Available Now - Click to Order 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
stax records releases “ultimate isaac hayes ― can you dig it?”
In Stores November 1, Special 2-CD Collection Features Greatest Hits, Choice Album Cuts,
And Rare 45 A and B Sides from 1969 to 1975
Bonus DVD Includes Animation of “Chocolate Salty Balls”
From Comedy Central’s Cult Favorite “SouthPark”
“…the Sinatra of soul…”
...Associated Press
“The album covers Hayes’ prolific period at Stax…and…the rise of symphonic soul, funk and disco”
...Billboard.com
“The experimental genius…is Isaac Hayes”
“Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It? is a reminder that Hayes is an inventive musician, not just a personality, a wizened ambassador from the dashiki years.”
“It’s pretty much settled that the 1970s began when man learned to take a wah-wah effect and make an electric guitar go waump ch-ka waump ch-ka ch-ka ch-ka waump.”
“It shows how in the Vietnam-era Hayes concocted a vocal style so masculine that the testosterone in his sweat seemed to cleanly scorch all hair from his head…And it shows that he made some thumping funk music in the process.”
...NY Post
“Yeah, I can dig it…”
“(Hayes) composed some of the grooviest movie theme songs you’ve ever heard.”
...Cleveland Free Times
“…this set is exactly the reason why career retrospectives can be so valuable.”
“Hayes' versatility as a singer – and, as a songwriter, his infinite respect for a good song – is what made him a vital element of '70s soul music.”
“…the way (Hayes) defined a middle path between righteous funk and songwriting traditions is spelled out magnificently on this set.”
...Orlando weekly
“So you think you know Isaac Hayes? Think again.”
“This deluxe anthology is…the most historically relevant “best-of” compilation yet created around everybody’s favorite bald genius from Memphis.”
“…there’s little on Isaac’s extended resume that is not reflected in this must-have commemorative set."
...The L Magazine
In the early to mid-1960s, Isaac Hayes played a seminal role in creating the nascent sound of soul music. Yet, as monumental as his early contributions were, they are dwarfed by the impact of such solo albums as Hot Buttered Soul, Shaft,and Black Moses, all released on the now legendary and highly influential Stax Records label between 1969 and 1975.
Compiled and annotated by Stax biographer Rob Bowman, Ultimate Isaac Hayes ― Can You Dig It? is a 2-CD collection of seminal recordings from this period in Hayes’s career, a time when he redefined the sonic possibilities of black music with tracks like “Walk on By,” “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Joy (part 1),” “Soulsville,” and “Theme from Shaft.” Hayes would become the most successful artist Stax ever produced, opening the album market as a commercially viable medium for black artists, and one of the most important musicians in the history of R&B.
In stores November 1, Ultimate Isaac Hayes ― Can You Dig It? includes a bonus DVD featuring three live tracks from Wattstax, a 1972 concert held at the Coliseum in L.A. to raise money for a variety of community needs and to commemorate the 1965 Watts rebellion. Also available is an animation of the modern-funk masterpiece “Chocolate Salty Balls” from Comedy Central’s hit series “South Park.” As his role of Chef, Hayes is the voice of reason and the administrator of cool amongst the misadventures of Kyle, Kenny, Stan, and Cartman.
Hayes was coaxed into the studio by Stax Records in 1968 to cut Presenting Isaac Hayes (its lead single, “Precious, Precious,” included on Ultimate Isaac Hayes, was edited down from an 18-minute jazz-tinged funk vamp). The platinum-selling Hot Buttered Soul followed and attracted attention for combining jazz improvisation, classically-influenced strings, rock guitar, ballad singing, and R&B rhythm. The Jimmy Webb penned “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” Bacharach & David’s “Walk on By,” and a 9-minute Hayes original called “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic,” from that recording are featured on this new collection.
The Isaac Hayes Movement and To Be Continued came next,and then, in 1971, Hayes was commissioned to write the score for Gordon Parks’s Shaft, one of the first so-called “blaxploitation” flicks. The resulting double album and the “Theme from Shaft” single were directly responsible for kick-starting disco and the phenomenon of the black soundtrack. The Shaft album went to #1 on both the pop and R&B album charts, staying on the pop listings for a staggering 60 weeks. Shaft earned Hayes both Academy and GRAMMY® Awards, and solidified his position as an African-American icon (Hayes’s soundtracks for two more movies, Three Tough Guys and Truck Turner, are also represented on the CD).
For his next Stax recording, Black Moses, Hayes returned to covering other people’s songs, including “Part Time Love,” “Need to Belong to Someone,” and “For the Good Times,” the lone exception being “Good Love,” co-written with trumpeter Mickey Gregory. In March 1972, Hayes released an instrumental cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” A month later he reunited with former songwriting partner David Porter, releasing a 45 of “Ain’t That Loving You Baby,” a Homer Banks–Allen Jones song, with a cover of Bread’s fall 1971 smash “Baby I’m-A Want You” on the B-side. All are included on Ultimate Isaac Hayes ― Can You Dig It?
Later in 1972, Hayes performed at Reverend Jesse Jackson’s annual PUSH EXPO at Chicago’s International Amphitheater. Three previously unreleased tracks from Isaac’s show-closing performance are included on Ultimate Isaac Hayes. Kenny Gamble and Thom Bell’s “Brand New Me,” Luther Ingram’s “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want to Be Right),” and Isaac’s heartfelt performance of the old Baptist hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”
The following year, Hayes focused on writing his own music. Ultimate Isaac Hayes features 13 tracks recorded between 1973 and 1975, and all but two are original compositions. Significantly, one of the exceptions, the set-closing medley of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix/Say a Little Prayer,” is a live concert recording with Dionne Warwick. The other track is Isaac’s cover of Henry Glover’s “Someone Made You for Me,” originally released as the B-side of his last hit for the Stax label, “Wonderful.”
In the mid-1970s, Hayes negotiated a deal with ABC Records to create the Hot Buttered Soul label. The two singles from the debut HBS album, “Chocolate Chip” and “Come Live with Me,” both went Top 20 R&B and are both featured on Ultimate Isaac Hayes. Three further HBS singles, “Disco Connection,” “Rock Me Easy Baby (Part 1),” and the aforementioned duet with Dionne Warwick, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix/I Say a Little Prayer” (all included here in their single edits), all reached the R&B chart.
In 2002, Isaac Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Universally recognized as a ground-breaking figure in mainstream R&B, soul and black music, some of Hayes’s most important work comes from his time spent recording for the Stax family of labels. Ultimate Isaac Hayes ― Can You Dig It? is an essential anthology and historically significant collection from one of music history’s most innovative artists.
DISC ONE |
DISC TWO |
|---|---|
|
|
