The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Announces Inductees for 2002 12.13.01 Ceremony to Air Exclusively on VH1 in March Thursday, December 13, 2001, New York, NY - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced today the Inductees for the Seventeenth Annual Induction Ceremony, which will be held in New York on Monday, March 18, 2002... The following Performers, listed in alphabetical order, will be inducted: ISAAC HAYES first arrived on the 60's scene in Memphis as the keyboardist for the Mar-Keys, the Stax Records ensemble, where he can be heard on recordings for Otis Redding and William Bell. There Hayes teamed up with David Porter, which led to a string of hits they wrote and produced for other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, including Sam & Dave ("Hold on I'm Comin'" and "Soul Man"). This set the stage for Hayes' emergence as a solo artist. He virtually invented the Blaxploitation film score with "Shaft" and constructed a persona that presaged hip-hop's posturing by decades. Click here to listen to SOUL-PATROL SALUTES ISAAC HAYES Featuring the following cuts from the CD 'ISAAC HAYES: ULTIMATE COLLECTION': Shaft, Walk On By, Never Can Say Goodbye, Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic, Do Your Thing, Ike's Rap, Birth Of Shaft and more! New Compilation Album From Isaac Hayes The Ultimate Collection I suppose that I am spoiled, see I live in NJ so therefore I get to hear the voice of Isaac Hayes on the radio each and every morning during my commute to work, where he is the host of the Isaac Hayes and Friends" show on 98.7 WRKS. The radio show is nothing special, it's the typical "Classic Soul & Today's R&B" format that you can now hear in most cities in the United States nowadays, it's pretty much the same format as the popular Tom Joyner show, which is also heard in most cities. While the format is fairly generic, what makes it special in New York is the presence of Isaac Hayes. While he is no longer as vocal or opinionated over the air as he once was, his voice is one that stands front and center AGAINST today's "so called" R&B and FOR looking back at the glorious historical contributions of the past, as a pointer for the direction of the music for the future. Click here to listen to SOUL-PATROL SALUTES ISAAC HAYES Featuring the following cuts from the CD 'ISAAC HAYES: ULTIMATE COLLECTION': Shaft, Walk On By, Never Can Say Goodbye, Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic, Do Your Thing, Ike's Rap, Birth Of Shaft and more! That Isaac Hayes is such a vocal supporter of the legacy of "Classic Soul/Funk" should come as no surprise since he is also one of the most important creators of that legacy! Sometimes it's easy for me to forget that simple fact, this new compilation album from HIP-O, "Isaac Hayes - Ultimate Collection", is a good reminder of the legacy of Isacc Hayes http://www.soul-patrol.com/cgi-bin/director.cgi?00125 Isaac Hayes - Ultimate Collection 1. THEME FROM SHAFT - What can I say….this song is by now considered to be an American classic and should be ranked as one of the top 10 songs in the history of pop music. It's association with the opening of the movie "Shaft", where the lead character John Shaft is shown walking down the streets of Harlem USA is a powerful visual/audio statement of BOTH Black Power and Black manhood. 2. NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - I guess that the Jackson Five did this song first, but Isaac Hayes OWNS this song just as much as they do. The difference between the two versions is STARK! The teenaged Micheal Jackson turns in what some people regard as his best straight up singing performance on this song which was specifically written for him by songwriter Clifton Davis. However this cover version by Isaac Hayes might as well be a completely different song! "Ike" turns this mutha completely inside out and turns the song from a tale of teenaged angst into a lustful tune of adult love that is more appropriate for a bordello at 3am, than a schoolyard at 3pm! I wonder what Berry Gordy thought of this version of the song? 3. HYPERBOLICSYLLABICSESQUEDALYMISTIC - Are you a fan of the late funk/blues artist, Johnny "Guitar" Watson? Well if you are then this FUNK EXPLOSION is just what you are looking for. This is some STONE COLD FUNK in the "southern tradition" 4. DO YOUR THING - This song is from the "Shaft" album and is as different from the title cut as night is from day. It's got a slow cookin funk groove in the mode of Booker T. and the MG's and contains "Ike's message" of "doin yo thang". 