Nishlord wrote:

QUOTE:
Taylor wrote:

QUOTE:
I can think of no higher compliment than this: when I went to see him at the Albert Hall, he made a Sting song sound good.

Yeah, that was the one I was at. Hope you didn't hear me roaring when he did My Funny Valentine. Shit, I wish I hadn't lent my copy of Wattstax to my mate, I need that in my life right now.

I always remember the line from Taylor's review:

"Not a hair on his head, and the coolest man in London tonight".

As promised, here's the mix, which should fit on a standard CD-R. If anyone is interested in my hastily banged together musings on Ike, go here.

Tracklisting:
1. (They Long To Be) Close To You (9:06)
2. The Look Of Love (11:11)
3. I Stand Accused (11:32)
4. Walk On By (12:04)
5. Something (11:41)
6. I’m Gonna Make It (11:11)
7. One Big Unhappy Family (5:48)
8. Hyperbolicsyllablicsesquedalymistic (7:29)

Isaac Hayes - Hit Buttered Symphonies

And, yeah, I know, where the fuck is "...Phoenix"? I could've dropped tracks 6 and 8 and to make place for it (keeping in mind the CD-R rule). It's coming separately:

By The Time I Get To Phoenix.mp3

Oh no.

Thanks for that G.Man. Awesome.

Sorry, Wyatt. You don't need to download it, you know.

G-man, you are genuinely too good to us.

Ah man, "Hot Buttered Soul" was the album that soundtracked the early stages of my relationship with Senhora stev9e, she'll be gutted when I tell her.

I'm sure she'll forgive you for that, steveeeeee.

QUOTE:
I can think of no higher compliment than this: when I went to see him at the Albert Hall, he made a Sting song sound good.

In that respect, one might mention another ghost rider in the sky, Johnny Cash, whose version of "I Hung My Head" is so good, nobody would suspect it was written by the Cuntmeister.

Huge glaring omission by the G;

Isaac Hayes - (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Wanna Be Right

And my humble tribute.

Only had time for a 6 song Black Moses tribute before work today:

Walk on By, Look of Love and Never Can Say Goodbye singing, and Hold On, I'm Coming, Soul Man and I'll Run Your Hurt Away as a writer.

If anyone doesn't know the Ruby Johnson version of the latter, they should rectify it immediately, it's stunning.

A very sad loss.

Loved Nishlord's tribute and G-Man is of course right that he shouldn't be remembered as Chef. Much as I like South Park, and some of the Chef songs on it were pretty good, it hurts my soul whe I go into a record shop and Isaac Hayes CDs are stickered with "Chef from South Park" or variations thereof.

Just last night I was watching 'Hustle and Flow' and there was Isaac Hayes playing the bar owner. Thought I'd dig out some of his music to have a listen but didn't get round to it. Must do it now. A sad day but a great legacy.

Thanks G & Nish.

Sad to see him go.

And here's a link to some of his best instrumentals;
http://sharebee.com/2753bf60

Bumpy's Lament
House Of Beauty
Blue's Crib
Walk From Regio's
Early Sunday Morning
Tahoe Spring
A Friend's Place
No Name Bar
Hung Up On My Baby
Kidnapped
Randolph and Dearborn
The Red Rooster
Theme From The Men (live)

Oh cool, Nish. And your tribute to Ike was far better than my rushed hack job.

As for If Loving You Is Wrong, it's far too short to qualify as a symphony, though it could've taken the place of One Big Unhappy Family (a song that breaks my heart every time I hear it). Tell you what is a glaring omission though: Never Can Say Goodbye.

Calling London based journalists! BBC have just asked if I wanted to be interviewed on air about Mr Hayes - I declined.

Any takers? Give me a bell.

Not much to add - didn't quite believe this after Bernie Mac on Saturday but playing 'Black Moses' last night (and for the attn. of the vinyl thread - CDs never give you that totally cool thing where a double album is spread with sides 1 & 4 on one disc and sides 2&3 on the other) it's clear that SR is spot the fuck on about the way Hayes SAW music (and alongside Pharrell I recall Chuck D telling me the exact same thing about how he 'saw' the beginning of 'Night Of The Living Baseheads' before he made it - hip-hop owes Hayes not just so many stolen loops but also that attitude of anything-is-possible-if-you-can-see-it studio sorcery) . The thing with the Bacharach covers is that if you try (as you will) to sing along with the Warwick/Carpenter vocals that are so entrenched in yr skull you find yourself lost & adrift - they're brilliant covers cos he just peels those familiar songs open until you're in a totally different place - and the sheer biteable tactility of the grooves and the spaces and the arrangements are still a textured bliss very very little has ever come close to. Even if you're used to Delfonics/Persuaders/Chilites/Commodores lushness there's something arresting and intense and monomaniacal about Hayes' best work that puts it somewhere beyond.

The version of 'Close To You' on 'Black Moses' is like giving your speakers a deep cleansing wash in a vat of angelspunk. S'incredible.
The way he made that move from Stax hitmaker (and what fucking hits) to total sonic visionary mirrored the similar moves Stevie & Marvin made with/against Motown but Hayes never really got the credit I don't think, praps down to the SouthPark gig. Also - much of what I've read since yesterday has kinda concentrated (understandably) on the run from 'Hot Buttered Soul' through to Wattstax and then just kinda leapfrogged 20 years through to 'Chocolate Salty Balls' - but 'Don't Let Go' from his disco phase is one of the greatest singles he ever did and should be heard by anyone into Prince/Time-style partyfunk. Oh, and if anyone has a link to that demented out-of-tune slo-mo grimy Chosen Few version of 'Theme From Shaft' from Tighten Up Vol.5 they should put it here pronto cos it's ace.