Isaac Hayes Movement

by Isaac Hayes

Product Description:

Personnel: Isaac Hayes (vocals).

ISSAC HAYES MOVEMENT is aptly named. It was here that Hayes reached his pinnacle as an arranger and producer, generating lengthy pieces that ebbed and crested into "movements" that were worlds removed from the taut, three-minute pop songs he helped write and craft for Stax/Volt studios in the 1960s. Ironically, none of the material on MOVEMENT is penned by Hayes. Instead, he takes on four stylistically diverse tunes: the Beatles' "Something," Jerry Butler's "I Stand Accused," Chalmers/Rhodes's "One Big Unhappy Family," and the Bacharach/David ballad "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself."

Yet Hayes so radically transforms these songs--filling them with his meticulous orchestrations and complex horn charts--that he re-defines them as his own. The lengthy spoken prelude to "I Stand Accused" turns the song into a study of obsessive longing with an almost novelistic sweep. "Something," the album's longest cut at nearly 12 minutes, uses the full colors of an orchestra to dramatic effect, while "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" is a textbook example of smooth, string-sweetened soul. Hayes gives full rein to his arranging skills on ISAAC HAYES MOVEMENT, making it one of the most ambitious, grandiose soul records of the era.