On 10th August we lost one of the greatest Icons of our music Isaac Hayes. Isaac started as a writer/producer with Stax in the mid 60's and with David Porter was responsible for many of the great Stax hits that established their sound. His own career started in ernest in '69 with the release of the platinum selling Hot Buttered Soul album. His musical legacy will last with us forever, here are a few of his essential albums.

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HOT BUTTERED SOUL CD £9.95 Original Vinyl LP £15
Isaac's 1969 masterpiece that introduced his orchestrated sound and shot him to fame as an artist rather than as a songwriter. The dramatic and magnificent 12 min version of Bacharach and David's 'Walk On By' , goes through different phases and is totally compelling. 'Hyperbolicsyllabicsequedalmystic' is another 1o mins of funkier more rhythmic grooves. The album closes with the epic 19 mins of 'By The Time I Get To The Pheonix starting with a spoken intro moving into a dead slow orchestrated song.
This was one of the first serious soul albums.

SHAFT CD £6.95 Original Vinyl DBL LP £12
Probably Isaac's best known work and the most successful Blaxplotation soundtrack ever.
'Theme From Shaft' is of course a classic and still sounds fresh today even after hearing it hundreds of times. ' Do Your Thing' is a killer 20 min epic with Isaac singing over a funky mid tempo groove, 'Soulsville' a vocal soul cut and 'Ellie's Love Theme' a fine mid tempo instrumental.

JOY CD £9.95 Original Vinyl LP £15
This 1973 album has the incredible 16 minute title track probably the epitome of Isaac's heavily orchestrated sound with swirling strings, The Movement's horns and a chugging rhythm topped by Isaac's deep deep soulful voice, pure magic. Also check the seductive 'I Love You That's All and the dead slow 'A Man Will Be A man and 'I'm Gonna Make It Without You'.

CHOCOLATE CHIP CD £9.95 Original Vinyl LP £15
Ike's 1975 debut for his own HBS label after Stax's untimely demise. 'Body Language' is an orchestrated mid tempo track ft the Masqueraders on BV's. 'Chocolate Chip' a funky dancer, 'Come Live With Me' a characteristic dead slow ballad and 'I Can't Turn Around' a rare groove classic.

NEW HORIZON CD £14.95 Original Vinyl LP £15
His 1977 album incl the string laden funky disco version of 'Stranger In Paradise' but the album is worth the price alone for 'Moonlight Lovin (Ménage A Trois)' one of his best ever tracks a funky orchestrated 10 min epic with a driving groove.

CAN YOU DIG IT THE ULTIMATE 2CD/DVD £14.95
32 tracks from his Stax and HBS period 68-77, incl all the hits 'Shaft', 'Never Can Say Goodbye', 'Soulsville', 'Do Your Thing' ,'walk On By', 'Joy' , 'If Loving You Is Wrong', 'Chocolate Chip', 'Disco Connection' , 'Rock Me Easy Baby' and more, some full length others edited versions. DVD has 3 tracks from his Wattstax performance.

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