Album Review
Think about how crazy this is for a moment: Stax loses Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays to a plane crash and the rights to their back catalog (and, later, Sam & Dave) to Atlantic. Without their biggest stars and their best session group, Stax executive Al Bell takes a desperate but necessary gamble: in an attempt to build an entirely new catalog out of scratch, he schedules dozens of all-new albums and singles to be recorded and released en masse over the course of a few months. And out of all of those records, the album that puts the label back on the map is a followup to a chart dud, recorded by a songwriter/producer who wasn't typically known for singing, where three of its four songs run over nine and a half minutes. And this album sells a million copies. If it weren't for the New York Mets, Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul would be the most unlikely comeback story of 1969.
Since then, the album's had an odd reevaluation process: it hit #8 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts, but also hit #1 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart-- which alarmed partisans of Miles Davis and Sly Stone alike. After another couple of albums in its crossover-friendly, string-drenched vein, Rolling Stone declared Isaac Hayes an enemy of all that was good about soul music in the early 1970s; decades later, a generation reared on hip-hop reverse-engineered the beats on Pac's "Me Against the World" or PE's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" and discovered an original brilliance. Now, after a listen to this new reissue 40 years later, Hot Buttered Soul might still seem a little historically counterintuitive. It stood as a newer, funkier phase of Southern soul, but it hinged on a sound more opulent than the most sharp-suited Motown crossover bid. It's an exercise in melodrama and indulgence that lays it on so heavy it's impossible not to hear it as anything but the stone truth. And it's an album whose edited-down singles-- both of which went top 40 pop-- sounded more like trailers for the real thing. (Said single edits are included here and can be safely ignored.)
Yet the success of Hot Buttered Soul owed a bit to a classic crossover formula: start with an easy-listening-friendly pop staple, keep the orchestral sweetness, but layer on a shining veneer of psychedelic R&B, then stretch it out with some soul-jazz vamping and nail it down with a voice that hits like a velvet sledgehammer. Hayes demanded full creative control for this album, and his auteurism resulted in a luxurious rawness that soul artists would scramble to catch up with for years. It wasn't exactly an unprecedented sound, however, and in its own extravagant way Hot Buttered Soul might be to the end of the 60s what Ray Charles' Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was seven years previous: an album that redrew the parameters for R&B's high-class populism.
It's just that it hadn't been quite this audacious before-- not to the extent of Hayes' cover of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", all 18-plus sprawling minutes of it. Here we have a song that turns the idea of a slow build into something monumental: with a monologue he developed as a way to get apathetic club patrons to pay attention to where he was about to go, Hayes spends the first eight and a half minutes actually setting the stage for the scenario behind the song, from the wife's cavalier attitude and how the husband caught her cheating to the specific year and make of car he finally drove off for good in (a '65 Ford). It should be noted that all this time the band's been churning along with this hypnotic, minimalist swaying organ/bass/hi-hat drone that changes imperceptibly if at all; again, this is eight and a half minutes here. And when it finally does transition from Hayes' conversational murmur to the first actual sung line from the Jimmy Webb composition he's covering, it's the beginning of a metamorphosis that gradually transforms the dynamic of the song from sweet-stringed orchestration into full-fledged, brass-packed, explosively-cresting soul.
But where "Phoenix" is all slow build, the album-opening version of "Walk on By" throws almost everything it has at you right away, nailing you to the floor with those first two drumbeats. Hayes takes the restrained sorrow of Bacharach and David's composition as made famous by Dionne Warwick and chucks it out the window, replacing it with an arrangement that is the absolute antithesis of hiding the tears and sadness and grieving in private. And it's goddamned devastating at every turn: its go-for-broke opening, with those weeping strings and that stinging guitar building to their gigantic crescendo; that moment when it collapses and sinks into Michael Toles' famous slinky guitar riff, which then warps its way into psychedelic keening more Hendrix than Cropper; every hitch and moan and heart-wracked ad-lib from Hayes' deep bass voice ("you put the hurt on me, you socked it to me, mama"). The entire last half of the song's twelve minutes is an exercise in seeing just how long you can not only maintain but build on a frenzied finale, where Toles' guitar sounds like it's ripping itself apart and Hayes' Hammond organ trembles and growls and stammers like a panicking tiger. It might be the most intense six minutes of soul recorded in the confines of a studio the entire decade.
