My Isaac Hayes Posts on MOG

Isaac Hayes (I misspelled it Issac in early MOG posts) ranks right up there in my pantheon, coming in as my 10th most played artist since 2007. Over my MOGlife I've made 5 posts with Ike tunes and, sadly, we've been around here for his passing. Here's a recap of my posts on Black Moses..

Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic (posted 12-6-06,2nd MOG post)

Not merely satisfied with being a seminal producer and songwriter for Stax records, Issac Hayes morphed into Black Moses and dropped this bomb in 1969. It featured only 4 songs, Walk on By (12:02), Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic (9:39), One Woman (5:10), and By the Time I get to Phoenix (18:42) and ushered in the very idea of an R and B concept album. The stretched out song lengths provide ample time for grooving by The Bar Kays and extended raps from Mr.Hayes. The funkatizing of the Burt Bacharach and Jim Webb tunes is a nice twist and at the time was a bit of a political statement as white artists had been bleaching R and B tunes for decades. 1969 was not a good year for too many people in the USofA, but this was Ike's time and folks got into this record, absorbed this record, wore out this record, and made him their hero..for a few years anyway. Marvin's-What's Going On, Stevie's-Talking Book, and Funkadelic's-Maggot Brain were on the way in, and the great experiment that was Stax was on the way out, but Black Moses was the first prophet...of rage, of soul, of hip hop.

Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic (1969)






Stax Dies-House Is Born (Posted 11-2-2007)

A few weeks ago mogger Lester Jonze started a series of excellent posts about the importance of album track order. He's up to track three..check those out.

I feel like the final track of an album has significance. It should, hopefully,point to the future or start a new idea, or make you want more.

Stax records was pretty much dead when Isaac Hayes-Chocolate Chip came out in '75. Corporate shenanigans, record company hardball, and bankruptcy had already shuttered the famous building and Ike recorded this record at his own studio. It being '75 there is a disco vibe running through these proceedings, but there's also the Shaft-eque title tune that cooks. Basically though we have horns,strings,piano,drums and Ike, doing their best to fit in.

Don't be fooled by the Ike you know now. When you talk about important figures in popular music in the last 50 years, MR. Hayes is near the top. He was one of the main architects of soul music and the first artist to explore album length soul records. When he decided to do a disco record he did it on his terms, and I Can't Turn Around is the result.

Now if you know your House music history you know Farley "Jackmaster" Funk and Jesse Saunder's, I Can't Turn Around, is one of the first and most influential tracks of House music..

No suprise to me that the last track off Chocolate Chip might become the blueprint for a music revolution..Isaac Hayes had been down this road before.

So on this Funky Friday please take time to recognize, Ike..they didn't call him Black Moses for nuthin'.

I Can't Turn Around (1975)





Under The Covers W/Black Moses (Posted 2-3-2008)

I can't see 50 Cent seeing his way clear to do a Carpenter's cover..But Ike wielded power like fiddy and was able to assert his manhood with the tune.. Abs notwithstanding,I like Ike. I like Ike's mood. They called Mr.Hayes, Black Moses..what did 50 ever deliver for you?

Close to You (They Long To Be) (1971)





Deja Vu All Over Again In Brooklyn (posted 8-19-2009)

I'm not gonna reprint this post because it's about 70's car chases..there's a bunch of cool videos if you want to click through...

Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile (1974)





Time For A Breather (posted 11-23-2009)

This one was just a hiatus notification,but it did include Ike doing the Jackson 5..

Never Can Say Goodbye




Looking back, the Stax Dies House is Born post was probably my fave. It lays down how important I think Ike is to the American music scene as well as having a nice selection of missed moggers in the comments... moovyphreak, mickimicki, soulrocket, jenny, and lizziegreeneyes to name a couple.