Search - Isaac Hayes :: Best of Isaac Hayes

Great Music - Incomplete Selection

Westley | Stuck in my head | 12/18/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Isaac Hayes is a great R&B/funk musician responsible for much terrific music. Unfortunately, this greatest hits collection does not do justice to his oeuvre. Some of his biggest hits are here, including "Theme from Shaft," which is his only #1 hit and perhaps his musical masterpiece. Some of the other choices, however, are a bit puzzling. "Cafe Reggio" and "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" never appeared on the pop chart, and some of the other songs were only mid-chart hits, such as "Ain't That Lovin' You" (#86) and "I Stand Accused" (#42). The CD is over 60 minutes long, but with only 7 tracks, the listener feels a bit cheated ("Do Your Thing" is over 19 minutes long!). Furthermore, some of Isaac's biggest hits are left off of this collection, including "Don't Let Go" (#18) and "Never Can Say Goodbye." Notably, those songs are included on the "The Best of Isaac Hayes, Volume 2" CD; however, there are other, more comprehensive greatest hits CDs for this great artist. The music here is all very good, but this compilation should be better."

Cosmic Hayes! Savor the Grooves!

yygsgsdrassil | Crossroads America | 01/22/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After he croons "ain't got no dust in my eye", on the Bacharach/David cut "Walk On By", Cosmic and the musicians in the Movement decides ta take the listener ta infinity and beyond....(that's why I and my brother like to call Isaac "Cosmic Hayes")..ditto for that epic length chunk of Memphis/Stax phonkay soul (it took up an entire side of the two LP "Shaft" soundtrack) called "Do Your Thing"...its so sexy that it's nastay and vicey-versey. Most listeners would probably wanna cop the CD for the "Theme for Shaft" 'cause it's a badmother--shut up, fool!('00s version)--and 'cause there's a Shaft movie remake soundtrack somewhere, which may not be as fulfilling. Ahh, nostalgia! Ain't it a wonderful thing? But, I implore you, listen to the yearning, that NEED in Cosmic's voice in "If Loving You Is Wrong" and "I Stand Accused", then you'd see that Cosmic was/is/now is/and will forever be more than Shaft or Chef, or my feeble attempt at some faux new era hipness with a mangling of his first name, dig?With assistance from female sex bombshells Hot, Buttered and Soul, the Barkays and the horn and string peeps in Memphis, you should not miss out on this greatness...truly, it is to savor!"