Album: Hot Buttered Soul
Some unique circumstances had to come about for a soul album this daring and experimental to be released in the late Sixties. Isaac Hayes had been a session musician throughout most of the decade up until his first album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, which sold poorly for Stax Records; when the label split with Atlantic Records and lost its back catalogue, it quickly needed new music to release and Hayes eyed a creative opportunity. There was nothing to lose. His brilliant new concept, setting a precedent for soul music's evolution during the 70s, was to mix long instrumentals, wah-wah pedal and a funky bassline with modern pop & country standards. His monologues and interludes would also have an influence on rap music in the 80s and 90s. Though this might be seen as proto-funk, I also see it as progressive soul music.
Soul had to find some way of breaking out of its impasse, and innovators like Sly & The Family Stone and Hayes refined the funk sound pioneered by James Brown, mixing soul with a more carnal groove and elements of psychedelia. The Temptations moved in a similar direction in 1969 with psychedelic soul record, Cloud Nine, though their sound remained quite conservative for the most part. Hayes' version of Jimmy Webb's classic song, By The Time I Get To Phoenix, is one of the most original covers I've heard, he really "interprets" the song and the pay-off after several minutes of monologue is worth waiting for. Unlike this slow build, Walk On By gets going from the outset and has some brilliant ad libbing ("you really put the hurt on me"). The most funky song on the album is Hayes' original composition, Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic, while One Woman feels tame by comparison with the rest of the album, but is still satisfying and soulful, if a little sickly sweet. For years, I had no idea that the bloke who sang Shaft and Chocolate Salty Balls was actually one of the pioneers of funk who breathed new life into a genre when it most needed it.
Artist: Isaac Hayes
Born: Covington, Tennessee
Released: September 1969
Genre: Funk
Influenced: Curtis Mayfield, Funkadelic, Prince, ABC
Soul had to find some way of breaking out of its impasse, and innovators like Sly & The Family Stone and Hayes refined the funk sound pioneered by James Brown, mixing soul with a more carnal groove and elements of psychedelia. The Temptations moved in a similar direction in 1969 with psychedelic soul record, Cloud Nine, though their sound remained quite conservative for the most part. Hayes' version of Jimmy Webb's classic song, By The Time I Get To Phoenix, is one of the most original covers I've heard, he really "interprets" the song and the pay-off after several minutes of monologue is worth waiting for. Unlike this slow build, Walk On By gets going from the outset and has some brilliant ad libbing ("you really put the hurt on me"). The most funky song on the album is Hayes' original composition, Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic, while One Woman feels tame by comparison with the rest of the album, but is still satisfying and soulful, if a little sickly sweet. For years, I had no idea that the bloke who sang Shaft and Chocolate Salty Balls was actually one of the pioneers of funk who breathed new life into a genre when it most needed it.
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