Pitchfork

Isaac Hayes is off kicking it with Xenu now, but back when he was in his prime, Hayes did some incredible things. He wrote some of the greatest Southern soul songs ever committed to wax, he helped to establish the latter-day Stax Records sound, he wrote epic seventeen-minute disco suites about threesomes, he played the hero of Truck Turner and the (sort of) villain of Escape From New York, and he appeared regularly in public wearing an open-shirted vest made out of chains. And he was Chef, but you knew that.

Well, on February 24, Stax is going to do all of us a big favor by releasing remastered editions of two of Hayes's peak-era LPs. First up is the undisputed 1971 soul classic Black Moses. The CD, like the original LP packaging, will fold out into a giant cross-shaped portrait of Hayes.

And then there's the lesser-but-still awesome 1976 disco experiment Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak), which Hayes originally released on his own Hot Buttered Soul label and which has basically the best cover ever. This is the album's first time on CD.

Maybe if we all ask real nicely, Stax will have some more of these reissues on the way.