Hot Buttered Soul
Encyclopedia
Hot Buttered Soul was Isaac Hayes
' second studio album. Released in 1969, it is recognized as a landmark in soul music
.
, had been a poor seller for Stax Records
, and Hayes was about to return to his behind-the-scenes role as a producer and songwriter at the venerable soul label when it suddenly lost its complete back catalog after splitting with Atlantic Records
in May 1968. Stax executive Al Bell
decided to release a new, almost instant, back catalog of 27 albums and 30 singles at once, ordered all of Stax's artists to record new material, and encouraged some of Stax's prominent creative staff, including Hayes and Steve Cropper
, to record solo albums.
Burned by the retail flop of Presenting Isaac Hayes, Hayes told Bell that he would not cut a follow-up unless he was granted complete creative control. Since Bell had encouraged Hayes to record Presenting... in the first place, he readily agreed.
The album begins with a cover of the Burt Bacharach
and Hal David
classic, "Walk On By". Second was "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic", an uptempo funk song with wah-wah guitar and rolling pianos. "One Woman", at just over five minutes the shortest track on the album, focuses on the pangs of infidelity. An extended reinterpretation of Jimmy Webb
's country music
composition "By the Time I Get to Phoenix
" closes the album. After an eight-minute spoken introduction, the song slowly builds to a climax of horns, strings, organs
and vocals. (On most commonly heard versions of this song, there is an edit before the lyric "when he reached the age of maturity.." during the spoken intro – early vinyl pressings of the album do not feature this edit, and reveal a brief section that includes a technical error, where the sustained organ note briefly drops out.)
The album was notable for its use of innovative Bell/Hayes production and Terry Manning
engineering techniques, and has deeply influenced a great deal of subsequent soul
, hip hop
and Motown music. Both "Walk on By" and "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" have been sampled extensively, the former showing up on tracks by the likes of Compton's Most Wanted
, 3rd Bass
, MF DOOM
, Wu-Tang Clan
, Hooverphonic
and Notorious B.I.G., while the latter song was sampled by Public Enemy for "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
". "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" also appears on the soundtrack to the film Zodiac
, while "Walk On By" appears along with Hayes' version of "The Look Of Love
" on the soundtrack to the film Dead Presidents
.
Much of the final production was done as part of the package of products brought to Detroit by producer Don Davis to expedite the production process. The project strings and horns were recorded at United Sound Studios by engineer Ed Wolfrum with vocals and final mix at Terra-Shirma by engineer Russ Terrana. The pre-delay reverberation technique, recorded in part by Manning on the tracking session, had been used at Artie Fields productions in Detroit in late 1950s, and at Columbia Records; it was also used by Wolfrum and others for numerous productions and commercials previous and after the release of this project including the Marvin Gaye What's Going On
project, with orchestration also recorded at United. Russ Terrana went on to the engineering staff of Motown Records and was responsible recording and mixing of many hits on that label.
Audiophile label Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
reissued Hot Buttered Soul in SACD
format in 2003.
American punk icon Henry Rollins
has frequently referred to Hot Buttered Soul as being one of his all time favorite albums; Rollins would later interview Hayes for his book Do I Come Here Often? (ISBN 1-880985-61-6).
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
' second studio album. Released in 1969, it is recognized as a landmark in soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
.
Album history
The album almost never came to be. Hayes' solo debut, Presenting Isaac HayesPresenting Isaac Hayes
Presenting Isaac Hayes was Soul musician Isaac Hayes' debut album, issued in 1968. The LP was the first release on Stax Records' Enterprise label; Hayes had for several years served as one of Stax's key songwriters, producers, and studio musicians....
, had been a poor seller for Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
, and Hayes was about to return to his behind-the-scenes role as a producer and songwriter at the venerable soul label when it suddenly lost its complete back catalog after splitting with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in May 1968. Stax executive Al Bell
Al Bell
Al Bell is an American record producer, songwriter, and record executive. Bell is best known as one of the key figures behind and a co-owner of Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records during the latter half of the label's nineteen-year existence...
decided to release a new, almost instant, back catalog of 27 albums and 30 singles at once, ordered all of Stax's artists to record new material, and encouraged some of Stax's prominent creative staff, including Hayes and Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
, to record solo albums.
Burned by the retail flop of Presenting Isaac Hayes, Hayes told Bell that he would not cut a follow-up unless he was granted complete creative control. Since Bell had encouraged Hayes to record Presenting... in the first place, he readily agreed.
The album begins with a cover of the Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
and Hal David
Hal David
Harold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...
classic, "Walk On By". Second was "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic", an uptempo funk song with wah-wah guitar and rolling pianos. "One Woman", at just over five minutes the shortest track on the album, focuses on the pangs of infidelity. An extended reinterpretation of Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park"...
's country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
composition "By the Time I Get to Phoenix
By the Time I Get to Phoenix
"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is the title of a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally recorded by Johnny Rivers in 1965, it was made famous by American country music singer Glen Campbell, appearing as the opening track on the latter's 1967 album of the same name. Campbell's version reached #2 on...
" closes the album. After an eight-minute spoken introduction, the song slowly builds to a climax of horns, strings, organs
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
and vocals. (On most commonly heard versions of this song, there is an edit before the lyric "when he reached the age of maturity.." during the spoken intro – early vinyl pressings of the album do not feature this edit, and reveal a brief section that includes a technical error, where the sustained organ note briefly drops out.)
