We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago……
It was his opus. A two record set that oozed soul & sex. It was “Black Moses” from Isaac Hayes released in 1971.
The album was loaded with slinky, slithering passages and the intonations of Hayes which ranged from Barry White bass to David Ruffin falsetto. The Bar-Kays did some of the funky backing and Hayes regular band contributed mightily as well.
The LP had some originals like “Good Love 6-9969” which was funky and deliciously salacious and “Going In Circles” which is a great slow jam but most of the tunes were covers and the choices were interesting. Like Wilson Pickett, before him, Hayes took some hit songs from white artists and gave them a new arrangements. They range from the Carpenters “Close To You” to Kris Kristofferson’s “For The Good Times” to “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” from Bacharach-David’s catalog.
He also covers “Never Can Say Goodbye”, written by actor Clifton Davis and a hit earlier in the year for the Jackson Five, Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Man’s Temptation” and “Need To Belong to Someone”which was a hit for the Iceman Jerry Butler.
He also does a very nice take on ‘Nothing Takes The Place of You” which was a hit for Toussaint McCall and which you may remember from the movie “Hairspray”.
Hayes had given us some of the greatest Memphis soul arrangements for the artists on Stax. He also gave us the Shaft soundtrack earlier in 1971. You can keep the spoken “raps” on this but for sheer audaciousness, this album takes the cake.
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