The remainder of Hot Buttered Soul isn't quite as ambitiously excessive, though the other two songs still have an indelible presence. Hayes' version of Charles Chalmers' and Sandra Rhodes' "One Woman" is affecting if short-- "short" in this case meaning a hair over five minutes. As breathers go, it works wonders in proving Hayes' way with a mellow ballad could still have an emotional impact in a more confined space. And Hayes' sole songwriting credit is the linguistically convoluted masterpiece "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic," a straight-up slick-as-hell funk jam which gets a lot of mileage out of humorously-deployed latin phrases and five-dollar words ("My gastronomical stupensity is really satisfied when you're loving me"). Even if it's his only lyrical contribution, he subsequently if unintentionally caricaturizes the ornate but down-to-earth personality of the entire album: it's all self-consciously complicated, but man, the meaning's right there in front of you. And it can't help but hit you right where you feel it.
— Nate Patrin, June 29, 2009
Album Player
- Dinosaur Jr.: Farm
- Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer
- Regina Spektor: Far
- God Help the Girl: God Help the Girl
- Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship
- Gossip: Music For Men
- Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
- The Lemonheads: Varshons
- Future of the Left: Travels With Myself and Another
- Saint Etienne: Foxbase Alpha / Continental
- Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
- Spinnerette: Spinnerette
- Deer Tick: Born on Flag Day
- Noisettes: Wild Young Hearts
- Patterson Hood: Murdering Oscar (and Other Love Songs)
- The Paper Chase: Someday This Could All Be Yours
- Mos Def: The Ecstatic
- Sholi: Sholi
- So Many Dynamos: The Loud Wars
- The Present: World I See / The Way We Are
- Major Lazer: Guns Don't Kill People-- Lazers Do
- J Dilla: Dillanthology 1 / Dillanthology 2
- Street Sweeper Social Club: Street Sweeper Social Club
- Blank Dogs: Under and Under / The Fields EP
- UUVVWWZ: UUVVWWZ
- The Mars Volta: Octahedron
- Love Is All: Last Choice EP
- Cage: Depart From Me
- Rock Plaza Central: ...At the Moment of Our Most Needing or If Only Th
- EAR PWR: Super Animal Brothers III
- Wilco: Wilco (The Album)
- Isaac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul
- YaHoWha 13: Magnificence in the Memory
- Drake: So Far Gone
- Zs: Music of the Modern White
- Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
- Various Artists: A Psychedelic Guide to Monsterism Island
- Ganglians: Ganglians / Monster Head Room
- Hello Seahorse!: Bestia
- Land of Kush: Against the Day
Recently
Reviews
- Major Lazer: Guns Don't Kill People-- Lazers Do
- J Dilla: Dillanthology 1 / Dillanthology 2
- Street Sweeper Social Club: Street Sweeper Social Club
- Blank Dogs: Under and Under / The Fields EP
- UUVVWWZ: UUVVWWZ
Track Reviews
- The Twilight Sad: "I Became a Prostitute"
- Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros: "40 Day Dream"
- Cave Weddings: "Let's Drive"
Features
News
- Video: Death Cab for Cutie: "Little Bribes"
- Silver Jew David Berman's Cartoons, Revealed
- Premiere: Tyondai Braxton: "Uffe's Woodshop"
- ATP Film l Transfigurations Fest l Bobby Ubangi
- Jack White Sci-Fi Spoof to Screen at Comic-Con
- New Release: The Black Heart Procession: Six
- Warp20 Box Set Tracklist Revealed
- Devendra, Thurston Contribute to Tour Book
- Video: Rye Rye: "Bang" (Directed by M.I.A.)
- Passion Pit Remix Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Reviews
- The Mars Volta: Octahedron
- Love Is All: Last Choice EP
- Cage: Depart From Me
- Rock Plaza Central: ...At the Moment of Our Most Needing or If Only Th
- EAR PWR: Super Animal Brothers III
Track Reviews
- Major Lazer: "Keep It Goin' Louder [ft. Nina Sky and Ricky Blaz
- Yim Yames: "Behind That Locked Door"
- Mungolian Jet Set: "Clairevoyage"
TV
News
- New Release: Apples in Stereo: #1 Hits Explosion!
