Customer Reviews

Hot Buttered Soul [Vinyl]

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...but, oh, how lovely it is to travel. Isaac Hayes went into the recording studio back in 1969 with his the Bar-Kays as his backing band and created something magical and timeless that is beyond comparison from anything else I've ever heard. With only four numbers present here, it'd be easy to second-guess picking this up, but if you do you are a sucker, because you just don't understand how strong and potent this album is. It's almost ridiculous how many rappers have sampled this material, and how many times they've done it at that, but none of 'em, NONE OF 'EM could amass the emotion and skill that Brother Ike amassed into these four incredible numbers. The opener 'Walk on By' is not to be messed with for nothin'. The intro is hypnotic and intoxicating, stretching on for over two minutes before Brother Ike's mournful and dour voice comes in to sing his frustration and sadness away. Is' a rough number if you lived through it, but it's good fa' the soul. What follows is jus' somethin' funky, fa'real, an' I'm'a try an' spell it all out fa' you. 'Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic' is down-and-dirty gut-bucket funktified soul. Rhodes electric piano, classic guitar riffs, and that repetitive piano that Public Enemy jus' loves to sample. Oh, what a classic piece 'a work. I'm surprised lotsa these reviews don't seem to think too highly of 'One Woman' 'cause I can't get enough of that number. It's sweeter and more easy-going than the other three, but it's no less strong. I first tooke heavy notice of it while I was stuck in traffic on the highway on my way to my girl's house an' I heard Brother Ike say "I fight my way through the five o'clock rush hour, as daylight slowly leaves the sky..." That stuff gave me chills, fa'real. The good kinda chills when you can't wait for those loving arms of that special someone to greet you, like they always do at the end of everyday. It's just a nice poetic song, irreplaceable if you ask me. Alright, but the truth is that the next number is the real tear-jerker. For the first eight or nine minutes of 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix' there is nothing in the back ground but a hypnotic thumping bassline and Brother Ike telling a truly heartbreaking story of a man and a woman wo were in love, well, at least the man was in love, you know? ("But, y'see, girls, I don't mean to come down on you, but this man LOVED this woman so, but, they say love is blind...") If you're feelin' it, then when the song finally kicks in, you should already be reduced to a puddle of tears. Then all you can do is moan an' wail along with Isaac about bein' a prisoner of love who will never be free.

Fellas, if you've ever had your heartbroken, an' you intend to get anything outta reading this review, it should be to not go another day without this masterpiece. If your lovelorn, sad, an' need somethin' to feed your sadness, or somethin' to keep you in touch with your spirit and soul, then this is the album to pick up. It's by all means one'a the baddest and best soul albums of ALL TIME, flawlessly performed from start to finish. Like I said, it's a long and lonely road, but it's a lovely one to travel. Again and again.

Let me just start off by saying I was 3yrs old when this "Album" came out. And I remember that every one of my relatives had this album (including my mom and grandparents). Everyone would be partying and playing this album. (Ours is worn out....believe me).

You know how a song can trigger a memory? Well, I saw movie "Dead Presidents" (great soundtrack CD), and Issac's "Walk on By" is included in movie (where they count the money). All of a sudden, I remembered this cut! I heard it so many times in my childhood. So I had to see if HOT BUTTERED SOUL was released on CD.

Thank god it is! Honey, this is soul music at its finest. Issac Hayes does not get the credit he deserves in music history. Forget Dionne Warwick's version, Issac Hayes is the BEST version I've ever heard. The horns, the violins, the melody, the man is BAD! This has got to be the best musical introduction I have ever heard in my life!

Then you get to "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedelamystic"...I have NO IDEA what the hell this means, but I feel the smoke, the sweat, the sex, the incense, the energy of this cut. I tell you, they just don't make them like this anymore.

You want some soul, get HOT BUTTERED SOUL. Issac may be "Chef" on SOUTH PARK now, but he's a musician always. In heart and soul.

This album is a musical masterpiece !!! Ike transmits his emotions through his sublime voice and his fantastic music. When I hear the nearly 20 minute ``By the time I get to Phoenix ``, I never get bored by the 7 minute intro. You can't skip his rap cause you'll miss part of the message that Black Moses is delivering to you. Walk on by is charged with so much sadness that you can relate easily to what he's going through. Hyperbolic... is pure funk pleasure. One woman is a sweet ballad filled with incredible background vocals. Hot buttered soul is one of the key albums that popularized album concepts and proved that M.Hayes is a musical genius.

Mr. Hayes shows us what he's made of on this CD. A true soul artist. It's amazing to me that he even was able to get this recorded, as songs over two minutes were regarded as 'long!' This music still sounds 'fresh' today! Five stars for Mr. Hayes

When I first got this I remember the girl I was with at the time looking at the track list on the back of the CD case and saying, "Four songs? You got ripped off." Man, was she wrong. (Then again, she was wrong about a lot of things.) This disc contains four jams that are some of the smoothest soul music I've ever heard. Isaac Hayes knew how to take a song and build it into an extended masterpiece. "Walk On By" is twelve minutes of Isaac layin' it down, and it doesn't drag for a second. His vocals on this song and throughout the album are sublime. The horn and orchestral arrangements are also noteworthy, opening the album in majestic fashion. "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" is a real groove, and the piano solo in the second half of the song is one of my favorites, building to an exhilarating crescendo at the end of the song. (Public Enemy sampled part of this solo on their classic track "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos".) I have put this song on at many parties and it never fails. The eighteen and a half minute "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" has attained legendary status since being recorded. Isaac Hayes really put it together on this album, and it should be regarded as a classic of soul music. This is a CD that I can put on anytime and it always moves me. If you are into R&B or soul music and haven't heard this, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

I was glad to see someone acknowledge that this was a great "make out" album. With or without a room full of memories to invoke, this is one fine album. Back in the day, this was one of the first LP's I ever owned. I have bought it time and time again; as I wore it out, or loaned it out, or technology improved. When I moved kicking & screaming into CD's (after nearly 2,000 albums), it was on my "must buy" list.

