Artist: Isaac Hayes
Album: Hot Buttered Soul
Release date: 1969
Original label: Enterprise/Stax
Appears in: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
Summary: Soul man serves up new-style R&B
Background: Stax was a label in disarray in 1968. Otis Redding had died. The company's distribution deal with Atlantic came to an end and not only did Atlantic take back Stax stars Sam & Dave, it also laid claim to virtually every recording Stax had issued since 1958. So the powers that be made a bold decision: to create an instant back catalog by issuing approximately 30 albums and 30 singles all at once. Isaac, a preeminent Stax songwriter who'd already generated one failed album for the label, seized the chance to do a second album and make music the way he wanted to. In doing so, he rewrote the playbook for how soul could sound, even if he only wrote one song for the album.
Merits: Until Hot Buttered Soul came out, the LP format was an afterthought in the soul/R&B market. With very few exceptions (Sam Cooke's Night Beat among them), Soul LPs consisted of a couple of big hits unique to a particular artist surrounded by some covers of popular songs of the day. In essence, they were expedient creations designed to cash in on a top 40 smash or two. What Isaac did was take a handful of songs and virtually rewrite and reshape them into one unique and unforgettable artistic statement. Whereas most individual soul songs had tended to be 3.5 minutes in duration before, the four Isaac recorded for Hot Buttered clocked in as long as 18 minutes and as short as five minutes. He selected the songs he wanted to do and rendered them his way, building each on drama, melodrama, declamatory spoken word, rock guitar, cinematic flourishes, and several kitchen sinks. And he put it out without any singles. It should have been a commercial disaster. Instead, it became one of the biggest selling soul albums up to that time.
Highlights: Walk on By, which keeps walking righteous for twelve minutes of impeccably wrought heartache and a moody noir riff that puts a little swagger in your stride if you're listening to it on your iPod. Its haunted ambiance left no doubt that Isaac was well suited for crafting movie scores. Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymystic, Isacc's lone contribution as a songwriter, is a stone cold, sexed up jam that gives way to an extended interplay between the piano and rhythm section that bounces along like a basketball in Kobe's hands. By the Time I Get to Phoenix stretches out an intimate tale of leaving to such epic, near comic, proportions, you might actually be able to get there from wherever you are before the tune comes to its end with eerie church-inspired organ that, like street sweepers, washes all the hurt away.
Demerits: One Woman, the other track does suffer a bit for the fact that it does not aspire to the same lofty heights as the other songs that grace this album. Moreover, the approach Isaac pioneered here proved so effective, that he continued on with variations for a few years that, while very accomplished, began to feel a bit rote by comparison. Some will blame this album for ushering in disco and, in particular, Barry White, but I see that as an asset. Take that, Dave Marsh.
Alternate selection: Black Moses expands this concept out to two LPs, and though more doesn't always translate into better, it has some breathtaking moments, such as Going in Circles. Shaft is a must, if only to hear the crucial role Hayes played in in ushering in the modern era of movie soundtracks. Much of it is indispensable, but divorced from its context, it's not ass essential as, say, Curtis Mayfield's Superfly.
FYI: Walk on By was famously used in, and to promote, Dead Presidents. A music video was also created for the song. And both Walk on By and By the Time I Get to Phoenix were cut down to single length, performing very well on the pop & R&B charts. In fact, Hot Buttered Soul was a heavy hitter on the pop, jazz, R&B and easy listening album charts.
Showing posts with label The Great Albums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Great Albums. Show all posts
Monday, June 22, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The Great Albums: Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends
Artist: Simon &Garfunkel
Album: Bookends
Release date: 1968
Original label: Columbia
Appears in: The Mojo Collection, among other 'ultimate' music companions.
Summary: Paul Simon is prematurely nostalgic for time to come.
