Isaac Hayes – Black Moses (1971/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:33:40 minutes | 3,66 GB | Genre: R&B
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Stax
Stax Records, a division of Concord Bicycle Music, is proud to announce the remastering and reissue of 12 seminal titles by soul music icon Isaac Hayes. The collection, which includes Hayes’ best-loved studio albums, soundtracks and live recordings, spanning 1969 – 1976, was remastered entirely from the original analog tapes. 11 of these albums, including Shaft, Black Moses and Hot Buttered Soul, are now available in 192/24 and 96/24 hi resolution audio formats, while all 12 of the titles have been Mastered For iTunes, and can be found on Isaac Hayes’ new iTunes artist page. Hi-res formats will be available on HDTracks.
Award-winning engineer Dave Cooley (M83, J-Dilla, Madlib, Serge Gainsbourg, Jimmy Eat World) was commissioned to take on the project at his Los Angeles-based studio, Elysian Masters. Cooley explains, “Every effort was undertaken to retain both the original production team’s intent, and the most natural and truthful spatial imaging of Isaac’s voice and instrumentation.” He adds, “For the first time you can plainly hear details as small as the subtle coloration variations between the original studio setups and tape formulations from album to album. There’s renewed resolution around instruments. But you can also dive into the zoned-out atmospherics, and listen comfortably for hours as an entire body of work.” Cooley’s meticulous work has breathed new life into these classic tracks; his enthusiasm for the project palpable. He recalls, “There was an immense pressure to get it right. Having grown up transcribing the very piano licks and grooves that were sampled by such hip hop luminaries as Public Enemy and others, I was well acquainted with Isaac’s legacy as a revolutionary enigma spanning multiple generations. Remastering the catalog was a call to re-ignite that with even more transparency and a deeper pulse for the next group of listeners.”
GRAMMY® and Academy Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and actor Isaac Hayes (1942-2008) revolutionized soul music, experimenting with extended cuts, orchestration and concept albums during the era of 3-minute, radio-driven tracks. Hayes began his career as a songwriter and producer at Stax Records, working with partner David Porter on such iconic hits as Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man” and “Hold On! I’m Comin’.” In 1968, Hayes branched out on his own with Presenting Isaac Hayes, but it wasn’t until his follow-up a year later, Hot Buttered Soul, that the artist became a genuine star in his own right, breaking ground with his deep baritone vocals and signature sonic explorations that could take up the entire side of a record. In 1971, Hayes scored Blaxploitation film Shaft; the title theme of which went number one the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and earned the artist an Academy Award and multiple GRAMMY® awards. Later that year, he released his critically-acclaimed double album, Black Moses. Hayes continued to write and record throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s, scoring several more films, and continuing to push himself artistically. In 1997, the artist gained a new generation of fans as he voiced the character of Chef on the long-running cartoon series South Park. Nearly a decade after his death, Isaac Hayes’ legacy as a multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, writer, and artist continues to inspire and influence new listeners.
The sheer tenacity — albeit undeniably fitting — of this double-disc set has made Black Moses (1971) one of Isaac Hayes’ most revered and best-known works. The multi-instrumental singer/songwriter and producer had been a central figure in the Memphis soul music revolution of the mid-’60s. Along with Booker T. & the MG’s, Hayes wrote and performed on more Stax sides than any other single artist. By the time of this release — his fifth overall, and first two-record set — Hayes had firmly established himself as a progressive soul artist. His stretched-out and well-developed R&B jams, as well as his husky-voiced sexy spoken “raps,” became key components in his signature sound. Black Moses not only incorporates those leitmotifs, but also reaffirms Hayes abilities as an unmistakably original arranger. Although a majority of the album consists of cover material, all the scores have been reconfigured and adapted in such a fundamental way that, for some listeners, these renditions serve as definitive. This is certainly true of the extended reworkings of Jerry Butler’s “Brand New Me” and Esther Phillips’ “You’re Love Is So Doggone Good” — both of which are prefaced by the spoken prelude to coitus found in each respective installment of “Ike’s Rap.” The pair of Curtis Mayfield tunes — “Man’s Temptation” and “Need to Belong to Someone” — are also worth noting for the layers of tastefully scored orchestration — from both Hayes and his longtime associate Johnny Allen. The pair’s efforts remain fresh and discerning, rather than the dated ersatz strings and horn sections that imitators were glutting the soul and pop charts and airwaves with in the mid-’70s. Hayes’ own composition, “Good Love,” recalls the upbeat and jive talkin’ “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic” from Hot Buttered Soul (1969), adding some spicy and sexy double-entendre in the chorus. –AllMusic Review by Lindsay Planer
Tracklist:
01. Isaac Hayes – Never Can Say Goodbye (05:09)
02. Isaac Hayes – (They Long To Be) Close To You (09:04)
03. Isaac Hayes – Nothing Takes The Place Of You (05:31)
04. Isaac Hayes – Man’s Temptation (05:01)
05. Isaac Hayes – Part-Time Love (08:34)
06. Isaac Hayes – Medley: Ike’s Rap IV / A Brand New Me (09:42)
07. Isaac Hayes – Going In Circles (07:00)
08. Isaac Hayes – Never Gonna Give You Up (05:49)
09. Isaac Hayes – Medley: Ike’s Rap II / Help Me Love (07:33)
10. Isaac Hayes – Need To Belong To Someone (05:16)
11. Isaac Hayes – Good Love 6-9969 (05:17)
12. Isaac Hayes – Medley: Ike’s Rap III / Your Love Is So Doggone Good (09:19)
13. Isaac Hayes – For The Good Times (05:22)
14. Isaac Hayes – I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (04:56)