Ike at his best. The opening drum beats to "Walk On By" tell the listener to settle back into a comfortable chair for twelve minutes of pure sonic power. Bacharach and David certainly could not have had this in mind when they penned this song (great, in its own right, of course). In his first album, Ike showed a great gift he possesses, and he took this song (like many others) to places they had not contemplated.

Ditto the end of the album, "By the Time I Get To Phoenix". Jim Webb had a fine idea too, but Hayes added a monologue where he "set it up", and then a massive orchestra to close out the show (actually, it was an amazing experience to hear this done live). He needed every bit of eighteen minutes to make this masterpiece, with an organ, piano, strings and a fabulous trumpet.

A wonderful piece of music. A must have.

When this album was released, it revolutionized R&B. I don't think there was a brother who considered himself a "player" who didn't own a copy of this album. If he wanted to create a mood in his place, he threw this one on the turntable and got the Cold Duck out of the fridge. I rode up and down the highway listening to this album. Considering when it was released, the musical arrangements were powerful and so different than anything we heard on the radio at that time. Isaac was truly in a class by himself. Nobody was doing anything like this!!

There isn't a woman right now who is familar with Isaac's music, who doesn't remember who she was going out with when this album hit the airwaves. I remember, and I'm sorry that the album dredges up memories of that bum!! LOL That's not Isaac's fault.... I still had Isaac long after I threw that dog under a bus!! In all honesty, a lot of my girl friends would reflect on the monologue on "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", and wish they had a man who loved them like that. It made a lot of us think hard and deep about the relationships we were in at the time.

I thank Isaac Hayes for his contribution.. not only to Black music, but to American music as a whole. He was truly ahead of his time.

Ike left us today - I thought it'd be nice to share a story about him & "Hot Buttered Soul." I heard this album when it was new; I was ten years old, and my parents bought it for me. I was a budding musician, my sister had told me that Isaac was good, and I thought that the cover art (Ike's head) was "cool." I didn't expect that I'd be dancing around in my folks' house to the groove of "Hyperbollicsyllabicsequedalymistic."

I'd always dug "soul music," although I'd only scratched the surface, learning what I heard on top 40 radio. "Hot Buttered Soul" took me to a MUCH deeper place; the deep funk of "Hyper...," the beauty of what I believe to be the definitive version of "Walk On By," and the pained rap on "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" - this stuff IMPRINTED soul on me.

"Shaft" came later, and everyone who didn't know about Isaac found out, in a big way. I also loved his Polydor disc, "Don't Let Go," which included such gorgeous tunes as "What Does It Take," and "A Few More Kisses to Go."

Thanks to Isaac Hayes for songwriting, playing, singing and arranging that changed the way I listen to and create music, and to God for creating Isaac.

This is arguably one of the greatest soul albums of all time. Despite the fact that it only has four cuts, each cut takes on a life of it's own. The album spans from lush and orchestral melodies to down right low and funky grooves.

The Bar Kays provide a solid, infectious backbeat to set the stage for Isaac's soulful drama and the result is mesmerizing.

Isaac's cover of "By the Time I get to Phoenix", is incredible. It starts with a monologue that builds into a searing heap of soul that's enough to make a grown man cry. I speak from experience.

No disrespect to Dionne Warwick, but Isaac makes his version of "Walk on By" all his own. The powerful, orchestral intro in and of itself sheer genius. The song goes on to explore multiple moods before erupting into a shattering climax that leaves the listener almost out of breath.

To me, "Hyperbolic..." is the signature cut here. It is as funky as it is bluesy and will at the very least have your head nodding if you're not out and out dancing. The throbbing bass line carries the tune and sets a nice backdrop for Isaac's tinkling piano and the funky wah wah guitar that caresses it. Again, genius.

If ever an album were a masterpiece, Hot Buttered Soul is it. It is a timeless musical experience not soon forgotten.

My father used to tell me that his generation of musical heroes made real music. He would say , "One day you young folks will listen to real music again." Dad was right. The era that birthed such greats as Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Hamilton Bohannon, and other innovators is long sought after today. One of the reasons we'll never forget them is because their originality is still sought after by today's artists. They borrow, sample, cover, and remix everything we grew up on. (Sure, they say they are paying honor to them by doing so, but we don't buy that crap!) "Hot Buttered Soul" ushered Mr. Hayes into a realm of mass acceptance with music audiences everywhere. How many of us still remember our parents playing the vinyl edidtion at cookouts and parties? That trademark bald head on the album cover still echoes loudly in my mind. Too young to get the full gist of the lyrics, I gathered he had poured his heart and soul into these songs. One thing was clear to me as a youngster, he sure made some of them long enough (lol). If you're new to the name and music of Isaac Hayes, consider this a perfect place to get to know him better. This album is a fine sample of the music and the genius behind Isaac Hayes. So to my father I say, "Yes sir. You were right yet again. We have found our way to real music...again!"

DJ Come of Age