Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

  This was  Isaac Hayes ' first album and was recorded, apparently, to appease the head of  Stax Records . Hayes had previously been a major songwriter for the label.  I am not sure why he was put under pressure to record the album, but he was, and, together with three members of Booker T. & The MGs, they cobbled together an album. In doing so, Hayes almost inadvertently developed the style of recording extended, slow soul versions of existing songs, upon which he would base his solo career over the next ten years or so. It was a five track album, again something that would become the norm for Hayes. Stylistically, though, this was very much a jazz album, as opposed to a soul one. Jazz piano is the dominant sound.  Precious, Precious  was initially recorded as a nineteen-minute piano-driven jazzy jam and was dramatically edited down to two minutes forty-two seconds for the album. It is basically some jazzy piano lines and some grunting, groaning vocal improvisations from Hayes.

  This was  Isaac Hayes ' second album. His first,  Presenting Isaac Hayes  had not been much of a success and, apparently, he demanded free rein from  Stax Records  to do what he wanted on this album. He sure did that.  In 1969, albums featuring only four tracks of lengthy soul workouts were not exactly  de riguer . In so many ways, this album blazed a new trail.  Barry White  was still four years away from doing similar  material. The album showed that soul could be coal-mine deep, drawn-out, dramatic, funky and passionate. Hayes suddenly had a new persona - the cool, growling-voiced but sensuous loverman. Soul music changed with this release, not as obviously as with  What's Going On  or  Curtis  - maybe, in that it carried no social message - but certainly stylistically.  Walk On By  is Isaac's take on the song made famous by  Dionne Warwick . This ain't nothin' like that, brother. It is a slow burning, slow building, smoocher of a groove that features, as well

Coming not long after the unique, ground-breaking four-track album that was  Hot Buttered Soul ,  Isaac Hayes  released another one. It was similarly impressive. He had really hit on something here. He was taking soul music to another level.  I Stand Accused  has a long, spoken intro before Hayes eventually breaks out into the song. Keen listeners will recognise some of the spoken lyrics as those used by  UB40  on  Guilty  on their 1983  Labour Of Love  album. When the song arrives, Hayes's soulful vocal lifts it so high. Beautiful stuff. Classic soul right there. You better believe it, brother.   The cynically-titled  One Big Unhappy Family   is a big,  Stax -y soul number with a yearning, heart-broken vocal from Hayes.  Dusty Springfield 's  I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself  is a dignified, soulful rendition. Again, the vocal is excellent, as, of course, is the backing from  The Bar-Kays .  George Harrison 's  Something  is given a quirky makeover, with some n

  This was  Isaac Hayes 's fourth studio album It followed again what was now a familiar path of lengthy soul workouts over sumptuous backing provided by the immaculate  Bar-Kays .  It was now the thing to do for Isaac Hayes - to issue soul albums with just a few long tracks on them. It really was ground-breaking. Nobody else was doing such a thing. Even The Undisputed Truth had a few shorter tracks alongside their epic numbers.  Ike's Rap 1/Our Day Will Come   is a low-key spoken "rap", in which Isaac talks quietly over a subtle keyboard, bass, strings and drum backing. It merges into the slow grace of  Our Day Will Come . It is a slow-paced, smooth soul ballad with a deep, intense vocal. It finishes with a lovely bass-driven instrumental part.   The eleven minute cover of  Bacharach-David 's  The Look Of Love  is just glorious. Backed with wonderful strings and horns, it is packed with classic soul atmosphere. Once more, Hayes's vocal is seriously underrated

  This is the best known of several "Blaxploitation" movie soundtracks from the early-mid seventies and, despite its emphasis, particularly at the beginning of the album, on some mainly short-ish instrumental interludes from the movie, they are very good ones. So much so that they never really feel like background music. The instrumentation and musicianship from  The Bar-Kays , under the direction of Hayes, is top notch and the sound quality excellent.  The good thing about this album is that whereas some soundtrack albums are often not an easy listen without the movie to watch at the same time, this one has the music standing alone. You find that you can listen to it quite easily, treating it as an instrumental album. It was initially released as a double album and despite its lack of vocal tracks, proved a good seller. Listening to it, you can understand why. It is a truly excellent piece of work. Everyone surely knows the opening  Theme From Shaft   by now, full of funk, t

  After the extended soul grooves, often of easy listening or other soul standards, on  Hot Buttered Soul  and  ...To Be Continued , and the iconic movie soundtrack  Shaft ,  Isaac Hayes  gave us this, his first double album.  Basically, it was more of the same - lengthy, seductive soulful workouts immaculately played by  The Bar-Kays  and topped off with Hayes's deep, but honeyed vocals.  The album is full of serious soul and funk. It doesn't have the social message of Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield's material, or that of The Temptations or The Undisputed Truth, for that matter. What it has is love - big, late-night love. Without this as an inspiration, would there have been any Barry White sensual, semi-spoken "lay down on the couch, honey" numbers? Hayes wrote the book of "loverman" cliches with this.  That is not to say that it is not seriously soulful, though. It is chock full of deep soul.   Regarding its cultural effect - this was a soul artist pu

  Isaac Hayes  started the early seventies trend for lengthy, smoochy, late-night soul workouts that was continued by  Barry White . Hayes often took established classics, either soul songs or easy-listening  Burt Bacharach-Hal David  numbers, slowing them down and giving them the whole orchestrated soul treatment.  By 1973, he had released four albums in this style (not counting his debut or the  Shaft  soundtrack). This would be the last one specifically like this (only five tracks). Later ones would see a few more tracks per album and lengths of around six minutes as opposed to twelve, fifteen or eighteen. By 1977, Hayes had caught on to the disco thang, man. So, this is the sort of end of a mini-era. Notably, there are no covers on here, they are all Hayes originals. Deep, seductive soul is the order of the day, too, as opposed to dramatic, orchestrated numbers. Special mention goes out for the gold chain string vest as modelled on the rear cover. Did he really think that was a coo

  A brief shout out here for another fine Hayes movie soundtrack album -  this one  from 1974. If anything, in places it is deeper and funkier than Shaft.   Its h ighlights are the funky  Title Theme ,  Hung Up On My Baby ,  Randolph & Dearborn  and  Run Fay Run . It is certainly worth the occasional listen, but it is not essential.  The music is all produced by Hayes, unsurprisingly, and is impressively played by his band, The Movement, ably assisted by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, who give us all those instantly recognisable Blaxploitation strings.  Hayes could lay down a killer soundtrack in the mid-seventies, that was for sure.

A ”comeback” album some twenty-five years or so after his recording peak, this is a nice mix of funk and "let’s get it on baby" seduction fare.  Life’s Mood  is a delicious funk ‘n’ strings instrumental - bass, brass, wah-wah and sweeping strings. It merges seamlessly into a sublime, soulful cover of Sting’s  Fragile . The rhythmic instrumental vibe continues into  Life’s Mood II . All sumptuous, classy stuff. It is the best passage of tracks on the album.  Summer In The City  is a typically funky Hayes cover of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s sixties song. Wah-wahs to the fore. Time to head for the bedroom, maybe?  Let Me Love You  does the lurrvin’ business, Barry White-style, complete with loverman spoken vocal. In fact it never gets above whispering pace throughout the song.  “Let me traverse your peaks and valleys”  growls Isaac.  “Let me give you the ride of your life” . Indeed.  Slow funk is back on the tough grind but still seductive  I’ll Do Anything To Turn You On .  Thanks T