDRA RHODES and her sister Donna. In fact it was Charlie Chalmers and Sandra Rhodes who gifted the lovely yet sensual "One Woman" to the sessions. It had already be covered by Al Green on his "Green Is Blues" LP and issued in June 1969 (a month before the HBS LP hit the shops) as a Hi Records 45 for Green (Hi 2164). The fourth tune is a 34-character long tune about bravado and hubris called "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" which itself is a misspelling on the artwork – the mistic should read nistic – as sung by the trio throughout its funky bass-driven groove.

Revolutionary for the day, I would agree however with many critics who regularly throw up the word indulgence as being one of the albums downfalls. Both the centrepieces – a cover of the Bacharach/David song "Walk On By" (made a hit by Dionne Warwick in 1964 on Scepter records) and the cover of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" (already discussed) seriously test your patience in 2019. In fact I’ve often edited on computer "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" to play from after 09:30 minutes to the end to avoid the monologue. And the single edits possibly only go to proving their argument. But that doesn’t stop the whole LP from feeling like magnificence to me – a record that is and was artistically pushing it when so many would have played safe.

"Hot Buttered Soul" is obviously of its time – but man what a time it was. And to think that it still sounds sexy a full 50 years after the event is ample testament to its seductive brilliance. Take it for what it is brother, but take it – damn right!