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Isaac Hayes digging Stax-era retrospective
11/07/2005 1:58 PM, Reuters
Soul man Isaac Hayes'
years with Stax Records are collected on the newly released
double-disc set "Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It?"
The album covers Hayes' prolific period at the legendary
Memphis label from 1969 through 1975, which produced "Hot
Buttered Soul," "Black Moses" and the "Shaft" soundtrack and
foreshadowed the rise of symphonic soul, funk and disco.
The set's unreleased material includes three tracks from
Hayes' show-closing performance at the Jesse Jackson-led PUSH
EXPO in Chicago in 1972: "Brand New Me," "If Loving You Is
Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)" and the traditional hymn "His
Eye Is on the Sparrow."
A bonus DVD included with the album collects performances
of "Rolling Down a Mountainside," "Theme from 'Shaft"' and
"Soulsville" from the 1972 Wattstax festival in Los Angeles, as
well as a historically out-of-place but impossible-to-ignore
video of the Hayes-voiced Chef performing "Chocolate Salty
Balls" from "South Park."
But despite its far-reaching influence, Hayes demurs that,
30-plus years on, the music still "resonates" with fans.
"(Audiences) still find it interesting," he told
Billboard.com from his home in Memphis. "Sometimes hip-hoppers
like it and think it as something to sample." Indeed, next to
James Brown, Hayes is one of producers' favorite targets when
it comes to sampling. Not that he minds.
"I remember 'Mind Playin' Tricks on Me' by the Geto Boys
(which samples Hayes' "Hung Up on My Baby") -- that was a
biggie for them," he says. "I liked the tracks by Dr. Dre,
Erykah Badu and Ashanti. And it goes way, way back. Big Daddy
Kane told me, 'Brace yourself -- they're gonna hit your stuff
real hard.' They did. They're still hitting it!"
Hayes says he's started "putting together" a smattering of
new music with drummer Steve Jordan, but hasn't had much chance
to consider getting back in the studio. Right now, he's content
to sit back and let "Can You Dig It" take center stage
musically for a while. "It's a chance to bring all this stuff
home," he notes.
He remains busy with his Music-Food-Passion restaurants,
based in his hometown of Memphis. And though Hayes no longer
hosts his KISS-FM radio show in New York ("I miss it," he says,
"We had a lot of fun"), he's still on the air in Memphis. "Mine
is an evening show, so I kind of mellow out a bit and play a
lot of old things," he says.
Moreover, Comedy Central has just renewed "South Park" for
three more seasons, meaning Hayes and Chef will be around until
2008. Hayes admits with a chuckle that if anyone had told him
when he signed his contract that the show would reach this far,
he'd "have said you were crazy."
"I thought this would last maybe six weeks, I'd make a
little easy money," he says. "Ten years later -- hello!"
Reuters/Billboard
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