The album was notable for its use of innovative Bell/Hayes production and Terry Manning
Terry Manning
Terry Manning is a music producer, songwriter, photographer and recording engineer known for work in rock, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres....
engineering techniques, and has deeply influenced a great deal of subsequent soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and Motown music. Both "Walk on By" and "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" have been sampled extensively, the former showing up on tracks by the likes of Compton's Most Wanted
Compton's Most Wanted
Compton's Most Wanted is an American gangsta rap group and one of the pioneers of the West Coast Hip Hop scene still performing today on independent labels. The leader of the group was MC Eiht.-Biography:...
, 3rd Bass
3rd Bass
3rd Bass was an American hip-hop group that rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was notable for being one of the first successful interracial hip-hop groups.-Career:...
, MF DOOM
MF Doom
Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...
, Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...
, Hooverphonic
Hooverphonic
Hooverphonic are a Belgian rock/pop group, formed in 1995. Though early on categorized as a trip hop group, they quickly expanded their sound to the point where they could no longer be described as a lone genre, but rather encompass alternative, electronica, electropop, rock, and mixture of others...
and Notorious B.I.G., while the latter song was sampled by Public Enemy for "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" is a song by the American hip hop group Public Enemy from their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back...
". "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" also appears on the soundtrack to the film Zodiac
Zodiac (film)
Zodiac is a 2007 American mystery-thriller film directed by David Fincher and based on Robert Graysmith's non-fiction book of the same name. The Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros...
, while "Walk On By" appears along with Hayes' version of "The Look Of Love
The Look of Love (1967 song)
"The Look of Love" is a popular song composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and sung by Dusty Springfield, which appeared in the 1967 spoof James Bond film Casino Royale.-Songwriters:...
" on the soundtrack to the film Dead Presidents
Dead Presidents
Dead Presidents is a 1995 American crime film written by Michael Henry Brown and also written, produced and directed by the Hughes brothers , starring Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, Freddy Rodriguez, N'Bushe Wright and Bokeem Woodbine...
.
Much of the final production was done as part of the package of products brought to Detroit by producer Don Davis to expedite the production process. The project strings and horns were recorded at United Sound Studios by engineer Ed Wolfrum with vocals and final mix at Terra-Shirma by engineer Russ Terrana. The pre-delay reverberation technique, recorded in part by Manning on the tracking session, had been used at Artie Fields productions in Detroit in late 1950s, and at Columbia Records; it was also used by Wolfrum and others for numerous productions and commercials previous and after the release of this project including the Marvin Gaye What's Going On
What's Going On
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records...
project, with orchestration also recorded at United. Russ Terrana went on to the engineering staff of Motown Records and was responsible recording and mixing of many hits on that label.
Audiophile label Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is a company known as an innovator in the production of audiophile-quality sound recordings. All releases are advertised as being produced from the first-generation analog master recordings, and using proprietary technology, which MFSL claims allows for improved sound...
reissued Hot Buttered Soul in SACD
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
format in 2003.
American punk icon Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
has frequently referred to Hot Buttered Soul as being one of his all time favorite albums; Rollins would later interview Hayes for his book Do I Come Here Often? (ISBN 1-880985-61-6).
Side one
- "Walk On By" (Burt BacharachBurt BacharachBurt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
, Hal DavidHal DavidHarold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...
) – 12:03 - "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" (Isaac HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
, Alvertis Isbell) – 9:38
Side two
- "One Woman" (Charles Chalmers, Sandra Rhodes) – 5:10
- "By the Time I Get to PhoenixBy the Time I Get to Phoenix"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is the title of a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally recorded by Johnny Rivers in 1965, it was made famous by American country music singer Glen Campbell, appearing as the opening track on the latter's 1967 album of the same name. Campbell's version reached #2 on...
" (Jimmy WebbJimmy WebbJimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park"...
) – 18:42
Personnel
- Isaac HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
– vocals, keyboards - Marvell ThomasMarvell ThomasMarvell Thomas is an American keyboardist known for his work in Memphis Soul and son of the man dubbed "Memphis's other King", Rufus Thomas. His sister Carla Thomas was known as the Memphis Queen after her breakthrough hit "Gee Whiz."...
– Producer, keyboards - The Bar-Kays – Willie HallWillie Hall (drummer)Willie "Too Big" Hall was born August 8, 1950, in Memphis, Tennessee. He began his career as a drummer in 1965, while still in high school. He played with the Bar-Kays band and Isaac Hayes's band The Movement...
, drums; James AlexanderJames Alexander (musician)James Alexander is an American soul and R&B musician. He is a longtime member of the band The Bar-Kays, for which he plays bass guitar. He also is the father of noted hip-hop and R&B producer Phalon "Jazze Pha" Alexander, whom he named after his best friend and late Bar-Kays bandmate Phalon Jones...
, bass; Michael Toles, guitar - Al BellAl BellAl Bell is an American record producer, songwriter, and record executive. Bell is best known as one of the key figures behind and a co-owner of Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records during the latter half of the label's nineteen-year existence...
– Producer, supervising producer - Bill Dahl – Liner notes
- Kate Hoddinott – Package redesign
- Allen JonesAllen Jones (record producer)Allen Jones was an American record producer.Jones produced several albums for Albert King, and became the producer and manager for The Bar-Kays. He produced all of their records including their last records for Mercury Records. He formed their production company, and produced other acts such as...
– Producer - Terry ManningTerry ManningTerry Manning is a music producer, songwriter, photographer and recording engineer known for work in rock, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres....
– Engineer - Bob Smith – Photography
- Joe Tarantino – Mastering
- Russ Terrana – Remixing
- Honeya Thompson – Art direction
- Christopher Whorf – Cover design
- Ed Wolfrum – Engineer, mixing