Man, The (The Ultimate Isaac Hayes 1969-1977) - Isaac Hayes

Advantages: classic soul
Disadvantages: not short to listen to

...Before Isaac Hayes was 'Chef' in South Park, he was 'Isaac Hayes - soul prophet'. 'Hot Buttered Soul' is one of the top ten soul albums of all time, and possibly the best ever soul debut album, most acts taking time to deliver their best in this genre. Hayes scores straight out of the blocks with an astonishing 12 minute version of 'Walk on By', the old Bacharach-David staple, except we've never heard it like this - riding in with the strings and choir from an imaginary western, cut with acid guitar and a razor-sharp backbeat. Isaac Hayes is unusual in that the longer one of his tracks is, the better it seems to be. His vocal style starts gentle and works up a head of steam into the middle of the cut, which is followed by an instrumental ending which starts softly and goes into a hammond organ and drum-driven rhythmic freakout featuring... Read review

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Advantages: Superb singing and arrangements
Disadvantages: None

...Isaac Hayes, he of the booming yet sultry monotone, made famous again in the late 90's as the voice of Chef in South Park, brought out this album in 1968. It was a good time to be recording in Memphis; Stax records were revitalised with a new pounding soul sound and later that year Elvis would record probably the greatest album of his career "From Elvis In Memphis" across town at American Studios. With this one album Hayes, previously a staff writer and arranger at Stax, set himself up as a genuine mack daddy, going on to record the theme tune for the 1971 blaxplotation "Shaft" and the later modestly titled Black Moses LP of 1974. Hot Buttered Soul also showed that soul and R&B, normally the preserve of the black musician, could also stretch out a jam and explore new territory, much as the progressive rock bands were... Read review

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Advantages: Lovely Mix of Slow and More Up-Beat Songs, Beautiful Lyrics and Vocals.
Disadvantages: I think the weakest track is 'I miss you'.

...***INTRODUCTION*** For those of you who haven't heard of Darren Hayes, he was the lead singer of the Australian band Savage Garden. Savage Garden was a huge success over the world with hits such as 'To the Moon and Back' and 'Truly Madly Deeply'. 'Spin' was Darren's first solo album, and in my opinion it is a strong one. ***THE TRACKS*** 1. 'Strange Relationship': This song is amongst the strongest on this CD. It is a good song to start with as it is not a ballad. 2. 'Insatiable': This track is beautiful and really shows off Darren's voice. He sings with depth and emotion on this love song. 3. 'Heart Attack': This is an upbeat song which has a 'feel good' factor to it. 4. 'I Miss You': This ballad is a little too soppy and I think it is a bit weak. 5. 'Dirty': I didn't really like this song to begin... Read review

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