Search - Isaac Hayes :: Isaac Hayes Movement

DO WHAT YOU DO, BABY

Lester L. Carter | PHILA , PA | 02/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Isaac laid the groove on us before flowing into I Stand Accused, we had no idea what we were getting, but we knew we had received a magic moment. Then he took the Beatles song Something and orchestrated it to no end. Man, what a time."

Something For The Psychedelic Memphis Soul Afficianado

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 10/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the almost 40 years since this album was first released there is no question in my mind that this is exactly the place where Hot Buttered Soul left off musically. There is something of a difference however as the bigger than life cinematic flavors of that album are replaced by a collection of what basically ammount to four extended soul ballads with a lot of orchestration,very much in the tradtion of classi 60's Memphis soul only with everything from the vocal harmonies to the instrumental exchanges either being repeated or slowed down some to draw out the lengh. The presence of the strong acid rock touches are downplayed here as well in general."I Stand Accused" consists primarily of Ike "rapping" about the relation between his good Christian upbringing and the situation the character in his song is facing-an excellent analogy if I may say so,before getting into the Jerry Butler original. "One Big Unhappy Family" speeds things up just a tad to deliver more passion and the gospel element of the music is much strong emphasized. For a version of Burt Bacharach's "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" repitition is again the key as something a tad closer to epic begins to arrise. The album closes off with an elongated version of "Something". The lush,to the point George Harrison original is transformed him into a long extended plead in which each shading of the songs moods and accents are very strong emphasized by Hayes and in many cases a lot more ideas are added to it from female backup vocals to the albums only major emphasis on psychedelia with the abstract,fuzzed out guitar solo that concludes it. Isaac Hayes's early 70's recordings may have all seemed similarly executed on the surface but,in fact they were all strong varriations on a spesific theme and each one emphasized something the album had different and new to offer."