Merits: Despite the stab at something thematic on the LPs first side, this was perhaps the most straightforward and engaging of S&G five LPs. Simon kept his observations simple and his tendency for pedantry in check and Garfunkel went light on that all-too-precious choirboy voice he frequently deployed. First side combines state of the union, or is that disunion given the tenor of the times, in America, in relationships and spans a 'what's wrong with the kids today' plea to old age and death. Side two is a collection of songs that don't hang together quite so well, but, individually, they are alternately charming, probing or rocking.
Highlights: The haunted narrator of the spectral, yet soaring America who goes in search of something greater than himself only to find he's one of many anonymous questing souls. Though very much a 60s hippie 'find yourself' song, it's truly timeless. Hazy Shade of Winter is a lament for lost time and possibilities with a ringing hook and rock edge that reminds me of Oh Pretty Woman. And Overs is a short and bittersweet 'can't quit you' with very clever lyrics. Plus, There's the driving Mrs. Robinson. Coo-coo-ca-choo, indeed, and more sympathetic to the character than the movie it came from.
Demerits: For me, it's Garfunkel's Voices of Old People, a collage of recordings of old people made in New York and Los Angeles that is interesting, but interrupts the assured flow of Simon's songs.
Alternate selection: My reservations about Simon's songwriting, particularly in the context of S&G, and Garfunkel's vocals make this the only S&G album I own. Bridge Over Troubled Water has always seemed a little too precious to me, ditto their earliest work, but I do have a soft spot for Sounds of Silence, mainly because my parents owned it. Highlights of that album are the title song, I Am A Rock, Richard Corey, April Come She Will and The Leaves That Are Green. (At least, I think that's the title.)
FYI: The back half of the album doesn't follow on the Bookends concept because Paul didn't have enough related material ready for the album's deadline. Several had already appeared on singles.
Album: Bookends
Release date: 1968
Original label: Columbia
Appears in: The Mojo Collection, among other 'ultimate' music companions.
Summary: Paul Simon is prematurely nostalgic for time to come.
Merits: Despite the stab at something thematic on the LPs first side, this was perhaps the most straightforward and engaging of S&G five LPs. Simon kept his observations simple and his tendency for pedantry in check and Garfunkel went light on that all-too-precious choirboy voice he frequently deployed. First side combines state of the union, or is that disunion given the tenor of the times, in America, in relationships and spans a 'what's wrong with the kids today' plea to old age and death. Side two is a collection of songs that don't hang together quite so well, but, individually, they are alternately charming, probing or rocking.
Highlights: The haunted narrator of the spectral, yet soaring America who goes in search of something greater than himself only to find he's one of many anonymous questing souls. Though very much a 60s hippie 'find yourself' song, it's truly timeless. Hazy Shade of Winter is a lament for lost time and possibilities with a ringing hook and rock edge that reminds me of Oh Pretty Woman. And Overs is a short and bittersweet 'can't quit you' with very clever lyrics. Plus, There's the driving Mrs. Robinson. Coo-coo-ca-choo, indeed, and more sympathetic to the character than the movie it came from.
Demerits: For me, it's Garfunkel's Voices of Old People, a collage of recordings of old people made in New York and Los Angeles that is interesting, but interrupts the assured flow of Simon's songs.
Alternate selection: My reservations about Simon's songwriting, particularly in the context of S&G, and Garfunkel's vocals make this the only S&G album I own. Bridge Over Troubled Water has always seemed a little too precious to me, ditto their earliest work, but I do have a soft spot for Sounds of Silence, mainly because my parents owned it. Highlights of that album are the title song, I Am A Rock, Richard Corey, April Come She Will and The Leaves That Are Green. (At least, I think that's the title.)