5. WALK ON BY - Just like on the song "Never Can say Goodbye", Isaac Hayes proves once again that he is the master of the cover version. How many of you remember Dionne Warwick's original version of "Walk on By" from the mid 1960's? I do and I liked it quite a bit, however one listen to the Isaac Hayes version renders Dionne's original version as useless! Isaac Hayes turns this little pop song into a B-3 Organ Funk extravaganza. He's got the Bar-Kays playing behind him and as I recall the original version which appeared on the album "Hot buttered soul" was about 15 minutes long! Between Hayes on the B-3 and whoever is playing that STANK guitar this song is nothing short of a LUST BOMB!!! Click here to listen to SOUL-PATROL SALUTES ISAAC HAYES Featuring the following cuts from the CD 'ISAAC HAYES: ULTIMATE COLLECTION': Shaft, Walk On By, Never Can Say Goodbye, Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic, Do Your Thing, Ike's Rap, Birth Of Shaft and more! 6. JOY-PT. 1 - I remember when this song first came out, I didn't think much of it, seemed like Ike should have stuck with doing his fantastic covers and this song sounded "formulamatic" to me. Today I think that if D'Angelo, Rashan Patterson, Maxwell, etc were to do a remake of thse song they could have a hit song with it. Maybe someone should? It's BETTER than anything currently on the charts in my opinion. Maybe one of today's male R&B (for lack of a better term) should give this song a listen, they might just find themselves with a hit record on their hands? 7. DON'T LET ME BE LONELY TONIGHT - I wonder what James Taylor thought about this version of his song? My bet is that he "wett his pants" when he listened to it for the first time. In the liner notes of this album, Stephen Ivory says: "Isaac Hayes treats tried and true pop and R&B classics as if they are nothing more than expensive, polished demos to be transformed and redefined into a dramatic, elongated, blissed-out soul opera of his imaginative design". Quite a description, eh? Well I agree with him. If Hayes were smart, he would return to the "Black Moses" formula of doing these extended covers mixed in with some of his unique original material. There is little doubt in my mind that if he were to do so, that he would quickly return to the top of the Black music scene! 8. OUT OF THE GHETTO - I don't really understand what this song is supposed to be about, seems like "filler" to me 9. CHOCOLATE CHIP - This is another song that I didn't like when it was originally released, back in 1975, and although it was a minor hit as I recall, I still don't like it now. It's really a piece of forgettable disco. 10. FEW MORE KISSES TO GO - Prior to listening to this "Ultimate Collection" CD, I had never heard this song before. This song is badd!!! Although it sounds more like a Barry White song than an Isaac Hayes song, it's an uncovered jewel here on this album as far as I'm concerned. I guess I must have slept on it when it first came out? Don't you sleep on it, it's worth buying the whole CD just to get your hands on this song. 11. DON'T LET GO - More "forgettable disco". Instead of this song and "Chocolate Chip" HIP-O would have been better served if they were looking for more dance cuts from Isaac Hayes, to have included the theme song that he wrote and performed for the TV show "The Men"! Do yall remember that cut? (It was SMOKIN!!!!!!!!) In it's own way, "The Theme From The Men" - Isaac Hayes is as good a song as the "Theme From Shaft". Maybe HIP-O didn't have the rights to that song? 12. MOONLIGHT LOVIN' (MENAGE A TROIS) - Seems like more "generic filler" to me, but it's ok I guess 13. IT'S HEAVEN TO ME - This is an interesting song, it kinda reminds me of the song "Dindi" - Jon Lucien as Isaac Hayes almost whispers during the song. I can groove to it! 14. DARK AND LOVELY (YOU OVER THERE) - (with Barry White) - This song went to #29 on the R&B charts in 1992, however I honestly don't remember it. It's a good song and of course represents a historic pairing of Isaac Hayes/Barry White. There is also a memorable STANK guitar solo at the end of the song, I dunno who is playing, but it's badd! 15. IKE'S RAP - Ike's lament about the evils of crack-cocaine to his lover, it's a POWERFUL jam that kinda reminds me of Teddy P's "scolding" of his woman on the song… 16. BIRTH OF SHAFT - Very nice way to end the album, this cut is SUPER FUNKY and serves as a reminder to ANYONE out there who may think that Isaac Hayes can't FUNK IT UP NO MO' (that they had betta wake up and smell the coffee….lol) Overall I have mixed feelings about this CD… It's a good introduction to the musical legacy of Isaac Hayes for younger people, and stands on it's own as such. It's also a pretty decent "3 am FUNK" type of album which I have personally "road tested" with good results. Kudos to HIP-O Records on this release! http://www.soul-patrol.com/cgi-bin/director.cgi?00125 However, to truly understand the MAGNITUDE of the impact that Isaac Hayes had on Black music during his heyday, one MUST hear his studio albums. He was the VERY first Soul/Funk artist to create fully realized "concept albums", starting in the late 1960's. The songs on those concept albums need to be heard in the context of each other to get the full impact. Click here to listen to SOUL-PATROL SALUTES ISAAC HAYES Featuring the following cuts from the CD 'ISAAC HAYES: ULTIMATE COLLECTION': Shaft, Walk On By, Never Can Say Goodbye, Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic, Do Your Thing, Ike's Rap, Birth Of Shaft and more! The albums: - Presenting Isaac Hayes ~ Isaac Hayes (1966) - Hot Buttered Soul ~ Isaac Hayes (1969) - The Isaac Hayes Movement (3rd LP) ~ Isaac Hayes (1970) - Shaft ~ Isaac Hayes (1971) - Black Moses ~ Isaac Hayes (1971) - Live At The Sahara Tahoe ~ Isaac Hayes (1973) - To Be Continued ~ Isaac Hayes (1970) - Joy ~ Isaac Hayes (1973) - Chocolate Chip ~ Isaac Hayes (1975) Changed Black nradio forever, and they also changed the bedroom habits of an entire generation :) Click here to enter your suggestions Back to P*FUNK REVIEW