Customer Reviews

A fitting tribute - By: Andy Edwards, 14 Nov 2008
No-one has rushed out a tribute to Ike, following his deathin August 2008. . Given that Ike had come to the attention of a wider audience from his appearancesin & contributions to films & TV series, there must be another repackaged retrospective due soon, but this one will have to do for now.

Leave aside the South Park stuff -if you want that then buy the series DVD's - Isaac Hayes contribution to music, specifically Black music, has been immense. From his days as a writer (with David Porter) & producer at Stax, he was a major part of the Southern Soul soundin the '60's. Although you won't find them here, he wrote "Soul Man" & "Hold On I'm Comin'", among many others, for Sam & Dave, which epitomised the raw Soul that made their name. He also produced most of the Stax roster during his time there, which probably explains the breadth of material & styles that he would go on to record.

His second solo album, 1969's "Hot Buttered Soul" was ground breaking. It was released as a part of a 27 album blitz by Stax as they sought to establish the label post '68 (and the death of Otis & the Atlantic deal which took their back catalogue). It was the most succesful & original of those albums, featuring only 4 tracks. Each was stretched out, produced & arrangedin a totally different way than had been seen beforein Soul, & which paved the way for much that followed. Hayes's Orchestral Soul sound sat beside raw Funk & on this set there are 3 of the 4 tracks (only "One Woman" is missing), with "...Pheonix"in edit form.

He followed that with more of the same on a series of albums, including the equally groundbreaking soundtrack to "Shaft" for which Hayes is best known. All featured that trademark Hayes blueprint - stretched out tracks ("Do Your Thing" from Shaft, ran to nearly 20 minutes on "Shaft"), standards taken to a whole new place, Ike's loverman vocal delivery, the combination of Soul, Funk, Rock & Jazz influences.

This set makes a good fist of bringing it all together, albeit far too oftenin edit form. Most of the major tracks are here & it will only be Ike's hardcore fans who could pick fault with track selection - & let's face it if you are a fan, you will probably have all the albums & won't need this collection.

For those looking for an introduction, or for a taste of what might be found beyond the most popular of Hayes's music then this is a great place to start. Just be aware that for very good reasons, like space on the CD, that you won't be getting the full majesty (I'm sure Ike would like that word) of some of the tracks. Recommended

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Can you dig it? Damn right! - By: Mr. P. B. Koeb, 22 Jan 2008
Surprised there's no review of this one. Even though i've got vinyl & cd copies of pretty much all Isaac Hayes' key releases, this compilation is an excellent example of the "one-stop shopping" cd era. Presentedin a deluxe package, with a bonus dvd, it has a very generous playing time. It features 32 tracks from his 1968-1977 "golden era". Purchasers shouldn't expect too much of the dvd, however. It doesn't really add very much to the overall package, from a personal point of view.

There's pretty much all you would expect, & i can't think of any glaring omissionsin the track selection. There are indispensables like "Walk On By", "I Stand Accused" & "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" (edit). Plus a few tracks from the "Shaft" soundtrack, a generous allocation from the "Black Moses" album & just about enough of the key disco stuff. It even features his brilliant "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" from "Hot Buttered Soul". (In its COMPLETE form, no less.) The one slight negative is that the edited version is used for several of the tracks, but that's almost a necessity. (Otherwise there wouldn't be enough room for 32 tracks.) However, that can be compensated by purchasing the original albums, where really necessary.

This album perfectly serves the function of being either an introduction to this major soul artist. Alternatively, it permits a quick "skate" over some of his career highlights for those people who are already fans of this "shaven-headed" soul icon.