FYI: The back half of the album doesn't follow on the Bookends concept because Paul didn't have enough related material ready for the album's deadline. Several had already appeared on singles.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Great Albums: The Millennium's Begin
A series I started on the previous blog, regurgitated here for your reading pleasure:
Artist: The Millennium
Album: Begin
Release date: 1968
Original label: Columbia
As selected by: The Mojo Collection
Summary: Sunshine pop and psychedelia long obscured by clouds
Merits: Accomplished songwriter/producer Curt Boettcher, who'd had a couple of hits on the Association and worked with Gary Usher on the fist Sagittarius LP assembles a seven-man band convinced he can create the world's best group. Yet, the world took little notice of Begin when it first came out, and the band came apart quickly after its release. An expensive flop, it has found new life among fans of 60s California pop and for good reason. The harmonies are plangent, the melodies breathaking and the production - which involved linking two eight-track recorders to create sixteen tracks - very intricate and immaginative. It's a shimmering soft pop masterpiece.
Highlights: Pretty much the entire first side. Some tracks sound amazingly contemporary, such as the break beat-style drumming of Ron Edgar on Prelude, and the way It's You, a buoyant rally against the establishment, seems to be a template for The Posies' first album. To Claudia on Thursday is a creamy, carefree confection and I Just Want to Be Your Friend, The Island (the rhythm reminds me of the rhythm track on the Velvet Underground's All Tomorrow's Parties) and Sing to Me have sharp, sugary hooks that sink in deep and permanently, capable of causing tooth decay.
Demerits: The eclectic experimentalism and woozy psychedelia of the second side hasn't aged so well, coming off a bit indulgent, particularly on Anthem, which has nothing to do with Ayn Rand that I know of. And yet, there are those hooks, those harmonies...
Alternate selection: I can't make a case for them, but there are some 'demo' collections that give insight into what the second album might have sounded like. Or you can trace Boettcher's path toward The Millennium on Magic Time... The Millennium/Ballroom Recordings. Otherwise, that anthology is pretty much the final word on the group.
FYI: At the time, it was the most expensive album recorded for Columbia, costing $100,000, and one of the songs, There is Nothing More to Say, was covered by Chris Knight and Maureen McCormick... y'know from the Brady Bunch...
Artist: The Millennium
Album: Begin
Release date: 1968
Original label: Columbia
As selected by: The Mojo Collection
Summary: Sunshine pop and psychedelia long obscured by clouds
Merits: Accomplished songwriter/producer Curt Boettcher, who'd had a couple of hits on the Association and worked with Gary Usher on the fist Sagittarius LP assembles a seven-man band convinced he can create the world's best group. Yet, the world took little notice of Begin when it first came out, and the band came apart quickly after its release. An expensive flop, it has found new life among fans of 60s California pop and for good reason. The harmonies are plangent, the melodies breathaking and the production - which involved linking two eight-track recorders to create sixteen tracks - very intricate and immaginative. It's a shimmering soft pop masterpiece.
Highlights: Pretty much the entire first side. Some tracks sound amazingly contemporary, such as the break beat-style drumming of Ron Edgar on Prelude, and the way It's You, a buoyant rally against the establishment, seems to be a template for The Posies' first album. To Claudia on Thursday is a creamy, carefree confection and I Just Want to Be Your Friend, The Island (the rhythm reminds me of the rhythm track on the Velvet Underground's All Tomorrow's Parties) and Sing to Me have sharp, sugary hooks that sink in deep and permanently, capable of causing tooth decay.
Demerits: The eclectic experimentalism and woozy psychedelia of the second side hasn't aged so well, coming off a bit indulgent, particularly on Anthem, which has nothing to do with Ayn Rand that I know of. And yet, there are those hooks, those harmonies...
Alternate selection: I can't make a case for them, but there are some 'demo' collections that give insight into what the second album might have sounded like. Or you can trace Boettcher's path toward The Millennium on Magic Time... The Millennium/Ballroom Recordings. Otherwise, that anthology is pretty much the final word on the group.
FYI: At the time, it was the most expensive album recorded for Columbia, costing $100,000, and one of the songs, There is Nothing More to Say, was covered by Chris Knight and Maureen McCormick... y'know from the Brady Bunch...
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