- Galaxie 500 Reissue Albums on Vinyl
- Echo Chamber: The Roots' ?uestlove
- R.E.M. to Release Live Double Album
- Jarvis Cocker to Guest on UK Political Show
- Vibe Magazine R.I.P.
- New Release: Slaraffenland: We're on Your Side
- Kanye Unveils Amazing New Stage
- Matt and Kim Tour North America
- The Pirate Bay Sells Out
Reviews
- Wilco: Wilco (The Album)
- Isaac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul
- YaHoWha 13: Magnificence in the Memory
- Drake: So Far Gone
- Zs: Music of the Modern White
Track Reviews
- The Smith Westerns: "Be My Girl"
- Lupe Fiasco: "Shining Down" [ft. Matthew Santos]
- Drug Rug: "Never Tell"
TV
Features
News
- Mew l The 801 l Bobby Bare Jr. l Whartscape
- T.V. Eye: June 29 - July 4
- Listen to a New Billy Corgan/Sky Saxon Song
- New Release: Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band: Between...
- Pixies to Celebrate Doolittle on Tour
- Video: Kanye West: "Street Lights"
- MGMT, Karen O Guest on Flaming Lips LP
- Wavves Speaks About Meltdown, Future Plans
- Video: Jay-Z: "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
- New Release: Megafaun: Gather, Form & Fly
Reviews
- Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
- Various Artists: A Psychedelic Guide to Monsterism Island
- Ganglians: Ganglians / Monster Head Room
- Hello Seahorse!: Bestia
- Land of Kush: Against the Day
Track Reviews
TV
Features
News
- Jackson's Cause of Death Not Yet Determined
- Video: Wilco and Feist Perform "You and I"
- Echo Chamber: Colin Meloy
- Reznor Reveals Rejected Timbaland Remix
- Stars' Amy Millan Preps Second Solo Album
- Blur Reunion Live Album on the Way
- New Release: The Postmarks: Memoirs at the End...
- MGMT to Open for Paul McCartney
- Echo Chamber: Black Francis
- Download a New Fleet Foxes Song
Reviews
- Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship
- The Lemonheads: Varshons
- Alasdair Roberts: Spoils
- So Many Dynamos: The Loud Wars
- The Present: World I See / The Way We Are
Track Reviews
News
- Artists React to Michael Jackson's Death
- R.I.P. Michael Jackson
- Benefits: Jeff Tweedy | Robin Pecknold | TVOTR
- Echo Chamber: Morrissey
- Join the Vampire Weekend Tribute Band!
- New Release: Joe Pernice: It Feels So Good...
- Listen: Wale + Peter Bjorn and John
- Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe on Mulcahy Tribute
- Video: Wilco: "You Never Know" (Live on "Conan")
- R.I.P. Seeds Frontman Sky Saxon
Reviews
- Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer
- Gossip: Music For Men
- Spinnerette: Spinnerette
- Future of the Left: Travels With Myself and Another
- The Paper Chase: Someday This Could All Be Yours
Track Reviews
Features
News
- Unreleased Jeff Buckley Song in Tearjerker
- Pitchfork on ABC: Kasabian's West Ryder Pauper Lun
- Devendra Banhart Finishes New LP, Leaves XL
- Buy Billy Corgan Lunch!
- New Release: La Roux: La Roux
- Is This the Flaming Lips Album Cover?
- Pitchfork on ABC: God Help the Girl
- The Roots to Debut New Song on "Late Night"
- Chris Knox Leaves Hospital After Stroke
- Jim James to Release George Harrison Tribute
Reviews
- God Help the Girl: God Help the Girl
- Regina Spektor: Far
- Playboy Tre: Liquor Store Mascot
- Noisettes: Wild Young Hearts
- Larry Jon Wilson: Larry Jon Wilson
Track Reviews
- Air France: "GBG Belongs to Us" [ft. Roos]
- The Binary Marketing Show: "Shape of Your Head"
- The Radio Dept.: "David"
News
- Dirty Projectors in Auto Accident
- Common | Reverie Sound Revue | Octopus Project
- Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Score Sex Trade Doc
- Rhino Releases Factory Records Digital Box
- Jay Bennett's Death: Overdose
- Sunny Day Real Estate Reunite!
- Listen to Archived Primavera Sets on WFMU
- Echo Chamber: Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth
- Seniors Interview Fiery Furnaces, Bash Wilco
- Arctic Monkeys Unleash Album Art, Dates