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Class 6(66)

Isaac Hayes: Hot buttered soul

27/08/08  ||  Daemonomania

Released: 1969

Introduction

Yes, I know this album is not metal. But I’ll be goddamned if the late great Mr. Hayes didn’t walk around in a chainmail outfit and call himself Black Moses, which is not only the subject of a Vader song but also sounds pretty damn metal to me. “Hot buttered soul” is a classic, despite a minimum of double bass drumming and growled vocals. This potent mix of soul, funk, and jazz resonates to this day.

Songwriting

9. Hayes really broke the “soul/R&B” formula here, which was that you made songs under three minutes and they got on the radio and you raked in the dough. He wanted complete creative control, and damn did he get it. Only one of the three songs is actually his originally, but he takes little ditties like “Walk on by” and turns them into EPIC fucking EPICS. Epic I say! Seriously, you can almost hear the sounds of battle in the background ala Amon Amarth. Three of eight songs are around or over the 10 minute mark. This is like a soul version of funeral doom. Which, by the way, needs to be worked upon by someone ASAP despite the contradictions implied therein.

Production

10. I don’t know if I have some sort of a remastered version, but this album sounds perfect. The orchestra swells, the bass thumps, and the backup singers take just the right amount of backseat to Mr. Smooth himself. An excellent job. Apparently a lot of the different stuff like the horns, vocals, etc. were recorded in different times at different places, which was a big deal at the time. Also, delayed reverb was used frequently, which was also the cat’s P.J.s back in the day.

Guitars

7. Everything besides vocals and keyboards (Hayes himself) was done by the Bar-Kays, who had been Otis Redding’s backing band and released a bunch of their own shit as well. To this day, biatch. Though a bunch of them perished with Redding in a plane crash two years prior, they re-recruited, got their shit together, and did an amazing job serving as Hayes’ muse and generally funktastic psychedelic backing band numero uno. In metal, people expire by committing suicide. In classic rock/R&B, you bought it in a plane crash. Both are quite “morbid ways to die,” and Grave would approve.

Anyway, the guitars are not a primary instrument here, but they do get spotlight on “Walk on by,” with a gritty distortion that sounds a lot like early Parliament, and the wah attack on “Hyperbolapepsicola” is very nifty, and will be discussed further. In “By the time I get to Phoenix,” the poor dude just has to play the same thing over and over again while Hayes talks about who wrote the song, and how this hardworking dude’s woman cheated on him, and how it hurt him, REAL BAD.

Vocals

10. I would have given them a 10.5 if it weren’t for his overly long spoken word intro to “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” which, while a source of unintended hilarity, doesn’t really count as singing. Isaac Hayes has one hell of a smooth voice, but he can convey a great amount of emotion. That’s where I’d separate him from Barry White, to whom Hayes was frequently compared. White’s voice says, “I wanna put it in your butt, baby!” Hayes’ says, “I’m hurtin’ cuz I can’t handle all these different ladies whose butt I am violatin’, baby”. Just listen to “Walk on by,” and hear his voice come in quiet, build in strength, and exude pure pain and regret.

Bass

9. The bass kicks nine kinds of ass in “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic,” and coupled with a nice wah guitar you got a sound for kung fu choppin some shut yo mouth mama-jammas circa 1970. All of the instrumentation by the Bar-Kays is spot on.

Drums

7. While not really a focus, the drums do get a chance to shine at the end of “Walk on by.” The dude plays a shuffling little pattern that sticks right in your head, and the song fades out. Ice cold.

Lyrics

4. Since most of this stuff was written by someone else, it is hard to give “Hot buttered soul” a great score in the lyrics department. The one tune that he did write, “Hypodermicanalistic” is pretty fuckin funny, with lines like My gastronomical stupensity is really satisfied when you’re loving me – a mish-mash of sweet loving and medical terms. Sounds like a romantic Carcass! He sings everyone else’s songs with some serious feeling, that is fo sho. The lyrics to “One woman” are delicious two-timing cheese.

Cover art

9. The man himself – signature baldness, sunglasses, and gold chain. I drew this album cover almost perfectly at about 4AM on a brutal Spring Break road trip down to Miami, but more about that will be explained in the booklet section.

Logo

2. The font is cool. It is underlined. It is brownish. However, I don’t see a muscular arm clutching a trident and driving it into Christ’s neck anywhere, so a 2 it is.

Booklet

10. Yes, I know that it is actually very sparse, and not deserving of a ten by any means. But I used it to smuggle a massive amount of drugs for personal consumption many years ago, so it shall always hold a special place in my heart. You can still see various stains, burns, and debris on ole Isaac’s shiny dome.

Overall and ending rant

10. For the time period, “Hot buttered soul” was a big deal, and still showcases the tremendous creativity and freedom Hayes was allowed to realize his vision. He was a big part of Stax Records, and when the label went through some tough times (lost their back catalogue, and Otis Redding’s early landing) he was encouraged by the head on the label to go crazy and get some new tunes out there. Amongst all the output from all of the other artists on Stax who were urged to record at the time, this one did the best. It has been sampled left right and center. Pick it up, get in a relaxed frame of mind, and let the power of the recently passed Isaac Hayes manifest itself around you. This is a great way to visit the late ‘60’s/early ‘70’s without all that expensive and dangerous time travel.

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