Hot Buttered Singles 1969-1972

This set from the venerable Ace label gathers the A-sides and B-sides of nine 45s Isaac Hayes released on the Stax subsidiary Enterprise during a fertile four-year period. Due to space, it stops short of including Hayes last single of 1972, "Theme from The Men" b/w "Type Thang." These are the singles from the chart-topping albums Hot Buttered Soul, The Isaac Hayes Movement, ...To Be Continued, Shaft, and Black Moses, plus a non-LP collaboration with songwriting partner David Porter and a Hayes-penned Yuletide offering. Its a condensed representation of a hot streak during which the singer/songwriter and keyboardist -- supported by the Bar-Kays, a few extra players, and arrangers such as Johnny Allen, Dale Warren, and Pat Lewis -- radically rethought soul music by utilizing the album format to extend original compositions and covers across the majority (sometimes the entirety) of one side. Having co-authored hits by the likes of Sam & Dave, Mable John, and Carla Thomas, Hayes also knew how to keep it snappy. That explains why the edits of "Do Your Thing" (essentially side four of Shaft) and similarly epic-length takes of Burt Bacharach and Hal Davids "Walk On By" and Jerry and Billy Butlers "I Stand Accused" sound fully formed rather than compromised for radio and jukebox play. Other tunes, such as the number one pop hit "Theme from Shaft" and smoldering "Never Can Say Goodbye" (released only a month after the Jackson 5 original), required less in the way of excision. Sweetening the deal are two numbers that almost qualify as obscure. "I Cant Help It (If Im Still in Love with You)," a devastated and unrecognizable reading of Hank Williams 1951 recording, makes a rare appearance since its origin on the flipside of "Never Can Say Goodbye." A bonus 19th track is the instrumental B-side version of "Soul-A-Lujah," recorded for the Stax duets project Boy Meets Girl, featuring Hayes on clavinet. The track is so deep in the catalog that not even Stax Singles, Vol. 4: Rarities & The Best of the Rest dredged it up. ~ Andy Kellman