Issac Hayes
Isaac Hayes, ‘Hot Buttered Soul’, 1969. A classic. Four tunes. Extended grooves. The Bar-Kays providing the rhythm. Strings and horns add sophisticated lushness. Hayes was the main producer at Stax records so knew how to record music. By 1969 the world had gotten heavy, man. This isn’t Otis-Redding-in-a-suit fare. It’s Soul, baby, but funky and trippy. Hayes had complete control over the project, playing Hammond organ and singing live. ‘Walk On By’ is slow and bluesy with rock guitar lines, transforming the original over 12 minutes of slinkiness. ‘Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic’ channels wah-wah and coming on strong like a Funkadelic sex machine. I always think of Huggy Bear in ‘Starsky & Hutch’. ‘One Woman’ is slow balladry with piano and Hayes’ deep baritone dripping honey-sweet with lurve. The main event is ‘By The Time I Get to Phoenix’. 19 minutes of slow brooding atmosphere. The first eight minutes is Isaac talking and telling a tale of love and a broken heart over a Hammond drone. Then the song floats in, building slowly, gradually rising and rising before eventually fading away with a single Hammond chord. Intense.
Issac Hayes
Isaac Hayes, ‘Hot Buttered Soul’, 1969. A classic. Four tunes. Extended grooves. The Bar-Kays providing the rhythm. Strings and horns add sophisticated lushness. Hayes was the main producer at Stax records so knew how to record music. By 1969 the world had gotten heavy, man. This isn’t Otis-Redding-in-a-suit fare. It’s Soul, baby, but funky and trippy. Hayes had complete control over the project, playing Hammond organ and singing live. ‘Walk On By’ is slow and bluesy with rock guitar lines, transforming the original over 12 minutes of slinkiness. ‘Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic’ channels wah-wah and coming on strong like a Funkadelic sex machine. I always think of Huggy Bear in ‘Starsky & Hutch’. ‘One Woman’ is slow balladry with piano and Hayes’ deep baritone dripping honey-sweet with lurve. The main event is ‘By The Time I Get to Phoenix’. 19 minutes of slow brooding atmosphere. The first eight minutes is Isaac talking and telling a tale of love and a broken heart over a Hammond drone. Then the song floats in, building slowly, gradually rising and rising before eventually fading away with a single Hammond chord. Intense.